Episode 3 -@McDainMMA TheRamblingDad

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello, and welcome to the Against Defense podcast with your host, Breezy. Today's guest is Jordane. I'll put all his links down below. He's the host of the Rambling Dad Pod MMA podcast, and he does interviews, Q and A's, fight breakdowns, and all sorts of stuff. If you guys are enjoying the podcast so far, please hit, follow, or subscribe wherever you're listening because it really helps the channel build, and then we can get better guests and I can ask some questions, and we can build off of that today's conversation. For those which are thinking of starting out in kind of the same kind of scene starting out in social media, it's some tips and some advice on how to prep, plan, prepare some of the realities behind the scenes, and we dive really deep into getting to understand what it's actually like to do this so that I speak to as fans in the MMA world as kind of, like, their favorite moment. Whether it's a knockout that made you jump out your seat and go mental or it's a fighter's background and story that's resonated with yourself because you've got similarities. We were in Manchester a few weeks ago, weren't we? And one for me that stood out massively. We were sat waiting for the pre fight press conference, and they showed that of Bilal and the palestinian kid. And, like, we've both got children ourselves. And kind of just seeing that, like, really hit home in my heart, I thought I was gonna cry, if I'm honest. It was that deep for me. But as fans over the years and being fans for a long time, we've experienced, like, so many incredible moments in this sport. But I'm just curious, what's one MMA moment that never fails to give you goosebumps when you think about it, man. [00:01:48] Speaker B: Like I say, there's just too many of them. When you try and think back and actually look over the time and the one that stands out, can I go with recency by instant? Just say that Max Holloway knockout make life easy, because that thing had me jumping out of my seat. But now, if I really, really had to think about it, do you know the person who I really actually probably that resonated with me and I felt familiar with was Dan Hardy. I don't know if you ever read his book full reptile, but just reading that we similar ages, came through similar lifestyle as kids, and both had a love for martial arts, both practiced martial arts. And when I was just reading through his book and learning more about him and obviously his career was phenomenal, too. And he was one of, like. It was like the. The english fighter that I could always resonate with. That made me kind of fall in love with the sport from, like, early on, when I read through his book and learnt more about who he is and how normal he was, you know, I mean, like, just. He was coming a kid off a council estate, basically, just like I was, you know, I mean, so that was something that always sat with me quite well, but he. He fell in love with it through, like, Bruce Lee movies. And when I practiced jiu jitsu when I was younger, we used to have a VHS set, like, on the wall. They had literally VHS tapes right along the wall, and you could take one VHS home, and once you were took that home, you could watch that VHS, and then you had to bring it back before you could take another one. I always took a Bruce Lee movie home. I'd watch the life out of it. I'd bring it back, I would take another one. It was the same Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee movies and then Jackie Chan movies. There was UFC videotapes in there, everything. Like, some people listening to this might be like, what's a VHS? You'll know what it is, because, again, somewhere age. But, yeah, Dan Hardy man was just always. His story always stuck out to me. [00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. That's a great one. And it's a little bit out there as well. Like, I mean, a lot of people that I speak to when we go to events and I suck something. Conor McGregor's done. [00:03:49] Speaker B: What Conor McGregor did for the sport was absolutely incredible, and we're never going to see anything like that. I truly don't think so. Like, the rise, how we brought mainstream eyes onto the sport that nobody else had ever done before was incredible. But then you look at the drop off and everything that came after it, like, all the way up until we got that double champ status, and then as soon as that could be, stuff happened and how dirty that got and then how it went after that, I just. I kind of lost track with the guy, to be honest with you, because, again, he was another one who is. I'm a council kid. I've been on the dole. I'm working. I'm just trying to better my wife. You can absolutely get behind that, and you can love it. And then the money and the fame and the ego kind of just ruined the person that he was. [00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah, 100% agree. And it's. It's a weird dynamic. See, in the way that, like, fighters develop and, like, that. That man was changed by money. [00:04:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:42] Speaker A: And fame. And it is really scary that the. I think the big thing about the UFC and why people are so interested in it is because, like, fighters want to be part of it isn't particularly because they get paid the best. We know they don't. It's that opportunity and exposure. They get to the wider, wider audience, isn't it? [00:04:59] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:00] Speaker A: Earlier, I want to learn more about your introduction to MMA. Obviously, you mentioned just Dan Hardy. For me, the thing I love to do and, like, I see that you're similar to me, where are tune in for the. For the early cards. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:15] Speaker A: For the prelim gang and always mate. And I always watch it, try and watch it through. I love it. And, you know, sometimes it's really hard at 03:00 in the morning when you're sat there like, oh, my God. And then you get like a Rose Navajo versus cookie monster fight and you're just there like, slowly falling asleep. [00:05:35] Speaker B: You got matchsticks in your eyes trying to hold them open sometimes. [00:05:38] Speaker A: Yeah. But as fans and as hardcore fans, that's the extremes we go to. But in terms of the transition from that to content creation, for me, it was kind of sitting on the sofa and breaking techniques down from practicing like, jujitsu and stuff like that. And I was finding that I was saying stuff before the case psychometry team, and then they say it just afterwards, and you're sat there thinking, hang on a second, I could do your job. [00:06:03] Speaker B: Like, I'm a genius. [00:06:06] Speaker A: And now, obviously, we're both at a point and against the fence and the Rambid dad podcast at a point now where we're doing our own videos, we're doing breakdowns, pre events, and we're interviewing fighters who are actually living the reality of being a professional in that sport. And I spent some, quite a bit of time recently looking at some of your videos and looking at some of the people that you've interviewed. And it's really easy to tell in that you're so happy in that space when you hit record and it's just you and the individual, no matter who that is. And you can see that deep love for the sport come through. I was wondering, can you take us back to the moment that you can remember when you first fell in love with mma? What was it? What was it about the sport that captivated you? And then how did that passion then evolve into content creation? [00:07:00] Speaker B: Well, I get, like, the love for the sport and the passion for it is, again, it goes all the way back to me being a kid. So I started practicing jiu jitsu when I was like four or five years old is when I first started going. And that was like your traditional, as best pig would call it. I mean, your fake jiu jitsu. Cause you try to do any of that in the street. I just went to, like a. To a martial arts club, like, in the town that I lived in at the time was Warrenton in the northwest. My mom took me along, and that was just a way of giving me some discipline and keeping me off the streets as well. And obviously at that age, not really about keeping you off the streets, but as I'm growing up, learning to not fall into that stuff. And obviously growing the martial arts around you is a good way to be doing it. Yeah, I mean, I was always, never been diagnosed, but I've probably got ADHD. Yeah, I mean, and it was probably something. It was a good way for me to go and get some, like, some energy out. And obviously, a young man, a lot of us are quite angry growing up, so it was a good way to go out and get some of the anger out of there, too, and frustration and whatever else but the creativity, the camaraderie that you had in the gym with your teammates, the competition, like, everything a young man wants, really, or a young boy at that time. I mean, so the passion and the love for the sport has always been there. It wasn't so much mixed martial arts, like early nineties