Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br5jH40svQ4
could you do me a quick favor if you're listening to this please hit the follow or subscribe button it helps more than you know and we invite subscribers in every month to watch the show in person presenting the inter UFC middleweight champion is oh [ __ ] I know when it's all said and done when I'm dead my name will be remembered in history why does that matter guys like us we're not meant to fit in we're meant to stand out but I've felt it it's addicting I need to do something that's going to just tame the Beast if not it's going to seep in other ways I wouldn't want it to in my life are you happy I think 2013 was my Great Depression I wasn't able to fight and then I just felt like I don't deserve it this world one thing I've seen they'll build you up and then tear you down people naturally just want to see you fail I had to take a hard look at myself and I put that pressure on myself like watch this I don't feel like I have anything to hide I put things out there that I probably shouldn't sometimes but that's my way of being vulnerable when I'm just like this is me so without further Ado I'm Steven Bartlett and this is the D of CEO I hope nobody's listening but if you are then please keep this to yourself Israel yes thank you for being here massive inspiration for me in so many ways and I've watched your your rise over the years with with ins inspiration and um admiration for so many reasons reason number one we have a I guess a shared Heritage in the fact that we're both from I'm Nigerian you're Nigerian as well and sir and your story as I read it it sounded so bizarrely like my story in so many ways and then the other I mean I could there's an exhaustive list of reasons why you've inspired me personally but then seeing what you've done with yourself as a brand as a marketeer again inspired me in a completely different way and I'll never forget and I played it for my girlfriend last night entrance against Robert Whitaker the first time the first time and I'm like this guy is breaking the rules yeah the entrance um for me that was uh I felt like that was my way of staying away from the fight in a way cuz I know that night Robert was just like stewing over the fight yeah he was sleeping he wouldn't no not he
wasn't sleeping I'm sure he was just worried about the fight thinking about the fight just thinking about but for me I was literally I fell asleep with my phone in my hand watching my rehearsals for that entrance like this is going to look sick replay probably replayed it like 60 times the night before and I fell asleep with my phone in my hand watching that just the rehearsals so it's was like there was no paralysis over analysis I was just like focused on how sick that was going to look and it was fun for me it was my way of authentically expressing myself with my roots and dancing and just being creative so when it was time to show out you know I showed out you know and it was my show this time like you know um when Robert and Kelvin gum's fight fell out the morning of the fight before 2 34 um that was in that was in Melbourne yeah R La arena in Melbourne as well I wanted to do an entrance and and Dana was like uhuh no allow no can't have it this and that so when it was 243 I was like look this is my show I'm doing this entrance I don't give a [ __ ] what you think and yeah I made sure I did that and look how it turned out it was iconic and you realize though because when I I remember must have been 3:00 a.m. here when I was watching that I'm thinking this guy's put more pressure on himself that he didn't need to put on himself he has to win now exactly I love that I like to gamble but I like to gamble at the highest level I like to gamble with like the biggest Stakes you know cuz I feel like whenever I get that win over that and I it just it just feels that much better and I feel like I don't know you just there a feeling I I don't know how to describe it but it's just cuz you know people are watching that just like [ __ ] like especially those who don't like me like [ __ ] hope this [ __ ] gets dropped I hope this guy gets knocked the [ __ ] out you know it thinks he's the man walking out dancing all that [ __ ] so you know people naturally just want to see you fail they're like this guy thinks he's that good on a like that was 57,135 people in attendance and I put that pressure on myself like watch this and yeah for me there's something special about just overcoming that that just gives me that that Rush speaking of entrances then you were
born in Nigeria um as I said I'm half Nigerian and then you moved to New Zealand what what was the reason why your parents decided to take you out of Nigeria and move you to another country I think it was um initially better recognized tesy education cuz you know I mean when I'm in New Zealand I sometimes I'll be you know talking to a cab driver and you find out that he was a medical doctor back in Sri Lanka or back in India and then moved over to you know NZ or the Western World for quote unquote better life and their their qualifications aren't recognized in the Western World you know but they're a surgeon or something crazy back home so then they have they're forced to take these um I guess milal jobs or start up a new business and yeah they wanted us to have better recognized test education yeah worked out all right for me but you were really smart anyway in in Nigeria when you got when you got to New Zealand you were smarter than the class remember you saying that they thought you were yeah but I was like the I was in form one I remember like it was um we're doing two times table and I was just like yeah I knew the song in my head finished I remember when I everyone was like who like and I I'm I'm the runt of our people trust me like I'm not the smartest you know kid in the class back in Nigeria so when that happened I was just like what's up with these kids like this is easy this is light work I did four one actually three times so I did it first time when I was 10 years old in Nigeria Bell's boarding school and then when I moved to Ghana for about a year and a bit I had to do no about yeah a year and a bit I had to do primary six and then form one again and then when I moved to New Zealand I had to do form one again then I SKT form two and then went straight to form three cuz it was I just kept they were like oh he's too young you know he can't in each country was like oh he's too young to be in form one so yeah uh but I wasn't like I wasn't the most academically gifted kid I'm smart but I'm smart in different ways yeah when um when I was reading about your story The the other part that really resonated with me was we we came from Botswana and we moved to a place
called Plymouth in Dev and KL which is like a Farmland it's like if you go yeah 4 hours into the the end of the country that way where it's all cows and Fields and all white people yeah that's where we moved and we're the only black family my mom's Nigerian yeah and um that process of trying to figure out why I was different to my CL classmates and why we were poorer and all these I always said I was I never realized I was black till I left Nigeria yeah and it's not that I didn't know my skin tone it's just like I never knew like it was a problem you know I never knew like people would you know I guess discriminate against me because of my skin tone and it was weird for me it was really weird for me to kind of like almost like another type of culture shock like uh the one I used was an example was this kid who kept on riding by my house in the weekend from school and we just like Hur insult s you know at me at my house in my house in the weekend he took time out of his [ __ ] day on a Saturday like go back to your country black and and then drive by again say oh you black this you blah blah blah I was like I liter I was just like did I do something to this kid I know his name even I remember his name not his last name but I was just like what the [ __ ] like what did I do to this kid to like did I did I do something and then that Monday was it the Monday or Tuesday the following week he pulls up to me he like what a black boy and I was having a bad day already and this is after like lunchtime when it was about to end and he pushed me and I remember just wailing on him just threw him to his C block beat his ass through his B Block beat his ass and I just I was crying the whole time just beating him up and I wasn't a fighter back then but I was just fed up and pissed off like who the [ __ ] is this kid like first of all you harass me all weekend and then at school you're harassing me yeah he never did that again after that yeah what was your relationship like with your race at that point cuz I I got to be honest started like relaxing my hair and I started I did and I was trying to I was trying to be white I was trying to be fit in like there was a point even like I start to try and talk like the Kiwi kids I try to like use the same slang I still do but like just cuz I'm
part of the culture but like I really try to like fit in fit in and I don't what you mean about relax I was relaxing my hair cuz I thought it was cool you know it wasn't because I was trying to fit in but there was bits and pieces well I was just like man cuz everyone just wants to belong you know especially as kids you know you just want to be part of a tribe or fit in but then yeah when it took me a while to realize that I wasn't meant to fit in like guys like us we're not meant to fit in we meant to stand out So eventually I had to kind of stand it took me a while to kind of learn how to stand 10 toes deep in my own light but yeah I was there at one point you know trying to fit in and trying to make sure almost like even during lunchtime if I wanted to go to the TU shop right I would take the long way I would like a rat or Mouse I would Scurry along the edges of the school so I don't get a [ __ ] with and it would take longer twice as long three times as long but at least I didn't have to just walk through and get [ __ ] with you know on the way to the Talk Shop or something cuz I spent most of my time in the library during lunchtimes um I think in form three yeah just cuz safe in the library what do you mean by getting [ __ ] with what would happen if you walk directly to the Tuck Shop I know some I just throw an Apple at you or you know something stupid like someone might run up behind you in town down trap you you know uh or trip you or just chase you try to beat you up for fun and I know kids are stupid you know you I was in a boy school as well so you know it's all these boys with I know like just pent up emotions and unresolve Trauma and don't know what to do with the new found hormones and it's just like like little chimps and yeah see that's s i I know yeah definitely so it's like yeah uh we didn't know I for me as just yeah as an adult now I I look at it I'm just like man we didn't know what the [ __ ] we were doing like who who led us like who let us outside you know but um it's all part of the learning experience I feel it's all part of growing pains like I know when I have kids I know exactly what I'm going to tell them uh how to handle themselves if if you know what I mean what are you gonna tell them well one of the ones is
