Stream UFC 299 on ESPN+ https://plus.espn.com/ufc/ppv ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto sits down with bantamweight champion …
well Sean I’ve been out at the farm and I’ve interviewed you a bunch of times backstage throughout your career this is the first time I’ve interviewed you with the with the belt sitting next to you it is feels normal right does it feel does it feel normal to you do it did it feel normal pretty quick yeah it felt weird not having a belt now that I got a belt life feels normal we’ve done interviews on on your and Tim scooters yep and in the spider yep and then you had the lambo yep that we couldn’t drive that one time because it was in the shop it’s in the shop right now that’s spends more time in the shot than than it does out of it but now your first champ interview is in what is this what are we sitting in yeah got a sprinter van I leveled up um you know I just kind of decided driving take you know I driving is not bad it’s not the worst you know you sit in your car especially if you got a Tesla it doesn’t take that much energy but for me it’s like might as well use that time I got my little I got a book in here I got my you know massage gun I got my breath bag so I I’m driving you know sometimes hour hour 15 a day MH instead of sitting there driving concentr on the road I got two TVs in here I can watch I’ve watched my sparring rounds in here um I’ve watched Cheetos fights in here on the way to sparring um I can hit breath work on the way to sparring my massage gun um so I’m utilizing this time even if it’s you know 20 minutes of the gym 20 minutes back that’s 40 minutes that I can use not driving so I got you know Blake’s an ass my assistant he d drives I’m trying to get my dad to move down here I’m like I got a full-time job for you drive me anywhere I want so going to get rid of the lambo constantly in the shop spending so much money on it it’s ridiculous um decided I just got this the Sprinter paid off way cheaper way more convenient and uh my driving days are limited so this is a professional expense this is not this is not like party expense no no this is purely you know in my mind was this is breath work on the way to practice can’t do that while you’re driving you know I’ve Tri D you get a little dizzy no I uh but yeah this is this is a professional expense um I’ve been sparring hard this Camp driving to the sparring getting a little warm up in here breath work and then post sparring just being able to throw on some you know some meditation tunes and kick back recline all the way um it’s very very convenient yep I’ve asked you this I feel like almost every single time that I’ve come down here to see you and that is just like uh you know if everything goes the way you planned which so far it has um I would say in pretty spectacular fashion that like you’re going to get really famous you’re going to get really rich and you know you’ve been very very um adamant that like that’s not going to pull me away from anything like I got a finite amount of time to be the best in the world like and it seems like you’re definitely still there but uh has it ever been um like a Temptation at all like has it been like ah maybe I’m feeling that just a little bit or uh when I’m not in Camp it’s definitely a lot harder to just go to gym go to gym wake up go to gym wake up I always have good routines I stick to my meditation practice I still you know H have good habits good routines but in Camp it’s so easy for me to just dial in Nothing Else Matters nothing else exists I’m fighting specific day this happens to be March 9th in Miami rematching Cheeto massive fight it’s not hard for me to dial in not hard for me to stay focused outside of Camp not having a specific date it’s a little bit more difficult you know you got the I got so many opportunities to go hey you want to fly here do this you know everything’s free um so that’s a little bit harder but I do think it’s important I’m good at balancing like I can’t live just like this forever like I I I do a good job after the fights you know getting it out of my system going to the club with the boys hanging out doing my thing but ready to book a fight ready to book a fight I like being in fight Camp I like having an opponent I like having a date um I like that mindset but but yeah 29 you know I want to be considered one of the greatest of all times I know I have the skill I know I have the the the team around me which is a very important thing you know I’m healthy let’s let’s grind let’s become you know let’s INSP like I think I’ve been watching a bunch of Kobe speeches and he was saying about just like inspiring other people to inspire other people to inspire other people that’s what I’m trying to do I’m trying to inspire people you know that in turn Inspire more people so and I feel like I I could do that I’m I’m from a small town in Helena like no one expected me to be be here knock out aljo you know even beat Peter then I go knock out aljo so you know I’m definitely inspiring people to chase their dreams and not listen to the the haters um I’m living proof of that do you think that’s something that you always had or is like that something when you when you get that um ability to do that that like that feels good as a human being so then you start to want to do it or do you think you were always kind of like like that um when I started fighting I just wanted to I didn’t I didn’t think about being a role model or inspiring people necessarily I just wanted to make money get chicks get famous just have all that um but now I’m at a point to where it’s like I want I want to just inspire people I want people be like damn I can I can literally do that if I put my mind to it my the way my career’s played out there’s definitely luck or higher power or whatever I feel like you know the way my career’s played out