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- [00:01]
Bruce Buffer
Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra, that's
- [00:05]
Kyle Saleem
the og it kicked off this whole
- [00:07]
Bruce Buffer
zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now. You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise, and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch. So if you've been living in the White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe and every single one is Zero Sugar. Tap the banner to learn more.
- [00:30]
Gabriel
Alright, guys, we got a legend, Bruce Buffer on the podcast this week. Before we get into it, if you guys have not tried out the Prizepix app, you gotta try it out. I have tried every app when it comes to firing on sports, and Prizepix is by far my favorite. The app's so easy to use. You hop on the app, each player has a set projection and you either go more or less in that set projection, choose a couple players. The more you choose, the more your pick's gonna multiply. Also complete game changer on the Prize Picks app. Now you can choose teams, you can choose the spread, you can choose the score of the game. You can also fire on Culture Picks to absolute game changer for the Prize Picks app. They literally have everything. Football's obviously over, but basketball's heating up. Tourney times right around the corner. We got Olympic hockey on go Canada. Also UFC's on this weekend. There's a ton of stuff to fire on. If you guys have never downloaded the app, use code Nelk. Use that when you download it. Put it in. If you put in just $5, you get $50 for for free. With your first lineup, take advantage of Code Nelk. Download the Prize Picks app, use code and elk shout out to Prize Picks app. Best app in the game of firearm sports. Let's get on the podcast. Prizepix offers DFS and free to play 50 provided as prizepix DFS lineups must spend $5 of real money on Prize Picks before receiving bonus lineups. Prize Picks Predict is a registered FCFM offering team picks and Culture Picks as event contracts. Both involve significant risk. Not for all. Must be 18 plus and for event contracts be a US resident. Restrictions apply. VO where prohibited used responsibly. For help, call 1-800-426-2537 or visit ncpgambling.org I'm sorry, Kyle. Kyle Saleem.
- [02:08]
Bruce Buffer
I gotta Write it on 3x5 car.
- [02:09]
Kyle Saleem
You just say bro if you want to.
- [02:11]
Gabriel
Yeah, you don't gotta.
- [02:12]
Bruce Buffer
I'm respectful.
- [02:12]
Gabriel
Yeah, don't worry.
- [02:13]
Bruce Buffer
You and I flew back from Abu Dhabi one time. Yeah, you were Higher than a kite on that plane.
- [02:18]
Kyle Saleem
I was.
- [02:19]
Bruce Buffer
What the hell were you high on alcohol?
- [02:22]
Gabriel
You.
- [02:22]
Kyle Saleem
I think you were afraid I had Covid.
- [02:23]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, yeah, it was during COVID Yeah. Which I thought was one of the coolest trips ever. I love your hotel. That was. Was awesome.
- [02:29]
Kyle Saleem
So much fun.
- [02:29]
Bruce Buffer
So much fun.
- [02:30]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [02:30]
Bruce Buffer
I get into my room in a suite and there's kettlebells and they know I train and everything. They had all training gear for me and like you gotta. Can't leave for three days. And remember they were delivering the food in hazma suits in Abu Dhabi. Yeah. The first time we went there, I think you went. The second, I don't know if you went. No, you. We had the chartered plane. That was the first trip, I think.
- [02:47]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, we all went.
- [02:48]
Gabriel
Khabib's last fight.
- [02:49]
Kyle Saleem
Khabib's fight.
- [02:50]
Gabriel
Yeah, yeah, we went for that one.
- [02:52]
Kyle Saleem
That was the first one.
- [02:53]
Gabriel
That was our first ever UFC fight.
- [02:55]
Kyle Saleem
Yes.
- [02:55]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. Which is the first time we were there at Yaz Island. I was there for like a week or two. I forget how long it was.
- [03:02]
Kyle Saleem
What was your first ufc event?
- [03:04]
Bruce Buffer
My 30 year anniversary is February 16th.
- [03:06]
Kyle Saleem
Wow.
- [03:07]
Bruce Buffer
Buy them on Puerto Rico. UFC 8. I did the pretty. So 30 years coming up. 30 years, can you believe that?
- [03:15]
Kyle Saleem
Wow. What did you.
- [03:15]
Bruce Buffer
UFC 8?
- [03:16]
Kyle Saleem
Eight.
- [03:17]
Bruce Buffer
My first one I attended was UFC 6 because I had my brother Michael. You gotta know, you gotta. Are we on the show?
- [03:25]
Gabriel
Yeah.
- [03:25]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, hey, buddy.
- [03:27]
Gabriel
We just go for it. Okay. Sometimes.
