← Digital Social Hour
Digital Social Hour
Pono & Anthony Blackburn: PowerSlap: The Next Big Thing in Combat Sports? | DSH #1445
00:39:52
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Transcript240 lines
- [00:00]
Pono
Front of me. And there is this pain coming. I feel it already in my soul, in my body. Damn, it's coming for you.
- [00:07]
Anthony
You want to show for you? Watch One Piece.
- [00:10]
Sean Chase
Yeah, that's a good anime hockey, dude.
- [00:12]
Anthony
You can. You can feel clash. It's intense, and I love it. That's my favorite thing ever. Be in that room and feel that energy.
- [00:27]
Sean Chase
All right, guys, Pono and Anthony here. Power Slap fighters, champions. And got a big fight for both of you guys this Friday. Thanks for coming on.
- [00:33]
Pono
Thank you. Yeah, pleasure to be here.
- [00:35]
Sean Chase
You guys ready? Is this the most you've trained for fights?
- [00:37]
Pono
Come on, man. I've trained all the time. Yeah, that's it. We always ready.
- [00:40]
Sean Chase
Let's go.
- [00:40]
Pono
Yep. Stay ready, so that way you don't have to get ready.
- [00:42]
Sean Chase
Yeah, you got Mike Barron walking you out.
- [00:44]
Pono
Come on.
- [00:45]
Sean Chase
Shout out to Mike. He's been on the show twice.
- [00:47]
Pono
Yeah, I mean, he's been very influential in my life. You know, we've, you know, got onto the. The high ticket sales and closing. Being able to go through the closer academy, became part of the inner circle and just been really close to me, man. He just, you know, took me under his wing, showed me everything that's, you know, he's been doing in San Diego and been building. And now is that time for me to return the favor. So he's gonna be coming out with me and doing the striker walkout. It's the very first ever striker walkout.
- [01:10]
Sean Chase
So how'd you get the approval on that?
- [01:11]
Pono
Oh, you gotta go. Well, it's. It's tickets that you buy through the. On location. But then since it's so close to the event, we had to kind of, you know, talk to the right people to get into it. But, I mean, we've. We were able to land it.
- [01:24]
Anthony
So let's go.
- [01:24]
Pono
He's good to go. Yeah.
- [01:25]
Sean Chase
I can't wait till they add that element to the sport, the walkouts, because I feel like that's what makes the UFC so lit, too.
- [01:30]
Pono
Oh, yeah, Yeah. I mean, he's just having more people see there's more. There's more eyes in the game now than ever before, so.
- [01:38]
Sean Chase
Absolutely. What about you, man? How'd you get into all this, dude?
- [01:43]
Anthony
It's funny story, though. I'm from. From Michigan, and I grew up playing sports, really competitive, skateboarding, BMX and stuff, too. A lot of extreme sports. Just always had a tenacity to want to get better and compete, and I seen the opportunity one day I was hungover on a Saturday, scrolling on Facebook. And it was like a whole ad calling me out. I think you got what it takes. It said, sign up here. And I just.
- [02:05]
Sean Chase
Wow, that actually works, right?
- [02:11]
Anthony
So, yeah, it was crazy. I had my first first match and after that, after that win, I was just gas pedal called my coach, which Brandon Bordeaux, the other Michigan champion. We have the same coach.
- [02:24]
Sean Chase
Oh, nice.
- [02:25]
Anthony
James Isham out of my hometown of Wyandotte. But yeah, I called him after won my first match and said, dude, we gotta, we gotta hit the gas in this and full send it. And he started studying film right away and, you know, now we are two and a half years later, I'm undefeated. Never been knocked out, never been knocked down.
- [02:43]
Sean Chase
Iron chin.
- [02:44]
Anthony
Yes, sir.
- [02:44]
Sean Chase
It's cool to see because the sport's so new, like how people are going about it, like their strategy and everything, hiring coaches. It's really fascinating to me. It's only two and a half years old, huh?
- [02:54]
Pono
Right, Yeah, I mean, very fairly new, you know, and they started off with seasons, started off introducing it to people, you know, just having a basic recruitment of just the random Joes and people around the world and. And then, you know, now it's progressing to be more athletic. You've got other people that are really into like mma and it's just flowing properly now. Yeah, it's one of the fastest growing sports out there right now.
- [03:14]
Sean Chase
It's cool to see the growth. Our mutual friend Sean Chase took me to, like the first or second one ever. And now to see it at Fontainebleau with, you know, a thousand plus people, it's nuts. Tickets were a thousand bucks. Did you see that?
- [03:24]
Anthony
They're scalping them right now for 800 Crazy.
- [03:27]
Sean Chase
Sold out. I remember the first event, they were giving them out for free.
- [03:30]
Pono
Right, right, right. Get as many butts in the seats, right? Have everybody come in and attend and get the eyes on it so that way they can start building. And now, I mean, from Power Slap 10, competing on Power Slap 10 to now Power Slap 13, I mean, Ticket sales have just gone up and up.
