Up On Game Presents BURN FACTORY With UFC Featherweight Isaac Dulgarian Losing His Father & Nelk!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Burn Factory Podcast with Priest and Phoenix Rivera.
Listen as the voice interview the biggest names and sports
and entertainment. The Burn Factory start Snow, what is up?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Guys?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome back to another episode of the Burn Factory Podcast.
I'm your host, Priest, jump by my co host, my brother,
the one and only Phoenix says up.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
For the camera, what's up, y'all?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
This is called the Burn Factory for a reasoning. I
was literally caught on fire, fifty percent chance to survive,
but through that started this podcast because I believe every
single person out there on this planet goes through a
burn moment somewhere in their life.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
You heard pre say a burn moment. So a burn
moment is a super hard time in your life. They
just have to fight and overcome. And me and Priest
believe that every single person on this earth go through
burn moments that truly make them who they are. And
as you guys know, on the Burn Factory, we always
talk about priests living to fight and fighting to lift.

(01:00):
Our guest today truly lives to fight and fights to live.
He was a three time state champion wrestler. Not only
that he was a six time triple crown winner. He's
an undefeated fighter who just made his UFC debut as
an underdog and got the first round finish.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
So please give a welcome to Isaac Dulgarian. Good, how
you do?

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Welcome?

Speaker 5 (01:25):
I'm amazing man. Couldn't be any happier.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
So you said something that's very fascinating to me in
Phoenix yesterday. You own three bumblebee beehives or honeybee. Sorry, yeah, honey, honey,
as what made you get involved with bees?

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Man?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So I was in college and I started reading about
honeybees and I got sucked into this tunnel and I couldn't.

Speaker 5 (01:49):
Get out of it.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
So like, I started research and research and research and
reading books and basically ended up buying some beehives and
trying hands on and ever since then, it's kind of
been a high be in mine that eventually I might
turn into a business.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
You should. You probably make a lot of money off
of that.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, it's it's a lot of work, and that's it's
just hard with my fighting career and everything, but it's
a good hobby right now.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
You also said that you get one hundred and eighty pounds.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
Yeah, honey, Yeah, just off of three beehives.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
So every year you can get like probably about sixty
pounds per behives if it's a good summer.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
So that's crazy. We don't have to install on right.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
There, get some really get some real real honey. Are
you looking to expand it eventually?

Speaker 5 (02:34):
Maybe? Yeah, eventually once I.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Get some land and stuff, I want to have probably
like a hundred or something and really really start supplying
people in the local area back in Kansas City with
the best honey in the market.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Do you have a name that you want the business
to be called.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's called Marcaine's Sweet Shop. Marcaine that's my middle name.
That's the name my stepdad used to call me by
when I was growing up.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
And I like it.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Guys in Kansas City, you know where to go get
some honey. But I like a day to day basis.
How much are you like interacting with these bees?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
So when I'm back home in Kansas City, as you
know right now, I'm training in Denver, so not a lot.

Speaker 5 (03:11):
But you don't really mess with them too much.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
It's about once every couple of weeks you'll go check
on them, make sure everything's going good. There's a bunch
of little details in there you got to sort out.
But it's every couple of weeks. Treat them twice in
the summer, and then you just kind of go from there.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Is there like a bad time period where you don't
get enough honey in the year.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, So like this this summer, actually, it's been really
really dry, and so the honey flow has been Everything's
been dying early, you know, Like I planted a pollinator
garden and all my sunflowers they bloomed and died really fast.

Speaker 5 (03:49):
So it's been a hard summer. It's been dry.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Everything's been dying back home in Kansas City. So I'm
projected at about forty five pounds of honey this year.
We'll see where it goes. I might end up with more.
But why do they die off so fast? Just because
it's dry? Yeah, everything's just dry. Like you have to
really start like water everything and by yourself. Normally back home,
you can just rely on the weather and you'll get

(04:13):
your rain and stuff.

Speaker 5 (04:14):
And that's basically how I do it. I don't really
water this stuff a lot.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Every once in a while, I do, but it's just
been so dry, man Like, it's crazy.

Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah, Like me, I'm terrified of bees, as most people
probably are out there. So with you, like, how many
times have you been stung? We know you're terrified, terrified
so plenty. Last year I got stung probably about twenty times. God,
But there was mostly my mistakes. You know, I'm a
newer bee keeper.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
I have like three years experience now, and it's just
all about.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
Being calm and gentle.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
You know, those bees are not very They're not very
aggressive unless you kind of like rattle them around or
anything like that. Actually, yes, esterday I was sitting up
at the hotel and I was petting a bee.

Speaker 5 (05:05):
Yeah, I have a video on my phone off to
show you.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I was petting the bee and it was just chilling,
Like they're not aggressive. People don't really realize that. They
They swat them and try to get them off and
away from them, and that's yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
That's so they're pretty social then, I mean, to be
able to be pet yeah, yeah, I mean they're just
they're gentle creatures man.

Speaker 5 (05:28):
People just they're just misunderstood by a lot of people.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
You know, I never gone sunby be What does it
feel like?

Speaker 4 (05:35):
What is it? Uh, It's I don't know, don't you
can't even explain it.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Really, I would describe it as like a like a
burning pain almost. And the thing is is when you
get stung, a lot of people they don't realize that
the stinger keeps pumping venom into you after you get stung.
So the beat, the stinger leaves the bee, it kills
the bee, and then that stinger stuck in you and
it's but it's still pumping venom into you.

Speaker 5 (06:00):
So you need to get that stinger out immediately.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Could it kill you or.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
I mean some people have like an anaphlectic reaction to it,
so I always keep epipins on hand. Some people can
die from just a single beasting.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Really, but that was always my fear. It was like
my first besting. I was gonna like drop dead because
I didn't know if I was allergic or not.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
It's kind of rare, like, but I know a couple
of people that are like that.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
They're like deathly allergic to bees and they just want
to stay away from them.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Mmm.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
Okay, so Isaac, actually, on this podcast, we do use
the acronym burn, so each letter is kind of a
different time in your life. So we're gonna go to B.
B stands for beginning, So take us back to the
beginning your childhood. Was there any some Was there any
burn moments that you had to overcome?