is obviously when the UFC started in 93. I was born in 91. By the time I started was like 96. And that's when I probably first laid eyes on the UFC was probably about 97, 98, 99, around about those times. And then after learning jiu jitsu, I tried boxing, I tried Muay Thai, then I went to brazilian jiu jitsu later on. So it was always mixed martial arts has always been a part of my life, or martial arts in general has always been part of my life. And then again, the interest in the movies, like I mentioned a second ago as well. So that went on to fast forward how many more years of watching the UFC? For years and years and years. And it's funny, the content creation side of it. Thanks for saying I look quite comfortable, and it seems sometimes you're not. Sometimes it's pretty nerve wracking, depending on. I remember when I first had Arnold Allen on and I was sweating buckets before he was coming. I was like, man, don't make an absolute tit of yourself going into this. But anyway, so the content creation piece, was it London last year? Last March, I went to 286 and I met up with Mark Maui and Jason Hartwee from MMA on point, the creator of MMA on point. I was talking to those that we hung out all night, drinking beers, watching fights, just chatting. Ended up hanging outside the o two with them until like two, three in the morning or something, just. Just shooting the shit, you know what I mean? And then after it carried on speaking to them, and at that point, I'd had an interest in starting some content creation stuff, getting into it. I'd love to do more with this. I'd love to make it part where I can interview some of these fighters, or I'm going to talk about these things. Because you find in the UK, at work or around you, without the. The ATF boys, how many people do you know you can sit down and actually talk to about MMA? There's not that many agreed to the. [00:10:03] Speaker A: To the level that I want to talk about it. Some people are kind of casual. They've seen a few clips and, you know, they might have watched one big pay per view. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:10:15] Speaker B: So that was another thing, is I want to speak to people because that was, again, like, I never joined Twitter until Covid and I used it for gaming because I was streaming at the time. I swapped it from gaming. Then I seen MmA Twitter one day and I was like, oh, my God. I was like, I found my people. I never even knew this place existed. And then I was like, sweet. So I've only been on MMA Twitter for the last couple of years, too. Like, I've only just found that, I suppose. So, yeah, speaking to them, and then Jason was like, dude, just start. He was like, and again, I've been watching Joe Rogan for years. And that was what he always said as well, is, if you want to do it, get a camera, put it in front of you and just start doing it. That's the only thing you can do. And as you can tell, I like to ramble, I like to chat. I can talk to absolutely anybody. And I thought, why not go for it? [00:11:05] Speaker A: Yeah. On that note about just starting, I was messaging you earlier and I said that I took my daughter to. It was her first ever, like, circus. [00:11:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:15] Speaker A: And we just seen it advertised locally and they put flyers up absolutely everywhere. They're probably gonna get done by the council, probably because it's that bad. [00:11:23] Speaker B: They put them everywhere, don't they? [00:11:26] Speaker A: But the guy stood up at the end of the show and it's really, really good show. And he said, you've been the best audience we've ever had, because you're our first audience. I ordered this tent off of Facebook marketplace from Czechoslovakia, like, a month ago. It arrived last week, and then his mate, who was part of it, had done two trips to France to pick up the seating to bring it back over, because they were literally, like, we want to do this. Like, we love doing the kind of circus and being silly, and we've kind of got these unique abilities that we like to practice, like, week in, week out, and we want to make something of it. And we were. We were deliberating how we do it, and they just went and done it. [00:12:05] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:06] Speaker A: And it was. And it was brilliant. And I feel like sometimes you can wait and you can wait and you can wait, and you can wait, and then it's when you just go and do it and that you. And you go, hang on, and you just learn along the way, don't you? [00:12:17] Speaker B: Yeah. And that speaks volumes about everything in life, where people always put things on the back burner. And another thing I can't remember. I can't say I can't remember who, but I've spoke about this with a few, like, british fighters, and I'm like, when you were starting out, people don't be. So you're not gonna do that. Get a real job. Yeah. I mean, saying the same for, like, maybe when you were younger, playing on PlayStation and your nan and your mom get off that, you're never gonna make money from that. And now this kid's making millions playing video games, and it's just like, come on. Yeah. I mean, like, if it's something you want to do, and this is, like, something I really want to. Like, obviously, I'm not sure how old your daughter is. [00:12:50] Speaker A: She's six. [00:12:51] Speaker B: Six, right. Mine's two. Going free in February. And I'm like, something I want to install in her. And I've actually got another daughter on the way. June, November, too, so two of them. Cheers, brother. Something I want to stow in and both is, if you want some, I go for it. I mean, like, it took me 20 years of getting past the. The stigma of life, of people putting you down and being negative around you, telling you now you don't need to do that. Go and get a proper job. You need to pay these bills. You need to do that. If you want something, go and do it. Go and get it. You just need to start it. You just need to be consistent, and you just need to love it. And that's the only. I wish I realized this sooner in life. [00:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. Because it's so much easier to start doing it when you're younger and you've got that spare time, like now, full time work, full time, got kids, and then you're, like, trying to juggle everything around it. And that leads really well, actually, into my next question, which is, I'm the Segway King brother. Yeah, I know. I love that. From hosting your own podcast, doing the kind of fight breakdowns, trying to be active on social media, collaborating with other content creators. Obviously, you do a podcast, don't you, where you sit down with. With three other guys, or is it two guys and you have a special guest, is that right? [00:14:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So there's. There's two parts of it. So on a Wednesday, we have dust up shakedown. This is the fight week show. So again, anybody listening, make sure you're making sure you go and check out their content, too. But I have all the time in the world for these guys, like, and I'll go into it a little bit in a minute. So on a Wednesday, we have dossed up shakedown, which is basically just your collection of news, MMA or combat sports in general, across the week of whatever's happened, and we can sit down and talk about that or any, like, just major points that have kind of stood out across the weekend. We'll put them in there and we'll have a little chat. And it was me, Ola, and last year it was a guy called Naz. Unfortunately, he couldn't make it this year. Just work commitments and other things. So now it's me, Ola, and Yao from the head Kick podcast. He's based in South Africa. So we all come on there every week and do that. And more recently, we've started doing something, what you're doing now, where you're trying to bring in a bit more of the community and other. Collaborate with other podcasts and just start working together. Like, one of the things that all were always says is rising tide raises all ships. I love that, mate. It's amazing in it. Yeah, I mean, he said that to me for the last, like, year and a bit that we've been working together and the growth that both of us have had through interviews or podcasts or just channel subscript, whatever it is, you know, I mean, just supporting each other and just like, say, rising tide raises all ships, man. And that's just how we've gone with it. So that was the Wednesday, and on the Friday, we have the prediction show where there's me, cage scribe, which is Jordan wright on Twitter, and then there's also another guy called Will who always been friends with for 20 odd years. Will isn't on any of the socials or anything. Like he enjoys the sport, too. Jumps on for the prediction show and we're all in like a little competition. I know you guys joined account. What's the name of the app? You guys set up a league on the app, didn't you? I can't remember what it was called. [00:15:45] Speaker A: The guys are going to kill me because I'm like the worst one for doing it. They do it every single week. I forgot what