hit hard hit first to be honest like I don't care like this whole thing I remember like you know oh don't don't hit them first you you know like if they touch you then you I'm like nah [ __ ] all that cuz the first punch matters the first punch matters so if someone like you know is talking to me and pushing me around pushing me around smack them like they'll learn first like firsthand like okay don't [ __ ] with that kid even if you might win at least he's not going to be a like make it not easy for them to [ __ ] with you you know what I mean so that's one thing I'm I'm definitely going to teach my kids it's like to just make sure you're [ __ ] unfuckable with yeah when I look back at my early years and you know having studied a bit of childhood psychology I realized how like formative and important those ear years are and we we're basically as adults like living out the stories we told ourselves about ourselves as kids and seeking validation from all the things that childood traas and yeah what so what what was left behind as you became an ad lot a lot one thing okay I want to go deep definitely being a kid that moved from Niger to New Zealand right and trying to fit in I ended up being a people pleaser as a kid I didn't realize that because I'm trying to fit in I'm trying to please everyone and then you don't realize how that follows you into adult life so there was times and it's still once in a while You' be surprised it rares its ugly head but I'm able to identify that monster now and I'm just like right I know what that is boom and I kill it straight away so I've learned that over years though but then that people please are still still a part of me you know cuz it was a way of surviving you know I'll just make sure these guys all cool don't [ __ ] with me I you know and I just kind of appease them yeah that's one thing definitely that that was the result of just I guess trying to fit in it's just people pleasing and it's not it's not the best way to live it's not the best way to live because you can't make everyone happy and someone's always going to find something wrong with what you're doing or how you're living or whatever so yeah I it took me a long time but eventually I got to the point where I just don't I really don't care what anyone else
thinks apart from those who I give a [ __ ] about I care what they think but anyone else who is's not really I guess I don't have any emotional attachment to [ __ ] them like Bernie ma said [ __ ] them yeah and when you say people pleasing to be to be to be specific in the examples of you being a people pleaser do you mean on social media or like to the publicated or you mean no no before social media this is when I was a kid like in high school people pleas IE in the sense of like you know um son ask you to do something you might not want to do it but you'll do it just cuz you just just sure you want to fit in cuz that guy you know he you know I guess he's one of the first 15 jocks who play rugby or whatever and you just like oh you know I I I'll do what he says just cuz you want to get that it's almost like clout or social currency you know what I mean so yeah things like that but um yeah it took me a long time like I said to learn and realize those things this is a lot of self-reflection years of self-reflection and realizing because a lot of people don't even realize they're running on old you know childhood trauma like a lot of everyone is so you have to find a way to sit down and just access that with yourself through therapy is one of the best ways and then you just work it's like reverse engineering like where does that come from you know why why am I like that why am I why do I have that attitude why do I think like that and then yeah you and your therapist kind of work that back and realize you know where that comes from as I was reading through your story and you know you sit here as this unbelievable UFC champion and then as I read through your story there's all these little subtle hints of what almost sounds a bit like impostor syndrome at certain times like this guy not believing that he's deserving of what he's achieved and it's it really sits in contradiction to the guy that did that back flip coming out against Rob wh so I'm like where did that come from tell me about that um I think some of just same thing trauma childhood trauma some of that stuff um I've dealt with it very well now to the point where it's like there was time s um I Ed an example when uh I think who I I was speaking the Forbes not long ago and we we dived into this a
little bit so when I when I beat Rob right I wanted my gifts to myself I bought myself a McLaren 720s nice and I um the first day I got it I remember I drove to the gym um this is at Peak you know time at the gym maybe six 5:30 p.m. or whatever and I didn't park it at the front of the gym I parked it at the back of the gym and I show my teammates like my close close actual teammates not the people that go to the gym cuz sometimes a lot of people like to be like I'm M Ro teammate it's like no you just go to the same gym as me doesn't mean we're teammates so I parked it at the back of the gym and then after my teammates finished working I was like yo come check this out and I showed them and I was like like [ __ ] look at this [ __ ] like cuz they know how the work I put in I work hard but then I'm like man I'm not the I'm not the best student in the gym so imagine if I can do this imagine what they can do so I kind of just just to share the share my joy and then you know unfortunately especially in New Zealand there's this tall puppy syndrome and is that green ey monster and I've been that kid so it's easy for me to recognize it on other people when you've when you've had it with yourself um so someone said something you know I must be nice and I started to hear Rumblings of I know it happens uh you for me it was the same thing I was just like man I didn't expect that from someone that I cared about to to have that kind of rhetoric like uh and then I heard like you know maybe you know like other people they're more deserving people what I know yeah and they kind of just piss having people yeah at the gym because they work harder than me right right right and like I said I didn't if I wanted to flex I would have parked it in the front of the gym like you know look at my new Whip and just to like Flex and just show off or whatever but no I parked in the back of the gym where only like seven people saw it and the seven people that I really give a [ __ ] about and I wanted them to see like look look at this [ __ ] like [ __ ] if I can do this imagine what you can do so when I heard that I didn't drive it for a week I just I just felt [ __ ] driving it I remember driving at home and I just felt like [ __ ] I just poed it in the garage and I just left it
there for a week I didn't drive it because I felt like I I let those words from that person I gave a [ __ ] about seep into me and then it sat with me and then I just felt like oh yeah mean I don't deserve it you know you know other people work harder than me at the gym this and that r r ra but then it took like I said about a week over that week cuz I mean was a [ __ ] sick car I literally didn't drive for a week and got to the point that I realized during that week that towards the end like well that's subjective if they don't think I deserve it that's their own opinion that's subjective that's what they believe I don't have to believe that and like you said that is that that impostor syndrome things start to creep in I was like you know maybe they don't think I deserve it but one thing no one can ever take away from me is that I earned it every [ __ ] thing I have I earned it and I earned this [ __ ] Whip and I have a right to drive this thing and flex and once I got over that hurdle in my head boom I was in that [ __ ] and I was whipping it around but yeah it's like that in aposta syndrome thing creep crept in when I heard that from and it was through the grapevine as well but then I was from someone I really like I I was like man why would he say that I just I just and then people learn this is over now it's a long time ago you know this is wh it could fight but it's something it said more about them than it does about me you know what I mean it it says more about them than it does about me so I shouldn't have let that affect me at all but I did because I give a [ __ ] what that person thought because they a close person to me and unfortunately sometimes it's the ones close to you that will hurt you with that yeah there's something really remarkably sort of liberating and amazing to hear a UFC champion talking about imposter syndrome because it really does feel like it feels like there's no and this is I know this is an obvious misconception it really doesn't feel like someone with your swag and confidence could feel those things um you talked there about therapy as well and when you spoke to to Joe Rogan about therapy and about after your UFC debut yeah that swell you went through I wrote about this in my book because I I got
really compelled by the this really bizarre thing that happened in my life when my company joined the stock market and I'm sat in my room in Manchester and it it's wor 300 million and I'm figuring out how much money that means I've got and it feeling like the worst day of my life and then when I you know heard you talking a little bit about how you felt after your UFC fight hiding in the toilet when people are pestering you to ask you questions and that annoying dude sitting down next to you when you tried to yeah after my UFC debut uh the Afterparty it was after the fight it's always like I said I get pulled in so many different directions and it's just like it was my first time in the UFC so I I was my first time experiencing all that and it's like coffee it's a stimulant coffee is a stimulant so after your UFC debut and you sh like the way I did you know I I I stole the show I came in there and I stole the show and it was just like cameras this oh we need you to interview this oh come talk to this person talk to this person and then I didn't get time to myself till I got back home and when I was back home and I was in my own house and finally away from all the noise and it's just like and then I remember it's like coffee you drink coffee you're you got the coffee high and then you crash so it's literally that like just lack of the stimulant and I just crashed I was like why am I sad I found myself being really sad and I remember it's probably on my old phone me documenting my recovery cuz I was just like like video diaries that is I was like why am I sad like I made six figures in my UFC debut that's including the bonus as well yeah and I'm just like there's no need to be sad I [ __ ] kill that [ __ ] and that's when I started to kind of like take therapy seriously because I like okay this is not I'm not going to be one of these bad statistics you know that you hear about in the in in entertainment so yeah I um I had to I guess take take a take a hard look at myself but then therapy help with that because then you find the right person who can kind of help you I guess figure you out and all they do is just ask you the right questions