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (06:44):
Man, uh, So I was a kid.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
I was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, grew up in
pale With, Kansas, and I started competing in grappling and
wrestling at a very young age. I would say one
of my burn moments growing up as a kid was
I was very I was very passionate about learning in

(07:08):
school and everything until I got about fifth grade. And
then after I hit about fifth grade, I turned into
a cycle. Like I was a crazy kid, crawling around
on the floor in middle school, just messing with people,
sticking forks and electrical outlets, just being bad, doing whatever
I could to not be in school and go home

(07:29):
so I could like play out in the woods. So
I grew up outside just never really stationary and just
messing around.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Like how what kind of led to that moment, because
you said right around fifth grade had just completely stopped.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Was there something that changed it? Man, I'm not really sure.
I think it was just I think it was just
my maturity and me not wanting to be there like
at school, because like before that, I.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Loved being at school. It's kind of weird.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
And then just one year it just flipped out of
nowhere and I was just like, I'm not with this.
I want to go outside. I want to build stuff,
I want to plant food and do all this stuff outside.
I don't care about learning math or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Did you play any sports growing up or yeah?

Speaker 5 (08:13):
Yeah, So I played a little bit of everything.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
I did soccer, tried baseball out a little bit, played football,
was really good at football, and wrestled. And then I
also about when I turned about ten, I started riding
dirt bikes a little bit.

Speaker 3 (08:30):
So you were actually talking about some crazy dirt bike
soys yesterday whenever you guys are sitting down having coffee,
and there is one unfortunate experience that happened, but we'll
talk about that whenever we go to you. But what
age did you start getting into wrestling?

Speaker 5 (08:46):
So, my grandpa grew up music.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
My grandpa was a coach's whole life basically, and my
uncle wrestled as well. So I started wrestling when I
was eight competitively, but I'd been in a gym since
I was born. I was always at the gym while
my grandpa was coaching. I was always watching him coaches
high school kids, and I'm like a three year old
running around on the mat just trying to grab their

(09:09):
legs and like I don't know what I'm doing anything
like that. But about about the time I turned eight,
he put me in and I was very competitive right
off the get I started.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
I wrestled one year as a novice wrestler.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
I made the state tournament in the open division for
eight and under, and then after that I took I
believe I took second at state the next year and
then I won one one.

Speaker 5 (09:34):
I just took off. Man, I was very natural athlete
at that.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
At what point were you like, man, I can really
do something with this wrestling.

Speaker 5 (09:43):
Man.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
I would say about about twelve, I started really not early, Yeah,
I started really competing on like national teams. So like
my grandpa, he sacrificed about everything he had. He sacrificed
his jobs, he sacrificed all his money, everything to take
me to the toughest tournaments I could possibly be at
every single weekend. One weekend we'd be in Texas, one

(10:04):
weekend we'd be in Alabama.

Speaker 5 (10:06):
One weekend we'd be up in New Jersey.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
It didn't matter we were going to the toughest tournaments everywhere,
and I was wrestling over two times and matches of
everybody else.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
How hard is that two times?

Speaker 5 (10:17):
Man? It was a lot.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
So what he would do is, basically he would have
me in my natural division, like let's say, I think
it was like twelve and under ninety six pounds or
something like that, and then he might throw me in
the fourteen and under division at the same weight, or
he'll keep me in the twelve and under it but
bumped me up a weight class. So I'd wrestle two
weight classes, two brackets at the toughest tournaments in the

(10:39):
world and for kids, right, And I think that really
molded me to who I am today because it taught
me so much about mental toughness and stuff. Because I
mean there's times I'm trying to take my shoes off
and go home, man, like I'm a kid and I'm
It's just it.

Speaker 5 (10:55):
Was a lot.

Speaker 4 (10:56):
Yeah. So you said your grandpa was the one who
got into it to this day, what's your relationship kind
of like with him?

Speaker 5 (11:02):
Ah? Man, he is everything to me. Man.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
He's like my dad, my mom, my grandpa, my first coach.
The man literally has shown self a sacrifice to me,
and I wouldn't be in anywhere close to the position
I am without him.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
What made you guys kind of get so close?

Speaker 5 (11:21):
So basically, my dad passed when I was a young kid.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I was about three when he passed, and my mom
worked very hard, but she was also young and had
a lot of kids. So I kind of lived with
my grandpa a lot, and he just kind of He's
really the only fatherly figure I had grown up as
a kid, So he kind of took me under his
wingman and just really saw potential in me. He always

(11:46):
seen how great I could be. He always seen how
tough I was, how driven I was, and he really believed,
truly believed that I had everything it took to be
very good.

Speaker 4 (11:57):
He did.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
He became a three time state champion.

Speaker 5 (12:00):
That like, man, it was good.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
I still I still kind of have a bad taste
in my mouth from it. Some people know. At my
post fight interview and my UFC debut, DC kind of
talked about it. So that was really cool. I got
disqualified as a sophomore in the quarterfinals.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
I was wrestling a kid. There's average.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
He was pretty good, but I was I was beating
him very bad, and I kind of hit this duck
under and got behind him and he tried to like
flip he hit granby flip from his feet and he
landed on his head and like broke his neck and
the so the referee like stopped it and thought that
I slammed him. So that's why I'm a three timer
instead of a four timer. But it's kind of all

(12:41):
working out like I did. I've done a lot since then,
but it was just kind of a it was It
was a crazy moment, man, because the whole you're at
the Kansas State Tournament. There's how they run that as
four A, which is or it's there's four A, five A,
and six A on the same arena, and basically so

(13:01):
there's all these people, man, and as soon as this
ref stopped the match, the whole arena went silent. It
was crazy because everybody was watching me like I was
supposed to be the next four time state champ and
so everybody's watching I was the best, one of the
best to ever come out of Kansas wrestling. And besides
Eric Aiken, who's one of my or one of my
head coaches for my wrestling team back home, and so

(13:24):
this whole arena stopped. Man, it was like frozen in time,
and it was just crazy. I was out there.

Speaker 5 (13:30):
Looking back on it.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
I was just out there confused as of like what's
going on? And then I realized that my dream wasn't
gonna happen, and so that was a pretty shocking moment.
But I did come back on the backside, took third place,
and then after that I won one state the next
few years and kept.

Speaker 3 (13:49):
Going during that difficult time of you getting disqualified. Was
there something after the match that kind of brought you
some positivity, man?

Speaker 5 (13:58):
No, I was. I was really broken. Man, I was
really broken. That was.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
I.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
I was a fifteen year old kid, so like, this
is my dream since I was eight years old. I
trained every day for this, and it just I felt
like it got stolen. So I was broken. I wanted
to go home. I didn't want to do this, like
finish the tournament out. But that's kind of where my
grandpa kicks in, Like he always made me finish. He
never let me just go home because I didn't want to,

(14:29):
or because you lost or anything. He made sure I
was there, made sure I always showed up. And so
I came back through the backside of that bracket and
really just tore people up. I made everybody pay kind
of for that mistake happening.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's the way to do it, and I think that's
a testament to nownce it today. You just got to
keep going no matter what kind of cards you've been
dealt with exactly.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
You gotta think about it during those tough times. It
makes you who you are today, and you kind of
gotta think those tough times, because say you did become
a four time state champion do you think your life
would be totally different now?