it's called. I dropped off about five, six weeks into it. I think of it, and I like. [00:16:00] Speaker B: 20 minutes or something. Yeah, and that guy. So if that dude listens to this too, like, bro, you shout. You messaged me and I completely missed it. It was in my request on Instagram or something. So. And I went on to go and try and find it again. It was gone. So I don't know if you deleted it because like a blank Tim. So I apologize, mate. And it's maybe something we can run from the start of next year, but yeah, so it's similar to what you guys do with that. So that's the. The Wednesday and the Friday that we do every week. [00:16:24] Speaker A: It is. I'm getting think of it now, mma fantasy. [00:16:27] Speaker B: That's it. Boom. [00:16:28] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:16:29] Speaker B: It seems to be doing quite well with the light. But the dude, I think the dude, like, when I walked at the date that he'd hit me up, I was like, I was weeks after the year had started, too. So I kind of felt like, is there any point in starting it now? [00:16:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And he does. He does a really cool thing as well where, like, for of the pay per view events, he does, like, he reaches out to some people on. Via Twitter or X and he will invite you to a league and, like, the person who wins the league wins like $20 or something. So it's like a fun. [00:16:56] Speaker B: And just for that pay per view. [00:16:57] Speaker A: Just for that pay per view. So obviously you can have like, against the fence. Like I said, I'll link it below. We've got our own kind of fight bets. Obviously you could join in, see how you get on. Definitely better to. To just get in there. But obviously, starting from the beginning of next year, it will all restart. So anyone will be in the running we've discussed. I can't go to too much detail, but there'll be some special prizes for the top three, excluding the ATF guys. [00:17:25] Speaker B: Because that one, that's the thing with our one as well. On the Friday, the prediction show, it's like, say it's me jaw do and will be ball chuck 50 quid in. So then the winner takes 150 quid. Second place will take 50 quid. I think last year when they done it and I wasn't part of it, that's what Naz was in it and those three guys, and it was winner take all. But I think they mixed up a bit this year. And we also changed the rules. So they used to have, you would pick your fight of the night and performance of the night, and if you got those two fighters right, then you got those two picks right, you would then get three points rather than one point. Yeah, we changed it this year because it was just. It was creating too much of a gap. So we changed it this year to, you have three underdogs. Minimum, you have to have three underdogs. You can have as many as you want, but minimum, we all have to have three. And then you pick one to be your dog of the week. And if your dog of the week comes in, you get three points. [00:18:20] Speaker A: I like that. [00:18:21] Speaker B: So. And that has honestly made a difference this year. It's crazy. [00:18:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. I think listening to the collaboration side that you're obviously growing on, and then from looking at your channel, it's quite. It's a lot of places almost to be at once. It feels like. Like you're planning because. Because everything overlaps when you're planning it right. And every single kind of thing you're doing requires a kind of different mindset and a different skill set. So, obviously, when you're interviewing someone, like a fighter or whoever it is, or doing the podcast, your podcast, the Rambling dad podcast, it's probably a quite a different dynamic to when you're doing it with the guys on, like you're saying before, like, because it's bit more. I think I feel like you bounce off of each other a lot more when you're around people that you know. [00:19:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:06] Speaker A: How do you. How do you navigate the challenges of wearing, like, so many different hats in, like, the content creation scene? And then, obviously, when those things are overlapping, what's. What does your process look like when you're switching from, say, an analyst talking, breaking down a fight? Who do you think's gonna do what? This has happened on in with you guys the other day, and Mohrab's cutting his stitches out, and, you know, all the way to when you were, like, interviewing Zap Puga, who's got quite a unique personality, like, a really calm guy. Or if you're collaborating with other guys in MMA scene, how do you maintain your. Your unique voice against, like, kind of all of those roles? [00:19:49] Speaker B: I wing it. That's the easiest way to describe it, mate. I'll wing it. I'll just wing everything. So, like you say with the guys, it's a bit easier because you're just bouncing off. Like, there's. When I go in to do the. The dust up shakedown with them, like, there's no planning in that. We, like, we all keep up to date with the news. We all know what's going on. Leroy, who runs, he's basically like the producer of the fight. We show. He does the thumbnails. He comes up about the. The australian guy that you'll hear in the videos when we play a clip. Yeah, dude, that's talking. That's Leroy. Money is an absolute genius. He's a psychic. You're talking to your mates. It's like a spectrum. You don't know where you're going to land when it's the first time you're going to be speaking to somebody. Because obviously, I'm quite an open and, like, I don't know, energetic kind of person when I'm speaking to people. But then you're gonna come across somebody like a Zach Poeger, who was a gentleman. Absolutely. But I can. I can pick up and I can read on people. I can bring myself to that level and I can go with it. But sometimes, like, you might come with a bit too much energy. Like Marvola, it took me a minute. Like, the dude's amazing. Absolutely love talking to him. And, like, he was great. And, like, we still spoke even after it. Yeah. I mean, like, is fantastic, but just getting the balance of. How's the energy going here? How's the vibe going? Because that's one thing you don't know when you're speaking to these people. It's over a webcam. There's Internet delay, you know, I mean, so you ask a question and then they don't say anything, and there's dead space. I'm like, oh, did you hear it? And then you go to say something and it can. It can create some awkward moments and you learn over time to black. Boom. Give him a minute to answer. Sweet. Yeah, he got it. He got it. Yeah. I mean, so it can take a little minute with that. So. And the aspect of that, again, I just. I just wing it. I play it. I play it as they are, and I'll go along with it, but when it comes to setting that stuff up, bro. I can. I can take some time, like, you know yourself. Yeah. I mean, their schedule as well as your schedule. Like, you're a full time dad partner, you've got a fight. I've got a full time job. I assume you do, too. And all the other things like that a lot of people don't see going on in the background. You then need to think about them. They're full time partners, dads. They've got training schedules. They've also got, like, they might be in camp. So you don't know what the sleeping pattern is going to be like or the eating schedule, whatever's going on. Yeah, I've just been training now I need to go home and rest. Then I've got this, like, strength and conditioning, then I've got, like, recovery. And whatever it is, you need to try and plan around it. And, like, you say things, you can set a date. And Modi B, I know you guys are very familiar with him and you're very friendly with him and me and him try to set something up three times. [00:22:14] Speaker A: Shout out Modi. [00:22:15] Speaker B: Shout out Moddy, man. I mean, big moddy. And I'm kind of sad we never got to it. And I hope maybe one day that we do, but we tried setting something up three or four times and it just couldn't happen. Just rescheduling clashes and it's just the way that the dice rolls sometimes. And what people don't understand is how difficult that can be to try and go, I've got work in this day. I've got work in that. Does this day work for you? No, he comes back to you, does that day work for you? And this happens with a lot of people, and once you get it landed and once you get it there, it sounds. But then there's also the. Right now, what am I going to talk about? What do I want to talk to this guy about? One thing for me is I enjoy talking to them and I just want to learn more about them and I just want to talk to them. I've got no journalistic background. I'm not sitting here going, right, this is going to be a q and a where I'm going to go. I just keep it a conversation like we are now. I mean, I just. I talk to everybody the same, really. I don't really. I don't really put any pressure on myself to try and be professional or come across in any way. I literally just talk to you like one of the boys. That's how I go for it. But I generally have a structure, so I try