and then show you I guess yourself yeah can you because I heard you say that you picked up tools from therapy that helped you sort of navigate all of that attention in this new position you were in what were the tools oh so um it wasn't until I fought brunon that I was able to go back home and just kind of like um I keep saying it's like I came back from prison uh what do you call it like weave back into society regular life normally you know it was until that was my fourth UFC fight but then each fight after that same thing I go back home and I just like have this crash and I had to realize okay this this is something that I can't have happen constantly CU it's not healthy a tool I can say that helped me um one of the ones that helped was charlamagne's book at the time shook once anxiety playing tricks on me I read that during the I finished reading that actually during the um Brunson fight that fight week I finished reading that and that I I I got a lot of gems from that book but from therapy one from therapy from my own experience is talking to myself the selft talk because you have we all have negative selft talk but looking in the mirror and talking to yourself you know speaking to yourself like you would to someone you're giving advice to because when you look in the mirr you humanize yourself and I start to like you know just have a conversation with myself even like like G myself up if I want to Big myself up things like that so that's a tool that I feel like is really underrated it looks crazy you know standing in front of the mirror and talking to yourself but it's a really powerful tool if you know how to use it right Fighters don't talk much about their mental health I think Whitaker did the other day and you you kind of thanked him and applauded him for doing that for being yeah I mean I put him in a dark place after that first fight and I understand because guess what he was trying to do the same thing to me um my guy respect is um Tyson Fury because he's he's about that you know to ends like and how dark he went he went to like the depths of Hell in his own head and then he's risen above it and he says like he battles with every day I feel like look there's your spectrum of physical health is super healthy super ill if you do not
look after yourself and your physical health you're going to get physically ill same way if you don't look after your mental health you're going to get mentally ill so I feel like if you're it's like someone saying like you know oh I don't go to therapy [ __ ] all that [ __ ] no it's like well do you take vitamins do you go to the hospital it's not something to be you know sh like H whatever from it's I feel like you should look after your mental health the same way you look after your physical health so once I learned how powerful that was I'm always on top of it I slip up obviously because I'm human and I get ill but yeah I always make sure I'm I'm on point though was that your hardest moment with your mental health after that UFC debut in your recollection not my hardest I think 2013 was my Great Depression there was a time in 2013 that life was just [Music] like that's spiraling bad it's early 2013 I remember at the time my girl left me the business I was working with was failing work was [ __ ] um I had my jaob broken in 2012 and I wasn't able to fight so I really had no like not purpose but like something that I was looking forward to you know there was a time during that 2013 there was a time where I was walking mly home one time and I remember this is when I was really broke and I remember just looking in this dairy or like this corner store and I was just like I wish I could just go in there and be like look just give me the money you have I don't want to hurt you but just give me and I remember just like it was a fleeting thought and I was like man and that made me empathize with people I was like this is why some of them do it they just have no other choice obviously I'm not going to do it because I'm I'm not an idiot but I realized like this is why some people do what they do because they have no choice they just want to eat I was lucky enough that no matter how bad it got I always have my parents supporting me if I hit my dad dad can you please just loow me a 100 bucks can you just give me 200 books d d they would always support me and I never went to them often but whenever I need to they were always there for me so I never had to go to that point where I was and I would have never anyway cuz I'm not
stupid you you refer to that moment as your your Great Depression yeah 2013 what got you out of that Great Depression to be honest once I had my fight so then I fought in June I believe that year finally after six or seven months cuz I had to take time off after the surgery fighting and then I realized my purpose again like okay I know what I want to do so I didn't fight for a long time cuz it was yeah it was just really it was dark times not you know something you're passionate about something you I what I moved to Oakland to do and it got taken away from me so then I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do and then once I got it back it just kind of reated to myself like I know who I am I know who the [ __ ] I am so yeah there's something really sort of telling about that that your lowest moment was when you lost so much you lost connection in terms of your girlfriend and you lost orientation and purpose and something to a for in your life yeah and you see that in young men I mean the the the single biggest killer of men in this country under 45 is themselves yeah it's mad and it's like how do we get young men to have a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives in the modern world how do we get that back into them and it's funnily enough I go to the gym around the corner I could go to some Posh gym I go to the gym like down there in the in the ends it's like 15 pounds a month and it's all black and Asian young men and when I'm in the gym I'm looking around and I'm sat there thinking like cuz now I'm on the Dragon's Den they they come up to me sometimes but before that I was thinking like the probably the best thing I could do to help um with suicide rates in this country other than having these kind of conversations is like put loads of [ __ ] gemms in this country yeah oh yeah you know what I mean 100% I feel like what we were talking about earlier about young men kids especially when they become adolescents and they don't know what to do with all this new hormones they're just filling up their bodies and stuff like that they need an outlet even for me I've said after this game's done after I'm done with this fighting [ __ ] when I have a family at least a couple of times a year I need to do something that's going to feel like I'm about to die I feel like I just need to do something that's just going to
just I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie so I need to do something that's going to just like tame the Beast if not I just feel like it's going to seep in other ways I I wouldn't want it to in my life you know so I need to find a way to tame the Beast and I feel like this does martial arts what there a quote make Savage of the body and civilize the Mind something like that you know what I mean especially as young men honestly like they want to like you know sometimes people want to kind of like discredit um athleticism or you know working out or you're just a jock or this and that I hate jocks I was never a jock in school so I have a really really special place in my heart for them but um yeah for me I just feel like just being able to own your masculinity in a way that's not not toxic I'm not talking toxic masculinity but just being able to just like work work out and a place where you can be a man and just like throw weights around or I like I love rolling with my boys like there's some I I love lifting even during lockdown I was lifting on lot but there's something to be said when I have a guy like my teammate Brad Rell or caros or blood diamond you know on my back trying to choke me out and then you know 3 two 1 go and I have to fight the choke something Primal about that that just activates this part of my brain that I'm just like [ __ ] it just yeah it gets me going quick one as the seasons have begun to change so has my diet and um right now I'm just going to be completely honest with you I'm starting to think a lot about slimming down a little bit because over the last couple of probably the last four or five months my diet has been pretty bad um and it started to show a little bit really over the last two months I go to the gym about 80% of the time so I track it with 10 of my friends in a WhatsApp group in this tracker online that we all use together we call it Fitness blockchain and I'm currently at 81% um so 8 1% of the days I've done a workout in the last 150 days right so I'm going to the gym about six times a week that's been a little bit impacted by the DI of a live tour but I'm trying to stick to it and so one of the things I'm doing now to reduce my calorie intake and trying to get back to being nutritionally complete in all I eat is I'm having the hu protein shake thank
you hu for making a product that I actually like The Salted Caramel is my favorite I've got the banana one here which is the one my girlfriend likes but for me salted caramel is the one do you do you worry about that when when all is said and done like you're you're going to have these crazy moments of having like 60,000 people in this Arena and coming out doing these like I'm ready for it yeah and then ready for it the high of that the adrenaline high of that when that's all when you're you know when you're done with this game you said you know when you lose the Love of the Game or whatever it is did you do you P do you Ponder what that moment would be like for you a little bit but I I'm I'm ready for it in the sense that I'm not attached to this I've already I know I'm more than fighting fighting there's more to life than fighting so I'm not like one of these guys who is attached like you know I don't even know where my belt is right now to be honest I really don't know I'm not attached to it I know I'm the [ __ ] Champ I know who I am I know who I am and I'm a champ without the belt it's just a fancy TI I've said that from the jump but I'm not attached to it to the sense that it's my identity that this is all I am so when it's all said and done and I'm you know I'm not the UFC middlewood champ anymore I'm retired I'm not going to be like who who am I I know who I am without the belt so that's the that's the blessing in that but a lot of people don't a lot of people like you see them walk around with the belt constantly and they just they attached to that like that's who they are so when it's gone and it's said and done that's why a lot of people who are supposed to be retired still end up talking to the media and finding their way to get their um name in the in this you know in the spotlight because they they're addicted to that it's addicting trust me I've been there I've felt it it's addicting attention that's that's a social currency now attention even at the highest level Fame clout this is all these are these are tangible things I've seen it I've seen it one it do to people man funny story I saw this um when I was in New York I fought Brunson right that week I saw this YouTube video of a guy in Times Square in New York he was there
regular easy didn't you know just walking around didn't get bothered and then he went there at night time hide Entourage hide camera people dressed apart that clip people are like stting to like who's this guy fake famous dude exactly fake famous guy and they're like oh and then the camera guy ask him so how do you know uh David and someone be like U I heard his last album it was pretty good I heard a single on the radio or I saw him in spider people just lie through their teeth you know and just say whatever they think he is and it's like you know you obviously don't know the guy you can just say oh I don't know who he is you know and I've had that so when that day that that that week in in New York I was doing a shoot for my brand engage in Times Square I had Jeff and like three other cameras on me so there's like four cameras on me he sees people starting to gather around like oh who's this guy and then some people recognize me they start taking pictures and then before I knew it I started finding people who didn't even know me yeah and they're just like I just want to take a picture have you ever had someone come up to you had this when we went to the podcast Awards Y and they go hi um who are you and I go oh um dragon from Dragon then they go brao okay oh man the worst one I remember was um I've used this story a few times but uh I was at this bar in Auckland and there was a a table of like four Dudes and two chicks and I could tell one of the chick was like the center of attention so when I came in the guys were just like no [ __ ] way stop in what the [ __ ] they were just showing me love and all that and I could see I could feel her energy and I could see her from the corner of my eye just like and then she came up she's like excuse me but who you I just like H don't worry baby it's all good I was talking to one of the guys taking photos and I then she came back again trying to talk to me I was just like and then she came forc me this time he like excuse me why is everyone giving a [ __ ] who are you I don't know who you are and I was like baby I don't know who you are I just F her off I was like I don't care you don't know who I am you know but like the fact that she wanted to let me