Speaker 5 (15:02):
I think that would have been enough. You know what
I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
These things happen for a reason, and I think that
would have been enough for me to maybe I would
be living a typical lifestyle with you know, a nice car,
nice job, but not doing what I love.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
Like enough as in like you would have kind of
gave up wrestling and went on to a different career path.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, probably probably would have ended up just it would
have been enough for my competitive spirit at the time,
you know. I mean, I probably would have got back
into things, but I would have had time off and
I wouldn't be where I'm at today skill wise.

Speaker 3 (15:36):
Well, so that's a crazy beginning to your life. Your
grandpa was a super helpful role model to who you
become today. It's time to go to you and burn
it stance for unfortunate. Just like how I mentioned at
the beginning of this podcast, I was unfortunately caught on
fire in the school science experiment that went horribly brawn
and blew up like a bomb in my face, and

(15:58):
I was immediately rushed to ic you where I spent
a week. There had seven surgeries over that week, every
single day, and a fifty percent chance to survive. But
whenever I was in the hospital, that's where I found
my burn moment. I'm a competitive golfer, so I had
my parents and my brother go get my putter and
I put ball after ball after ball into this glass jar.

(16:20):
And I truly believe, from the bottom of my heart,
if that moment, that burn moment, doesn't happen in the hospital,
I don't have this podcast, nor am I talking to
Isaac Dugerian.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
So, yeah, and just talking with you yesterday a little
bit about your story and the hard times that you've overcome.
Are there any unfortunate burn moments that you could share
with us. That really built you to who you are today.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Okay, yeah, So first off, much respect to that. So
when I get burned, oh, I turned into a baby man.
I'm a tough, tough fighter, but that's one of the
worst pains I can imagine.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
So much respect to that.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
As far as as far as me, my the Fir,
a moment of my life to me was losing my
father at three years old. My dad was one of
the best football players. He had the potential to be
in the NFL. He was one of the best football
players in Kansas. He passed away at twenty one years
old from either We don't really know the story, the

(17:22):
full story, but people he had a cardiac arrest.

Speaker 5 (17:26):
Is is what's on his death certificate. So there's a
story that said that he.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
Was poisoned by one of his girlfriends and their boyfriend.
There's a story that he overdosed on drugs and nobody
called until it was too late. Anyways, when the ambulance
got there, they tried to assessitate him where he was at.
Didn't work. They put him in the ambulance. They're trying
to assesscitate him. Didn't work. They get him to the

(17:53):
hospital and they spent hours and hours and hours trying
to start his heart again, trying to bring him back.
He's a young kid, twenty one, one of the best
athletes in the world, and he just he just didn't
make it. Man, it was just too late. He was
already foaming at the mouth and everything, and there's really

(18:14):
nothing that they could do. So he passed away at
twenty one years old. And to me, that is my
burned moment because it really changed the trajectory of my life.
And I don't mean that necessarily in a bad way
or a good way. It could have been either.

Speaker 5 (18:32):
You know. My dad.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Had me and then left my mom to be with
another woman and had a baby with her, you know,
and so he wasn't always there for me and my
family really. But I do have a lot of memories
of him from when I was three, so it's kind
of crazy to see so like I remember the last

(18:58):
time I seen him at three years old. I still
remember it to this day, like clear. We were in
my mom took me to Dollar General out in for Scott, Kansas,
and my dad showed up. He would walk through the
snow to come see me. He would do all he
would walk anywhere to come see me. But he showed
up and he asked if I could go to my

(19:20):
uncle's birthday party.

Speaker 5 (19:21):
I told you the other day.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
My uncle's only two years older than me, and he
told me, asked if I could come to that, and
then he asked if I could go fishing or if
he told me he was gonna take me fishing. And
that was the last thing I ever heard from him,
the last thing I ever seen from him. And then
there's like a gap in my memory where I don't
remember anything.

Speaker 5 (19:40):
So I think it's like the.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
Trauma from losing him and my mom freaking out and
all that stuff. But yeah, man, I think it changed
my life for the better, because you know, sometimes things changed,
and that's kind of where my grandpa took over. My
grandpa is one of the most mentally tough people in
the world. Like he went to Vietnam at eighteen, was

(20:03):
drafted and kind of just molded me to the person
I am today. So my dad's side of the family,
they are some of the best athletes. They have the
most natural talent in the world. Man, they're freak athletes,
but they don't have the mental toughness to back it up.
It's very easy for them to fall into traps, drug use,

(20:27):
all sorts of things like that. And then my grandfather's side,
my mother's side of the family, they're mentally tough, like
they're Armenian.

Speaker 5 (20:35):
They they were born to fight, right.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
So I think that's where my life changed a lot
was having him there is my father figure, even though
it's sad not having a real dad there to experience
a lot of these things with. He's an older man,
you know, but also he molded me to who I
am today.

Speaker 4 (20:56):
Do you feel like it's on you to kind of
break that calling of your family to put together the
mental toughness along with the athletic abilities.

Speaker 5 (21:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:04):
Man, that's something that keeps me going. It's something that
keeps me pushing when I don't when I don't want
to compete anymore. I feel like I'm the black sheep
of my family. I love my brothers and sisters to death,
but I feel like I'm the one that's supposed to
be here. I'm the one that has the mental toughness,
that has the athletic the athletic advantages, that has the

(21:26):
heart and the will and the drive to keep pushing
and keep going no matter what life throws at me.
So I'm the type of person I don't need a lot.
I don't need a fancy house a fancy car to survive.
All I need is some land, a tent, and a garden.
That's about it.

Speaker 4 (21:44):
Do you feel some pressure from that being the black
shape of your family?

Speaker 2 (21:49):
I never really thought of it. I think pressure is
something that you put on yourself. And so the biggest
pressure to me is just I want to be in
a position where I can actually take care of my family.
So that's the biggest pressure to me. I don't really
for me personally, I don't care if I'm taking care

(22:10):
of I want my family to be good and yeah,
so that's the biggest thing. That's the only pressure I
really feel is like, hey, I want to be able
to like give my grandpa back. I want to be
able to tell him I don't need help anymore. I
don't need you to keep working. He's seventy three years
old and still working. I mean, wow, And he might
be working for himself, you know. I know he likes

(22:31):
to have a little bit of extra money to go
on vacation and stuff like that. But I know I
know that he does work so that if I need
help and anything in life, that he's able to be
there and support me like he always has. And so
that's where I'm like, man, you need to stop work.
I'm trying to do this by myself now and it's
about time I do.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
I'll tell you what, all those tough burn moments can
be really good burn moments to help motivate you and
catapult you. I'm sure during days you're sparring and stuff
like I just don't know if I want to be here,
but you look back on those and you're like, yes,
I belong here.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, yeah, and the sport I do. Man, it's important
to have strong whys. You have to know your why.
If you don't, when things get hard, you can't remind
yourself of why you do this. And I think I
think that's one of the biggest things when you're in
the middle of a fight, in the middle of adversity,
is just understanding your why, why you're here, why you

(23:30):
do this, why.