has been insane even going back to that Cheeto fight to where I mean we just talk about it when I watched it how that all played out like I go out there and knockout Cheeto what do I do next from there it could have been I could have never became champ could have went on a completely different path but the fact that that happened and you know I came back had one of my best performances ever against Thomas ala um so I don’t remember what you asked me I don’t either are there moments uh like um I I got sometimes I got think it’s crazy that even though you’ve envisioned this and you and I talked about it a bunch of times but it’s just like it it kind of started like in the MMA lab like on on wrestling mats you know and you’re just like you’re going in there and you look around the room and it’s full of people who are like like kind of like you who are are trying to make the most of their skills and it’s just like is this like like this here this strip mall like wrestling on this mat is this going to result in millions of dollars and me being like a a person that’s you know globally recognized like it is that part still kind of uh jarring to you or like it’s because of the progression you You’ you’ve taken it like so I I can’t answer I don’t know for whatever reason I would have told you when I was 19 years old that I was going to become rich from fighting which is so weird looking back on it because in my mind I was so it was going to happen there was not it wasn’t well if it doesn’t I’ll go to school or I’ll you know be a plumbers it was not even option I was going to make this work I was going to be champ I was going to be in this position that I’m in right now now we’re here there was no it was no other way for me to there was there’s no doubt in my mind not ever like there was you know you go to the gym I went to the lab known for wrestling known for grinding known for that and I came in as a kickboxer that didn’t know a single leg we’ do two and twos on wrestling days and no one wanted to partner partner with me cuz I didn’t know how to do a single leg entry I didn’t know how to do two and twos I didn’t know you kind of warm up take down get like I didn’t know how to do anything I was 19 years old coming down training with guys in UFC wasting their time because no I didn’t learn how to wrestle no one taught me how to do a single egg no one taught me how to do a double egg you just going live I mean you warm up you know so but for for whatever so there was doubt in my mind in in a sense where I’m like damn maybe I started too late maybe I you know maybe I this isn’t for me but for whatever reason i’ always snap back out of it and just keep my like I know I’m a good athlete I never thought I was super smart in any way but I knew I was smart in athletics like you show me something I can get it pretty quick so I was like I know if I just commit myself and keep showing up I never had an issue with showing up coach never called me Tim never had to tell me hey you what are you doing why aren’t you in the gym no that was never an issue I was there getting my ass kicked um so there was a little bit of doubt in certain moments of practice where I’m like holy this 16-year-old beating my ass I’m 19 I’m you know had 14 amateur fights um so there was a little doub is but ID say for the most part I was always able to kind of snap out of it and get get myself in a good head space like okay let’s just keep showing up let’s keep showing up let’s keep showing up mhmm I I would have never guessed uh talking to you a couple years ago that we’d be talking about your third fight out out of Las Vegas that’s three fights now out of Vegas but it’s kind of it’s you know we the Conor comparisons get made and like him fighting out of Vegas and in different scenarios like the atmosphere almost helped create like bigger stories you know like are you kind of um on board with uh these different chapters in your career of like going to Miami going to Boston or would you still prefer to just go to Vegas every single time no I I I put you know the trust in the UFC like you want me to fight like the reason I fought Boston it was you know it it was it made sense the reason I went to Abu Dhabi it made sense they kind of wanted to get me to a wider audience um Abu Dhabi was a trip crazy experience um you know had a war with Peter Yan one of the scariest guys in the division still uh Boston I was just telling you I’m like that K I’ve never been in Arena obviously I was in the main main event I was the main attraction I was everyone was looking at me so it was a certain feeling but even not not being in that position it was the craziest Arenas I’ve ever been in like it was 100% Ali fans it was that’s a rare like there was like no Alo fans no no fence thr shade but if you were in the arena you would know there was no Alo fans and Boston was crazy uh Miami is going to be a little bit different I still think you know regardless I could fight anywhere and I’m it’s not going to phase me but yeah Miami will be a little bit different I think uh it’s a perfect time to go to Miami they always go all out in Miami MH Izzy knocked out Alex Pera in their rematch in Miami I’m knocking out Cheeto in Miami in the rematch it’s just it’s it’s already happened I just got to go out there and do it do you feel like uh you’re giving cheeto a title fight and 100% what I mean by that of course is if you weren’t Champion would he be getting this title 0% chance they like yeah I mean there’s guys deserve Cory morab like you could you could argue those guys deserve a title fight over Cheeto it’s just you know this is I went out there knocked out the greatest bantamweight of all time I said hey just want one thing let me have the Cheeto rematch I’ve never asked for it never really asked for anything you know let me have this Cheeto fight I I knew I didn’t