Straight Talk with Mark Bouris

00:00 Welcome to Straight Talk, mate. 00:02 About time we did it again. 00:03 I know. It's good. It's good. Plenty's happened since then. 00:06 Mate, I remember a very long time ago, you came into our studios in the George Street in the city. And this was pre-COVID, I think. Yep. And you came in, Timmy Zhu came in, and you weren't the world champion at that stage. And I remember it wasn't far off that Timmy Zhu became world champion, you became world champion. Mm-hmm. And I think I interviewed a couple of other guys during that month, but you two actually maintained the position and you've come a long way. Here we are at Freestyle MMA. This is an amazing gym. 00:40 The boys have got some footage. We're going to show it around during the podcast, et cetera. 00:44 Tell me about how important is it for someone like you to be fully responsible for the outcomes of all the hard yards they put into fighting for the day they retire. And I'm not saying you retire, but for the day they retire. What are you doing? Why are you doing all these businesses? What is that for? 01:03 Well, I mean... 01:04 I guess the obvious answer is, yeah, we ain't going to fight forever, right? We all know that. And I think a lot of athletes are starting to understand everyone's – that's a conversation everyone's always having. And I mean, I think even the teams are having now, the clubs, even the, say, rugby league. Rugby league is going to talk about it. I think everyone's pretty vocal about what are you doing outside of your sport because it was a big problem for athletes to – just be athletes and then not knowing what they're doing after once the sport was done. And you've seen a lot of people really struggle with that. So it's something that's always been talked about. 01:36 I'll be honest, it wasn't something that I took serious enough till not that long ago. And I will bring in that I still remember, and in that case, like what I'm talking about when I say that is I still remember just being a fighter. I remember you asking me on that podcast that you were probably talking about, would have been maybe six, seven years ago. Even... 01:58 Yeah, probably not even that long ago. I can't remember where it was. 02:01 Just before COVID, I think. 02:02 Okay, there you go. And I remember you asking, you talking to me about what my brand was. And I'll be honest, at that time, I'm just used to talking about fights and whatnot. And obviously, with you, we want to talk business. And I didn't have a clue. I really felt, you could even say, Lost for words. I didn't know what to say. You asked me, what's your brand? And I didn't know what that even really meant. I bring this up sometimes even when I'm talking to people. I remember being asked by Mark Boris, what's my brand? 02:34 I had no idea. I remember not knowing. And then now for me to be in this position where I am setting myself up and doing so much outside of fighting, where a lot of people sometimes are going to be like, oh, are you still fighting? I see you do so much more outside of fighting. Yeah, totally. 02:48 Especially your socials. 02:50 Yeah, exactly. So there's so much that I go on. I'm lucky and I've got a great team behind me. But, I mean, it needs to be done. I'm lucky enough that I've been successful enough in my career to look after myself and build, you know, you could say build a bit of your empire. And financially, I was quite clever. You know, I didn't spend too much money on myself and I was always investing and doing the right things with that. So I can say do I exactly – need things outside, I think you definitely do because you want to keep building that empire and building your brand and whatnot and have something to, you know, that income to keep coming. 03:28 But I'm in a great position just because of the sport. But the fact that I do have so much outside of the sport that'll, you know, keep me you know, get goals, tasks that I want, and then obviously look after my family and just be successful in so many other ways. 03:44 That's a very interesting point you make too, by the way, because, you know, you and I, we observe lots of sports people. They identify themselves as either a rugby league player or a rugby union player or a UFC fighter or an MMA fighter. If you say to them, what's your brand? They say, look, I'm a fighter. That's who I identify with. 04:02 But that has a limited life. Like you're not going to be doing it 50 or 40 or 60. 04:08 You know, maybe 40, maybe in your case, 40. You might be one of those freaks who'll get there. But generally speaking, no. And when the sport stops... 04:15 they lose themselves. They feel like they're no longer got any purpose because they've always identified themselves as being the fighter. Now, all of a sudden, they're not a fighter and they're lost. 04:24 This is really important for you. Who influenced you? Was it your missus, like your family, or was it Joe Lopez? I mean, who influenced you to think this way or was it just Alex? 04:32 I think it was, like I said, it's out there. People are talking about it. It is conversations that I will have with you, with people that... 04:44 are business savvy as well. You're going to have these conversations and everyone's always going to bring it up. What are you doing outside of fighting? You can't do this forever. Even though them conversations were happening before I cared about that, as I said, I still didn't know. People were still bringing that up, but I was just tunnel vision. I want to be the best and that's all I'm focusing on. 05:04 And you were saying a lot of people lose themselves after their fighting career. And that's 100% you see it. You see it in all athletes, not just fighting. But I felt like I was a little lost during the title reign as well because I was looking at, I'm not going to be champion forever. And I would get a bit uneasy in between camps when I didn't have a goal set or a fight. I felt like there wasn't purpose, even though I was still champ. I just felt like I had a lot more purpose when I was in camp and I had something to drive for because I was in the game for a while. 05:37 And then I started thinking, you know, how long do I have this? What am I going to do after? If I'm already getting a little uneasy in between camps, how am I going to be late? And it started really getting to me. 05:47 Did that get into your head a bit? 05:48 It did. So there was a time that it did get into my head quite a bit. And that was before the Islam, the second fight. So that's even, you know, I would always take that fight. A lot of people ask me, you know, why do you take that short notice fight? It was 11-day notice. But I was like... 06:05 Let's do it. That's just who I am anyway. But... 06:08 Before then, you know, I was coming off surgery. I was drinking a lot. You know, I wasn't in the gym as much. Just like, you know, the head was spinning. It was a time where the head was spinning. And then the fight ended up, like, you know, coming towards me. I'm like, this will snap me out of it. Let's do it. So I ended up doing it. Like, you know, when you hear people saying, coming off the couch, you know, fighting like an Italy off the couch. I was coming off the couch. Yeah, yeah. Like, this is the least I've ever trained. Yeah. Um, and I'm, I'm always back in the gym. That's what's made me the fighter I am. 06:40 Cause I was, you know, I'll win the world title and I'm back in the gym the next. Super fit. Yes. And I'm just always back in the gym and I'm, I'm, a lot of people have a break and then all camp starts, they start picking it up. No, I was, I was doing more hours outside of camp than I was in camp. But then that started to get difficult when you're in the game, so long repetition and all that, even though I did so well for so long. 07:00 That started getting a little bit more difficult. And then other little problems. And then just, you know, I couldn't train because of surgeries. And then head was spinning. Then I was drinking. Then didn't feel like, you know, I fitted in the gym enough at that time. You know, just, again, the head was spinning. So I took the fight, got knocked out. 07:18 And then wanted to be like, oh, look, man, I don't know if you've seen the footage straight after that. I was a bit vocal about it, and I'm talking, you know, please keep me busy, you know, I don't do well when I'm not fighting. And, you know, so a lot of people were, oh, wow, this is a big problem. And you could say it could have been a big problem, but it was a bit of a learning lesson. I ended up fighting three months later after a big knockout, probably shouldn't have done that. 07:43 but again that's just who I am so I I did that and then I decided you know after that second knockout let's have a break I'm gonna you know look after my head and have a proper break and it wasn't till probably then even though I was still doing the cooking with Volk and I was doing things I was you know just I enjoyed it but uh you know I didn't really understand exactly it was more just I had a bit of fun with it um it wasn't really my brand or like you know I don't know if I use it with my brain, but I don't know if that was really something that it is now anyway, right? 