know that she didn't know who I was like it was going to hurt my feelings I was and I was just like baby I don't know who you are and I remember her face Ji she's not used to being treated like that exactly so I'm like I don't care I I forget who I am all the time you know but the fact that she thought like it would actually hurt my feelings for her not know who I'm like who the [ __ ] are you you know how how how have you made sense with all this this noise when you you walk through places [ __ ] the noise but the the fame like what's your relationship relationship with it I was thinking about this the other night and I was talking to one of my friends and I was thinking for me it's kind of just this thing that's happening outside of me and I'm observing it like a spectator I like that perspective there's no book on this [ __ ] so I've always said like [ __ ] the fame but I love the perks I love the perks of Fame but I just I don't like being famous you know what I mean have you seen free Britney yeah yeah yeah yeah brother there was a bit in that that was one of my like I was getting anxiety watching the first half of that there was a bit she was driving and then she ran through these red lights and the guys were like look at her she's crazy I'm like yeah cuz you're [ __ ] chasing her you're chasing her she's trying to get the [ __ ] away from you and you're calling her crazy man that whole thing just the way she when she was trying to buy gas and everyone was just on her H I even cringe thinking about it because I'm just like I would hate I would have I would have hate to be in that position especially like to be with your family like your family doing that to you that's crazy but yeah um Fame it's not it's not no one's supposed to be famous it's not a thing especially with all these gadgets now we're not supposed to have these we're not supposed to have um people who don't do [ __ ] with their lives have such a loud voice and droves being able to tell us because back in the day I saw this quote on Instagram um yes uh maybe last week or this week about like you know back in the day before social media you only heard from doers you heard from people who are actually doing [ __ ] you rarely
heard from complainers but now complainers are the ones you hear from the most because they finally have a voice and they they can be anonymous and hide behind their their anonymity so yeah they're the ones who have the big the big voice now and the doers are just doing so people start to eventually believe the complainers it's a weird Paradox shift now in this day and AG so like I said you have to be able to sift through the noise and I have my ways of doing that and I guess you'd also only hear if you go back even further from people in your tribe exactly we only was that we're only supposed to have like certain amount of people we associate with as as the human animal but then like social media and the connectivity we have now has just made us connected to the whole world made the world a small place that you can just even confirmation bias that's another thing we have to be careful about like and I I make sure cuz I follow certain people on Instagram that I don't necessarily agree with but I follow them just to like hear the other side I want to know amen just to like cuz I don't want to be surrounded by Yes Men or people like oh I only follow you know cuz this tells me what I need to know what I want to hear exactly so now I I follow certain people just cuz I'm like uh they make me feel a certain way but I'm like they're not wrong though you know and it's just different ideas it's not wrong or right so different ideologies but I'm just like you know what I'll tap into that just so I can at least be aware of the other side what they're thinking yeah and that kind of brings me to what I heard you say about Rogan when you defended him because Rogan's one of those people for me as well like I can listen to his shows and his his his podcast and stuff and I don't have to agree with everything but there's a I don't have to agree with his guest what it means but there's a diversity of opinion so I can and I feel like people these days as we've all observed they don't want to hear anything outside of their own it's it's either left or right and it's the other side is wrong and if and there's nothing in the middle and if you say one thing that represents the other side like they in a box away but that's the thing I'm I'm like the this whole [ __ ] situation we have with
over now and what we're doing in society it's strange times man cuz people adj just the human animal is weird it's a weird [ __ ] Spees cuz individually we can be smart but when we in droves just just just dummies just a bunch of dummies and droves sometimes I'm like how can a smart person have this idea about this when you know what's really happening you really it's like if you if you really step away from it like you said just remove yourself from situation look at it from a third person as some Observer just watch it and just be like I know what that is but then somehow the smartest people I know sometimes just have the weirdest way of looking at the world and I try not to hold it against them because I'm like I know you you're a smart person but maybe the way you were brought up or your own childhood trauma again can kind of skew the way you look at the world so I never hold it against them I just kind of like it's not personal it's not about me it's about them so just observe but yeah it's weird man very weird very strange and they're just I guess trying to fit in too they're trying to be part of a tribe exactly tribe yeah so it's like more mentality even with um I remember when Andrew Schultz said recently he's like on one of his podcasts he said he regrets getting the vaccine and yeah he said he wishes he never did what like people I find this really strange that people like people don't want to get duped people don't want to get duped people hate feeling like they go had M and if people if someone felt like oh you know they they got duped they kind of want to get people into their tribe so can they can you know we've got you on our side I'm I don't care what side you're on I literally don't care whether you want to do this or you do that all I care about is how you treat people how you treat the people around you the people you interact with but nah this damn age like I find people asking me the strangest questions like and then they'll base their how they treat you based on that response like are you vaccinated that was one of the weirdest one I was like why do you care yeah what does that do for you well we need to decide who you are one decision we want to know what box to put you in I'm just like why so I like to [ __ ] with people and just like ah maybe am maybe I'm not
we'll find out but then they just like no but we need to know but you're yeah we need yeah who side are you on exactly I'm like why do you care yeah and this is the thing with division as well I've said like divide and conquer that's the easiest way to break a you know a nation or a group of people just divide them and separate them make them think that one is on the other side and this and that and make them fight amongst each other this how they've done it for years for centuries the oligarchs or the Illuminati or whatever you want to call it they divide and conquer this is how they get it done so why do you think like they're not doing that right now in so many different ways so many different ways I I consider myself to be someone that sits in the middle so like sometimes I agree I don't I don't [ __ ] with politics at all I don't so you know Nigerian parents my dad used to have CNN or BBC on the Telly all the [ __ ] time constantly just on repeat but I just don't watch the news I I literally don't listen to it um you know in New Zealand we used to have um like an update with this whole Co [ __ ] on Mondays I believe around 5:00 p.m I never once was like on a Monday like o when oh [ __ ] okay but everyone else is just like oh has have they made the announcement yeah I'm just like I get the I get it new secondhand I'm like what do they say oh cool are we allowed to cuz I just the rules didn't apply to me that's how I feel I just I really and I it's my ego talking I'm not talking the rules of the law I'm just talking like no matter what they say I can do or I can't do like example we were locked down for three months last year in August during that time there was things we weren't allowed to do like train I trained allegedly yeah but I found ways like I just felt like the rules didn't apply to me cuz I mean in the beginning of the pandemic trust me I was scared I was I didn't know what this [ __ ] [ __ ] would it felt like The Purge but then eventually after all the [ __ ] after a year and two years I kind of like okay like everyone else we we just knew what was going on there's some kind of other I guess agenda behind it that we have no [ __ ] idea about I'm not going
to act like I [ __ ] know but I just know this doesn't make sense to me it does not make sense to me that I don't want to get too deep into all that [ __ ] but like it literally didn't make sense to me the common sense was just not commoning it was not common enough so I was just like okay this is there's something going on here that I'm not [ __ ] with but I'm going to live my life the best way I know how in the lines of what I can allegedly I hear you when you said at the start about the cartwheel you said you know you just wanted to be authentically yourself and this kind of links to what we're saying now when I when I was I joined BBC 1 as a dragon I started thinking about how I defend myself from the ability been canceled either for the people that I speak to here yeah and one of the ways that I kind of concluded with my team was well if I'm always myself and I don't ever try and convince the press that I'm a good guy bro this is where this is the this is the Trap that a guy like John joose fell into cuz he was always like the pastor's son he was always like you know um after a fight I want to thank Jesus you know I want to be sponsored by Nike and you know all kids you know I want to be SE kids look up I want to be a good role model ra [ __ ] them kids [ __ ] all that [ __ ] you know what I mean I'm like bro people trying to say that oh you know my kid looks up to you I'm like raise your own damn kids raise your own damn kids you know like one thing after my UFC debut some gu so at my Afterparty I had this shirt right said good [ __ ] from engage classic sold still big seller and some guy oh straight up it was the beautiful shirt like and also was like a a play on a famous designer brand GC like yeah so we we sld those we still sell them heaps but um this guy came up to me and he was interviewing me at my own after party and I could see he was trying to set me up so then he's like oh so what do you yeah so what do you think a t-shirt like that sends what kind of messages it send I'm like what do you mean and he he thought he [ __ ] with the he [ __ ] with the wrong one this son so he's like what do you think that kind of shirt sends as a message to say for example a young a young kid who