know I I thought and I I was like okay you know we’ll meet again I never SLE went to bed at night thinking I have to fight Cheeto again I’m like if he if he can make it get close enough to where I can offer him a title fight just get close enough beat Pedro mhm you know I’ll give you the give you the rematch so it it just everything’s working out perfect and in a scenario like that do you think that that um brings a high probability that uh you have a mental advantage of him going into the fight immediately because it just feels like you wouldn’t be here if I didn’t tell say that you should be here like I almost kind of felt like that was um like like Connor did that of course like Conor just like like you’re here because I want you here you’re here because like and and for no other reason you know and I felt like that and Cheeto doesn’t hasn’t shown me any body language or said anything to me that makes me think that he he is uh bothered by that but do you think that there’s something to it to be I think Cheeto is a cold blooded killer I don’t think it’s going to phase him that he’s being gifted this title shot do I think he knows that yeah he knows like he didn’t go out there he didn’t even finish Pedro I beat him Pedro in two rounds you know what I mean so he didn’t even finish Pedro so there’s no way he’s coming off this but like I earned this title fight like he knows I’m he’s getting this title fight because I’m the champ but as far as it affecting him dude to Killer maybe I don’t think that will uh mentally play any any any problems for him I talked to Tim before the Yan fight and uh you know he that was a stressful fight confident but stressful I talked to him before aljo stressful fight you know he he held aljo in super super super high regard when I hear Tim talk about this fight uh I mean Tim is going to show respect to all opponents and like any one of these guys can can land a shot but I just feel like um Tim does not see as many kind of challenges X’s knows in this fight is that safe to say is that something that you guys feel like it’s hard to judge it off the Alo fight cuz I mean ish I was pretty injured going into that fight I don’t want to keep saying that cuz it’s annoying but far from a coach’s perspective my perspective going in that fight was way more stressful I was injured I’m fighting a guy that if he takes you down you might not get back up like there was a high probability of his grappling being that good so in my head it was kill or be killed I remember doing an interview with you and here saying killer be killed I got to go out there and kill him fast and uh you know that so in in that sense yeah it’s this fight’s less stressful but cheo’s never been submitted never been knocked out he he’s very durable he’s got good cardio like there’s not very many weaknesses other than Kim and I are just confident that I’m better it’s a simple as that I think uh yeah less stressed out I mean going into an injury or going into a fight injured very stressful it’s it’s horrible especially going to with aljo and my ribs up like and I couldn’t grapple for six weeks I was like that’s stressful going into this fight you know we’re still 30 days out I can say right now I’m healthy I feel good I wouldn’t have said that in that aljo interview um but we’re still 30 days out he still got a lot of hard work to put in um but yeah I’d say we’re both very confident I remember another thing you told me when you were going to fight Yan is that like you would run on a treadmill in there and you would just like other house maybe the other house sure but treadmill somewhere some some garage and you would like kind of replay the tweets and like like the people that a lot of people were doub Pi yeah yeah and now I feel like those those are gone like maybe they were there for Jan and maybe they were there for aljo but I can’t imagine they’re there or they’re very loud for this fight oh they were there for Yan heavily heavily there for aljo um this fight I haven’t I think I’m a favorite I mean the last two I was definitely not a favorite by any means yeah the actual odds I never really pay attention to um but even still I mean there’s there’s a good amount of people I’ve heard saying I mean Blake my assistant tells me CU like I told you earlier I deleted Instagram deleted Twitter I’m not on my phone as much I’m not surfing as much um so I don’t really see that stuff I I still watch YouTube I’m still on Snapchat so I I’m not completely away but yeah there’s still guys thinking Cheeto is going to win and this isn’t a this isn’t an easy fight by any means yeah I’m very confident I believe 100% I’m going to go out there and beat his ass but obviously Anything could happen I mean we just watched the last fight that’s that’s Anything Can Happen moment any I mean the Frankie Edgar fight was beating Cheeto the entire fight 23 minutes of that fight or uh rather probably 13 minutes or so on that fight Frankie was winning gets kicked in the lips Dominick Cruz was kind of piecing up Cheeto eats a little kick the lips so it’s like anything can happen I got to be dialing I got to be focused for 25 minutes this isn’t a 15-minute fight it’s a 25 minute fight long time to stay focused um I got to show up in shape and uh ready to go which I plan on doing I’ve never not shown up and uh put on a performance so yeah just a couple more you UFC uh you’re going into a UFC championship fight for the first time as a champion are you are you one of those guys that is like I’m going to defend this belt billion different times you know you’ve said you want to you want to show that you’re the greatest of all time are you just like all comers bring every single one of on I want to empty out the the weight class Israel Sonia style you know when he was he was going through them or you like uh I see a big money fight right here