- [03:44]
Sean Chase
And you guys are going to Saudi now you're going to New Orleans.
- [03:46]
Pono
Oh, yeah.
- [03:46]
Sean Chase
All over the world.
- [03:47]
Pono
Very international.
- [03:48]
Sean Chase
So crazy, right?
- [03:49]
Pono
It's good. That's good. I love growth.
- [03:51]
Anthony
I can't wait to get to the bayou.
- [03:53]
Pono
Yeah, to the bayou. What's up? Yeah. Louisiana. Oh, Louisiana.
- [03:57]
Sean Chase
I've never been there.
- [03:59]
Pono
Me either. I haven't been there either. But it's. I mean, he's getting closer and closer to his spot in his, his area. So it's Just like, okay, yeah, he.
- [04:04]
Sean Chase
Got home turf for you.
- [04:06]
Anthony
It's like, so Michigan's all the way at the top, but Louisiana, I went more. I went to New Orleans peak Covid. So it was weird.
- [04:13]
Sean Chase
Yeah.
- [04:13]
Anthony
Nobody was in the streets hardly. Like, I went to Jackson Square. That's like a pretty historical place. 10 people maybe in the whole area. It was really scary. Weird.
- [04:25]
Sean Chase
Yeah.
- [04:26]
Anthony
So I'm excited.
- [04:27]
Sean Chase
Yeah. Can't wait for that. What's full scope management about what's going on with that?
- [04:30]
Pono
It's, it's so we, we originally had a company or a management agency called heavy hitters. And me and my wife had started it and just kind of worked our way through trying to, you know, get into the sport at a very early stage. So that way we can help everybody just kind of grow within, you know, adding more events, you know, getting in front of more eyes and, you know, same thing. Mutual friend met Shaun Chase and became family to us. And now we've, you know, we've been able to merge over to full scope and really do our thing and, you know, it's just getting.
- [05:01]
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- [07:06]
Pono
More eyes on us now because of just having that open opportunity to be getting in front of events and, you know, just doing other things that, you know, Power Stop Shrekkers aren't really open to right now. You know, we're just kind of making that break in the mold when it comes to doing anything socially besides that, the stuff that we post ourselves, you know, so now we need to have that, that open door to be able to just kind of expand and just really get all these people that are getting into the sport and people that have already been in the sport, just more exposure, you know, to be able to get seen everywhere.
- [07:37]
Sean Chase
You guys are getting some of the most exposure I've ever seen. Like I'd say Power Slap fighters and then podcasters, you guys get like hundreds of millions of views. It's crazy. Like you knock someone out, it's going viral the next day, right?
- [07:47]
Pono
Oh, yeah. I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would see something like this, even just being in Power Slap alone. But I mean, my last few videos I've got 340, 350, 380 and just continue, continues to grow.
- [07:59]
Sean Chase
You know, that's nuts.
- [08:00]
Pono
We just want to stretch this out as much as possible and see where this takes us. You know, it's still fairly new and it's going to continue to keep on popping up everywhere. You tap on Instagram, there it is, social proof, you know, people getting knocked out and, and you know, some of the most viral stuff that you can ever see. So, you know, just keep it entertaining.
- [08:18]
Sean Chase
It'd be cool to see how it evolves. Like if they do two on twos, if they start mixing it Up.
- [08:22]
Anthony
Yeah, that would be crazy.
- [08:22]
Sean Chase
That'd be nuts, right? Two on two.
- [08:26]
Anthony
I'll take this one. You can hit him, you know, WWE style. I just think that, you know, since you're in such a broad kind of, you know, we're getting athletes, we're getting the Joe Schmo like me, I just, you know, I just like competing and I'm hard headed. Yeah, now you're going to get professional wrestlers. You're going to get, you know, I'm hoping someone that fell out of the UFC and is like, all right, let me get Power Slap a try. And it's going to be, you know, some decently known name and all these people have such unique stories. Like you're getting a crazy amount of different people from all picks of life. Yeah, I think that, you know, to get everyone in the space to tell that story is what we're working towards.
- [09:09]
Sean Chase
It is fascinating. Yeah, everyone's got their character arc developing right now.
- [09:13]
Pono
Yeah, it's every, it's every Hawaiian boy's dream to become, you know, a fighter in the UFC and to do something amazing like this. And it's like, now Power Slap comes along and you just have a golden opportunity to do something where, you know, it doesn't require as much as where it comes to the point of like training and learning different arts, Jiu jitsu, and kickboxing, Muay Thai. But I mean, with Power Slap being the way it is, it's still a sport that you have to take seriously. There's, there's technique to it, there's angles to it, there's drives to it. An arm drive, knee drive is. There's so many things you can open up wide array of different ways to attack it. And not anybody would ever think of that. You know, it's just like, nah, this guy's just going out there and delivering a slap. Yeah, that's how it was in the beginning. Now you've got more like just the athletic side of it. You gotta be, you know, physically fit, mentally ready for stuff that goes on out there on the stage. So now it's just, it's a big thing for, you know, to take on the technique side of it, to do all these things and really just, you know, put the time and the discipline into it. You know, really, really practice, practice what you preach.