08:13 It wasn't. But I had the break and I said to myself, you know what? I'm going to have family myself and then I'll train around that. It's always been everything around training schedule, but now it was about family, myself, and then I'll train around that in my schedule. So I did a lot of that and I started doing a lot more cooking with Volk. I even started, you know, playing golf here and there and just doing – I had more time. Yes, you know, like with friends and just got to – be myself again so like uh that's uh that's where i really started to understand i started being able to spend a lot more time with the cooking stuff we went uh we end up getting it's at you know at that time it wasn't its own channel but we'll we'll be more full-time well not full-time but we did a lot more of it we're in front of the camera a lot more i got a lot more comfortable and then even though i had them two losses i I started getting a lot more love from that, me taking the fights. 09:11 And not only that, I started putting myself out there a lot more. And that's when it all started to fall into place, just me having the big break. And then for me, as I said, I did struggle in between fights and all that. And I was like, what am I going to do? Now I don't have them questions. I know what I'm going to do. Because you've got them already set up. It's not just set up. It's like, I know now I'm in a position where it's like, I don't need to fight, but I want to because of this and this and this. I'm weighing my options and I'm blessed to be in a position where I can do that. 09:42 Not many fighters are in a position where they can have that choice. A lot of people are thinking I'm doing it because I need to. No, it's just now that I do think of being successful and I guess you could say I still look at it as a business. 09:56 I'm never going to make that type of money. You know what I mean? Well, you can, obviously. 10:02 But not in one moment. 10:03 Especially with something that I'm so good at and something that me fighting and that even though it's very hard to go through camps, it's very clear. It's a very clear path to... 10:14 a goldmine every time you fight and every time you step in there. And then while I'm doing that, you're building your platform and then as a business, you're building your brand and everything goes up with that. But yeah, so they're the options that you're going to weigh. But I don't know where I was going with that. I guess I was just saying that that break was where I really found myself because I did have that fighter's identity. And I like bringing it up because I want people to understand that You know, if you want to be the best in the world, you want to be an elite athlete or, you know, you want to be pound for pound champion or you want to be a defending champ. 10:49 you might have to have a bit of a fighter's identity. You might have to lose yourself in that chase to that. You know what I mean? Like you might need to be all in and there's going to be a lot of sacrifices. And some of those sacrifices in my case was a bit of myself. 11:02 Yeah. 11:02 And I did lose a bit of myself, but I'm thankful for that now because that's what made me the fighter, put me in a position I am. And I end up learning that you can get it back. You can find yourself again. And that's why I want to chat about that. And I'm glad I can be vocal about that because, yeah, I was uncertain. You've seen that. You've seen me being very vulnerable. But now I'm very comfortable with who I am outside of fighting. I don't need fighting. 11:28 And yeah and like so for other people that are going to be in this position other athletes I want them to know that yeah look you might have that tunnel version you might feel like you're losing yourself but you will find yourself again chasing that dream just know if that's what you're chasing know that will come but it might come with time but if you can be a little bit clever through that process and and you know again obviously you're a full-time fighter but at the same time Have that awareness that we can't do this forever and then maybe slowly set things up, you know, that'll be good too. 11:59 So explain where we are physically right now, like in terms of New South Wales. Where are we right now? 12:06 Well, Paul Kimbler. Well, as Joe would say, North Wing Dang. North Wing Dang because we still love the Wing Dang. 12:14 That's where the gym just always been, you know, the small gym, the little raw small gym that we had in Wing Dang. And now we've obviously got a facility, a world-class facility with, you know, like a massive weights gym, massive, you know, space upstairs. 12:26 We've even got a pit, like, because a lot of the jiu-jitsu now are doing, I don't know if you've seen the walls, like a lot of them are doing that in their competitions now. So we've even got them just got the cages set up, just everything, extra rooms full, for jiu-jitsu and whatnot. And, yeah, it's just pretty lucky to have this. Even though having that little raw gym is, you know, we learned so much there, you know, it was a little more intimate and raw. And, like, I felt like that's… And spit on the walls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. But, I mean, that's where, like, we built our character. 12:59 Like, the character we have in this gym, like that hard-working, you know, as you say, this is a blue-collar town. You've got the steelworks right there. And that's why you're saying it's not too busy right now. In the afternoon, everyone comes in after work. 13:10 But, you know, it's just we're hard workers here. We get stuck into it. We've got that mindset of, you know, if you want to be the best, you've got to work hard. You know what I mean? You've just got to work harder than everyone else. It's sometimes, you know, obviously not the most business savvy way approach because people are going to be like, oh, you know, look at this, look at that. But in our sport, I think 99% of the time, if you want to be successful and you want to be at the top, it's going to be you just doing more than everyone else. And I think in all business, actually. 13:41 All business, yeah. All business, right? That makes sense. There's probably different ways of doing that. Ours is probably we get to do more than everyone else, but I guess it's just in the gym, where you've just got to do, you know. 13:52 Well, we do in the opposite. It's not big. Hey? Yeah, I guess dabbling in doing more than everyone else, 13:59 with so many different things, I guess we just got to do it just pretty much in the gym, if that makes sense. 14:03 And you don't even partner Joe Lopez. Yes. 14:06 This is Joe's gym. It's always been freestyle Joe's gym. 14:10 Freestyle MMA. MMA, yeah. But Joe's been, you've been under Joe's, I don't know, mentorship, training for how many years? 14:19 First day I ever stepped in a gym was the one in Wing Dang. With Joe Lopez. Yeah, Joe Lopez. 14:23 Serious? Yeah, yeah, man. How long ago was that? 14:26 That would have been... 14:28 Maybe 2014, I think. Let's say maybe 2000. Actually, I'm thinking maybe even a little bit earlier. Because I come in, I was still playing football. And the first time I came to the gym might have been like 2012, 2013. 14:41 But that was just pre-season training, just because I wanted to keep fit in between the seasons. 14:45 You were like 100 kilos or something. 14:46 Oh, 97 kg. Yeah, so I wanted to keep fit. And that's sort of how that sort of started. 14:52 A little outside, by the way, UFC. Yeah. 14:53 Yeah, yeah, yeah. In terms of weight. Yeah, quite a – yeah, just a little bit. 14:57 And so apart from, you know, having training fighters down here, you're also training – blokes and women, I guess, who don't want necessarily to be fighters who just want to learn the skill. But you've got kids' classes. Yep. For the local district. How's it all going? 