Speaker 5 (23:31):
You love it even though it sucks, And yeah, I
think that's a big thing.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
During those tough burd moments too. Is that what led
you into mixed martial arts? Would you say, yeah, definitely.
I think I don't think I fit in with like
the corporate world or anything like that. So fighting is
my way to support my family. Like I don't fight.
I don't fight to be cool. I don't fight for likes.
I don't fight for social media, cloud to get girls,

(24:00):
none of that stuff. Man, I fight so that I
can provide for my family and do do something that
I love. So in my eyes, you know, I believe
there's only I believe you're only guaranteed this one life,
and you're only guaranteed it. And you know, I don't
want to waste my life working eight hours a day,

(24:23):
ten hours a day just to barely skate by and
have a good weekend.

Speaker 5 (24:27):
You know, I don't believe in that.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
I believe, Max, you should be working four or five
hours a day and really dedicating time, like if you
have kids, Like imagine going to work all day and
you get off at six o'clock. Now you come home
your kids. You have kids, You gotta make dinner, you
got to clean your house, all this stuff. You don't
have time to really raise those kids. You know what
I'm saying. And that's that's a story. We see a

(24:51):
lot in today's world, Like, I'm about to be a
father and all than you, and all I want to
do is be there for my kid and teach them
the ways of the world that aren't seen, you know,
that aren't in the public eye, that aren't necessarily deemed
as cool. You know something I learned about the other day.

(25:13):
I was reading a study. They were talking about how
ninety six percent of people cannot name ten native species
of plants or trees in their local area. Really, that's
crazy to me, because plants and all these things, they're medicine.
They're there for a reason. They're not there for you

(25:34):
to look at and this, you know, just be there.
They all have a purpose, and I think that a
lot a lot of that's forgotten about in today's world,
with like pharmaceuticals and everything like that.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
You think about it, if there's no trees, were not
breathing exactly. Honestly, I probably couldn't even name ten. I
don't think I could name ten off the top. Yeah,
yeah I can't. But what was that moment like whenever
you found out you're going to be a father?

Speaker 5 (25:58):
So man, it was it was so crazy, is so surreal.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
So I've wanted to be a father since I was
about twenty, you know, and I grew up raising my siblings,
helping out my mom a lot with them, and today,
now I'm twenty seven, I just couldn't find the right lady,
you know, the right lady that I actually trusted in,
the right lady that.

Speaker 5 (26:21):
Seize the world in my point of view, I guess.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
And so basically before my UFC debut, she got pregnant
and she hid it from me for six weeks.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
I had no idea. And in my post fight.

Speaker 2 (26:38):
Interview after I won my UFC debut, I talked about
how I'm trying to get paid so I can start
a family. I want to be able to take care
of that family. And that's why I'm here today. That's
why I'm here tonight. Is basically what I said. So
so crazy. Fast forward to the next day, right she
has a postcard and her pregnancy test and tells me

(27:00):
that she's pregnant.

Speaker 5 (27:01):
And I was just like, wow, the.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
Timing of that, that is so crazy. I couldn't really
believe that. I just said that on national TV. And
then the next day she's like, hey, You're having a family.
It's just adding onto the list of whys now though,
Oh definitely. You see it all the time in the UFC.

Speaker 4 (27:19):
As soon as someone becomes a dad, it's like they
completely shift, like now there's something worth fighting for more
than yourself.

Speaker 5 (27:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
I think it's a focused thing. You know, you have
someone else to support. And some of these guys, they
not all of them, but some of them they do
it to be cool. They do it to they like
to party and have fun and all this stuff, which
is cool, but whenever they have a kid, they're like, oh,
I gotta really, I really got to get this paper,

(27:47):
I gotta get paid.

Speaker 5 (27:48):
So I think that's how a lot of people are
able to kind of lock in there.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Yeah, and you have an ability to like take yourself
out of fighting a lot, Like you go you train,
your do your hours during the day, and then you
get to go home and just leave you all that
pressure and all that stress with being with your child.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, because I mean fighting, fighting is a dirty sport. Man,
It's hard, and I think that having something to kind
of fall back on to bring you back to reality
is very good. Like because for me, I'm not like
a super aggressive person in like my daily life. I
feel like I'm fairly laid back kind of just chill,

(28:23):
don't do much. But when I do train or compete,
I'm very aggressive and very competitive at the same time,
and it's very good to.

Speaker 5 (28:33):
Have something to fall back on. So that's why I
like like bees.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
It's just kind of something calm, like really calming, and
that buzz, that hum of the bees kind of.

Speaker 5 (28:42):
Just calms you down.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
And just basic things like gardening or going on a
hike in the mountains, like just hiding out, getting away
from the reality, the harsh realities of the world. I
think that's a big thing, especially as an MMA fighter
because it's just so chaotic.

Speaker 3 (28:57):
Yeah, for sure, probably just brings you peace the mind,
going out there and just looking at trees and seeing
the bees.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, I mean, because the first thing I do every
morning I wake up, stretch, brush my teeth, and I
go beat people up. I go train to try to
better my craft. So that's the first thing I see
when I wake up. That's one of the last things
I do at night, is training. So it's very good
to have something in the middle to kind of just
snap you back.

Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:24):
So I was like fast forward to now, like the
last eighteen months have definitely been a really unfortunate time
for you. So how hard has been the last eighteen months?

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Man?

Speaker 2 (29:37):
I thought it was going to end a lot quicker
than eighteen months. It's been crazy, man, the last year
and a half for me. Basically to start, at the beginning,
I got signed, I didn't know why it's looking for
a fight. Basically, long story short, got the Milk Boys deal.
They canceled it on me for no reason, and so

(29:58):
I spent about four months trying to get that deal
worked out with them, so.

Speaker 5 (30:03):
It didn't happen.

Speaker 2 (30:04):
And then it was about time I started looking for
another fight, and I was like, this isn't gonna work out.
So I started looking for another fight, and then my
gym got shut down in Kansas City, Glory MMA. All
my friends all like, that's my family. That's the first
gym I started out training at. Like I walked in
like three four years ago. That's the first gym I

(30:25):
started training at. So all my friends are there, people
I consider family are there. And then one day I
show up to the gym and they tell me I
can't go in, Like, I get an email from the
UFC They're saying I can't go in there. Otherwise I'm
going to lose my job. So basically at that point
in time, I had I believe I had a fight

(30:48):
lined up. Yeah, I had a fight lined up with
Dan Argueda. I think I was six seven weeks out
and they told me I can't be at my gym.
So I'm like, I don't know where to go, Like
I have no idea where to go, and I just
got I just so happened to get in contact with
coach Montoya out of Factory X and he told me

(31:09):
to come out, man, and so I came out.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
I kind of on a whim.