- [10:19]
Anthony
It's really fun too. You know, it's a new sport, but everyone's training in their own way. You know, everyone's got their own flavor of slap. So it's really cool to see how each Person evolves too. If you follow it and you're a fan and you're like, oh, man, you can see these people been really putting the work in and studying the game and you have to break down film. You watch everybody's match back, not just yours.
- [10:43]
Pono
Wow.
- [10:43]
Anthony
You watch other promotions too. It's, you know, if you're not doing this now, you're falling behind and I'm sorry, but we're going to leave you in the dust. I'm gas getting serious now.
- [10:54]
Pono
Yeah, yeah. So sure.
- [10:55]
Sean Chase
If you're super tall, would that be an advantage or no?
- [10:59]
Pono
So, I mean, everybody looks at it from a point where it's like, okay, he's a lot bigger, he's a lot stronger. He's like this. The end of the day, if you, if you don't have the chin for it, that's. It's going to, it's going to prove itself. You know, you got to have a chin for this. You know, that's the biggest thing. Your defense is the key offense. You can have, you can switch up, you can do all the things, but if you can't take a hit, I mean, it's gonna, you're gonna fall short. And after, after, you know, taking a hit, you know, we, we already know that you diminish, you diminish after a while once you've been hit on the button and people continue to find that button on you every single time, you might fall short every single time. So, you know, there's things that you can do. You know, obviously neck training base, you know, really getting a stable base on you, being able to understand within the rule set of what's going on on the power slap stage, how you can utilize all the little pieces to it, like the podium. Being able to have three points of contact that you've got a baton that you have to hold behind you. A lot of people just hold it and just kind of flare out their arms. No, why don't you just tighten down your arms and use like a motorcycle handle and just kind of tighten it down to your body so your body becomes one unit. People, you know, surrender their chin. You know, a lot of that. You don't want to do any of that stuff out here. No freebies should be given in this sport. But a lot of people learn from that by giving out freebies first and then after that, you know, making the step to make the adjustments, make the changes. Oh, I can't. I got to do something different on this next roundup because this guy. And even on the striker Side of it, the guy might change the angle of the hit while you start to brace a certain way. He sees it, he notices it's on the spot. Chaining, like, you literally have to be on the spot. Okay. I make this decision to change the way that it is before you take that hit.
- [12:39]
Sean Chase
So.
- [12:39]
Pono
Wow.
- [12:40]
Sean Chase
I never realized how technical this was.
- [12:41]
Anthony
Getting to where it's a chess match.
- [12:43]
Pono
Yes.
- [12:43]
Anthony
I would say yes.
- [12:44]
Sean Chase
Nice. I love chess. So this is fascinating to me. I didn't realize how much technique went into this. The way you're describing it, like you're really calculating on the spot.
- [12:52]
Pono
Have to, you have to. It's. It's growing, it's growing. It's growing really, really fast. So, you know that typical person that comes in and just believes that it's just a slap and you're going to get washed out very fast because there's going to be people that are more athletic, that are really thinking about the game different than what you're already thinking about it. And you know you're going to fall short every single time. It's good for people to also see that too. So that way they have the ability to understand that, hey, I don't have to go one dimensional every single time and I have to go into the same route and the same movement. I have to change with the way things are going on stage. Gotta be faster to the punch. You know, that's. That's what I believe in. It's like. And you gotta be, like I said, you don't have to get ready if you stay ready. And that's, and that's a big part in this, is that you should always be training. You should always be focusing. Don't let it go to the, you know, to any kind of judge's decision in any shape or form. Right. Because you do have three round matches. You have to. Five round matches. You don't want none of that stuff. You want to prepare the best that you can be the best version of yourself. When you go out there and just kill, do what you got to do. You're out there for one job and one job only is to entertain the people and to win your matches and do what you're supposed to do.
- [14:01]
Sean Chase
Yeah, I like the mental game that goes on too, during the fights.
- [14:04]
Pono
Oh, yeah.
- [14:05]
Sean Chase
You could see it in the eyes, huh?
- [14:06]
Pono
Yeah, you can tell.
- [14:07]
Sean Chase
You can tell if someone's in fear.
- [14:08]
Pono
The eye shift, you know, he doesn't want to stare at you anymore. The glare, like, oh, no, I don't want to look at him. In his face anymore. I just. I better look down. I better look away. It's like it's coming. Yeah, it's coming.
- [14:20]
Anthony
That's why I like the face offs, because you get your first gauge. Really? Of all right, tomorrow I'm gonna see what he's about, right? A little bit.
- [14:27]
Sean Chase
But yeah, if you break eye contact.
- [14:29]
Anthony
That'S taste of what's coming tomorrow.