looks up to you and I was just like oh really oh so what does that kid look look up to me for he's like well for being in your position as a what a fighter right yes so that kid just saw what I did about a few hours ago when I beat the [ __ ] out of that guy and he saw where I was take him he's like no no no I was like stay there and I can see him trying to find a way out so that kid just watched me beat this [ __ ] guy to a pulp in his own blood as he spat blood at me and I beat him in his own blood till the referee dragged me off him yeah oh really so what do you think is doing more damage to the kid is is is me doing that and as and the kid looking up to me for that or me wear in the Shir that just says good [ __ ] it's this whole [ __ ] culture of like stupid language games you can say that word and that's a bad word and this and that so and then I I can't remember how I flamed him but I flamed him there was a bit of an audience as well I flamed him badly he never released the the interview obviously because he had like the S but he thought he had me but he didn't realize he [ __ ] with the wrong one and I just turn him I was like I think me doing my job it does more damage to the kid for watching than me wearing a shirt that says good [ __ ] you know what I mean and I hate that the fact that we're playing these because even when I do I don't do New Zealand media anymore cuz they're too [ __ ] stupid for me and too like I did this morning show one time and I was talking I said something ask oh that's a swear swear JW swi I'm like what the [ __ ] do this high school I'm like I'm an adult I know you I've seen you at [ __ ] Pon Social Club drunk up your face I know what you do in the bathroom you know what I mean so I'm just like don't try and act like you're holier than th now and like oh you put that in the sweat J it's like this wh what what what game are we playing you're playing this stupid game it's like oh we can say these words but we can't say these words like you're an adult when the cameras go off I know how the [ __ ] you speak I know how you talk you know and it's like why we pretending we don't speak the way we do because of what because we're on TV it's just it Buggles me sometimes and I start to like what are we playing it's like it's it's it's so stupid as adults
we're adults like we we we talk this is how this is language we curse we swear but then when the TV comes oh you want to be proper and you know you must you be you know prestigious and speak I'm like nah [ __ ] all that [ __ ] man like let's let's speak the way we normally speak and be authentically ourselves so that's like Charlamagne say something he says Speak Your Truth so no one can no one can use your truth against you amen amen bro like trust me like I I'm able to get away with a lot of things I get away with because I never said I'm a saint I know myself I am a [ __ ] demon sometimes trust there's no good people there's no bad people people are just capable of great good and great evil you know what I mean but I just try to do more good than bad but I have done some bad things in my time cuz I'm a human being you know what I mean so when people try and I guess put you in a box like oh he's a good guy or he's this I'm like there's no good people there's no bad people we're just people and we're capable of great good and great evil that's it amen yeah I I in my head when you were saying that and you looked me in the eyes and went I'm I've been a demon sometimes I just had this image of Nigerian so that side is yeah yeah no but that's the thing so when I started this podcast I know I was going to be on BBC 1 at 9:00 p.m. on this very prig a show I was like by the way I used to shoplift pizzas to feed myself when I was broke I did this I did this I did this and you can there exactly right and you could almost in my head when you said that I could I was imagining the Press here just packing up their suitcases and [ __ ] off and being like we've got we can't use him bro TR we can't use this guy because he's not tried to he's not tried to tell us that he's he's not built this big hill of moral perfection so we got to go find you know we got go find they can't [ __ ] with me cuz you know why if like there's a reason I've stayed off TMZ I've never been on TMZ KN and wood never will for the wrong reasons but I mean one day if something happens I just happen to be on TMZ for the wrong reason i' be like whoopsie my bad I made a mistake but guess what I never told you I was perfect exactly normal I'm human being and so I'm just like that that that's my power is being vulnerable
with my faults you know I'm not going to say I've done this I've done that buty I just know I'm not I'm not perfect I'm a human being I make mistakes and it's okay to make mistakes the difference between me and some people is that I actually learn from my mistakes and I don't make the same mistakes over and over and over again in the public eye like some people dungs that's one that's a classic example obviously the same [ __ ] mistake we had a guest come on this podcast in December and um she said that she was making the point about everyone having the same 24 hours in the day this was kind of the quote she used and it became the number one story in this country for three days it trended number one on Twitter it was on hundreds of newspaper articles written about it because I think maybe her brand is one that is trying to be a role model so so she was a it was the number one trending topic in our country for three days the story that she said everyone has the same hours in the day oh right exactly so I came out and said by the way loads of my guests say that all the time why are you attacking that and then my next press event right I I wore a shirt that said 24 hours on it everyone clapped I didn't get canceled and I said am I canceled I wore a shirt and all the PS are there I said 20 24 hours in the shirt and this is what I'm this is my that was my attempt again to say by the way I'm not perfect and if you want to cancel me please do it now so I can get with my life yeah I'm still waiting they've tried they've tried me they they keep trying me I'm just like look it's hard to cancel someone when they actually don't give a [ __ ] I'm like I fight people for money that's what I do for a job I beat people up for a shitload of money if you really want to take my political views or my moral views into consideration and say this and that that's on you I'm like this is I'm not I never said I'm a saint I'm not a [ __ ] politician I don't everyone I don't feel like I have anything to hide like I said I put everything not everything but like I put things out there that I probably shouldn't sometimes but that's my way of being vulnerable to the point where I'm just like this is me take it or leave it but I feel like me doing that attracts the people who can re relate who can
resonate and I feel like they gravitate towards me you don't talk about your relationships your romantic relationships never I keep that away nah is it because protecting the person or prot or look this world one thing I've seen is they'll build you up right they'll build you up and then tear you down like free Britney um Miley Cyrus Justin Bieber all these people I've seen it happen so many times so and also this world just takes they just take take when I have kids you'll never know the world would never know their face I don't I'm even contemplating if I still give them my last name because I don't want to put that pressure on them because uh even my my siblings sometimes they hate it as well where it's like you know oh oh this is um this is d this is Israel's brother or El is um it's Deborah this is Israel's sister or Stalin the sister and they're like oh my name's Deborah you know like I don't want to put that on them same thing on my relationships that's certain things I protect cuz I value them so I keep them safe because the world do just try and take take take and that's one that's one thing everyone wants to like know what's he doing who's he with apparently I'm gay as well because of my nails and my pearl necklaces and all that stuff so I'm just like let him talk it's fun but have you found it difficult because of the success and the meteoric rise and the money and the increased attention to to navigate being good in that department and also your obsession with becoming the man you are today which did feel like an obsession when I was reading about your story sleeping in the gym yeah like how does one do that and also balance out having personal life that's regular I'm I'm a human being and I have feelings you know so I'm an empath as well I'm yeah I'm born on the cusp so I'm like I say I'm a cancer Leo I'm hard and soft like a semi chub you know introvert extrovert exactly my guy so a lot of people don't realize that about myself like when it's time to like go in my in my in my crab hole I just find my way I'm like right Leave Me This I love my friends because my close friends I can we can do this for hours and just yawn and talk [ __ ] and make fun of each other and just show each other love but then we can spend
the next three hours just sitting in the same room being on my phone or watching TV or listen to a podcast and not say a damn word and just enjoy each other's space I love that I love that feeling but um yeah I'm a person who who feels a lot so I like to protect that I like to keep that really guarded cuz like I said the world will take that away from you man and I feel like people ruin things people especially like this this this is not supposed to happen the world I'm being under a microscope and everyone watching what I'm doing so certain I just I feel like I just have to really protect cuz I don't want the world to take that away from me cuz they just take take my cat died um maybe two years ago the morning she died right I was I think I was feeling gas up in the afternoon and some guy came up while I'm feeling gas and goes brother bro can you talk to my cousin real quick he's a big fan I'm just like man bro my cat just died this morning man I'm not kny the mood and I remember the look on his face it's like oh all good all good whatever and I was like give me the phone I was said hello and this is as I'm filling gas actively and I was like what the f hold up bro no phones like what what if I spontaneously C but they don't care they just want to have their moment they want to take they want to take they want to take so that's why if I'm having dinner with my family if I'm on a date if I'm in the intimate moment people start to like bro I don't want to be that guy but I'm like but you're being that guy you're being that guy you say you don't want to be that guy but you're being that guy that's people say I'm not a racist I got oh yeah bro man I hate to be that guy but can I I'm like but you're being that guy you hate to be that guy boy you're doing it right now and it's like I'll be having lunch with you and within 10 minutes we'll get Stu probably like six times with you I'm probably if we if we at lunch in London we probably not even have a chance to talk but they don't care they just want to get their picture and put on their [ __ ] social media with [ __ ] 20 followers like look champ like whatever I'm just like no let me have my moment I'm I'm and I've learned this I okay my experience with this and I always bring this up whenever I see him on on on TV