not to script things too much because what I did, I tried that at the start, and I don't know if you found the same. If you've done any interviews and things, you create a structure and you try and stick to it too much, and it ruins the flow of the conversation, especially in a podcast scenario. So say, to say, I've put our. I want to talk about this, then I want to talk about this, then I will talk about this. But there's something down here that they comment on when you're still up here. [00:23:43] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:23:43] Speaker B: You kind of ignore it, and then you stick to what path you want to do because it's keeping you comfortable in your space at that time, when that's where you should go. Do you know what? Cross that out there. Bang. Let's go into that. Yeah, I mean, let's talk about it here. And that's something that I've learned over time, too, is if they bring someone up, just go with the flow and just talk to them about it there and then, and just forget about it being down at the bottom, because it can also make it a little broken up, a little bit awkward. And it's kind of like you're not truly listening to them because you just ignore what they just said to you and then just going on. So whatever it is that you wanted to talk about, you know what I mean? There was a couple of times where I caught myself doing that, and I was like, that was a bit of a dick move. I maybe should have elaborated on that a little bit more. But again, it's all learning. Like I say, when you're winging it and you've only been doing it, like, myself for a year. Like, it's all part of the game, so just learning everything. [00:24:30] Speaker A: Yeah, I completely agree. One of the hardest things I found is that active listening, when you set yourself a script is like, it's almost impossible because you're catching on to something and you're going, oh, yeah, I could lead from that. And then by the time that you've tuned back into what's being said, you're like, you're somewhere else. [00:24:50] Speaker B: Yeah, completely. And then, yeah, you look awkward because you're walking over at the side and you're going, oh, shit, where was I? And you're trying to catch up with where it is, whatever it is that you wanted to talk about. Meanwhile, they're still talking, and you just. It's just all over the place. [00:25:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. One thing I do want to touch on a little bit more is that interviewing fighters bit? Because I think when you first come into this kind of scene and I. It's probably like the main thing that we all want to do is speak to the fighters and kind of get up close and personal to them because as fans, it's like what you immerse yourself with, right, what's going on in their lives, what are they doing at the moment? But people really do not realize how, how difficult that can be. And I know you touched on a bit there with, like, zak Pyga and how come and, like, reserved he can be, but, but at the same time, just an absolutely lovely guy out there beyond him is just like a. Such a real mix of individuals. And we sit down, we do this stuff, but, and then people see, like, the finished product, like, the polished product. You know, we can, we can sit here, we can cut out bits that didn't go too well, or we can put a picture over something where something went a bit wrong and, you know, they can't see it and we can edit it so it looks like it comes together a bit smoother. But I think a lot of the people, like we were saying earlier, that follow this and are, a lot of them are aspiring wannabe content creators, and it'll be good to just give them a little bit of a glimpse, glimpse a bit more into what goes on behind the scenes on the lead up to an interview with a fighter. So what's your typical preparation for an interview with a fighter? Because we spend weeks and weeks and weeks chasing these guys, and then all of a sudden it's like, bang, go, right? He could do Wednesday next week. I've got my home life, and then I need to prep for this to make sure that it goes as well as I want. And then on top of that, what's your, what's your kind of. Well, you touched this a little bit. Kind of getting them to open up. You're just yourself. But is there, do you have any kind of technique for, like, trying to get them to open up? Or is it just like you were saying, conversational and just see where it goes and that, that is like your go to or have you got other techniques that you kind of have on the side? [00:26:53] Speaker B: Cool. So we'll start. So general day today is chat with the boss. Yeah, I mean, always making sure with the messes. Go find out what's going on. And that's like. Right, sweet. I've got an interview with this guy on this day. Is that all right? Do we need to do anything? No. Cool. Right, sound. We're good to go. Messaging back. Right. All good, buddy. Let's set it off for that time. And then you rock and roll with that. Then, like I say, for the structure side of things, depends what's going on, if they've got a fight, or if I'm genuinely just interested in the person that I want to come on and talk to, if it's a genuine interest. Usually for me, it'd be something like introduction. You're what's happening. What? A bit about yourself. Try and learn a lot. So one thing that I always like to try and do is sometimes I'll do a bit of research into other people's interviews and see what they've spoke about in the past. But what I've also found is I'm not too keen on doing that either, because I want to hear it first time. Like, firsthand. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to hear it and then have to ask them again and hear it again. Yeah. I. I'd rather just have the questions myself, so. Depends on what I want to learn about the person. And what I always try and do is try and learn something new from that person that somebody else might not have known. [00:28:00] Speaker A: Okay. [00:28:00] Speaker B: I always try and get one little takeaway where nobody's heard that before, and that's whether it's personal, whether it's training, whether it's, like, one of the favorite fights or experiences or whatever it is. And I always. I always try and resonate with them in a personal level of shared experience. They can tell me something. Sometimes you can feel like an idiot. You're like, oh, they'll tell you. Oh, yeah, I remember when I was trained, I was doing. You're like, you're a professional fighter and couch potato watching this. You know what I mean? But at the same time, you're all human. At the end of the day, we're all just people. So, like, that's what a lot of people get scared by, the star power and of what it is. And I met a semi famous, like, artist that I really enjoy called beans on toast a few years ago, okay? And I was starstruck, and I felt like an absolute muppet. And I was like, I am never, ever feeling that way again, human being. Like, because I seen him and I just went, beans. And, I mean, I just shouted at him, and I was just like, what was that? And then I probably acted like a complete muppet anyway. I've been following that guy for ten years now. I've been to multiple shows a year watching him and like, we know each other. It's cool. Like when he sees me, he says hello. So that was one thing that led me into this stuff of don't be too nervous about the level of what the fighter is and just remember that they're a person on the other side. [00:29:23] Speaker A: Okay. [00:29:23] Speaker B: So for me it's. I always just try and have a conversation. Like I say, like, there's never. I have the structure of. Right, I want to talk about you. I want to talk about your family life. I want to, like, you've recently posted some news. Let's chat about that. You've got a fight coming up. Let's talk about that. What's your training looking like? What's your nutrition looking like? How's anything going? Oh, you've recently been on holiday. Let's talk about your holiday. I went there too. This is where I. And again, if we were sitting in a pub, it'd be the same conversation. And that's just how I try and play plan things like that rather than having too structured of a time with it. And you mentioned before about obviously we try and get these things landed and some of them can be quite like, I've only got 20 minutes. They always come back. How long is the interview going to be? And I'm like, depends how fast you answer a question. I'm always open with them. I'm like, it just depends on how the conversation goes, bro. Like, if you've only got 20 minutes and you tell me what, like, I've done that. When the final body said, look, I've got 20 minutes, I was like, cool, mate. Shortened down, like some of the things that I wanted to speak to him about. And we smashed out. [00:30:25] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:30:25] Speaker B: I mean, we just went, boom, 20 minutes. And then after it was like, we can get another one another time. I was like, salman, no worries. Yeah. I mean, so that's, that's another one that I can go back to in the future. But what's happening? They did try and get one lined up before 