- [14:31]
Sean Chase
Yeah, that's. That's the side of the sport that people don't talk about. But it's important, right, because you're in there one on one. You've already done all the training, so what's there to do? It's the mental side.
- [14:40]
Pono
That's it. We signed it. We ready? Here it is. We're right here on the stage, ready to go. You have no defense except for the little minute things that you're gonna end up doing outside of that. I mean, you just stand there and you take it. It's the best thing about this boy that I really feel. It's like.
- [14:56]
Anthony
It's no bs.
- [14:57]
Pono
It's the surrender.
- [14:58]
Anthony
You're surrendering.
- [14:59]
Pono
You're surrendering over to what it is. You know, I. I hope you guys.
- [15:02]
Unknown
Are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.
- [15:07]
Pono
I can't do anything else. I can't block. I can't move my hands. I can't do nothing else. Can't shift my neck back. Here's my chin, here's my face. Smack me and let's go. Let's get ready for the next one. And then I gotta go back. Once I get smacked and once I get hit, I get to go back to my corner and really just hype. Put my. Put my hand in the chalk. I'm squeezing on everything. This is it. I'm gonna put you out.
- [15:29]
Anthony
And so when you work, you took.
- [15:30]
Pono
The wrong step into this ring. You know, it's like it's done now.
- [15:33]
Anthony
That's when you work the crowd and everything to them in betweens, and that's smart.
- [15:37]
Sean Chase
Feed off that energy.
- [15:37]
Anthony
You gotta read the room. And I firm believe that, you know, the judges are definitely hearing and looking around at what's happening during the matches.
- [15:46]
Sean Chase
They're judging, at least subconsciously, for sure.
- [15:48]
Anthony
That has to have some kind of play on their judgment, for sure. Like the reactions, you know, we're all humans.
- [15:55]
Sean Chase
Yeah. Obviously that's gonna factor into their judgment, for sure.
- [15:58]
Anthony
Sway it a little bit. If you know, you gotta know how to, you know, play it Off. Yeah, you know, it's gotta not hurt. You gotta eat it.
- [16:06]
Sean Chase
You guys ever take a hit and you're like, I gotta play this off right now.
- [16:10]
Anthony
Oh, yeah, of course. I got in. My orbital cracked.
- [16:12]
Sean Chase
Oh, my God.
- [16:13]
Anthony
Yeah, that one. You know, and you had to hide that back and nodded at him. And I just knew definitely something was bad because my eye was blurry right away.
- [16:22]
Pono
Yeah, you. You. You'll tell from me, you know, as soon as I take the hit and. And there's fire. Like, just like, okay, this is it, guy. I'm coming right back. Hold on. Stay right there and I'll come back. But, you know, I've been. You know, I faced Dorian Perez on this, on this last one on Power Slap 12, and isn't no joke. He's solid, he's stable, he's hard. He has a chin, you know, and so it's like. It's hard to break him. And he has that. That mentality of like, oh, let me check you real quick. Hey, you ready? I'm ready because I'm ready to die, you know? And I'm like, oh, yeah, okay, he hit me. He hit me on that one. And it made me think a little bit different. That first whack that I took from him made me think different. You could tell from me being like, oh, yeah, to like, I gotta lock it in. Yeah, let me. Let me start thinking, you know, like, it's. It really has to get into my head right now that it's like, this guy is a rock. And how do I break rocks? I gotta get the jackhammer out. I gotta figure out what's the next move. And now, you know, I went. I went with the same slap three rounds. You know, you sort of start shifting, you know, go on two, go on three, change the angle.
- [17:28]
Sean Chase
Oh, so you could go on whatever count. I didn't know.
- [17:30]
Pono
As long as you let the referee exactly know what you're gonna throw, that's it. You can do that, you know, and just make sure you throw what you say you're gonna throw. You know, there's been a lot of times where people have, you know, said, oh, I'm gonna go on two, and they go on one, or they go on three and I'm going two. So you just gotta make sure that you. You stay coherent out there, and you make sure that you, you know, whatever you say, that is gonna happen, you deliver.
- [17:52]
Anthony
See, me, I have it easier. I go right on one every time.
- [17:55]
Sean Chase
Oh, every time.
- [17:57]
Anthony
My thing about it is, if you're gonna have an actual fight and you were gonna hit somebody in real life situation, you're not going to be measuring like that. And that's what I've just applied the whole time. I've never, I don't even practice going on anything other than one.
- [18:11]
Sean Chase
Wow.
- [18:12]
Anthony
Because I stuck it in my brain a long time ago that it doesn't make sense to sit there. I think too much about it. That's like you're in the moment on stage like that and everything's had, like you're looking through your peripherals and shit's happening and you're like, you know, taking a long time to just sit there and think more about something.
- [18:32]
Pono
Right?
- [18:32]
Anthony
I'm just. Let it rip.
- [18:34]
Sean Chase
I can see both points of view. Because you don't want your opponent to brace for impact on, on the same count every time.
- [18:39]
Pono
Right.
- [18:39]
Sean Chase
So that's where you're coming from.