or here is raps most deaf I see most deaf in common in Auckland Airport and they're having a conversation by the by the back Carousel and I I want to fight in Adela and I'm coming back home I have my trophy and I was like yo I want to get a picture and I pull up to him I'm like hey what's up most big fan he's like hey brother just no photos today man I was like yeah oh good no wor it's easy now remember I was a bit sad but I understood I understood cuz they were in a bidd in the middle of a conversation actively talking I should have had the etiquette to realize like just they talking leave them alone but this is the thing no one I feel like it's learned behavior as well this one thing because everyone thinks that you're a biggest fan it's the same rhetoric I I know the lines they're going to say each time but like it's a learn beh havior I don't know I think it's maybe from TV or Disney or whatever people feel like when when you meet someone you really you're a fan of you yell at them to let them know how much of a fan you are and you show them by just shaking and I honestly think it's learn Behavior because I'm sometimes I'm I'm like there's no need for all this I'll be at like a three I'm chilling at a two or three at a park and so no [ __ ] way oh my God ah I'm just like okay like after the Whitaker fight the first one I remember after that whole the fight after the Afterparty on the way back to the uh back to New Zealand I remember at the airport I put out a story just saying like look if you see me at the airport or traveling just approach me lightly cuz if you come at me with all this energy I'll walk away I put that on my story just cuz I was like I'll walk away cuz my capacity to deal with with high energy right now was just how are you feeling I was just drained I was drained so I was just I just want to go home and chill so I remember at the airport I just I was before at the hotel I put at before I went to the airport I just put that out there on the store just to be like look don't come at me with all this [ __ ] CU it's too much for me to deal with right now so if you come at me just like hey what's up bro big fan can I take a photo that's cool and I remember that fight week the week before the fight week I realized and I had an epiphany I realized I don't have to match
everyone's energy because that was a problem I used to like if you're a fan you meet me I feel hey even if I met like I said my cat just died then I'd have to like raise my level up hey what's up bro hey do the whole song and dance and all that [ __ ] but I'm like N I don't have to match everyone's energy cuz guess what hard pill to swallow I'm not excited to meet you as much as you are to meet me it's just a hard pill to swallow and it's just my everyday life I'm not excited to meet you as you are to meet me and that's okay because this is my life this is how I deal with things so once I once I kind of like go over that hump I was like I don't have to match everyone's energy so if someone comes at me at a 10 I don't have to raise my level up I could I'm just chilling I'm listening to a podcast I can just pause and be like hey what's up man how you doing and if they feel like that's a [ __ ] interaction cool that's their prerogative I don't care but if I'm if you met me last night like [ __ ] I'm in the streets in London last night I'm showing love to everyone I'm dancing I'm talking to people I'm I'm Mr you know Mr area boy but that's a time and place I'm taking pictures and you know all that kind of stuff there's a time and place if you catch me at the right time and place [ __ ] yeah I'll show you love but I hate when people get entitled and think they just I want to take I want to take so that's why I keep yeah quick one as you might know crafted are one of the sponsors of this podcast and they make really meaningful pieces of jewelry this lion piece they've made I wear all the time along with the little time piece the sandtimer that I wear often and the line piece you might have seen Conor McGregor has a similar piece which was custom made for him for me it represents courage and if you walk through my house the house that I'm in right now if you walk six feet in that direction you'll see a huge lion portrait if you go upstairs you'll see a lion portrait if you look behind me on the Shelf near the top there you'll see a lion as well the reason my house and my life is surrounded by lions is because they represent courage calmness and that tenacity that I've applied to my business success to my professional life and everything in between for me the
lion has always been an animal that can be almost a bit of a contradiction they are so loving and so caring of their own and can be powerful and courageous when necessary in order to achieve what they want to achieve so if you like me are a big fan of Courage bravery ambition while also being calm and composed check out this line piece and let me know if you get it and you keep your boys and your the people you came up with close right tell me about the import how how much you realized the importance of that as you've risen to this place you know to keep the day ones around you and stuff like that I mean you you'll know this it's Lonely at the Top you know but it's not if you bring the right people with you the people that came up with you the people that you know love you for you you know the people that know you from before you had money before you were famous you know so um I like to have them around to keep me grounded to keep me grounded and just make sure I'm I'm solid cuz they knew me before any of this [ __ ] happens and you know it's hard cuz sometimes you I've I have fallen into the Trap of having people who just agree with me yes man you know and even my boy chance I'm glad like I have him around cuz sometimes I'm crazy I don't always have the best ideas and I'll have an idea he'll be like nah like okay cool I just needed someone to tell me no but I'll put it out there boy if he's like nah we're not doing that I'm okay cool cuz then it just helps me but if I have people around me who was like okay sure then eventually it just makes me more powerful I just to think like oh yeah you know I'm the [ __ ] I can say whatever I want and that's not that's not healthy man I don't think that's healthy for the ego you know yeah well I just like having people like that around me because I feel like yeah they keep me grinding and just remind me where I come from you know they're and there's so many stories man each of my friends in my group chat I've known each of them over 10 years but well over 10 years man then we all have stories we can kind of share from back in the day that just just remind me where I come from from yeah and the other thing that happens is when you reach what the heights you've reached in your profession is we talked about it then you have this other um this other
attention which is from women that might want you for the wrong reasons yeah my mom always warns me about this have a baby bu my mom's trying to tell me like you know when are you going to settle down when are you going to find a nice [ __ ] just settle yeah she wants me to be with a Nigerian woman she doesn't like I Don't Settle yeah I don't settle so for me that that's something I guess you just you just have to take it by case-by casee basis yeah Case by case bases cuz you do find people who just some people play the long game put it that way I've had people play the long game with me even recently it's just like yeah you know they there's love there and all that kind of stuff but they play a long game because they see the value and it's not just what you it's just what you bring to the table and they get entitled you know and I feel like that's that's not the way you want to be when you have someone you know that's that you're romantically in love with or involved with it's like you don't want to be competing with them or have them feel entitled to what you have I'm like yo you just got here I beam made it the [ __ ] you talking about what do you bring to the table I bought the [ __ ] table what values are you looking for do you look for in in that kind of person kind I just like someone who's caring who gives a [ __ ] who really cares like and who wants nothing from me that's the thing it's hard to find but someone who needs nothing I even for me I don't even celebrate my birthday and I'm hard to buy gifts for cuz I'm not really a material I love material things obviously but nice watch yeah thank you I'm sure you know we work yeah now but yeah like I'm not a material person but I do like material things but it's hard to buy gifts for me because I found this as well with my rich friends when I was coming up it was hard to buy gifts for them when someone you they able to buy whatever they want so but in that in that I just look for someone who's who's who's caring someone who really gives a [ __ ] that's the main thing do you give a [ __ ] about me yeah and you're going to have a family one day of course no that's my that's definitely one of my main goals after this I don't want to be that Dad that's like you know I wake up see my kids for
like 30 minutes before I go to work and then when I finish work I see them like for hour hour and a half maybe while I'm tired no I'm going to make sure I'm there from the ages of zero to five or six I'm going to be like what do you want to do today like literally what do you want to and I feel honestly [ __ ] school I don't know why we still even have this whole [ __ ] this this outdated concept of school to just build workers cuz we know what the [ __ ] school was made for why we pretending we know school was created to create workers do you still know I don't what the [ __ ] is X no [ __ ] idea bro I'm still waiting still I I'm like when have I in my life as an adult known what the [ __ ] X is no [ __ ] idea a lot of useless information gonna passed on to me in school and I sucked at school because I was [ __ ] at memorizing same I didn't really learn anything dropouts as we do cheers drop out my man school doesn't teach you much honestly teaches you the basics I understand maths yes english comprehension all that kind of stuff but when you come to like social studies and algebra and calculus I'm like are you going to use those in the real world so FK School my plan is right when I have kids I'm I'm going to have a tutor that's going to teach them from the age at home from the from the time like say maybe 900 a.m. to midday or 100 p.m. and they'll have an hour of homework and the rest of the day we'll just go on adventures doing [ __ ] but then they're going to do gymnastics compulsory because I want to make sure they know their body the foundation of athleticism gymnastics and Jiu-Jitsu so that way they're involved with other kids and not socially awkward you don't want toise some [ __ ] bum kids who you know don't have any social skills but yeah you I want to make sure that they have those kind of skills by interacting with other kids through gymnastics or through Jiu-Jitsu or other like activities and they'll do that every day or every whatever day of days of the week it is but school going there clocking in sitting down watching a teacher write some [ __ ] on the board and write no one's teaching they just literally some of these people just there to catch a paycheck and I've seen it I was in school you just see them they oh they