Speaker 2 (31:12):
I stayed with a family friend out in Colorado, was
driving across Colorado every day to get to the gym.
And I kind of completed that last six weeks of
the camp at Factory X, just getting used to the
new partners, new coaching, everything, Like you got to realize
I'm making a UFC debut, this isn't anything else, and
I have to switch gyms six seven weeks before and

(31:34):
so I kind of get really close to the end
of camp and I tear my knee.

Speaker 5 (31:40):
Last week.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
We're about a week and two days out. I was
training with Brandon roy Vall. He's about to have the
UFC title shot here soon, and neither one of us
did anything wrong. Brandon didn't do anything wrong. Oh, it
was a freak accident and I tore my LCL full
thickness tear of my LCL, So that means basically all
the way through. And so the crazy part is it's

(32:04):
the same day I had optimal disappointment scheduled. They told
me that I had a hole my retina when I
got there, and so they said that required laser surgery.

Speaker 5 (32:16):
So at the same time I have.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
A torn knee, I get told my eye has a
hole on my retina, I have to have surgery and
I can't fight. So I'm like freaking out at this
point because I trained my whole life for this moment
and it's just not.

Speaker 5 (32:30):
Working.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Like I was gonna fight with a bum knee. I
was like, I don't care. Even though it wasn't the
smartest idea, I didn't really care. And then my eye
happened and I basically was forced out of the fight.
So took eight weeks off like the doctor said for
my knee, about four weeks from my eye, and got
back into training just looking to get into the fight.

(32:53):
Schedules soon two weeks into training, tear my knee again.
That's another one. Yeah, same one, same spot everything. So
I tear it again. That's another eight weeks off. So
we're approaching basically sixteen weeks completely off and two weeks
in the middle of training. So like, I had to
take those eight weeks off, and my body's just withering away,

(33:13):
Like I can't run, I can't buy it, I can't swim,
I can't really do anything. I'm just kind of wasting
away at this point, like like I'm active, but I
can't do anything high intensity.

Speaker 5 (33:25):
And so basically I was like, I.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Healed that up, got through the eight weeks, got cleared,
and then I got my UFC debut that I just
made it against Francis Marshall set up, and basically I
had to rebuild my body from being in tip top
shape to dropping completely off, just withering away, to back
to even better, you know. So lots of work went
into that, and it's just been a freaking roller coaster

(33:51):
man the eighteen months.

Speaker 5 (33:52):
It just has.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
It felt like it had it wasn't going to stop.
And then I finally made that UFC debut, and I'm like, yes,
I finally did it. I'm finally here, and I couldn't
have been any more blessed with the performance I put
on either.

Speaker 3 (34:04):
No, it was a spectacular performance.

Speaker 5 (34:07):
It was awesome.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
But did you feel like relieved whenever that fight day came,
just like finally hear all the injuries that I've been
through and all the tough times to do you just
feel relieved?

Speaker 5 (34:21):
Yeah? I could say relieved. I really.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
I was really grateful to have that opportunity and finally,
like everything's coming together to make it.

Speaker 5 (34:32):
Make it all happen, you know, I was.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
It was hard for me mentally to go through that
and just keep staying the course, because there's plenty of
days I would wake up and I'd be like, why
the hell am I even doing this? Like I'm not
getting any money to train, I'm not. All I'm doing
is spending money and I can't even fight, Like I
just keep getting hurt. I keep having to switch gyms.
I ended up having to buy a RV to move

(34:55):
to Denver to train and stuff like that, Like I've
had to make all these sacrifices to continue my dream,
and it just it felt like a bad dream, like
it was just never gonna end. Like it just kept
going and going and going, and no matter how many
times I tried to make it right, it wasn't going right.
But at the end of the day, I finally made

(35:15):
it to that debut and I was just so I
was so happy, man Like, it was crazy the amount
of joy that came out of me from everything that
I'd been through to get there. And then I'm like,
I look down, I see UFC on my glass. I'm oh,
you just get the chills. You're like, I'm ready. I'm ready.

(35:37):
I've I've survived a lot a lot harder things than this.
This is fifteen minutes of my life, and I put
everything I had into the five minutes I had to fight.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (35:49):
What was it like, though, going in the back room
and seeing your last name on the UFC shorts and
it almost did you feel like you belonged there?

Speaker 5 (35:57):
Yeah? So I always knew I belonged there.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Since I started training, I've always got to train with
UFC guys and all my teammates, Jeff Molina, David o'nama,
Kevin Krum, all these people that I watched when I
started fighting as an amateur. I watched all of them
rise up through the pro ranks and get into the
UFC right, And so I would train with them, and

(36:22):
I mean I was fairly competitive with a lot of them,
and so I'm like, oh, they're in the UFC.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
I need my shot.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
And so I kind of just kept training, kept getting better,
kept fighting, and so when I did get there, I
already knew I belonged. I just had to prove it
to everybody else. What was that feeling making the walk, man?
It was so I was getting told by everybody, You're
gonna be nervous, and I was like, man, I don't know,
and They're like, trust me, Like these are vets that

(36:50):
have eight fights in the UFC. They're like, bro, trust me,
You're gonna you're gonna feel it. Like it's nothing to
be ashamed of.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
Like it's cool. You don't got to be a tough guy,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (37:02):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
And when I made that walk, man, as soon as
I stepped in the room, I felt like I owned
every single item in that room. I felt like I
owned the microphones. I felt like I owned the cage,
the canvas, everything. And you can kind of see it
in my demeanor and swagger on my walkout like, uh,
there were there were no nerves, there was no anything.

Speaker 5 (37:25):
This was my time.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Do you think it was all those tough times that
brought you that piece stepping in there?

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I think it definitely helped. I think this the confidence
in myself to overcome anything that's thrown at me. I
think that's why, Uh, I was able to make that
walk so confidently, just because you know, I feel I
feel like I can't be broken in life.

Speaker 5 (37:51):
And life is a lot harder than a fight. Man.

Speaker 2 (37:53):
It's this that's a small glimpse of what we do. Uh,
it's a it's just a highlight, you know what I'm saying.
So life is a lot harder than a fist fight man,
that's that stuff's easy. And then you had an amazing performance.
And then he got the first time finished as an
underdog too, which is insane. So we were there, we
were front row.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
We were yelling, I'll.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Stop to fight.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
The look the dude take like thirty five more punches.
I was like, what are you doing, crazy, dude?