- [18:40]
Pono
Yeah, yeah. And you gotta, you know, there's, there's some points like, like he said, he goes right on one. I go right on one as well. You know, that was my original go to. I was on season three, road to the Title, and when I hit Devin Jenkins, it was right on one. When I hit James Siegman, it was right on one. You know, Cooper, Cooper, right on one. And it's worked for me. It's been a solid, you know, a solid foundation for me to stay that way. Because just like you said, I don't have to think. I put my hand up. As soon as I put my hand up, I get the timing off, I send it, I bring it all the way back and I push and that's it, I'm done. I don't have to think about it any more than that. But because of it being such a. Once you get into a certain level, a certain bracket, 5 to 10, you won't have a problem. People, you know, they, they are not adjusted to what's going on, even though they didn't know it's coming on one. Sometimes that element of surprise, even though he knows it's coming on one, there's some kind of element and you know, but when you get from 5 and above, these people have been doing it. He's been in this, he's been in the game. He's a skin in the game. You know, you've got people like Damian Debelle, you've got Dwayne Crespel, you've got all these bigger names that are just building up. And this is, I'm just speaking on the heavyweight division. No, every division is like that.
- [19:54]
Sean Chase
Yeah, you're gonna.
- [19:55]
Pono
But once you get past five, you got people that are actually more and not say that nobody below is serious, you know, but like on that level, yeah, these guys are there for a reason.
- [20:08]
Sean Chase
Yeah, there's levels to the game, right?
- [20:09]
Pono
You gotta change it up, you gotta do something different, you know, and it's only in those times when you can't figure out the puzzle, you can't figure out the puzzle. You gotta add a little, a little bit difference to it. So that way you can try to figure it out. So, yeah, I'm definitely excited.
- [20:23]
Anthony
A little bit of strategy, I mean, having that in your back pocket that, you know, being able to go on two or three, it might prove beneficial in the future.
- [20:33]
Sean Chase
Doesn't hurt, right?
- [20:34]
Anthony
You never know. Yeah, you make those mid match changes, could throw someone off and because they're expecting the.
- [20:41]
Pono
Right, they're expecting the on one, you know, especially from us, you know, they're expecting that. They're expecting for everybody to go on one. And it's like, okay, now two comes up. He's thinking, soon as I put my hand up, he's thinking already. Oh, no, here we go. Now I gotta time my brace. Bam. Got him. You know, he could be faster to the punch.
- [20:58]
Sean Chase
You guys ever get shocked with who you see in the audience?
- [21:02]
Pono
Well, I'm gonna be honest, you know, the last few times, I just don't pay attention. Really, I don't. You know, I've seen maybe one familiar face, Bert, that just like, is like, hey, what's up? But everything else I shut out. Wow. Visualization is key. And I, and I do this stuff. 2 o' clock in the morning, 3 o' clock in the 1 o', clock, it doesn't matter. I'm in my backyard, I'm walking, I'm doing the whole ape. That's that guy. That's this guy. That's this person. That's that person. All right, I'm up to the line. Ch. Check my hands, check my ears. I do everything. I do it that way so that way I never have to worry about anything else happening outside of the box. When I get up on the stage, I make sure I do my signals, I make sure I do my thing. I get to my corner and then I'm pacing, I'm pacing back and forth. I'm not gonna look at anybody else, I'm not gonna think about anybody else until he walks up on the stage and I lock. Once I lock eyes with you, brother. We on. It's on now. Now it's different now. You're in front of me and there is. There's pain coming. I feel it already in my soul, in my body. Damn. It's coming for you. For you.
- [22:07]
Anthony
You watch One Piece?
- [22:08]
Sean Chase
Yeah. That's a good anime hockey, dude.
- [22:10]
Anthony
You can. You can feel the clash. It's intense and I love it. It's my favorite thing ever to just be in that room and feel that energy when you're about to compete and everything's about to just blast off on that first round.
- [22:25]
Pono
It's.
- [22:26]
Anthony
It's unreal. It's an unreal feeling.
- [22:27]
Sean Chase
Yeah. The first fight, I feel like it's always like a knockout or some crazy fight. So it sets a to the night, you know?
- [22:33]
Anthony
Yeah.
- [22:33]
Sean Chase
I remember the first few fights I went to. The first fight.
- [22:35]
Anthony
KO Every time they strategically set the card up that way they plan it.
- [22:40]
Sean Chase
Yeah, that's what I figured. Because I noticed as the championship fights are near the end, they're usually not knockouts.
- [22:45]
Pono
Right. Yeah. I've been very, very lucky to, you know, have the opportunity to open up the main card.
- [22:51]
Sean Chase
Yeah.
- [22:51]
Pono
Twice now, you know, I went against Cooper how. And opened up the card, then Dorian Perez and opened up that card. And it's like you set the tone, you set the pace for. For whatever's going to happen after, you know, and people will look at that and read your energy and be like, okay, I got to come up a little bit harder than what he did. I got to do something a little bit different than what he did. And so if you set the tone every single time, you know, it comes out for a good show. Yeah, every single time.