write the [ __ ] on the board whatever copy this copy exactly copy this I didn't even know what cuz we were doing these when I was in in high school NCA credits and I I remember just like towards the end of the year what's all this credits credits credits not to repeat the whole year well I didn't know what it I was like credit well NCA credits what's all this credit [ __ ] Credit Credit Credit Credit I did not care I didn't understand I just didn't fathom it but then eventually when I go to Grass I was like oh this sucks it's a [ __ ] system and then they'll give you the D and then you'll feel like you're a d as a human you identify one of the worst ones I remember was in in boarding school in Nigeria I was I was bottom three in the class and of course they have to announce it the bottom three and you have to stand in front of the school they announce it just like these are the bottom three of stand with your head down yep that's us that's yeah we we the ones I was the lowest yes thank you okay now go on take your seats okay yes thank you oh the worst man and it's just ating but it's like it's I don't know if it's meant to motivate you or what but it didn't do [ __ ] and like I said you a lot of people start like if I see that now even like young people they have to tie the selfworth I have a friend in med school who literally like when it gets crunch time they just like I need to get these grades I need they get the grades up and they just identify themselves if I don't get this I'm useless this is it I failed I'm like you're 23 calm the [ __ ] down it's not that deep it is obviously it's your career but I'm like there's more to life there's way more to life this than than just this idea of who you think you are cuz when I was [ __ ] 18 I thought I was going to be married and have kids at 23 boy was I wrong damn I'm like I the [ __ ] who who let me buy a house now I'm like why I don't know who let me do that I shouldn't should have never given these [ __ ] money first of all I didn't think they gave it to you you I took all that I'm a bankr yeah like yeah I don't know what I was thinking back then I thought like this I thought I knew what I wanted so when I was 18 I was like I'm going to have kids when I'm 23 24 [ __ ] hell jeez
Anda what when you look forward at your your you I mean youve reached the top of your game um how do you how do you keep yourself you know what is the thing that's driving you now what is the thing you're aiming for now what's that North Star that's getting you out of bed is it legac out people talk about Legacy and Legacy yeah big thing Legacy is for me definitely the Legacy I want to live why does that matter I think I want to be immortal I don't know if it's my ego or I'm selfish or what it is but I I just know look I did the prefix I is royalty where we're from you know I from the from the EUR tribe you know that's that has some Royal Blood tied to it Adis but now worldwide the name Adis is sonon for greatness forever synonymous with greatness and I'm going to make sure that is I'm going to make sure if you have that name I this you're proud to be like yep I'm tied to that bloodline I understand because I don't know I don't know what it is is it my ego why is it that [ __ ] King King Tut wanted to be buried in his tomb with all his gold even though he's not going to be there to exact to enjoy it I don't know I don't know but I know when it's all said and done when I'm dead my name will be remembered in history was that Troy line and that's why no one will remember your name or whatever it was but like I want to make sure that my name will be remembered and revered throughout history as one of the one of the best in this game but also just as a person I just just just a GC just a good [ __ ] just a happy dude who was who was enjoying life and just I don't know making [ __ ] happened but it's more about the feeling though I want people to remember my name and just remember the feeling I gave them you know what I mean like those who were alive to or not alive or around to watch Jordan's um reign in the NBA I mean I'm sure when they hear Jordan they can just I remember that time I was at that game or I remember that time I watched that that game live and they remember the feeling I want those like when they remember my name to be like I was there 243 I remember how I was in the in the arena when he won that feeling I want I want people forget what you say or what you do but they never forget how you make them feel so it's the feeling I
want to make sure they remember yeah when people reach the top of their game they start becoming philanthropists we see this when people get billions they fig because they they can't seem to get the buzz or the feeling anymore from um from business or success or money or L begins your y so they start like helping other people right I'm getting there you're getting to the point where you're starting to feel that the greatest service you can do is like for others cuz when you're talking about your legacy there it's actually sounds like the feeling that's feel philanthropy it's like I want to leave this feeling with other people so that they feel you know inspired or whatever yeah um I'm doing the same thing as well I'm setting my people of the people in my circle I'm not handing anything out to them but just with opportunities you know and also experiencing I'm giving them experiences to inspire them um but yeah there's things that I do behind the scenes that I don't necessarily I don't know like I'm not one of these guys I don't do it for the likes I do it for love and I feel like there's a bar from Jay-Z the best form of giving is anonymous to Anonymous so there's ways I just I drop gems like Shaq I love the way Shaq does it but he does it quite over atly like you want a bike yeah huh ask your mom if you have a bike you got these shoes how many you want you know like he does that just drop Gams everywhere he makes people happy cuz if it feels good to make people feel good even though that is selfish in a sense because I'm getting I'm getting something I'm getting good feels out of it but still I'm making someone feel good I'd rather that but I'm not doing it to be like yeah hey man you know I know you're hungry and I just bought you this meal cuz I really want to show love to you man you know yeah exactly and upload it to the gram and then [ __ ] yeah I don't do that like I there's things I've done even Tim will tell you after this I mean even for this fight there was someone that I I think last year he went through some stuff that I heard about on on on the media and I was just like [ __ ] I went through that [ __ ] as well and then this fight I brought him out and I I showed him a good time yeah he and his mom and
I I I put them up got them tickets and just made sure they um yeah they were looked after I met him backstage and just gave him a few words of encouragement and I don't need to bring it up because yeah yeah I yeah it's fine I [ __ ] yeah but Tim will tell you about it when you walked in the song playing do you remember the song playing hold up oh Victory oh no that was a nipy yeah um which one was it was from Victory lap though yeah yeah yeah double up double up yeah oh every time that song gets me every time when it gets the course I live behind when you let me oh it gets me man every single time I don't know why about something about that track it just gets me in my field I didn't even thinking about I get goosebumps yeah double UPS the track man when I saw you pre fight playing that song in the hotel room crying yeah and then I saw you in the stands another time crying yeah I guess that was the evidence that you are a bit of an empath you do feel the last one was that was when I watched my boy Blood Diamond jump on the scale to weigh in um and I get really emotional fight week's like my wedding week I feel this is why I I dread getting married cuz I don't the guest list I'm just like I don't even [ __ ] know who I want to like invite cuz people going to be like oh you did invite me ready I I don't that's why I don't celebrate my birthday cuz it's like a few times a year there's a whole week that everything's about me so I don't need another special day that it's about me so that's why I'm most ad dreading like I said my wedding day or my birthday forced fun exactly so I I really don't celebrate my birthday to be honest like every day is my birthday I can do whatever [ __ ] I want you know I don't even sell I don't I don't buy gifts from people on their birthday I just buy them if I see something I oh I think she'll like that or I think he'll value that I'll just buy it just because I'm like or give them the experience just because I feel like they'll value that but um I know you're not missing Valentine's Day though oh no Valentine's Day I have a special tradition on Valentine's Day I used to do but I kind I don't really play around with it anymore I just used to like just mad memes on my page and just just it's funny I was just awake first time I did it was in
2014 yes I believe 2014 Valentine's Day I was fighting and throughout the day I was waiting for the fight I was just bored this before stories on Instagram so I just put up like 80 posts that day just like yeah I know people go mad at me people were really entertained but I didn't care I was just I was just in that fight mode so I was just like [ __ ] putting a post about van just memes and just making just making fun of Valentine's Day but [ __ ] good times good good times before I was uh I guess Super Famous one of our guests you said you're going up to Manchester on um on the weekend one of our guests Patrice ever is Manchester United football legend he's a do you know the guy no I see I don't football the bug didn't catch me yeah he didn't catch me as a sports didn't really catch me as a kid CU I was unathletic funny enough yeah I know I was never really athletic kid yeah Matt I mean patri when Patrice came here he he's from his family from Africa originally moved to France played for the French football team he became this Legend maybe the greatest Manchester United Wing back in our history um he wrote a question in the diary um we always get our guests to write questions in the diary right yes I heard about this this is all I knew about this podcast I was like okay apparently there's a question yeah yeah there's a question at the end but in fact I'm going to read you the question that's been left for you by I don't actually read it until I look at it but um Patrice asked a question which I thought was really profound because I remember being asked this question one day and it really puzzled me and it's such a simple question so I'm going to ask you the question okay are you happy right now yes yes I'm very happy why' you say right now cuz it's not lasting it's fleeting that's one thing I've also learned as well is well you can't enjoy the sunshine without a little rain and everything is temporary everything everything's forever changing so even right now I'm happy I'm enjoying life I love where I'm at I love who I'm around I love who I'm with you know I I know it's not it's not lasting cuz guess what something's going to happen that's going to shake that up cuz back in the day whenever this has happening I'm just like it's been a few good