304, but obviously I'm not sure if you've seen his post. His daughter had some health issues so he went off socials and everything for the time. And I'd actually messaged him saying, we still good? And then I seen the post after the fact and then I messaged him again saying, just seen that, mate, do you take your time? Yeah. I mean, all the best for you and the family and God luck at 304. I'll see you in Manchester, man. I caught up with him in Manchester. I mean, but there's things like that that can happen. So, yeah, you just take it. [00:31:01] Speaker A: I love that because I think just to stand out, you've got to be unique and you can't. You can't really force it. So just be yourself. Like you are, is like there's no other. There's no other purer way of doing it. Like, it's you. It's what you enjoy and you're just having the conversation that you want. Like, like. And if people want to tune in on that, then they, then they will. And if they don't, they don't. And it's, you know. Yeah, it's your. It's your platform and you've got your control over it and you're doing what you want. [00:31:34] Speaker B: There's one of them that I would tell you to go back and listen to if you haven't. And it's James Webb. [00:31:39] Speaker A: Okay. [00:31:40] Speaker B: I had him on at the start of the year. He was the first one of 2024 is like kicking off the air with James Webb or something. I called the interview. Well, that's the other thing. Titles, thumbnails, all that. Yeah. Sometimes you put things that you think sound cool, but the algorithms, just like, you ain't going nowhere, so you ain't seeing that. No one's seeing it. Yeah. So that's. That's one thing that you're always working on. But anyway, James Webb, I think even in the interview, like, if you go back and listen to it, he was like, I wasn't expecting to talk about any of this today. So as far as techniques go, getting people to open up, there isn't one. But me and him ended up in like a deep conversation about life and philosophy and goals and, bro, like, honestly, me and this dude connected on a level that you never would have expected. And again, we still talk on Instagram and things and he is an absolute gentleman as well. Like, him and zappoega, very soft spoken, very well mannered, very knowledgeable. Like, the dudes even give me advice outside of like that podcast, whenever we've been talking in DM's and stuff, I can't praise James Webb enough. He's a lovely, lovely guy. And I've heard nothing but good things from everybody that interacts with. But the level of conversation that we got into about family, kids, life, business, everything, bro, like, you're there to talk to a fighter and it just went in the opposite direction. Or I could say he was sitting at the end going, I wasn't expecting this to go this way at all. [00:32:58] Speaker A: I'm going to have to watch that. [00:32:59] Speaker B: There's a really good one, man. [00:33:01] Speaker A: I enjoyed it with, like we said, it's like your kind of your platform, and you make it unique to yourself with all the content that you have created, from podcast episodes, interviewing fighters. Some of my personal favorites have been vlogs to Disneyland, Paris. I'm sure you know, across the journey, you've had some pretty memorable experiences. My personal favorite was from. Was from your unboxing video of your lightsaber. And there was loads of little parts, like when you'd sped up, you read into the manual and stuff like that. And then I think the bit that really stood out for me was like, your. Your face when you realized you could change the color of the lightsaber. You would like. Absolutely starstruck. That is not. It's not just one color. I can have whatever color I love. I love the uniqueness of integrating, like, your own life beyond just MMA. It makes it more personal. It makes it more diverse. I just wondered if you could share outside of that. Just something that surprised you. It could be something from doing those style videos. It could be from an interview. It could be a moment that popped off in socials. I mean, I've seen that your pin post on Twitter's got 33,000 likes and stuff. Kind of a viral. What's, like, at this moment in your kind of content creation career, what's, like, the most memorable and then most joyous moment that you've had as a content creator? [00:34:28] Speaker B: The opportunities I've received and just the. The openness of people willing to come onto the show and talk to me, like, as plain and simple as that is, like, there's nothing like the viral tweets and whatever, man, that could happen to anybody. Like, you put a tweet out there, you get two likes on it, and it goes nowhere. You put a tweet out there, it gets 1.6 million views. You're like, what? Like, what did I do different there to what I did over there in my mind? Nothing. Yeah, I mean, but clearly the algorithms, like, everybody loved it. It was cool. But, yeah, like a tweet to tweet at the end of the day. But for me, since I'm doing. Since I've been doing this, the support that I've had off people, like I said, we've been a Twitter for a couple years as well. So just the support of people on Twitter, as always, been credible. Whether it's retweeting, liking things, just getting behind me, watching the shows, sharing the shows, and then, as well as I can't thank the fighters enough and the other guests that I've had on you, I mean, because I've had plenty of. Plenty of the community on there, too. Like Louis Glover, Jason Hartley as well. Being like, my first interview, like, bro works at MMA on point, over a million subscribers and YouTube. Took the time out of his day, but I say took the time out of his day to help me with the interview. Took the time out of his life to help me set this shit up. Like, it was not easy getting obs to start running. And this dude spoke to me on WhatsApp call for 45 minutes, helping me run through it. Like, man, like, honestly, I've praised him before, but Jason, if you hear this brother again, it was well over a year ago. But thank you. I mean, for everything that he's done. And then again, thanks to all the fighters and everything. Like, because you sit there, I'm just a dude that grew up in a council state that's got a love for this sport who's, I mean, just a family man, and just enjoy it so much that I want to speak to people and I've been given the opportunity to go and do it. Just people talk about manifestation. It's not manifestation. I'm just putting it out there. You're just asking people and you're just going, can we do this? Yeah. Sweet. Right? Thank you. And then you just run with it. And then the same with working media events. Yeah, I mean, I know you guys go and do the content that you create there, which sometimes I look at other people and I'm like, how do you guys think of this? Like, I look at videos that you just do and I'm like, and you look at the videos that some other pages do and stuff and I'm like, how do you guys think about this content? Because sometimes I'm sitting there going, right, I'll make a YouTube video. What will I make it about? And you just come draw a blank. Some days you're like, oh, I've got this idea. That idea. Depending on what news comes up, boom. But then again, it's finding the time to sit down and do the editing. And I made. Which video was it? I think I made like a 19 minutes video, ended up recording like 56 minutes of content, clipped it down to 19, done all the editing pieces. Bro, this thing took me 14 hours to edit this bad boy. And, you know, I mean, cuz that's when I started really learning about the algorithm and keeping people's attention span and all the rest of it, and putting things in there to get people to stay on the screen and get people to keep looking at your stuff. It's just you talking to a camera like this, people are just gonna bugger off. Like, yeah, and if you keep that same monotone kinda chat all the way through it, people gonna see you later. I'm going somebody else's page. I. But yeah, for me, just the opportunities I've had, like, it's just been absolutely incredible. A wild ride for a year and a half that I've been doing it. [00:37:37] Speaker A: Now, apart from I'm gonna exclude, like, the James Webb one. But if you've got a particular interview that you enjoyed the most and why. [00:37:46] Speaker B: I don't want to create dead space, so I'm just gonna start rambling. But we can clip it out. Yeah, it's a recording in it. So. Aaron Ab was a really good one, because he has such a powerful story, who's a bomber, cystic fibrosis. Then was told that his parents were told that they better write his will out and things that he probably wouldn't go past 16. He then had stage three testicular cancer, which spread into his bowel. He beat that and came back to fighting cage warriors again, and then continued. Ended up going for a title shot twice. Octagon. The dude's story is absolutely phenomenal. And then you look at somebody like that and you think, man, I moan. The smallest little thing in a day to day life, and this guy has gone out and just beat the, like the worst deck of cards you could have been dealt in a 