15:10 Yeah, good, good. We're getting, yeah, really good numbers. It's been really good, especially coming in the afternoons. Because outside of training now, I'm usually just doing morning sessions outside of camp. 15:25 You're taking classes? 15:26 I'll do, yeah. So now, because I'm in camp, because I can't train as much as I used to, right? Yeah. So I'm trying to be in the gym. I'll lightly drill and I'll help coach just to keep my head in the game. But I think if I do what I was doing five years ago, it would be quite detrimental. Physically? Physically, exactly. So I'm helping in the gym. So I've been able to come in the afternoon quite a bit and the numbers that are coming in are pretty impressive. We obviously have the space. We used to try and just squeeze it in that little gym, but it's good to have the space, but it's doing really well. 15:55 When you're coaching, Let's say you're coaching someone in grappling. Do you start to learn something yourself? You go, wow, hang on, I remember that. But it's not something you would learn when you are training as a grappler, but when you're coaching as a grappler. What do you learn? 16:08 100%. That's where I feel like I learn the most at the moment. Really? Yes. You see it? Yeah, well, not just that. It's like... 16:15 Yeah, well, it is. So that's what I learned when I started teaching people. I would do things instinctively, and it just comes very natural to me, but I wouldn't even know I'm doing it. So I'll see someone doing it, and I'll know they're doing it wrong, and then I'll, oh, no, no, you need your hip here and this, and I'll explain the mechanics of it. I'm like, oh, that's why I do that. Yeah, because now they can't do this. 16:35 They articulate. 16:36 Yeah, so I get to articulate, and I get to go into the finer details that a lot of people just They just go there. They look at the technique as a whole, and they miss all the important details in there. There's so many important details. And until you break it down like that, that's when you really get a good understanding of it. 16:55 Like stepping it out? 16:56 Stepping it out, telling them, yeah, exactly. Like, no, your hips here, your hips here, so you physically can't turn that way because of that, and your mechanics won't work. So you need to be here. And now when you post on him, now he can't go here. And I can really explain – in a way where this is here and the purpose of why it's there. And then not only I'm teaching them how that's going to work for this technique that we're doing, but now they've got understanding of how effective a post is, how effective this little movement is and why I need to be here. So I try and make sure that... 17:27 So I'm learning while I'm doing that, but I try and make them realize that it's not just... Don't just learn a technique and just do the technique. Understand the fundamentals, understand the mechanics, the concepts of what it is. And then now you can make... 17:40 20 of your own techniques purely because of the mechanics that I just showed you. Usually I have a hand here to post on this hip. If I can use an elbow, I can use anything. It's going to have the same purpose. I might not be able to get a hand there because I need a post here, but I can use a knee to stop them from building themselves up and whatnot. So me being able to explain that, I wouldn't even say reminds me, just explains to me Like, properly. It's like, even though I'm naturally doing it, it's like, now I know. 18:10 Now it's a tool in the belt. Like, I can literally, if I'm stuck, I'll be like, ah, you know, it's a tool I can use. 18:17 Or if I need to, if I am coaching or helping in the corner, I can, you know, articulate that a bit better too. 18:23 How's the striking going? Because, you know, in terms of teaching here, do you teach striking as well? 18:28 I teach a bit of everything, yeah. 18:29 A bit of everything. 18:30 Yeah, I like to help. Obviously, we've got all the guys like Joe. Joe's a head coach who will do a lot of the classes and we've got a lot of the, 18:38 Bye. 18:38 You know, athletes here, Colby, K-Sib, a lot of the- Colby Thickness. Colby Thickness, K-Sib, Murdoch, and a couple of other guys. We've got a lot of guys, good younger fighters as well. 18:47 I heard Izzy was here last week. 18:48 Izzy was here. 18:50 Yeah, Rufy. Rufy's fighting this weekend. 18:52 Wow. 18:53 So it's in LA, yeah. Okay. So LA, they're UFC 331. I'm actually going there for the press conference. Today. I leave straight after this. Straight after this. 19:02 Which is the reason we're not going to get to the farm, but we might get to the farm on another day. Yeah, for sure. Because I do want to talk about cooking with Bob. Yes. 19:09 unbelievably successful. 19:11 You being a wog, a bit of macaroni and a little bit of grig in it, we love our food. 19:17 Yes. 19:17 And by the way, men like to cook. 19:19 Yep. 19:20 We like to, from the beginning into the end, I've actually seen stuff where you actually kill the animal and butcher it in a proper way and then prep it and then cook it. 19:32 How's the cooking bowl going? 19:34 Yeah, it's going really well. It's something, again, as I said earlier, I'm a full-time fighter still. I always try and tell myself that. 19:41 But fighters got to eat. 19:42 Fighters got to eat. Fighters got to eat. And then not only that, now that I've told you that I've had to pull that schedule back, it has opened the doors up. So now I obviously want to be effective in my time. Did I have the time five years ago to be doing what I'm doing now? No. I would have rather been in the gym perfecting my craft. So that's why I guess I didn't. I could dabble in, and I did. But I couldn't let it be what it is now. But now I do have the time for it. 20:12 It's a business now too. 20:13 It is a business. So now I get to, you know, with that time, I go, I want to make sure I've got the family time and all that. But not only that. 20:20 I want to be successful in my family. A part of my job is obviously the fighting, but now I can't fight the hours that I used to, so I can free up some hours for cooking with Hulk, for the farm stuff, you know, the adventure side of things and, you know, just my brand. I can pay a bit more attention to that. So it's, yeah, it's been great. It's been going really good. There's opportunities all over the place that I've had to be like, I'm still fighting. Like, wait a sec, you know, so it's good. It's a... 20:48 For the time that we can only spend on it and for how quickly it's risen and, you know, and just what it's doing, it's pretty impressive for the little time we can actually give it. 21:00 Now, I'm not going to challenge you on the floor because, I mean, I'll get my ass kicked. But what I am going to challenge you on, I'm going to get one of the MasterChef guys to come along and judge. Okay, yeah. You and me do a sort of luckier experience. 21:13 Okay, nice, nice. Who's got the best taste? 21:14 Yeah, yeah. We'll be biased for ourselves, but we'll find out what they actually think. I'll get one of the master chef judges to come and do it for us, and we'll try and do it before Christmas. 21:25 Let me know who it is. I want to do my breakfast. No, no. I want to know exactly what they like. 21:29 We'll give you two names, and you can choose whichever one. 21:32 Okay. No, it's just good to be like, oh, their style. What's their style? 21:35 I was like, you know? Yeah, I think we should do that. That'd be fun. 21:38 Because if we had someone from the, you know, you could imagine, right, if you've got like someone that really knows what they're talking about, but then you've got someone that's just going to enjoy it from the gym, right? 21:46 Yeah, yeah. 21:47 So I'm cooking two different meals. 21:49 You know what I mean? 21:49 Like there's going to be two pretty different styles. 21:53 You like to win, don't you? 21:54 Yeah, well, I'm just saying, you know what I mean? 21:55 Yeah, I didn't say it. Like you like to win. 21:57 Yeah, yeah. Because, yeah. 22:00 There's definitely a lot there. That'll be fun. I would enjoy it. 22:03 That'll be fun. 22:04 We'll do it on the farm. 22:05 I recommend you do it on the farm for sure. 22:09 Over the charcoal. 22:10 Can I bring my meat? 100%. 22:11 Yeah, that's fair. 22:13 I'll choose my butcher. 