Speaker 5 (38:21):
It was pretty wild. I definitely heard you, guys.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
I remember as soon as I stepped in the case,
you guys started screaming, And I give you guys.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
A little work. Yeah, it was dope. And then and
then your girlfriend turned around and was like, yeah, let's kind,
she's cool. Would you say you were more nervous for
your UFC debut or the Dana White looking for a fight.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
I was more nervous for looking for a fight. I
remember specifically. I actually have a picture of it. I
remember specifically. So whenever I was a kid and I
would get nervous, I would grab my grandpa's neck and
I would like kind of hang my hands on his
neck and like almost like stretched my shoulders out and
I just.

Speaker 5 (38:59):
Like dip my head and we would talk and.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
He would just he would give me advice about how
I was feeling and what I needed to do, and
how much he believed in me. And so I got
really nervous before that fight. I was fighting a dude.
There's six or four in front of this packed arena,
and Dana White was there, and not only that that
was on the line, the Milk Boys were there, and I.

Speaker 5 (39:25):
Was probably about.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
Two days off of a nasty breakup about from like
a four year relationship. It happened like right before that,
like two days before I fought the day before a
wei ends actually, so.

Speaker 5 (39:38):
I'm like cutting it. It was all bad.

Speaker 2 (39:40):
But anyways, anyways, I walk out and to the arena
and everyone's like I walk out and people are just
screaming there the shop like they're screaming.

Speaker 5 (39:51):
I'm like, oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
So I walk over to my grandpa and I put
my hands on his neck like I used to, and
I kind of bow down and I just look at
him and I'm like, I'm nervous. I was like, I'm
so like, I was like, I'm nervous, and he just
kinda he kind of told me that I was just
made for this moment. Don't let your nerves kind of
affect your ability to compete at the highest level.

Speaker 5 (40:16):
And be yourself, you know, like, don't shut.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Down, don't hide, don't cower because you're nervous, Like you've
You've been doing this your whole life.

Speaker 5 (40:23):
It's not anything new.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
You're competitive, Be competitive, and don't be don't worry if
you win or lose. That's one of the biggest things
he ever taught me is don't worry about whether you
win or lose. Just be a result driven and the
rest will take care of itself. And that's something that
Once I moved into the MMA world, I started hearing
more and more coaches saying and I'm like, that's pretty
crazy if my grandpa's been telling me that my whole life.

Speaker 5 (40:47):
But yeah, I was bro I was. I was pretty nervous.
I was. I was like more shaking.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
I can imagine that making fight in front of Dana
White with their whole career on the line.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
But again, that was like before the fight. As soon
as my music started playing in my walkout, boo nothing,
it just that goes out, whole competitive mode, just locked in.

Speaker 5 (41:09):
Oh nothing matters.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
I can't see faces, I can't hear hear words like,
I'm just like locked in.

Speaker 5 (41:15):
It's just me.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
I get in the cage. It's just me and this
other guy. Can't even see the official standing right here.

Speaker 4 (41:21):
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Speaker 3 (41:38):
As you guys may know, I was tragically burned in
a school science experiment by my teacher that gave me
a fifty percent chance to survive and through that, I
have to wear sunscreen every day for the rest of
my life.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
And as being a golfer, the brand I trust is Kula. Man,
look at this bottle, Kola. This is screams, beaches, waves
and sun. So let's give this a smell, nice man
chop of Canterbury. This is smelling like Hawaii, our favorite place.
So next time you guys need sunscreen, go get yourself cooler.

(42:14):
You'll thank us later. All right, Isaaca, Well it's time
to go to our stands for ridiculous. You've been through
some really unfortunate burn moments, and I commend you because
you're still here, You're still going, and you definitely have
a very bright future. But our stands for ridiculous, kind
of lighter, kind of funny. So all your fights, all
those packed out arenas and fans, was there some ridiculous

(42:36):
burn moments that happened to you. Maybe a fan yelled
a crazy thing at you, or you got a weird
message or something that you share with us.

Speaker 5 (42:43):
Oh my goodness, So let's start this off.

Speaker 2 (42:46):
I was in Kansas City, my hometown, at UFC Kansas City,
and so I get a lot of love back home
you know, like a lot of people know me, a
lot of people know my fight style everything like that.
So basically I'm at UFC Kansas City and this one

(43:07):
fan walks up to me. He's like, he's like, hey, bro,
you're c J. Viagar, right, I just seen you fight
last weekend. Like he was all hyped to meet c J. Vigar,
so shout out, see David Gar. A lot of people
think I look like him. I'm a little bit bigger,
a little less chubby, but it is what it is. Anyways,
I'm like, I'm like, no, man, you got me confused.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
I'm not him.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
I'm a fighter though, I fight in the UFC. And
he's like he's like, what's your name? And I was like,
I was like isaacdil Gary And the dude just looks
at me for a second. He's like I don't know you,
and then he turns around and just walks away.

Speaker 5 (43:42):
And I was like, I was like a little bit.
I was like that kind I heard. I was like,
I'm a lot better looking than c J. Viagar.

Speaker 3 (43:50):
Come on, well, fast forward, he should have known your
name after August twelfth, so yeah, that.

Speaker 4 (43:56):
Man, he'll definitely know your name now.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
A lot of people will, man, I just got to
keep winning fights, keep performing, keep being myself, and h
everything will come around.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
Were you almost kind of like shocked whenever he said, oh,
I don't know who you are where, You're just like.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
What see, I can't even do it. In the tone
that he was doing it, he did not care. He
did not care about me. He was like, you're not
c J. Vigara, get out of here. He's like, oh.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Most of the time they'd be like oh cool, like yeah,
let me get the photos, like you're expecting him to
do that, and then he's just like, oh okay, Yeah
it was.

Speaker 5 (44:32):
It was really funny.

Speaker 2 (44:33):
I remember I looked over at my girl and we
just we made eye contact and to start busting out laughing.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
I can't believe that just happened in my own city too. No,
I'm sure you got a lot of love though, still
going there.

Speaker 5 (44:44):
Yeah, definitely, definitely.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
I had so many people like I had watch parties
all over the place for my debut and stuff. I
didn't nobody even told me about him. They just reached
out after They're like, bro, like we I know back
in my hometown. They had a watch party at the
country your club. They're like, bro, that place hasn't seen
that much energy in like ten years. Like people were
just so excited. And that's just small town stuff, but

(45:08):
there's things going on all over the city. And I
was just so grateful and blessed to have that many
people support me back home, and that many people that
actually believe in me. Because when I was in high school,
a lot of people knew what I was about. Like
I didn't get messed with by anybody from any other schools.
Nobody really tried to like boy me or anything. They

(45:29):
just knew how strictly business. And it's carried over since then,
and I think that's inspired a lot of people back
home to just whatever you're calling is whatever you're doing.