days things is to nice where's the thing that's going to [ __ ] me up but now now I'm just like this is nice and I'll just sit in it and I'll just enjoy it I enjoy the happiness and I enjoy what I'm doing to enjoy where I'm at and then when the bad thing comes I'm like ah there it is it's okay this is going to pass as well this too shall pass so when I say yeah I'm happy right now I'm happy very happy are you good at defending that happiness because because the amount of you even described it when you came off after your debut the amount of people that are going to want to talk to you and do an interview in Israel Israel are you good at saying no better I'm better at it now I never used to be this is where I was talking about the people pleaser thing back in the day and this is why this year one of my things is I don't get [ __ ] up around people I don't like or I don't know cuz I realize when I get drunk I'm too nice I'm a friendly drunk I'm like a [ __ ] golden retriever when I'm drunk or black labrador I'm just like hey and not everyone's your friend not everyone wants the best for you but they'll just take advantage and try and like you know I just let my boundaries get crossed too many times you know and I let people get too close maybe like too then the next day I'm just like why the [ __ ] did I let that person you know ah [ __ ] I wish I'd said no to that you know then I start to like they'll eat at me for the next few days so yeah um I I'm getting and it's practice it's constantly evolving but I know how to say no now I just say and I don't have to explain myself I literally just say no because when you're explaining yourself you're losing I learned that from chill suon remember when I used to listen to his podcast he said something really profound like when you're explaining yourself you're losing so I don't explain myself I just say no if that's like if someone like can I get a photo can I I'm like I'm busy oh please I'm like no because it's like first of all you see I'm having I'm on a date right now and I said no or I'm walking with someone right now having an intimate moment and you're disturbing my peace so I say no and if you try and like push push okay no and some oh [ __ ] you know they'll say something stupid oh well
[ __ ] Rubble Smasher anyway or whoever your next opponent is I was like huh okay then I just let them you know this is why I didn't take a photo with you boy if they sometimes at a restaurant like if I say no to someone cuz I'm having lunch or I'm on a date or whatever and then they come up to me and like I'm busy right now man all if they leave me alone on my way out if I see that person I and and they were and they were nice and respectful I'd be like yo you have your phone on you then we'll take a photo cuz I'm like thanks for being respectful cuz sometimes I can understand people's judgment goes out the way when they see a celebrity apparently and I felt this way like I said you just don't realize your etiquette it's just so when when that happens I don't hold it against them I'm like it's learn Behavior like I said so then I'll yeah I'll take my time out of my out of my day and just say what's up afterwards but if they like you know oh please please I'm like bro you're not respecting my boundaries you didn't respect my no I need my no to be respected I said no why because I [ __ ] said so that's it I don't need to explain myself to you who the [ __ ] are you I don't know you from a bar soap and again you're more excited to meet me than I am to meet you in in the core of your being do you realize that you're a star yeah I always knew so I I knew I wasn't going to be regular I I just knew like I was going to be great at something I didn't know what it was but I knew I was going to be great at something I just knew even when I was working my my last job I just I I'm grateful for it cuz it showed me what I didn't want in life I just knew this isn't for me and what is that is that self-belief that gets you there or is that so is it is it you believing that you're going to be great that got you there or is it because you were innately destined to be great I'm trying to figure out if it's something that one what came first a chicken or the egg yeah there's levels there's people like us we we're crazy in the sense that we believe to be it's almost delusional sometimes you like what's the one I've heard this quote on the JRE before it's like greatness and Madness and next door
neighbors and they just borrow each other sugar once in a while you know what I mean so there's a point like I've used a story of me when I used to drive this beat up Honda and I'd shift the the gear stick and I just do this you do this I literally it was Madness I was me preparing for having a sports car paddle shifts so I shifted you know three boom gear four boom and when I dropped down you know same thing just like I was getting ready I was I was this is I bro I can manifest like a [ __ ] do you believe in it in in the metaphysical like sense you% 100% everything comes from the imagination everything comes from like before this microphone was a microphone someone somehow thought about it now how can I speak into something that would amplify my voice and blah blah blah BL blah and then this came out of it and it's evolved over the years but everything comes from the imagination so the power of the Mind people don't understand we still don't understand I still don't understand how powerful it is I'm still learning but I know one thing is I can make things happen I can go to levels I just can't tell the world but like there levels that like I've manifested things that I'm just like I still shock myself like how the [ __ ] did I make that happen and this is not even to do with fighting this is to do with my personal life and I'm like I made that happen and this is through this like manifesting subconsciously as well just years of something just manifesting manifesting and Bo it's right there I'm just like [ __ ] I really made that happen it's scary man it's scary for me to even think about I reflect on that and almost view it like getting in your car in the morning when you get in the car in the morning you set the saav but then you've also got to drive you've also got to go to training yeah if you just set the saav where you going to be sitting in the car sitting in the [ __ ] car you sit there and make all these dreams a manifest but you have to work and what happens if you just drive work if you drive and with no satav you don't know where you're going you're lost you know what I mean you have no Direction so for me I feel like both of them together when you when you really when you have the vision and you're able
to manifest but then you also put the work in Magic happens man magic that's where the magic is but a lot of people never get there unfortunately a lot of people we're blessed that we can dream amen we're blessed that we can dream that's one thing I've realized a lot of people even from the impoverished parts of London will be will be lucky to have my old job you know from where I'm from from Nigeria a lot of people will be blessed to have my old job and they'll be like yo this is I have a great job I can send money back home this and that but yeah I just had bigger dreams I just knew what I wanted so I feel like I'm spoiled that I can I Can Dream the way I I do and I can manifest the way I do so I never take it for granted and I realize the position I'm in I'm privileged I'm very privileged I read a quote about about immigrants specifically from Nigeria and it said our parents role was to try and figure out survival and we're here sat blessed with the task of self-actualization which is like figuring out meaning and they said what a beautiful thing that is yeah they're just trying to survive of find a way the next way to thrive see like what's meaning and purpose and happiness and that's why I feel like even today the way the world is like the problems of that we have especially with all this devices and what not I'm like you guys don't really have any real problems like when people in New Zealand start to complain about some stuff I'm like you guys are really worried about this it's like cuz there's no real problem the police aren't trying to kill the people constantly you know the government isn't well they are [ __ ] the people over but not the same way as you know Nigerians have being [ __ ] with by their government for so long so it's like you really have any real problems it's like they find things to to fight about now like now we're arguing about genders you know this kind of stuff and it's like cuz there's no really they're looking for problems they're creating problems look if there was some real [ __ ] going on like there's there was like another War World War III apparently is coming soon stay tuned stay tuned yeah if that was happening or aliens invaded do you think anyone will give a [ __ ] about any of that [ __ ] [ __ ] no no way we're worried about some real
[ __ ] happening you know so yeah I feel like people just start to create problems because we don't we need we need struggle we need struggle in our lives that's the thing Mo out there he was the head of Google and he changed my life for something he said about that he said um um unhappiness is when your expectations of how life is supposed to be going go unmet so it explains why a billionaire when his State comes and it's not perfectly cooked he will be [ __ ] furious because his expectation was here and if it goes unmet the Delta is unhappiness and if you go to where I was from in Botswana getting a bowl of rice expectation is I'm not going to eat today bowl of rice the Delta is happiness and it's the same thing you're talking about with people you know their problems are relative to their expectations of life right facts last question this one was written for you in the diary by our previous guest what question do you believe based on the subject matter of the conversation we've had today would have been interesting to ask you that people don't usually ask you I mean you touched on a few things that normally don't even talk about like relationships and kids a little bit that's stuff that I really hold guarded but uh have some funny ones in my head bro I'm not going to talk about those go for those ones let me see um I think diving into my my personal life a little bit anything that has to do with like family relationships or you know like I said yeah family that I'm going to have uh I'm glad people don't though cuz like I said I like to just keep those things guarded but yeah and I think people kind of get my love life is not for sale my family's not for sale those kind of things like I said I I won't I won't sell for the consumption of people to watch I'm not the Kardashians you know I ain't Kanye West I ain't putting all my business out there yeah so for me yeah I keep those things guarded so I think people kind of respect that understand that so they don't push too much you get like a little bit here every now and then but not nothing too much yeah I hear you thank you for your time today it's want toly tremendous man like you're a killer in so many ways but we didn't even get to talk about the
marketing and The Branding side of things levels there's ways I I mean I did computer graphic design in in college and I felt like some of the stuffs I learned there really helped me with my social media when it comes to making my own highlights when I was coming up you know posting all the anime stuff as well but that's just me being a big authentic self as well exactly authentic expression of self if you put it out there those who appreciate will gravitate [ __ ] I like that as a bar t-shirt yeah that's a bar those who appreciate will gravitate I'm going to keep that that's dope you add to your T-shirt collection tell them more but listen thank you so much for your time for your grace your humility and your openness as well means a lot meate likewise my man and I'm going to look into you a little bit more you because this the thing whenever I like to meet new people and learn about them so hearing your story I'm just like man that's still I'm like 700 million at 27 I didn't get all of it but yeah respect thank you appreciate that you [Music]