22:14 I mean, I trust your butcher. Can I use it too? Okay, don't worry. 22:17 So one of the things I've been really impressed by is that you've managed to leverage other parts of your finding brand in this business called Engage. Tell us about that. 22:28 Yeah, so Engage, I've actually been a part of Engage since they started. 22:33 So it's pretty cool because we've been here, we've Engage, like I met Ash, the owner of Engage, like we met in Thailand before we were in the UFC, this was, I can't even remember when it was, maybe 2014 or something, or 2015 or 16, I couldn't tell you, sorry, not good with my dates, but a long time ago, and very early in my career, and this is where Izzy was then, well before UFC, Dan Hooker, Brad Riddell, Kaikara France, like we all met and we're all a part of Engage back then like so he's sort of like I wanted to you know do a fight brain and bring you guys because you could see us in the gym it seemed like you know hard working and uh you know we were all trained together it's like you know wouldn't mind sponsoring you so that's sort of where it started and then now um yeah we're all uh you know a few of us easy myself you know part owners of it and it's uh yeah really it's doing well is there a website like is it engage.com Engage, yeah. 23:31 Engageind.com. 23:33 So that's great. You're leveraging off everything. So when you're bringing an audience in here, and you've got a big audience anyway, but you're bringing an audience into the gyms, you're leveraging just about everything. And we talked about... 23:45 I will ask you, that's a good question, because I'm going to ask you a question here, sorry. So with the websites and all that, like obviously websites have been so big and they still are, but there's so many ways to get there now, right? Like so you can just click a button on Instagram and all that. So what's more, what do you, what would you say is more important for the website needs to be where they go to, right? 24:06 Yes. 24:07 But, uh, Say if I was going to push right then, right, we're talking about, should I definitely know gays.com? Yes, you should be. Or should I just be like, go on Instagram and go through there because you can shop straight on there. What would be easier? 24:19 Because it's different audiences. Different audience. Okay, yeah. Different age groups look at different audiences. And for our audience, your audience would be, right? Okay, well, who are your audiences? Give me some ages. 24:28 Yeah, so I'll be there. Okay, see, there you go. Probably from about 16 to like kind of 45. 24:32 Well, they're going to go to Instagram. Yeah. Or something like that. And then the older audience will go to your website. But your older audience will watch this podcast. This will go on YouTube too. So you want them to go to Engage. Engage, I-N-D. Exactly. 24:47 So this is that thing. Exactly. There's little things that I'm still learning. 24:50 You know what's really amazing and quite interesting about you is that not only do you apply that thinking process to your fighting game, because you go out and get the best. You get Craig Jones in here, and no doubt he's been here with your current prep. You get Craig Jones. You used to go off to Auckland City Gym. You used to go to... Thailand for a while. Yeah. You get really good opponents there, guys to try with. You've always been someone who wants to learn about what is learned from the best and what is the best for you. 25:22 Now you're trying to do the same thing for business. If you can apply that same process, And then you put in behind it a lot of hard work. It's a lot of hard work. 25:29 Yeah. 25:30 Take a little bit of risk. There's risk involved. Build a good brand around it. You'll be successful, which is what you are. You are successful now. 25:37 I am usually, again, I try, as I say, I'm a fighter first. So I try not to be as hands-on with the business, but I can't help myself as well. 25:45 So I'm like a- I think you're obsessed. I don't think I'm a fighter first. I think you're an obsessed person, obsessed with the best ideas. 25:51 Well, I mean, the thing is I wouldn't be where I am if I wasn't like that as well. So I can be, you know, sometimes when I am with guys, obviously I did the bulk bar and all that, I can be a bit of a handful as well because I'm like, ah, you know, this ain't how I want it, you know, like I can be on doing them. 26:04 But you've got to be that way. 26:05 But I mean, they're usually worded up before that happens anyway. No one gets upset. When we do this, you know, Alex is going to be on your ass about everything, you know what I mean? But I guess that's a good way to be. But I mean, so that's a good question. So, Again, I should have looked into that knowing that the audience isn't, you know. They're different. There would be an audience here, so I should have had that website ready. 26:28 Yeah, you should know what my audience is. I'm going to go get all of them now. You should know what my audience is because it's going to go on my podcast. Exactly, exactly. So that's what I'm saying. It's going to go on my Spotify and it's going to go on my YouTube channel. And my audience also ranges from those age groups. Yeah. We have a big female side of our audience as well. And then, you know, they're equally interested to hear what people like Alex Hawkins is doing. They are absolutely interested in what you're doing, which is one of the reasons why it's so exciting for us to be able to do this. Talk to me about CMBT, combat. 26:52 Yeah. 26:53 So most people don't realize it spells combat, but what is CMBT? You've had that for a long time. 26:59 Yeah, so I was with them since they started as well, actually. So yeah, protein, obviously, supplements and that. And then I'm doing the bulk bar with them now. So I've been with them for- You only launched that, haven't you, just recently? Yeah, I launched that, yeah, only a couple of months back, a few months back. So now it's all through 7-Elevens. 27:16 So you've got shelf space, great. 27:18 Yeah, and they're going to be in other spots, like one hour just yet. But yeah, it's going good. We're still working. Again, I'm very picky. I just said how I'm very picky. Here's a good question, because I love to pick your brains. So we've got the bar. 27:33 I won't get into too much detail, but... 27:36 Obviously, it's doing well and it is how it is. I want to improve it because that's just how I am. 27:42 In terms of taste, quality. 27:43 Yes, I think I can still do better. 27:51 Would that be more detrimental to something that's already there? 27:55 No. 27:56 Or can you use it as a rebrand? You're not rebranding, but you're like... because obviously you did the announcement, you did your release, and we did real. We ended up being like the, I think in the first week, we were the highest. 28:09 Yeah, we sold the most protein bars from 7-Eleven ever and stuff like that. So we did well with that. But I mean, I wanted to do that. Is that something where it's like, oh, now you're going against what you've already had? No, I don't think so. Or is it now it's like, you know, you did the release, done well, and you get to almost do another release. 28:26 No, that's too comfort, being too comfortable. 28:28 Okay, there you go. 28:30 I think if Alex Volkanovsky says, this is what we were doing, but there's now our more improved bar. Not straight away, but you might wait until sometime next year. And the new ingredient that we're adding to it, I don't know, makes up not creative, whatever the words are. 28:48 Creatine is a craze at the moment. There is a craze. Yeah, yeah. 28:51 Well, it's the most researched supplement in history. Yeah. 28:55 It's very effective. It's something that I need to use. Especially fighters. Yeah. It's obviously good for the brain and good for the muscles, everything. Yeah. So it's very, very effective. 29:03 Very important for women. Because women, everyone thinks, oh, this is all about men. Creation is more important for women, especially older women, as women get into their 50s and 60s, like postmenopause. Really important. So if you were saying, I sat down with a scientist where we make this stuff, and we sat down with food scientists, we sat down with all the biology scientists, and what we've now come up with is a new improved version of what we're doing. There's nothing wrong with a new iteration of what you've already released. I think it's actually a good idea. And people are more likely to buy it or more likely to keep buying it. 29:36 Because right now, what stands out from your bar relative to everybody else's, other than the fact that it's Alex Volkanovski behind it, okay? If you go out and say, look, a bar's been successful, but one of the things we've noticed that's missing in everybody else's protein bar is blah. 29:54 Yeah. 29:55 And we've now put it in. All of a sudden, you're unique. It's not just about Alex Volkanovski. It's what Alex Volkanovski has gone and curated for the buyer of the bar. 30:03 Yeah. 30:05 But keeping the same name. 30:06 Yeah, exactly. Yeah, for sure. 30:07 You might call it Combat 2 or something. 