- [23:14]
Anthony
It's kind of nice to go first.
- [23:15]
Sean Chase
Too, because you get it over with.
- [23:17]
Anthony
And you get everything out of the way. But then they don't have, you know, you're the one they're gauging everything off of. So it's not like, you know, once you get outdone, because it's going to happen during the card. There's going to be moments where you get out shined. But that first match is supposed to be like a mini pop and then they go through Smart. That main card, you know, lead off fight, supposed to be another big pop to the finish.
- [23:44]
Pono
Right.
- [23:44]
Anthony
Final. The main card supposed to be the biggest.
- [23:47]
Pono
So, yeah.
- [23:48]
Sean Chase
Do you guys separate business and friendship, like you guys have both fighting this Friday? Do you talk to the opponent at all? Do you keep it separate?
- [23:55]
Pono
I do.
- [23:56]
Sean Chase
You talk to him?
- [23:57]
Pono
I talk to everybody. There's. There's only a few people that I Just like in. Internally, I just don't like. But other than that, I like everybody. This is a different, different aspect of this sport is that, I mean, it's, it becomes a family thing. Like, oh, yeah, man, I'm hanging out with you. We, you know, we, we have our family get togethers and, you know, we're just really kicking it all the time. Like, even when it comes up to the actual, like, match itself, you know, I'm still having a conversation because we, we come to a. A good understanding. Same thing with James. We come to a good understanding that we're going to go out there, we're going to put on a show. You knock me, I knock you. It is what it is. After this, we can shake hands, we can be friends, we can do all the other things. You know, it's like there's only a few handful of people that are not about that, that don't do all that stuff, but other people are into it.
- [24:46]
Anthony
You know, One thing I feel about, like everyone that got in at the same time, like, obviously there's waves of it. Like, we were part of the. I was part of the first wave. You guys were season two, right?
- [24:58]
Pono
Season three.
- [24:59]
Anthony
Season three. So that's like the second wave.
- [25:00]
Pono
Yep.
- [25:01]
Anthony
But, you know, we're all trying to blow this sport up at the same time. So what I love about it is like the brotherhood, sisterhood type of feeling that, you know, we are competing against each other. But I can still go and, you know, I'll talk and chat with Isaiah. We're hanging out at the pool.
- [25:19]
Pono
Yeah.
- [25:19]
Anthony
I have no hard feelings. I know we're in this to rip each other's faces off and, you know, it doesn't have to be any animosity. It's just business.
- [25:30]
Sean Chase
Yeah, well, respect. To be able to separate those. Yeah, I feel like I would go if I was to slap my best friend in the face, I would hold back, like, subconsciously.
- [25:40]
Pono
But you also have to have the understanding. You know, it's like, you know what this is? Hey, you signed up for this. You know, so if, yeah, if we're friends or friends, you know, but in the day, you still sign that paper and. And you had the opportunity to say no. You know, I had the opportunity to say no. I didn't. You didn't. Okay, it's agreed. Yeah, we. Now we know what it is. After I whack you and put you out on the ground, we can hug it out, but until then, we have to battle. That's just it. You gotta come to acceptance.
- [26:11]
Sean Chase
Are you allowed to talk during the matches? Should talk.
- [26:14]
Anthony
Yeah, you are. But like, remember when Dorian was mouthing to you, like, come and hit me. Mark would always say, you know, keep the talking to a minimum when they're lining up just so they're not moving their jaw around or their head.
- [26:25]
Sean Chase
Yeah.
- [26:25]
Anthony
So in between rounds, that's where you gotta do. That's where I feel like it's gotta be. Showtime. You get that 15 seconds, shoot. If you hit a backflip or something, might as well start doing some stuff.
- [26:37]
Pono
Yes, of course, of course.
- [26:38]
Anthony
Or, you know, I had a pretty cool moment at 10 where Theo was like, yeah, I ate a shot and I flexed at Theo. And Taylor Lawan was like, you know, he's hyped too.
- [26:49]
Sean Chase
Oh, that's dope.
- [26:49]
Pono
What's up?
- [26:50]
Anthony
Taylor and I, you know, yelled at him in the crowd a little bit. So that kind of interaction, that's got to be kind of cool to, you know, they remember you for that moment. So I think that's cool. Get those little memories and moments.
- [27:04]
Pono
Yeah. This sports has definitely taken a turn in the last, like two events where it's moving on to, you know, now we have NXT wrestlers that are kind of coming in and wow, the whole, you know, non televised card was going to be wrestlers there. So they're taking an entertainment aspect. Right. They're coming from that side of it where it's like, okay, let's, let's get more entertainment in here.
- [27:25]
Anthony
Yeah, it's a new shift from, you know, just when we started, it was all right, we're real focused individuals on this new sport. All right, I'm gonna go up there and give it all my all and slap this guy. Turn around, chalk up, and there's nothing in between. They're just walking back and forth, slapping each other.