Speaker 5 (45:39):
If you stick with it, you can really be one
of the best in the world at whatever you're doing.
You just can't give up.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
That's what separates the best and average, you know, it's
the people that they don't quit even when there's adversity,
even when you're told you're not going to make it,
even when things aren't looking right for you.

Speaker 5 (45:58):
It's people that just keep pushing, keep it moving. Those
are the people that end up succeeding.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
What's your biggest advice for people who've gone through some
similar stuff is you have.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
It's literally that, man, just keep your head down, keep moving.
I always say, still moving, still pushing, and just not
letting what other people think cater to what you're doing,
you know, like it doesn't matter. Like I've been told
by some of my some coaches that I thought loved me,

(46:31):
that I'm not ever going to be anything, you know,
just for simple just because I didn't want to compete
in their school before anything like that.

Speaker 5 (46:39):
Like I've had so many people try to bring me down.
It feels like and.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
It's you got to associate with people that are like
minded as you. You got to associate with people that
want the best for you and that don't get jealous
when you do succeed. You know, just just keep pushing,
keep going through all the bad times, and eventually you're
going to find that that little sunshine peeking through the clouds,
and eventually you will be on your way.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
I'll tell you about the mind is the most powerfulest thing.
Anything you put your mind to, you can do it.

Speaker 4 (47:11):
It really is.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
Man.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
A lot of a lot of things in life are mental,
you know, a lot of things. You're tired, you don't
necessarily need a coffee. You can mentally push through that.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
I do. I need to. I'm guilty of that too,
you know. You know, I have a lot of experience,
Like people that.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Are addicts and stuff like that, A lot of that's
mental and their psyche changes the more drugs that use
and stuff like that. They obviously they need some help first,
but after that initial withdrawal period, those guys, it's all mental.
Like they have to they have to be mentally strong
and stay on the right path. So I think I

(47:54):
believe everything in life is mental. Diet even like we
talk about diet, you can easily teach your you can
go get fast food whatever you want, But to me,
eating healthy is important and mentally, I'm not gonna crack
and go to McDonald's or anything like that just because

(48:15):
I know how unhealthy it is for your body.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
So it's just all mental.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Man.

Speaker 4 (48:18):
Yeah, the mindset is crazy. Actually, we've just started working
with a mindset coach. Shout out Mindset Mike for helping
us out, and he's really just trying to like rewire
our brains and like when you look at a competition
instead of like something that you don't want to do
and you kind of get that cold feet feeling. Instead,
it's like an opportunity just to go out there, try
to do your best, and let the results fall where

(48:41):
they fall.

Speaker 5 (48:41):
Yeah. Man, a lot of people cower from big opportunities.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
I'm more of the type of person that just kicks
the door in, Like, no one's going to open the
door for you.

Speaker 5 (48:51):
Sometimes you literally just have to kick it in.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Yeah, that's what you gotta do. Mine is powerful, you
got to use it for the right things. So, but
our Isaac is time to go to and it's kind
of two parts. It's like now and next. So what
are some burn moments you're going through right now and
what are some burn moments that you see coming in
the future.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (49:11):
Man, right now, one.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Of the.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Tougher things in my life is being away from my lady.
She's back home in Kansas City while I'm out in
Denver training, And it's it's really funny because I was
always pretty independent until I met her, Like I never
had anybody doing my laundry, anybody really doing much for.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
Me at all, cooking for me anything.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
And so once I met her, she's makes she keeps
my diet on point, make sure she's count my calories,
everything like that. She does so much for me in
my fight camps, like everything, everything that I don't have
the energy to do, She's all on it, right And
so now I'm having this like shock of her being

(49:55):
back home and I have to do all these things,
like I have to do the dishes, I have to
do clean this that and the other, do the betting.
So that's one of the hardest things for me right now.
Like it's so crazy to think about because, like I said,
no one ever did anything for me, and then I
have this lady step into my life and and start
doing a lot of things and then now I'm like

(50:16):
almost helpless.

Speaker 5 (50:18):
It comes back.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Yeah, yeah, So that's one of the hardest things is
just being away from her while she's pregnant, because I
want to be there for her as well and and
help her out when she's sick and stuff like that.

Speaker 5 (50:30):
So that's one of the biggest things.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
When is the baby, dude, I want to say April seventh,
April seven seven, it's a good day. Possibly April Fool's baby.
You never know'd be really cool. It's your birthday April fools.
But so she's going to stay in Kansas City until
the baby is do her No, she's gonna end.

Speaker 5 (50:50):
Up coming back out to Denver for a little bit
closer to the end.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
She's just got to get through a couple important, important
doctor's appointments back home, and then she'll come out and
be with me, hopefully during my fight camp. You know,
I don't have a fight signed yet, but while I'm
in fight camp, she'll.

Speaker 5 (51:07):
Be there to help me out a little bit, and
I'll be there to support her.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
So your girlfriend's also a fighter too.

Speaker 5 (51:13):
Yeah, she's a nasty She's a nasty fighter.

Speaker 3 (51:15):
Bro.

Speaker 5 (51:16):
She's very good. She's strong. She's about as strong as
me and man.

Speaker 2 (51:24):
After she's pregnant, I think she's she might end up
in the UFC, man, after we have this baby.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
Like, all she's got to do is win a couple
of fights. She's so good and such a good human
she belongs there as well.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
I think she can be a lot of the girls
at one twenty five in the UFC, So I believe
she can be there only if she wants to, if
that's what she wants to do.

Speaker 5 (51:45):
But she works with like foster kids and stuff, like that.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
So she's very passionate about helping out these kids that
don't have homes and and trying to change her life
because a lot of them have have some problems that
needs sorted.

Speaker 5 (51:59):
By a professor.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
She's so good at working with these kids that don't
fit in with the rest of society. Do you think
she'll end up wanting to be in UFC? Is that
something I should want to do?

Speaker 5 (52:12):
Yeah? She loves fighting, she does.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
Bro, Like if she doesn't fight for a while, she'd
be trying to beat me up, you know, Like she's
a sturdy girl, so like I actually have to fight back.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
I gotta use use some man strength to get her off.
But you always got a training partner.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (52:30):
She was actually one of my first training partners when
I moved to Glory. I remember it. She always tells
the story because it's funnier when she tells it.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
But I walked into Glory, and you know, nobody wants
to train with the new guy, and so she walks
over to me and asked if I'll be a partner.
And I literally like looked across the gym trying to
find another partner, and I looked back at her because

(52:57):
there's nobody and I was like sure, So I ended
up with her and she beat me up for a
couple of weeks. To be honest, she beat me up
as I was transitioning into m m A. And then
eventually obviously I'm a male athlete and I kind of
surpassed her a little bit.