30:08 It's just, you know, it's just, yeah, it's a weird one because, look, we've been talking completely. We've been talking about the month by now. It's good, I guess. But, I mean, for me, again, I'm quite picky with how I want to, because, All natural. That's the thing with it. It's all natural ingredients. A lot of people are always going to be like, oh, it's got this protein and all that. There's so many ways that they can just tick the boxes and say it's this and say it's that. You know, we try to not cheat it at all. You know what I mean? It's clean. Yeah, exactly. So that's why it's… But then you can go there. It's like, all right, we can maybe go this one. 30:41 Is it going to be a little bit too artificial? They're saying it's not. But you know what I mean? And now I'm like, yeah, but now I'm going against. Because one thing that works for me, and this is something that's a big part of my brand as well, I believe. And I don't know if you should be saying it like this, talking about yourself like this. But I believe, and this is because I want to be honest with my audience as well. in yourself yes yeah exactly so like i don't yeah i feel like uh with my my audience the people who've cooking with volk they can relate to me they're like oh mate he's just like one of us he's like you know and i feel like that's always been very good and i want to keep it that way so i want to i don't want to bullshit around it, you know, type thing, you know. 31:27 So that's why it's a tricky one for me where even though you can go down these routes and they are, it's still, you know, all natural, but I'm sitting there going, I still taste, I feel like there's a bit more of a maybe artificial taste and that we need to taste. I want to get more natural flavors in there. 31:42 What are you using in the sugar? What's your sweetener? 31:44 Monk fruit. Monk fruit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a, but yeah, like it's just, we're going, you know, I want to look into the, into things a little more and just see, see where we end up. But I mean, I think. 31:54 What does Geordie think of it? 31:55 I'm not sure. I haven't, I haven't chatted to him about that. Really? I mean, no, I haven't. He's someone you should talk to. 31:59 Yeah, definitely. You should have talked to Geordie about that. 32:02 Yeah, you're not wrong. I'm actually going to see him in LA. So he's over there for Rufy. He's a smart man. So we're actually, you know, riding camp now and, um, He's got to wear fine-tune and everything with the diet this time. 32:15 How are you going with the diet? Very good. 32:18 We're ahead of schedule. Oh, really? 32:21 Does that worry a little bit? Just a little bit? 32:22 No, no. This is good. Because I'm following the... Because I've always had that little bit of freedom. I'm obviously disciplined. 32:30 And... 32:32 But I'd have the freedom where I would eat my barbecue, so I'd love my cooking. But, oh, all right, I'll just fast in the morning. I won't eat much around it. And, you know, I'd do it that way. But then it's too hard to really calculate how much you're doing. So I'd always eventually make weight, but... 32:48 But, you know, maybe do it a little bit tough where this time we're like, no, we can't. We want to do this 100% and go, like, you know, when we talk about the 1%ers, you know, we always say that, let's go the 0.1%ers. Like, let's really, really, that's what Geordie's been using, the 0.1%. 33:04 And by the way, Jordan Solomon is your dietitian? Fight dietitian, yes. 33:07 And for a lot of other people too. 33:09 Yes, very, very, very good, very good. And he's worked with us for so long. He's got so much data on me as well. So it's so easy for... for us to find what works or even improve if we want. 33:23 And scientifically too. Yes, exactly. Everything's done with data. 33:27 And the good thing about scientifically and then knowing your athlete as well. So that's a big part. So that's something that Really, really work. So a lot of people are just going to go just pure, oh, the science says this, this, this, and they've never met a fighter. They don't know the training schedule. You know what I mean? They're like going, oh, science says you need to do this. They're going, yeah, but this guy trains four times a day. This guy's got to cut weights. This guy's got to do this. This guy's got to do that. So you've got to know your athlete, and he knows his athletes. 33:57 Yeah. 33:59 So it's, yeah, it's incredible. But I've been, when I say fine-tuning, I mean to the gram with everything for like 10 weeks. It's going to be 10 weeks out from the fight, which I've never really done that. So now, yeah, we're really... You feel strong? Yeah, but I mean, it's... 34:17 Like it's not easy. Like you sit there, you know, I love my food, you know, again, and I'm more than happy to fast and not eat for hours and go to training a little bit tired and all that just so I can, you know. Have a good meal. I'll have a good meal at nighttime, so it's all good. So I can punish myself to do that where this time I was like, nah, everything's like, have to eat it this time, have to do this, have to do that. And it's been good though. It's been really good. The diet's coming along really, really nicely. The weight's coming off. We're in a really good position. So I'm going to be probably the leanest I've ever been, the lightest I've ever come into a fight week. 34:51 Without a crash. 34:51 And probably the easiest cut as well. Yeah, without a crash because we obviously very well. 34:55 And let's talk about mossa. 34:56 Okay, let's do it. 34:58 So you've been through these processes before where you've fought someone who's an expert in, let's call it wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, that type of thing. Floor, put it that way. And you recruited yourself brilliantly. You've done it not just once. You've done it a couple of times. We were talking about Ortega earlier on. You know, you know the grapplers. This guy's not great up, stand up. I mean, he's good, but he's not the best. He's been more unorthodox. Yeah. 35:23 And what's your, without telling too many traits, what are you thinking about this? 35:28 Because there's been a lot of talk between the two of you. 35:30 Yeah, it's pretty obvious. Like, I can talk about it like, you know, not to detail, but overall, we know he's going to want to take down. He's like, in saying that, That's going to be there, you know, but what I've been saying, I've been quite vocal about is like, he's going to have to, he's going to be forced to stand because you are going to take me down. You try and take me down. It's going to be hard even if you do unbounce straight back up. 35:59 It's exhausting doing that for them to just want to keep taking down. For me, I can anti-wrestle all day. That's something that I don't really get too tired. I can do this all day. And then he's going to be forced to stand. And that's pretty obvious. I'm going to be in his face looking to land the big shots and he's going to be forced to panic shoot. That's not going to work and he's going to be forced to fight. Which, to be honest, I've always said this. For most of my opponents, I believe everyone's best chance of beating me is to land a lucky shot anyway. 36:32 When I say lucky shot, that's not right. 36:34 It wasn't a lucky shot, but he got you on the spot. 36:37 Yeah, exactly. 36:38 He closed the distance. 36:39 Yeah, he did a good job. So I just mean landing that shot. Can they beat me for 25 minutes? It can be very hard. Obviously, Islam can say he did. That first fight was very close. Controversial. It was there, mate, was it? Yeah, so it was a, you know, that's someone, you know, moving up a division. But in my division, I believe there's no one that can be better than me for 25 minutes. 