30 year lifespan. And he's just gone out there and stayed positive and just kept going for it, kept going for it, and just smashed everything that's been put in front of him. And it just, that's the other thing about this stuff, the, the perspective that you get on life and yourself and how you're going about your day to day business is just incredible how much it changes the way you look at the world. But look, Aaron AB, let me just keep going as well, but going. Sorry, not to interrupt. [00:39:02] Speaker A: No, no, keep going. I love that. I think that's where I get kind of my affinity towards my favorite fighters is it is one thing being able to stand up at the press conference and, you know, captivate people similarly, like we were saying earlier on about, like, Conor McGregor in the way that he done it, but some things run deeper. And we've, one of the podcasts that we've got lined up, check it out will be with Cody Gibson and he's got a really, really interesting backstory so we're going to delve into that and he's like kind of agreed to sit down and do like the full hour of us and really like he's open to really talk about that and he said that already and I like, I just, I just love the guy because of it, like, and it's weird and it's like you're saying you can relate to things, right? And it just, yeah, it sets people apart personally. On a personal level, I think, yeah, I just love this sport because like footballers, if you look at football or soccer or whatever you want to call it, a lot of them come from quite privileged backgrounds. [00:40:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:40:05] Speaker A: Parents have got the money to be able to ship them all over the country. You come to MMA and there's people starting off at like 1718 years old just because they want to give it a go. And then like by the time they're like 28, the UFC fights and these people have lived life before getting there. [00:40:21] Speaker B: Life experience before getting there. [00:40:23] Speaker A: And it's, yeah, it kind of kicks you in the face of it when you start speaking to some of these people. Looking forward a little bit now, I would change the topic slightly. MMA content creation has significantly evolved over the years. What started off as kind of like simple fight recaps and coverage on just like kind of what's in the news, should we call it, is now boss blossoms and quite a wide range of kind of content types from super in depth pre fight breakdowns, people predicting what they're going to do. Some, some channels are just purely based off of bets and betting and they have like a really in depth analysis as to why they think that someone's going to be and where you should put your money and what specific bets you should put your money on. And it could just be podcasts and interviews similar to like what we're doing now. How do you, how do you see, this is a bit of a tricky one, I think. I'd hate to answer this. How do you see like the future of MMA content evolving and then are there any trends or shifts that you've noticed recently that you're particularly excited for? [00:41:20] Speaker B: So I think the betting and prediction things is something that you are now noticing a lot more that seems to be content that a lot of people kind of look for because a lot of people are looking at who am I going to bet on at the weekend? And again, it might be somebody who's more of a casual fan that doesn't know every fighter on the cardinal. Yeah. I mean, even. Even when I've done part, like, done bets and predictions, I go back and look at tape. Yeah. I mean, you cannot remember every single fight, especially here in the UK. Like you mentioned earlier, staying up until 03:00 a.m. five to watch these fights. You can wake up on that Sunday after 4 hours kip and you forgot three or four of them already. You always need to go back and look at them again. So I think that's something that seems to be on the rise at the moment, doing that content myself. But again, it's quite time consuming. Like I said, that 19 minutes video that took me 1213, 14 hours to actually edit and put it all together, because what I was doing was just bringing up topology or the UFC and then just literally running through it and just having me and talking. And then I was like, how do I change this up? Make it a bit more engaging, make it a bit more interactive, and give a little bit more production to it than just me chatting crap at a camera. That, again, that's all something that you're learning as you're going through it and doing it. So that seems to be on the rise. Interviews. Interviews are a funny one. Right? So if you're doing this because you want people give you clout or you're doing it for your own personal ego, or you're in it for the wrong reasons, you can get somebody like ourselves that are doing it because you want to learn about fighters, you want to hear about them, you want to give them the platform, you want to be able to bring their story to an audience that might not have seen it before. And I think that's. That's why you should be doing it. It's not. I'm not doing this for me. Like, none of this is for me at all. I enjoy doing it. It's a passion and it's a hobby, and, like, I'm not gonna get sick of it, but the whole reason that I want to speak to people is so other people can hear what they've got to say. And then the other part of it is just having fun with your friends. Like I say, I think if you're getting into this on the basis of I want all the attention and I want clown and I want to be some kind of media superstar, then you're definitely in it for the wrong reasons. Like, there's no money in this game. Like, and more money comes out of my pocket than goes into it from any of this. Like, yeah, I mean, you've got, you got to pay for the, the streaming platform. You use, the editing software that you use. Some people pay for interviews, like, thankfully, no ads pay for an interview. So that's the one thing that I've not had to do. But I. Yeah, and interviews are a funny one. It needs to be time, place, and whether people are actually going to be interested in seeing it. Other than that, you can't bank on a, on an interview for content that people are really wanting to go watch because you'll find that the bigger channels are going to be the ones that get the views on the interviews more than the smaller channels, but at the same time, catch them at the right time. It can take off depending on the level of it. Other things you look at Nina drama and what she's doing. I mean, there's quirky interviews and things in there, and I, I think she's got the right personality with it. She's obviously working with the UFC with it, and it works very, very well. I think some people that try and deliver stuff like that, it can come across as, personally, some people might love it. I kind of goes to like the Jake Paul and the TikTokers. Not. That ain't for me, bro. Why not interested. You can do your hot tour girl and all those kind of. [00:44:43] Speaker A: When I see some TikTok dances, Jordan. [00:44:45] Speaker B: Nah, mate, I ain't doing none of that. I've never, never downloaded TikTok in your life and I ain't gonna start now. So, yeah, the, it's evolved massively. And then you get into shorts. Yeah, I mean, everyone's creating shorts of fight highlights or whatever else that it's going through, and then you get your people that miss. This is the content that I wish I was a bit more creative with your top five featherweights, your lightweight, and your prospects that are going through it, and just all these little videos that people do, which I'm like, that's incredible. The editing that goes into, it's phenomenal. Like, I just watched one from making the walk. MMA, he put out one about sugar. Sean watched it yesterday. Just nine minute video that, I mean, they're not long, but the dudes doing really well with it. Like, it's well produced, it's well edited. Like, he smashed it. And that's something that I would enjoy doing more. But, yeah, coming from the old fashioned Ariel Helwane standing there on Fox News or whatever to where we are now, and the media side of it and the content creation side of it has grown massively due to Internet social media as well as the sport growing as much as it has, and it's just kind of evolved along with it. What I don't like is. What's that? Who's that little muppet that wears the glasses that got chased by. Was it Masvidal's team or Nate's team? Got chased out by Nate's team? What's his name? [00:46:06] Speaker A: Derek. Guy that works for Jake Paul. [00:46:08] Speaker B: No, not Derek. Not him. He's a douche and all. Who's the other guy, man? Little skinny guy that's always got bodyguards with him and just tries the act, like, oh, I think I know. [00:46:18] Speaker A: You mean he's more of a. He's more of a social media influencer than he is. [00:46:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, those guys need to just start getting in the real world, because what they don't realize is some of these dudes genuinely get the hands. Like, they've never took a punch in the face, you know? I mean, I. How