- [27:41]
Pono
Right.
- [27:41]
Anthony
Well, now it needs to be like, like some of the wrestlers said, I don't even care, dude, if I get knocked out, I'm flipping birds on the way down. You know, something other than just being blah.
- [27:52]
Pono
Yeah, got to make your mark, right?
- [27:54]
Anthony
Yeah, it's a new. It's a new wave. I think that's where we're starting to go.
- [27:58]
Sean Chase
Nice. What have you guys. Yeah, what have you guys taken away from Dana White? Just being around him, learning from him.
- [28:03]
Pono
He's a promoter. He's the master promoter, man.
- [28:05]
Sean Chase
Getting into boxing now too.
- [28:06]
Pono
He knows exactly what to do and how to do it. He gets. And the biggest thing is that he trusts his team. He trusts every single person under him to do exactly what, what is put forth. Hey, I want this, this, this, this and this. I don't take anything less. We need that to happen. We need that to do stuff. So I love him just because he is that guy. He is the one that's paving the way for every single person. And just with this sport becoming the way it is, I mean, it's just going to continue to grow. He's already expanded into other stuff, like the boxing thing. And it's just bjj rode to the title, ufc, bjj. It's just going to continue to keep on flowing. And that's the kind of guy that he is. You know, he's all about that flow. I want things to work effortlessly. So I trust him. I trust. Obviously I trust him with my life. Right. I'm out here slapping people for him.
- [28:56]
Sean Chase
So his authenticity has just been impressive to me over the years. Out of any GM of any major sport, just how raw and authentic he is.
- [29:04]
Anthony
Oh, yeah.
- [29:04]
Sean Chase
I feel like that's what separates him. Like the players respect him.
- [29:08]
Pono
Yes.
- [29:08]
Sean Chase
Whereas other sports, some old guy or whatever, and the players don't even care about the gm.
- [29:13]
Pono
Yeah. He's front row center. And he's not. And he's not sugarcoating nothing. It's not sugar coating anything for anybody. You know, he's just. He tells you how it is. This is exactly what you have to do to be the most successful person in this sport or in any other sport that he creates. You know, it's like, go out there and go get it. You know. He gave you the blueprint.
- [29:29]
Sean Chase
Yep.
- [29:30]
Pono
Don't do anything else. Less.
- [29:31]
Anthony
That dude kind of just works harder than everybody does. He does, dude.
- [29:36]
Pono
Yeah.
- [29:36]
Anthony
He's always on the go. It just blows my mind. Like, everything is so methodical. And he knows, like having these influencers and stuff come out for these events is, you know, everyone was like, that's kind of what's. What's going on with that. They're getting invited and, you know, we're paying for tickets. But that's what's going to blow the sport because they're the ones that are getting way more eyes. When they had. Aiden was streaming live at one of them.
- [30:03]
Pono
Yeah.
- [30:04]
Anthony
I mean, that's 100,000 views.
- [30:07]
Pono
Yeah.
- [30:07]
Anthony
Most of the time when he's live, it's just strategic.
- [30:12]
Pono
Very.
- [30:12]
Unknown
He's.
- [30:12]
Anthony
It's just.
- [30:13]
Sean Chase
That's not even counting clips. That's just live viewers. Yeah.
- [30:16]
Pono
Yeah.
- [30:16]
Anthony
It's just mind blowing. How methodical and smart and his team is top notch.
- [30:22]
Sean Chase
That was brilliant. Honestly, that strategy of inviting all the influencers out, keeping them on one side to make content.
- [30:28]
Pono
Yeah, he's putting the right people in the right places. You know, even like, you know, the president, you know, like Frank. Frank is an amazing guy. You know, he's going out there and he's really doing everything the way that he needs to do it. And if things. Things not going the right. Let's switch it. Let's make this turn immediately. Let's do this, let's do that. And even Erica, you know, being. Being able to go out there and do all the matchmaking, being able to take on a whole bunch of other different things, positions, you know, it's. It's. It's pretty cool to watch that. You know, the. The production side of how everything is put together. You know, they got a good, solid team, and we trust them. Absolutely. Yeah.
- [31:00]
Sean Chase
So next time I see you guys, there'll be two of these, right?
- [31:03]
Pono
Yeah.
- [31:04]
Anthony
You know, I was like, I was definitely gonna make weight. We ain't got to worry about that. Last time I got a little.
- [31:09]
Sean Chase
Oh, you didn't make weight?
- [31:10]
Anthony
No, I made weight, but my opponent, he made weight backstage. It was like he was on good up right out of the sauna, and then the analog scale on the stage for the live taping, crap, 0.5 over, and he was out of time. So he could have, like, cut his hair off and probably made weight.
- [31:29]
Pono
Whoa.
- [31:29]
Anthony
They were like, oh, no more time.
- [31:32]
Sean Chase
So they had to cancel it the day of.
- [31:33]
Anthony
No, they just made it a regular bout instead of a.