I see a big money fight right here I see a storyline with Cheeto you know like what what kind of which one means more to you right now I mean if I had it my way it depends Elia vul that plays out plays out in a couple weeks um if Elia goes out there and wins I go out there and beat Cheeto you know I I’ve kind of been putting this out there I’ve text Dan I’ve textt Hunter multiple times said it on podcast said it in interviews me versus Elia in September in Vegas at the sphere Mexican Independence Day I got the Mexican flag right here um let’s make it happen I think that will be the next fight if all goes to plan who knows Alex wins Henry Rob wins that could be next Cory could I have so many options I like having options um and at the end of the day what’s the biggest fight I am a prize fighter I like making money mhh why would I go fight oh this guy’s a killer but you’re going to make less money or I go fight this guy who’s a killer too yeah and make way more money so I’m in the business of making money I do want to fight the you know the next guys but if I have an option to say hey here’s this guy or here’s this guy I believe me versus elely is the would be the next biggest fight especially if he goes out there and beats vulk mhm and I go out there and beat Cheeto we’re both coming off wins month apart I think that makes a lot of sense but I’m I can’t look Overlook Cheeto I got to go out there and do something that’s never been done that’s Finnish Cheeto yeah one guy I do want to ask in particular because I mean a lot of these guys like uh it kind of writes itself right I mean like morab Henry all the Cory San Haagen all these got top guys like their their record speaks for themselves and the fights would be like they they they sell whatever they s right um You are one guy who has not been afraid to talk about Umar andov like do you think that could be 100% fight at some point I’m it’s people think I’m avoiding tough fights umar’s probably the the toughest fight and yeah I’ve been bringing his name up but I also like it has to make sense Umar isn’t a star at all there there’s like potential to be a star star superstar I believe I’m a superstar I believe Cheeto is a star I believe Umar is a potential superstar in a literally because he has the last name nerov I’ve never watched the dude fight I’ve watched some highlights he’s very skilled he trains at a good gym yeah his last name is nerman GED off he’s rushan like he has potential because of that but I don’t know I’ve really I lied I think I’ve watched him fight some dude where I think you need him in the lips um so I’ve watched him fight once but I feel like just with the name and the and the skill of the UFC being able to promote certain people I feel like and he comes from that gym you know be I think they they train together be in his corner like is a big Ali Irish you know it’s there there’s something there that if that’s if he can you know become a star with that that’s the fight I want too I don’t want just the easiest fight I want the biggest fight and if I have two options and one guy I think is a little bit better of a chall I’ll take that one yeah I think that’s it for me man one thing that I always do ask you though and I’ll ask you on this one is uh what kind of stuff are you reading during this fight Camp what’s kind of the mentality going into this one I haven’t been reading a ton and I and if I am reading I can’t really sit down and read too long so I’ll read try to read like 10 15 minutes there’s there’s a couple different books that I’ve been reading this one the creative act a way of being Rick Rubin uh Brandon Harris actually mentioned this uh book to me I started listening to it on Audible and then Tim gifted it to me that one’s good there’s this daily stoics book that I’ve been reading for like four years it’s just every day you you know to whatever day it is February 7th you go to the page and it’s you know about stoicism um Ryan Holliday wrote that book he also wrote a parenting stoicism book that I’m reading through it’s the same kind of setup you know read a page a day um Stillness is key or no still there’s a couple there’s two that are very similar one from eert toly that’s it’s like that’s a one where you read like a page at a time you read a page you sit Ponder I’ll go sit out in my yard watch my chickens read a page yeah um so definitely don’t read as much as I’d like to but I’m still trying to pick up and read you know 10:15 I for for me I’ve never been able to sit in school and read ever um but if I can get into a book that I feel like I’m learning something or I can you know put it into practice that’s that’s the kind of books I’ve been liking but yeah still journaling every day it’s it’s crazy to look back CU I Journal each fight Camp so I’ll we’re 30 days out so I’ll write I haven’t wrote today so I haven’t looked at what it was last camp but I remember the same day I heard got injured against Alo I was you know I wrote wrote in my journal I was like that’s today that was the day a couple weeks ago and it was sparring day and it was in sparring it didn’t really [ __ ] with me but I was like that’s crazy like that was we’re still this far out six weeks out and that’s the day I got injured and dealt with that so I just kind of reminds myself like you’re a bad you had that you had your mind locked down you didn’t lose to the demons you you beat the demons you battled the demons you were confident you went out there and performed at a high level the highest level against the best guy in the world and uh so it’s nice for me and that’s something I’d recommend to a lot of Fighters I Journal all my weights I know exactly what I weighed three weeks out from every fight for the most part I mean once I started journaling but um so Reading Writing just habits good routines is is why I believe I’m in this position