old are you? [00:46:34] Speaker A: I'm 27. [00:46:35] Speaker B: Oh, mate. So you were six years younger than me, but six years, not much of an age gap. But you did that crap in school. You were gonna get shit out of you. I mean, like, yeah, you didn't do that in school. And you'd have been battered, like, nah, you'd have been bullied for the rest of your days if you acted, like walking around in school. Right. So you kind of look at them guys, and I'm like, come on, boys, time to grow up. You can't be walking around these dudes acting like that as. As much as it's getting you followers and views and whatever, I'm not into that side of it at all. [00:47:02] Speaker A: Mmm. Yeah, I love that. Leading on from that in terms of, like, the fan interaction side of it and fans being closer than ever, like you just said, some. Some of the most. I think some of the most exciting aspects of being, like, a online content creator is that direct connection you have with fans. Like those people that come into the show weekly and are always there, and you have that engaging conversation with them. It's rewarding to see them coming back, because that's where you start to feel like, you know, things are going right, and then they're. They follow on socials, and because of the social media side of it, they're more engaged than ever. That's whether that's just with general UFC news or with your specific channel, and it then allows you to have, like we were saying as well earlier, those conversations with people in depth that maybe you can't have with the person at the workplace, just as a little fun question, just to kick it off a little bit, have you had a, an unexpected kind of all fun interaction with a fan, even in person or on social media if you got something? [00:48:02] Speaker B: Like, I'm not sure. The people that watch the show that come on, like I say, fans, like, I mean, friends, whatever you want to call them, like people that watch it and support, I talk to them weekly now, so I've never really had anything that sticks out so far that I can kind of think of, but now just enjoying it as it's going along, like you say, it's just creating the community does. [00:48:28] Speaker A: Do you, obviously, you were saying, like, when you do an interview and you speak to a fighter, it's kind of you and them, and it runs. It runs and just goes the way is. Do you, do you think there's any, do you think an audience has an influence on some of the content that you create? Maybe whether you think of doing something new or you want to try something new out that you haven't tried before or even just changing the things that you're currently doing? [00:48:49] Speaker B: No. Like, so personally, if I'm going to make something, I'm just going to make it because, okay, that's what I'm interested in doing and that's what I'm just gonna go and do. I don't really think about, like, probably it's a learning point that I could have is what do you guys want to see? Is maybe ask and then I can start going along that way. But I've always just kind of done what I've wanted to do and what I've enjoyed really. And what's interested me influence side of things is during the lives, obviously on Streamyard, you can get the comments coming up. So it influences how the chat can go sometimes and how the, the topics we talk about can be changed or the path that we go along with the topics. Like 100%, when we start clicking on the comments and they appear up on the screen and somebody said, oh, this might even be a point that you've not thought about. [00:49:34] Speaker A: Mmm. [00:49:35] Speaker B: When you can be talking about something. So that definitely, that definitely influences something there. [00:49:39] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, I like that one thing that we don't talk about a lot, but it is an aspect, once you start building the channel, obviously we all do it slightly. I know it's the passion for the sport, but we all dream of like the kind of monetization kind of, you know, feeling, getting that reward for feeling first of the work that you've put in. We do look at how many people have tuned in on a week and start tracking that and think, you know, week by week, what could change? How do you approach the business side of it? [00:50:11] Speaker B: So analytics and everything that go into it, you can be looking at all of those and it's catch 22. [00:50:20] Speaker A: How do you do it and how do you do it and not let the passion be compromised by doing it? I think that's probably a better way of putting it. [00:50:28] Speaker B: Yeah. So I don't dwell on it too much. That's what I was about to say. So the catch 22 pieces, you can let that if something's not doing as well as you hoped, you can kind of let that negatively impact the content or the passion that you're going to be doing it for. Like, you can find yourself doing the interviews or you find yourself putting out the content and going, it's not really growing that well, or it doesn't seem to be received that well. It's not landed that God like, and you can kind of have a negative impact on that because it'll put the negative mindset into. That's the problem with the way some of this works, is if you are trying to do it for views and other people, then you're not gonna. It doesn't land, then you're not gonna be happy about it. And it's just, you're not gonna get like, the endorphins that everybody chases and stuff. But I don't mind. Like, honestly, that's one thing that I never really think about too much. Like, I look at, I look at how I structure things, I look at how I could improve things, but I never really do it on a basis of analytics or the, the outside input, because I think that maybe it's just me. I see it more as a negative impact than a positive impact. [00:51:37] Speaker A: I think that speaks volumes of your character, though. I think that's a great thing. Like, I think that you're right. You should do it for the love of it. I have that kind of inkling where I can't help but look at the numbers. I want things to land and I want it to be successful. And you're probably right that sometimes I probably look too much into that and not actually like what I'm actually enjoying doing and over time. And I think it's probably why people fall out of love with. Of doing the content creation is because they start off because they love the sport, and then they delve into the numbers and they go, this isn't working. And then they might have a peak and they go right, doing something right, and then the algorithm changes, and then all of a sudden you're back down to like, no one's seen my content. What am I doing wrong? [00:52:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:19] Speaker A: And it's a really, is a really difficult field to navigate. [00:52:23] Speaker B: There's a roller coaster. And again, when you're only human at the end of the day, like I've said, and that is something that is a problem with social media. Like you say, the algorithm changes and maybe that doesn't get pushed as much as it did before. You're going angle, right. Why aren't people liking this? Have I said something? Have I been a muppet? You start doubting yourself, then you start doubting your content, and it's just a bad path to get down. So as long as you're enjoying it, as long as you're finding your groove and just keep going. Like, for me, it was learning all about the editing pieces, the travel vlogs and things that you spoke about before. That was me just noodling with some it different. That wasn't MMA to just figure out, right, how do I put these transitions in and get this stuff to work kind of properly? I mean, as well as the, the. Here's a bit more about me on a personal level, outside of MMA and other things. I mean, whether I'm going to a gig or a family trip or whatever it is. And then again, there's even points that I learned from that going, oh, I can actually use that and implement it over here. But, yeah, as far as it goes, for dwelling on things too much. Don't, don't, brother. Don't. Just leave it, leave it. Don't get me wrong, like, they are helpful things. There is very helpful things, especially we do, look, we do, of course you work. It pops up a notification on your phone saying, here's your YouTube analytics this week. Go and have a look at it. So you have a look at it, and when it's looking great, it's looking great. But if it's not looking great, cool, whatever. So, like you say, people, people fall off the, the cliff of this because they started as a passion, it becomes more of a job. And so like I mentioned earlier, the, during COVID I set up the twitter because I was doing gaming, streaming and stuff like that. [00:54:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:02] Speaker B: And I found, I mentioned about that, don't be on a hamster wheel of trying to put out content. That's how it became. It became a job and what's next. And I need to do this. And now I'm on a hamster wheel chasing constant content to put out for this game in Instagram and Twitter and whatever else that I was doing. And I just was like, I have gamed all my life and I'm highly