37:04 Can they knock me out? Yes, this is a fighting game. And I've always said that. And I believe even with him, who's never knocked anyone out in the UFC, I don't think. 37:12 No, he's always gone to decisions. 37:13 Yeah, it's always been a decision. And he's really good at winning. But even for him, his best bet would be to knock me out. I truly do believe that because I just don't believe he's going to beat me for 25 minutes. And again, undefeated, this wrestler grappling style that has taken over the UFC. A lot of people struggle with that, but I believe I haven't. I've got that anti-wrestling sort of formula. What does it mean, anti-wrestling? You can defeat a wrestler. Exactly. So I mean, because a lot of people, it used to be funny where you would go to gyms, people would be like, oh, I'm firefighting and wrestling. 37:49 They'll just do wrestling. I'm like, oh, let's do more wrestling. And half their wrestling hours they're doing is them shooting takedowns, which they're never going to do. It's like, no, let's just focus on keeping the fight where you want to be. Focus on where they might get you and then how do we build ourselves back to get to where you want to be. So get you back up. Yes, get back to the feet, you know, to stop the takedowns. Let's just spend all them hours there. It's like, this guy, you don't want to be trying to out-wrestle this guy. It's funny, you still see people like, oh, I'm going to go to a wrestling school because I'm fighting a Dagestani wrestler. 38:21 It's like, this guy's going to smoke you no matter how much hours you, you know, like you need to just perfect yourself You know, maybe the range, you know, stopping the defense. You could limit that stuff. Like, I can nail it down to 10 different things and just try and perfect those. Why try and perfect 50 things when 40 of them are going to be useless to you? Don't waste your time on that. So, like, for me, I actually can wrestle. 38:51 I think I can out-wrestle him if I want it anyway. Yeah. 38:54 But – How do you study something like that? I mean, what do you – do you watch all their fights? 38:58 Yeah, you watch their fights. 38:59 Do you sit down with Joe and watch him? 39:01 Yeah, not really. I trust the coaches to do a bit of the research and then they tell me and I've watched enough fights to understand and then, yeah. So, like, I've watched his fights. So, I know his game. 39:14 and then I trust the positions that my coaches are telling me. And then we just, you know, and it isn't, oh, this was successful. Like, you know, you are going to find out, oh, this guy was successful on him when he did this and when he'd done that. It's like, okay, cool. These are the positions he was successful. This is what he likes to go to. And then, so we will weigh the options of, This has worked against him, but what works when someone's doing that to me? So like when I'm in them positions, I like to do this, this, this, this, this. And that suits my style, suits my body type. I'm very comfortable here. 39:46 And then I know I can build up and I can force him to this position where... Now I know he doesn't really have much options there. So like just, you know, things like that, like just approaching it, very calculated, you know, like no wasted movements, no wasted time and energy in things that you just wait, which I see people do all the time. You become so experienced in this sort of stuff. 40:08 Yeah. I mean, there's a challenge because a lot of people challenge you or you defend it a lot, defending your titles. I mean, as a person who loves the fight game, will you be trying to keep it in the middle of the ring or in the middle of the octagon? 40:23 I mean, yeah, like I'm... In stand-up. So he's going to want to press and it's easier to trap people and go for takedowns on the cage. Yeah. For me, I will be comfortable anywhere. I mean, him trying to shoot on me, as I said, I'm like, I'm going to... I'll be bringing the fight more to him. Like he's going to... There'll be times it will be staying in the middle and even if we're at the cage, it won't really matter. But he's... 40:50 Like, I'm inviting them. You want to shoot? Try and shoot on me. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm in a position where I can really put hands on you. That's a good brains game. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, yeah, exactly right. 40:59 Would you say it to me? Would you say that? 100%. 41:01 Like, I've been vocal. 41:03 No, but in the fight, would you say, come on, shoot? 41:06 Well, yeah, I'm going to be not, I don't even have to say it. It's like, he's going to feel that I'm not worried about it. I'm in front of him. All I'm worried about is like landing these ones. You know what I mean? It's like, I'm like, you want to shoot? I'll worry about that when, when it's there. It's like going, all right. I'm focused on is what I'm going to do here and that's the beauty of it because you do get a lot of people that went through the anti-wrestling as I said they're so worried about the takedown that they forget about the striking because they're like you know they're so focused on oh I can't let him grab me and then all of a sudden they're not pulling the trigger and they get taken down anyway that ain't the fact with me it's like oh I don't care if you take me down I don't care if you shoot I'll worry about that then I'll fight till you're in then I'll worry about that and do what I plan on doing show you that that ain't going to work. 41:52 That's only going to tire you out. Then you're going to panic. Then you're going to panic, punch, panic, shoot. Then you're going to get real tired. And that's when I'm going to start. That's why I believe I can get the finish. I know I sound very confident and cocky, but I believe that's how this fight's going to be. Even me at 38 years old. 42:08 I'm 38 in less than a couple of weeks. I'm going to be 38 at the fight. People aren't defending their belt at 38 years old. Heavyweight, yes. In our divisions, it doesn't happen. So I broke the record of winning a title fight at that age, over 35. 42:24 But defending champs, it's just not really normal. And I not only plan on defending and winning, I plan on probably making this look like one of my best performances I've ever done. 42:37 Oh, wow. 42:38 And is that saying, is that because, again, this is a lot of people like, oh, everyone's going to talk like that. I'm not saying I'm in my prime. It's not because I'm in my prime that's why this is going to happen. Physical prime. Yeah, physical prime. Stylistically, you know, with my fighter Q and the way I'm going to approach this fight and the way he will approach this fight, I believe the formula of that is, you know, I feel like I'm destined to really put on one of the best performances I've ever done. Like after this, people are going, that's the best we've seen him. 43:08 Like he's still got another 10 years in it. I was like, I don't. But that's what I believe it could look like. It's funny – I sound cocky, but I'm just quietly – it's not quiet now, is it? You couldn't say quietly confident after that, but I'm confident. 43:23 Definitely confident. I'm definitely confident. What about your legs? What about his legs? Because you see a lot of these really good grapplers, they tend to – 43:30 have one leg out in front all the time when they when they want to box when they want to throw punches um will you be looking at his legs i'll be doing every like everything a lot of people yeah a lot of people are worried about leg kicks all because they can grab him and all that grab it try and grab it no more no problem you know what i mean like that's for me i'm gonna fight my fight if that leg's there i'll kick it if that head's there i'm gonna jab it Um, you know what I mean? I'm a, if that heads there, I'm going to put a two straight in there. Even if I know you, you want to fire that shot, um, I'm committing to them shots and then I'll worry about the takedown afterwards. So that's a sort of how it is. 44:01 So I'll play, I'll just fight my fight. And, uh, that's where I feel like I can do my best work. 44:06 I remember in the Perth fight, um, with Dislam, um, Towards the end of one of the rounds, I don't remember which round it was, he sort of had your back. Yeah. Body lock. And he was trying to put a choke on you. 44:19 You were smiling. You just kept moving his arms around. It was towards the end of the round, but probably someone told it. And you kept fighting his arms. Yeah. It was an arm fight, a hand fight, and he was smiling. Yeah. That would have fucked him up. They would have been going... 