- [31:37]
Pono
Instead of a title match.
- [31:38]
Sean Chase
So three. So that changed your whole strategy, then three slaps instead of five.
- [31:42]
Anthony
There was five rounds. We went five.
- [31:43]
Sean Chase
Oh, it's still five.
- [31:44]
Anthony
Yeah.
- [31:44]
Pono
Oh, they're not letting that go. They're just not going to put the title on the line, you know, because.
- [31:49]
Sean Chase
That'S a whole different mindset. I feel like three verse, five, right?
- [31:52]
Pono
Yeah, it's a shorter. It's a shorter match, you know, so it's. You got to go in one, you got to go on. On, like, you got to perform the whole three.
- [32:01]
Anthony
You've got less opportunity to pull ahead in rounds, you know, two rounds to win instead of four or three.
- [32:09]
Sean Chase
Is there a lot of momentum in this where, like, you'll kind of feel like it's going your way?
- [32:13]
Anthony
Oh, yeah, because obviously people. People say that the coin toss means a lot more than it does. I think that if you're mentally prepared, like you signed up for this sport, you know, if you're not pussyfooting and being real about it. You're ready and it doesn't matter. I'll win regardless. Really. I was actually hoping to lose the coin toss because as I always been saying, I've got power and he's gonna feel my power and power. Power this, power that. Buddy. My neck is almost 18 inches. Power that. You know what, you should have brought a bat. Should have brought a baseball bat. That's where I'm at. I think I'm. There's going to be a lot of, a lot of neck for him.
- [32:55]
Pono
Damn.
- [32:55]
Sean Chase
18 inch neck. God damn. I've never measured mine, but that sounds long for a neck.
- [32:59]
Pono
Yeah. With your, with your match, I just see two warriors just going head to head, you know, and a ton of it.
- [33:05]
Anthony
Two of the top warriors.
- [33:06]
Sean Chase
Has he lost yet?
- [33:08]
Anthony
His losses are kind of. He, he challenged for the belt and middleweight and he lost twice. But he, they were, you know, pretty good, good matches. He was always on the smaller side at middleweight and I've been smaller at welterweight. But this match is pretty well even, I think body style, he's a little bit stronger than me, but it's really even. So I'm excited for it.
- [33:35]
Sean Chase
Let's go. You got a big match too, man.
- [33:37]
Pono
Yeah. James Siegman, ranked number four in the world. He fought against Nate Bernard on his last one, his last very match. But I think the bigger one for me is that I faced him on season three road to the title, you know, and I went through some adverse moments during that time where I didn't have my main weapon. I had to strike with my offhand, my non dominant hand. I still was able to go out there and perform. I fought Devin Jenkins on the very first hit, knocked him out in the second round with the non dominant hand. So I had something to prove. You know, it's like, okay, well I gotta go back out there and do it again with James Siegman. And he was able to eat my two hits that I gave them and you know, respond and come back and be able to lay me down. So I know for sure what this sport does is teaches you life lessons. You know, don't ever think that you're always ahead of the game all the time. You got to prepare yourself and get ready for everything. You know, there's always going to be factors where it's going to go against you. It's going to be a lot of more resilient times that you have to bounce back from things. And at this moment, after all the stuff that happened and you know, I Was able to improve myself with Cooper Housley and go out there and, you know, make it definitive. You know, one hit with the right hand, that was it. He was down and on the ground. I also showed that I had a chin. I was. I lost the coin toss, and I took the first hit, and I had. I flinched. Well, the referee called me for flinching. I didn't think I flinched, but he called me for it, and so I had to take two. So I took two hits and then delivered the knockout. And I mean, to me, that's huge. Dorian Perez, same thing. Guy that just demolishes people, has a great chin, Went out there and stood all three rounds with him. I probably would have stood all five rounds with him. So now I know that I put my chin to the test, and I know that I can stand out there and take these hits. I know that I've practiced a lot more than what it was when I first thought it coming onto the show. And I'm a green pea, and I'm just gonna go and slap these guys, and I got all the power in the world. And when a Break necks. Yeah. Okay. Life lesson, life check. You know, go out there and be more strategic, more planned, more methodical in the things that you do. And now. Now that's it. Now I get to go and face James Siegman for another round, and it's the redemption match. You know, I'm trying to get my. I'm trying to get my flowers back for whatever had happened, you know, prove everything that was. That it wasn't the way it was supposed to be. In. Need to set that straight.
- [35:59]
Sean Chase
You know, let's get it.
- [36:00]
Pono
He's ready for it, too. I know he is. You know, talk to him already. So he's ready for the. He's ready for the pain. I'm ready for the pain.
- [36:05]
Unknown
We're ready to go.
- [36:06]
Sean Chase
Can't wait. Friday. Well, thanks for coming on, guys. That was fun.
- [36:10]
Pono
Thank you.
- [36:11]
Sean Chase
I appreciate. We'll link your Instagrams in the video. Thanks for coming on. I'll see you next time, guys.