passionate about gaming, and now I really just can't even be arsed with it because I've just drilled myself into the ground with this stuff. So when I started doing this, I was like, I ain't doing that with this. I'm not gonna get to the point where it becomes a job. The monetization side of things. Yeah, I ain't gonna sit here and lie. It would be great to be monetized. But the way that if it would pay for itself, I'm not, like I said, there's no money in this MMA game. Like, I'm not a journalist, I'm not a professional. I'm somebody that loves the sport, enjoying doing these things. And I like talking to people if this can make me the money that I put out of so I'm not losing out a pocket. And it just, whatever I make goes back into it and sound like I'm happy with that. Right? So I got, like, you mentioned about a few viral tweets on Twitter that helped me go monetized on Twitter because you need 5 million views in three months or whatever. And I hit, like, free post, hit 1.6 million within a few weeks of each other. And I was like, like I said, how the fuck do I do that? And then you got some tweets that just don't go anywhere. I don't get it. And then I have, like, the, the prelim gang is like, it's consistency. Yeah. I mean, it's building the brand, staying consistent, and just going with who you are. And what I'm also all about is just being me. I'm not somebody that's gonna say something for the hella clicks. Like, if I'm putting some out because I think it's fucking funny, whatever you do. I don't. I'm gonna find it funny. And that's why I've put it out there. I've been hanging out with people before in the past, and, like, we're all in a group chat and somebody sent something through, but I'm standing with somebody else in the group chat. Soon as someone comes through, I say something, like, in response out loud, because he's standing there. And that's exactly what gets typed and goes into, like, literally what comes out is what goes out. Like, there's, there's no filtering, there's no nothing. It's. And it's got me in trouble a few times, but whatever comes back, I do, mate. Like, it goes all over the place like this. This stuff also kind of helps because it preoccupies my mind and gives me, oh, I've got this focus on this to focus on this to focus on. Let's get this done. That done as well as job. That's what the dog fucking all of it. Yeah. Adhd to the max, mate. [00:56:31] Speaker A: To round us off, then. I love. I love your channel. Keep it up strong. Firm believer. Obviously, we don't do it against the fence because it's a slightly different kind of channel, but I love to see the purity of the personal stuff. I'd love for you to, like, do more of that if you've got the time, because. Appreciate it. I think when you're trying to build a fan base, when people can be that personable with an individual, and then you go, right, I don't just share mma enthusiasm. I share Star Wars. I share whatever it is, a band or whatever it is. And like you said, when you speak to a fighter and you have that same kind of resonating experience with, and you go, wow, like, we don't. We've got a lot in common. And then. And then you're just a fan. Yeah. So we all dream of having a big page, right, and reaching loads of people and having a great platform, whether that's. If it's to get you in at the UFC events and speaking to the people, like, kind of like Nina does. What's kind of the legacy that you want to leave behind for the mama community? And what do you hope it will be or key messages or values that you want your audience to take away from your work? Like, where you say that you're just yourself, like, how does that transpire into a community? You know, what do you want to leave behind? [00:57:52] Speaker B: I guess as far as leave behind, say, just be yourself, be consistent and just go over it. I just want to show that a normal dude can do this stuff. Like, you don't need, like, in this day and age, you do not need to be a professional. You don't need to go to college or university to do journalism or anything. Like, a normal guy can go and speak to these people and do these things. And, like, I would love to continue doing the YouTube stuff, putting out on Spotify, etc. As well. I've only been a media member to octagon shows. Absolutely loved it. So I've applied for cage warriors, applied for PFL. It's funny because actually said, octagon cage warriors, UFC. And I outlined this to the boys like a year ago. So this is, this is what I'm gonna do. So I'm gonna go to Octagon, I'm gonna work there, dip my toes in it, see if I like it. Like, is covering media, covering an event as media, going to the press conferences, and it's a completely different ballgame of planning and organizing and how you, how you're gonna set up these interviews, post fight for pre fight, post fight, or post weigh ins or whatever it looks like, you know, I mean, like press conferences at the end of it, all the rest. So I was like, dip my toes in, see if I like it, see if it's for me, and then we'll go from there. Loved it. Sound sweet? Let's go to another one. Done another one with octagon. Right. Next up, cage warriors. Spoke to Brad Watson on, on Twitter. I've emailed away, I've applied. Hopefully I'll hear back soon because the event in Glasgow is next week. So probably just gonna email him and chase him up, to be fair and just by. Is he any chance for the opportunity? Because that's all I did as well when I messaged these people, I'm like, my channel is called the Rambling dad mma podcast. And I put mma in there just so you kind of know where I'm going with it. Before, it was just the Rambling dad podcast and I was like, look, I'm a dude who started this. Got a passion. If you can, give me the opportunity, fantastic, if you can. Thanks for your time. And that's basically what I put in these emails is this is who I am, this is who I've interviewed so far. This is the shows that are run on YouTube with other channels and who are collaborated with. Please. Yeah, I mean, got the opportunity to do it. So again, just continue to do this until the wheels fall off or until I've just not got the time. Like I say, I've got a second. I've got a second kid coming in November, so things are going to slow down. Like, again, you know yourself, I mean, being a father, like, it's difficult to plan around work and family life and all the rest of it already. And I've got another one here. I know it's going to be even tougher, so I'm going to need to reduce. And I actually, I wouldn't say I burnt myself out, but I did so many interviews in the first start of the year, then we found out that we were pregnant and I've slowed right down but I've got a bunch more coming up. I've not actually done any for a good few weeks because I've done all the interviews, all the content, all the media work. I thought, right, I'm giving myself a few weeks break here and just supporting my messes and getting things set up or whatever. So you've got to find that balance. Yeah, I mean, so I'll figure that out too but let's see how it goes. Just consistency is key. I'm just going to stick through this for as many years as I can. Whether I'm putting out an interview a week or I'm putting out an interview a month. It's just about staying there and staying active. [01:01:02] Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Well, yeah, we've just passed an hour so I'm gonna say thank you very much because I've really enjoyed this. I've really enjoyed this and I mean I'm sure we'll bump into each other events like. Like Manchester. Yeah. Thank you very much. [01:01:17] Speaker B: Thanks for having me on. Like it's been fun. Yeah. I mean bit of different styles of things our normally doing. Obviously this is the. Maybe the first but I don't know if you'll be releasing this one as the first one. But if not, then again all. All the best with everything that you're gonna do with it. Just like I say, stay with it, keep doing it like you've got a good set up here. Obviously we kind of discussed how this was kind of gonna run a little bit before we jumped on, but it's been smooth, man. I've enjoyed speaking to you and as I mentioned on Wednesday, ATF, man, people that are tuning in make sure you drop it. These boys are so honestly one of the most underrated and I don't mean that in a way that you guys ain't get. Like, you just don't get the props that you deserve. Why you guys get the views. You do have a good following. You've got a good community and a good fan base. When I've dropped into like a few of the lives that I've watched before, I. There's. There's a good. Peter. The amount of people in the chat like talking to you and engaging with the content. Yeah, I mean there's a good people watching your videos. Like, you guys are smashing it. Like, you just. Just keep going and hopefully. Hopefully one day you skyrocket and get somewhere. Because four years putting all of this energy and time and money and everything into everything you do. Hope that something comes from it eventually, so all the best with that. [01:02:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. [01:02:32] Speaker B: Cool.