44:34 My God, what's the deal with this guy? 100%. So when you have that approach, a lot of times when we're in there, you might talk because I'm not the type to trash talk or anything, but you will let them know. It's like, I'm sweet. I'll do this all day. Let them know because I know we're all getting tired. We're all tired. We all feel the fatigue. Who deals with it better? I deal with it fine. I'm going to let them know. I'm dealing with it sweet. I'm like, how are you dealing with it? When they see that, it's like – He looks fresh. I'm blown. Like, this ain't good. 45:05 I was like, oh, man, this isn't good. So that approach, again, I wasn't trying to be cocky to Islam, but I wanted to let him know. I was like, I'll do this all day. Like, I'm sweet. And I wanted to even straight after that, like, I'm like, going like, oh, you said that you'll submit me in 20 seconds, and now you're hanging on for dear life. Yeah. He wasn't really going for the choke as much. It was more, I'm just going to keep him here, which he did a great job, won the round for it, and you could say won the fight because of it. So, you know, fair play to him. 45:35 There'd be another 20 seconds in the last round. I reckon you would have got him. 45:38 Yeah, I mean, but look at that last round. You could see that I had him mentally defeated, right? And that was a lot of me just pushing that pace, going at him the whole time, letting him know that I was comfortable everywhere. 45:53 There was not one position that I was freaking out in at all. I accepted every single position. I usually change the word, the quote, comfortable in there, uncomfortable. I've changed it to accept the uncomfortable. But I can literally say in that fight, I felt comfortable in them positions. But again, I try not to train my brain or to train people around me, the brain, to think that what we do at some point is going to be comfortable. 46:29 Do you know what I mean? I know they're not saying it will be comfortable. I know that's just a quote. 46:34 But I think if you believe that you can go in this training room and train with us and the training is going to eventually be comfortable, like you're not going to get that fatigue, you're going to be so comfortable that you're not fatigued, you're kidding yourself. So let's not set ourselves up for failure. Let's just know that we will accept the uncomfortable. And once you understand as though I'm just going to accept whatever problems come my way, that's going to be a lot easier to deal with because we accept it. But if you're waiting till you get comfortable to problem solve, it's like going, oh, you know, when you're in that guillotine with Vortex, it goes, oh, you ain't comfortable. 47:09 The lights are dimming. I mean, you know, this thing. I'm about to pass I just got to accept that all this ain't good, but I'm just going to try and do this and try and do that. And luckily it paid off. But I mean, if I thought like, uh, you know, if I'm waiting to be comfortable, I mean, you're chasing something because the world's going to throw uncomfortable things at you every single time. But if we can accept them, you'll deal with things much better. 47:30 You're a father of, you're married and father of four. Four girls. 47:34 Four girls. Yeah. 47:35 Well done. Um, How much do they motivate you? 47:39 I mean, that's why I do everything. That's why I, you know, that's, that's even with a lot of people ask me, you know, like, you know, what I fight for. And they talk about legacy. They want to bring up legacy and all these things that sound cool. So I don't care about any of that. I really don't. I just want to be successful in my family and that's it. You know, I want to be able to provide. 48:01 Why that? 48:02 Well, I mean, just like anyone, everyone's got a, their crew, you know, the, their, their career path, their choice of their career and they want to be successful. Obviously, for me, it's just I want to be successful. I can look after my family and put us in a good position. That's always been my driving factor. Always. 48:22 Do I have traits that You know, I want to be a perfectionist and, you know, I am going to have them traits, so that's going to be there as well. But my main driving factor is my family and it always has been, it always will be. And like even now, like again, all these decisions, like do I need to fight? 48:41 Again, you want to protect the brain. I want to be able to protect the body and be able to look after my kids after my career. 48:49 But then there are paychecks. So you're weighing all these options. And that's purely all these options revolve of... 48:58 how I can best deal with the future for my family. 49:00 Do you ever talk to your daughters about that? Do they sit and say, dad, why, you know, because they would just see other kids, mom and dad, what they do. Do they ever say to your dad, why are you fighting? Like, what is that about? 49:11 Not really. I think it's, yeah, I guess, you know, it's probably, it's probably, well, yeah, it's probably You know, they're at an age now where it's probably cool as well and they don't know the depth of fighting. And, you know, and I guess, you know, they don't understand, like, you know, again, when you have them vulnerable points or when you are concussed, you've got concussions, you know, and, you know, they're not going to really understand the depths of things, you know. 49:41 So maybe later they might be like – But by the time they understand, I'm pretty sure I'll be done anyway. 49:47 And I'm confident I'll be in a pretty good position and still have the head on my shoulders. 49:53 So that's why I've been saying I've been taking each fight as it goes. I even said, and I'm happy to say that a lot of people are like, well, he's talking about, he doesn't know. Like if I take a heap of damage in this next fight, I'm done. I'm not there to take a heap of damage. I'm weighing them options. It's a big part of my options. 50:12 And I've said that. And I said that in my last fight. So a lot of people, when they hear that, they're like, oh, that doesn't sound good. I go, what do you mean? I said that last fight. 50:19 And I'm here. 50:20 Yeah, because my job is to control. I don't get dentists. 50:21 Yeah, exactly. And does that mean I'm not in the gym busting my ass and I'm half assing it? No, it's just I'm a realist. I understand my situation and where I am. And I want to deal with things in a calculated approach. And I've always been like that. And that is how I have to. I need to understand that I don't want, you know, we've had bad concussions. We've had that and that serious stuff. And I need to take it serious. Yeah. um and if you know if i go into a fight and i ever you know i take damage like i have in some other fights okay we're done you know what i mean but if not well maybe we'll keep going we'll maybe take that risk one more time for that paycheck for you know what i mean for the because the business side you know i mean that's that's how i am a lot of people like oh he's doing it just for the paycheck yeah 51:07 I guess so. Obviously. 51:08 Yeah. I mean, people want to act like it's a bad thing. It's always been about that. I told you. My main driving factor has been for my family, for my wife and my girls. And, you know, if I can get a good paycheck, that's going to put us in a better position. 51:22 For the future. 51:22 For the future, where I can even not only – because, again, I'm always going to – I'm not someone that's just going to be able to do nothing. I'm always going to be quite busy, but I'm going to be able to spend better quality time with my family when I'm done with this sport because of those extra paychecks. Let's do it. You know what I mean? That's how I am. So I'm weighing all the options and that's a big part of it. But again, I said that in the last fight. I didn't take too much damage. I look great and here we are. 51:53 So you can still see that I'm going to be driven and I'm going to train hard and I'm going to do what I need to do every single time. People can look at what I'm saying and be like, oh, that's someone that's half in it. 52:08 This is just how I talk. I have a calculated approach always, every single time with everything I do. 52:16 And that's just, that's just where we're at with it. 52:18 And then how are you getting along with Dana? 52:19 Good. Yeah. We're sweet. I'm pretty easy champ to get along with. You know, I'm a pretty easy guy. I don't ask for too much. 52:25 You're great for him. 52:26 Yeah, exactly. You know what I mean? 52:27 Defending, defending, defending. 