Speaker 5 (53:13):
But yeah, she's good man. So that's just a funny story.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
When we started fighting, or when I started fighting, she
was my first partner and now she's my lady.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
A story full circle. So when are you hoping to
get back into the octagon.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
I definitely want to fight one more time this year.
Oh and God willing I make it through that fight
injury free. You know, I'd like to fight one more
time before I have a baby. So hopefully once late
this year, once early next year, and then I'll kind
of have the middle of the year off.

Speaker 4 (53:44):
I'm going to get you on the pay per view.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
Yeah, last review of the year in December.

Speaker 5 (53:49):
Yeah. But I only want to fight in arenas. You know.
I got to fight in the APEX.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
It was awesome experience, but I feel like my style
belongs in an arena. You know, I'm a finisher, a
natural finisher, and so I think that it's about my
time to have the opportunity to fight in arena.

Speaker 3 (54:06):
Was it weird fighting the Apex?

Speaker 5 (54:08):
It wasn't.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
It wasn't super weird. I mean it was quiet, but
like I said, you guys were there. I had a couple,
I had like seven other people show up for me,
and so that was like I think it was like
over ten percent of the ticket sales they sold there.
So I had a nice little little crowd.

Speaker 3 (54:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:25):
They've done a good job though of letting fans come
in because I feel like at the beginning when it
was COVID, there was no one in there that had
to be super weird.

Speaker 5 (54:33):
Yeah, it was like you can hear whispers, you can
hear a pin dropt.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
Yeah. Being that up close though, it's crazy just hearing
those kids hearing the punches. It's gnarmly. I don't think
I could ever step in the octagon.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
I got to see like Kate side footage from one
of the other people that came up there, and it's
just so crazy, Like you can hear the elbows like
clacking off the skull and nasty sport.

Speaker 4 (55:00):
That's the game, though, you gotta do what you gotta do.

Speaker 5 (55:02):
Think.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
I think everybody can fight, though, man, I think it's
I don't think everyone should fight in the UFC level,
but I think I think fighting is a very very
primal thing. If you pay attention to nature, everything fights.
Every animal fights, you know, they birds fight, lions fight,
bears fight.

Speaker 5 (55:22):
It's not anything new.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
So it's weird to me when humans act like, oh,
that's just violence, Like, no, every animal fights. It's it's
ingrained in your DNA, and some people just are better
at bringing it out. Some people are more primal than others.
But I think everybody has that in them if they
have to. It's just a lot of people don't.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Really take care of themselves physically to be able to
do that.

Speaker 4 (55:50):
I've always kind of wanted to take a fight, just one,
one little setup fight in the amateur league where I
can just kind of feel those nerves and feel what
it's like to make the wall.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
I think you should, man, I truly think fighting every
I think everybody should be in a fight. To be honest,
I think everybody should be in a fight just because
it teaches a lot about yourself, like I have. For example,
we have football players coming in the gym all the time. Right,
A lot of football players they're no I mean not

(56:24):
all of them, but a lot of them think they
are more capable than what they are.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Right.

Speaker 2 (56:29):
They're a lot bigger than me. I'm only about one
hundred and sixty pounds. You get these guys coming in there,
like to twenty six foot something tall and strong athletes.
But next thing you know, I'm on top of them,
punching them in the face and they're like, I can't
get up, you know. So I don't like it when
people walk around and think that they are more capable

(56:50):
than they are.

Speaker 5 (56:50):
They just don't know.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
So that's why I think everyone should be in a fight,
just so that you kind of understand yourself and understand
what it is.

Speaker 4 (56:59):
You know.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
I don't even go out to the club anymore because
I know a lot a lot of people. They get
a couple of drinks in them and they start being testy,
and I'm just I don't need to get in trouble.
And you guys, a lot of them don't realize who
they're talking to, what they're doing, anything like that.

Speaker 4 (57:16):
Ye would you take a fight, priest?

Speaker 3 (57:19):
If the money's right, You don't get paid as get paid.

Speaker 4 (57:28):
You get like ten thousand dollars.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Now, I mean, why not you only live once? Like
how you said?

Speaker 2 (57:37):
So hey, like I said, man that you don't have
I don't think you should be fighting anyone that's like
a UFC caliber fighter.

Speaker 5 (57:44):
There's other people that want to just be in a fight.
They want to try it, you know.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
I want to feel that, and I think that's why
I think there's a matchup for everybody.

Speaker 5 (57:54):
You know, it's just the fight games kind of corrupt.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
Man.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
You got to have good matchmakers and know some people.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
If you're just getting thrown in there and you don't
know anybody, you're gonna get matched up with the killer.

Speaker 5 (58:05):
But obviously you guys don't have that problem.

Speaker 4 (58:07):
But I would need a little like softball pitch hit out,
stay still, let me just hit you. But all right, Isaac, well,
thank you so much for coming on the show. You
just spelt burning your life. Tell the audience where they
can find you. Your social media is I know you
got that march out there too, so yeah.

Speaker 5 (58:28):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:28):
Follow me on Instagram. It's Isaac undersquirdle Garian. I'm most
active on there. You can follow me on Facebook. It's
just Garian and my Twitter same thing. So follow me
on there. I'm gonna drop some new merch here in
about two months. Just working on design ideas and getting
the best quality for all my people out there. So
follow me on there, tap in and I'll get you

(58:49):
all set out.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
You heard the man, Go give him some love and
go give him a follow like always, please visit my
foundation as well, the Priest James Foundation dot org. Again
the Priest James Foundation dot or to understand why this
is called the Burn Factory.

Speaker 4 (59:04):
Before we get out of here, Isaac, we do have
a gift for you. It is the black Label Edition hoodie.

Speaker 5 (59:10):
I can't reach it.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
I'm a little fussed guy. Yeah, sir, so actually only
guests get it. So it's the black Label Edition hoodie.
So wear it loud, wear it proud, and uh like
always like, comment and subscribe at the Burn Factory Podcast.
We'll see you guys for the next episode.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
Peace All right, guys, we're here with Isaac Dugerian who
just felt burned in his life and he is now
the Burn Factory Podcast championing beful first.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
So many more belts to comba, Isaac, Thank you for
coming on the show.

Speaker 5 (59:46):
Hope you had a good time.

Speaker 4 (59:48):
You're an inspiration to me and priest for sharing a
lot of people out there.

Speaker 3 (59:51):
So we appreciate you coming on sure, thank you guys
for having me. Man, of course, thank you for coming

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