52:28 Yeah. So he's not going to have too much problems in there. 52:32 Like that's like, he would be very happy with that. But does he, do you have, does he bring you up or do you have a chance with him? 52:38 No, like, yeah, we'll keep in touch. Like I'll, you know, sometimes, you know, cause I've known for taking the short notice fights. I would hear there's some things I would hit him up. Like, I remember if there's anyone, I'm your guy because you're a legend. I love it. So, yeah, so he appreciates what we do. Obviously, after that, after he found out I was fighting Islam on 11 days notice, he knew that for me and my position, pound for pound number one, a rematch that should have been done properly, a champion, just a person in my position would not... 53:09 do that. He had to just sit there and go, mate, thank you for saving the day. We're in a sport where athletes just don't do this. I think UFC is a sport where they actually do, which is pretty crazy. 53:25 Most people don't realize, but there are obligations being contracted with UFC. For example, after this, you're off to LA to do a press conference. 53:32 In the middle of your camp, Just explain what that is, what happens and how it's worked. Because this is about the professionalism in your game. 53:39 Yes. So what I mean, it's a part of it, right? As you said, the fight game, it's still a business for us. 53:47 But not only that, obviously, as a company, UFC, it's a business. They need to promote their fight. They want to make sure now, even though they've got paramount, the deals that they've done, they want to live up to them contracts too. They want to make sure they're getting the viewers that they said they would. 54:04 It's a business. They want to get another $7 billion contract. You know what I mean? Like they want to make sure they're still hitting their numbers and whatnot. So they want to promote the fight. So we're going to LA to do that. For me, again, I'm a- That's today, today? Yeah, so I leave today. So that's, I'm in the middle of camp. I'm fighting in- five weeks or like just just over five weeks so it's deep in camp but again i'm very calculated um and i've i've been training for like 14 weeks most people do an eight week camp but for me uh i i like having longer camps i like to get a lot of my fight simulators which are the really hard workouts i like to do them nice and early so if i get sick if i need to do press conferences if i need to do some business venture whatever it is um I can do that knowing that I've got a lot of weeks in the bank. 54:54 So I've all made like, to be honest, like with this diet I'm doing and with the training load that I've done for so long, this has come at a great time. So I've put myself in a position where I think this is me going over there isn't Inconvenience. I think it's more of a convenience for me. I think it will be. 55:16 And how many days will you be there? 55:17 I'll be there just a few days. 55:19 So you literally fly there? 55:20 Fly there. I get to watch a fight. Rufy's fine, so I'm going to corner him as well. I'm going to do some training. Joe doesn't want me training too hard. Again, I've got so many... 55:30 weeks in the bank where it's just like, all right, now we're going to use this as a little deload. And this deload is where, so straight after, as soon as I come back, even I'm allowed to eat the food on the plane, you know what I mean? I'm going to have a little, you know, that freedom I told you. I've got my fight dietician. We're going to have that a little bit more freedom while we're over there. We're going to make sure the calories are here. But now that I'm not going to be so training focused, you know, I'm going to let you have a lighter meal here so we can have two bigger meals here and have that freedom that I haven't had for like eight weeks. A little bit of a break. A little bit of a break, but my weight's still going to be where it needs to be. 56:02 So I get to come back at the back end of that, refresh like Let me get back to this diet. Follow it to a T. Let's get back in the gym. Someone put me in a fight simulator again. I'm pumped. I'm ready to go. 56:16 Tell everyone what a fight simulator is. 56:18 A fight simulator is just the hardest work. Fighting is obviously not easy. We'll do a fight simulator. I'm fighting five rounds. You're going to do a five-minute round fight simulator. I might do... 56:36 It might just be shark tanking from fresh guys in all these different positions and literally just 25 minutes of just hard work with fresh guys. Shark tank's probably just the easy way of putting it. So it's just a very, very hard workout. So it's not just hitting pads and going at your own pace. This is just going... 56:54 fresh guys attacking you, putting you in a bad position, you fighting out of them. And if you don't, you're going to be tapping, which your ego won't let you. So you're going to fight. You're going to push yourself. You don't want to get taken down because you know that if I get complacent in these workouts, I'm going to get complacent in the cage. So you're going to push yourself and you're doing 25 minutes against fresh guys. 57:16 Yeah. So it's pretty cool. 57:18 It's interesting because I remember years ago, when you went to Abu Dhabi to fight Ireland and you defended, I think it was against... That would have been Max Holloway, the first one. 57:29 Holloway. It might have been Holloway. 57:30 Yeah. One of the things you couldn't do, which you used to do, was go off to Auckland, to the Auckland City Gym, and then you used to go to Thailand as well. Yeah. But you couldn't do that at that time for that defence. 57:43 And you used to always feel... 57:45 I certainly recall that it wasn't a great feeling for you because it was just your routine was you used to go over to Auckland and then you used to go to Thailand. I don't know what the order was. And then you'd train here in Wendell. 57:54 I heard about the fight six weeks out as well. 57:56 Yeah, correct. So yeah, that was a short notice. 57:59 That's when I found out. I don't know about anyone else. 58:01 I found out too. It was like six weeks notice. 58:05 But now you don't do that because you've got this new facility here. 58:09 You don't need it because you can bring the fighting partners in. 58:12 Yes. Well, I mean, in that stage, remember, it was deep in COVID. Yeah. So we had to have our bubble. Yeah, yeah. So we were allowed to have our training partners and we could only train in the gym with just those training partners. 58:24 We're now, I still do, I still will go to Thailand, like nice and, again, nice and early in camp where I can follow a pretty strong schedule. train hard, and then, you know, go full-time over there. I usually take the family as well. Then that rolls me into, like, oh, let's keep that momentum going. So I'll do that early in camp, but then now I'll bring everyone to us. So I'll bring, you know, Brad Riddell, you know, Frank Hickman, some of the coaches, then training partners. I'm lucky enough to have great training partners here, like some of the fighters we have. 58:57 And it's just crazy. We've got, like, amateurs that, like, oh, man, it's just you're, like... 59:03 How are they amateur? These guys have beat up UFC fighters, no problem, and they're having their debut pro fight. It's just crazy to see the talent that comes through. Young guys? Yeah, young guys. It's insane. You get training partners like that, fresh guys that... 59:22 young, athletic, they're just going to go all in, you know what I mean, and want to prove themselves. So it's great. And then you bring your training partners from overseas and coaches and then have the team that you already have here. It's incredible. It's great to be in a position where we can do that and have a facility to to be okay with that. 59:41 Well, mate, congratulations on this gym, what you're doing here. 59:47 This is a fantastic initiative. It's great for the area, by the way. It's not just you, but it's a great outcome for you and all the other stuff you're doing. And good luck in five and a half odd weeks. Thanks for the interview, man. I really appreciate it. 60:00 No worries. Thank you. 60:01 Can't wait to do the cook-off with you. 60:02 Yes, yes. So we're going to get that done, 100%. Thank you.