- [03:29]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. UFC 6 was the first one I attended and that's the one that they brought out Tank Abbott at. Right. And Michael, I had him announce it because, you know, when I start. When I managed started managing Michael, I put him in every big event there was. And back then when the UFC came on the scene, it was like the top 10 grossing pay per view. You know, it was just knocking down doors. And then Senator McCain started the. Which with all respect to Senator McCain, because I have nothing but respect for him, but, you know, we were called human fighting and got taken off in demand. So we went from being available in like 70 million homes to 16 million homes on DirecTV. But I had Michael announced the Six Seven and Ultimate Ultimate. And then we had a big contract with WCW wrestling. I couldn't have him continue with ufc. And it was such a spectacle back then. Right. I knew it was going to be the biggest thing in sports. I knew it because being a martial artist, you know, since I was 12, and all the training and my own form of fighting and everything I've done in my life I knew was a home for me, and basically, after I had to pull them, I had to convince Robert Meyer was the owner. Then I said, you need a buffer in the octagon. I will help you. Not just be the Octagon announcer. I want to grow as that, but I have the media contacts, many of which you don't have. Because I've been working with my brother for so many years and developing so many contacts in sports and entertainment. I said, I'll do my best to help you build this brand. I don't want to dime for that. Pay me to be the announcer, but let me grow with it, because I know this is going to be the biggest thing if you do this right. And my first show was UFC 8. And when I got that, I got a VHS tape. This is back in the VHS tape days in the mail from a guy named Scott Farrazo, who is like 6:1,340 pounds, hands down to his ankles. Just the perfect guy for the UFC back then. And I sent the tape off to Robert Meyerowitz, and I said, look, would you put him in the. Put him in the show? But I had a ploy. I didn't want to manage fighters, so I got him on UFC 8, and when I did, I called up Meyerowitz and I said, look, I'm coming down with my fighter because they could bring their manager, which, quote, I was at that key point, and I said, I want to announce the prelims. I said, let me show you what I got. You need a buffer in the octagon. I will help you build this brand. So I got there, and he let me announce the prelims, and that's my first time I ever announced.
- [05:46]
Kyle Saleem
And who did they have doing the main card or was there.
- [05:50]
Bruce Buffer
It was an announcer named Rich G. Man Goins.
- [05:52]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [05:53]
Bruce Buffer
Did a, you know, good announcer, solid, great guy the whole bit. We got along great. And it's not like I wanted to take his job or anything, but I come from the school that if you want something, you got to ask for it.
- [06:01]
Gabriel
He probably shook a little bit when he heard you. He was probably in his locker room and he's like, who the fuck's that on the prelims right now?
- [06:07]
Bruce Buffer
Well, back then, how I sounded back then and how I sound now is a little bit different because, you know, it's fine tuning your. Your muscle, your. Your tool, whatever. And I thought back then announcers had to be stiff and still and all that. And that obviously was not my routine. I had this lion in me, waiting to come out.
- [06:26]
Gabriel
Wait, so that's interesting. How has the routine changed from UFC 8 to more modern days in terms of, like, vocal prep? Like, do you have. Do you do, like, a vocal warm up?
- [06:35]
Bruce Buffer
And, like, I take care of my voice, you know, I don't damage or do anything to hurt my throat or whatever. And you'll never hear me rehearse. You'll never walk by my route. You might walk by my room and hear me doing a cameo on the road or something like that, but you won't walk by my room and hear me going, you know, Chuck Liddell, you know, in the shower or something like that. No, I don't practice. Because what I want to do is I want to walk into the arena. I want to feel the energy and a rehearse. There's a rehearsed voice, and then there's an organic, real voice, and I want to just give it my all, feed off the energy of the crowd, bring it all in there and just let it fly.
- [07:09]
Kyle Saleem
When you did that prelim, UFC 8, did you get the. The job right after for the main card and you were the guy, or did it take a couple more days?
- [07:17]
Bruce Buffer
No, not at all. I did that. I did the job. And I was calling New York. I'd stop in New York on my business trips. I go to their offices, whatever. No, they didn't hire me. I did that. And then Rich Goins did the next show, and then I kept calling and asking for the job, and. And they called me. I was in the hospital with my mom. She had just had a serious operation. Right now, this is literally probably about six or eight months after that, and. Or maybe a year. She had a serious operation, and I'm with her while she's recovering. And my phone rings, and it's the ufc. It's the office, you know, and the owner calls me up and he says, look, Rich Goins, I think his uncle passed away. He had to go to the funeral. And they said, we need you in Alabama in, like, two days. Can you be there? And I'm like, you know, I'm. I'm in the hospital. My mom's the most important thing in my world, you know, I said, I'll call you back. I hung up the phone, and my mom looked at me. Remember the scene with. In Rocky with Talia Shire? Yeah. When, you know, she's. He can't train because she's in a coma or something like that, and. And suddenly she wakes up and she goes, when?
- [08:25]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [08:26]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. So I hung up. I looked at My mom, she said to me, that's the call you've been waiting for, isn't it? I said, yeah, Mom, I said, but I can't leave you. She goes, thumb up in the air, she goes, go. You gotta go. All of a sudden, I've got the Rocky montage going off in my head, right? Anything. And I get on the plane, I go down, I do the whole UFC 10 show, which I think was the premiere of Randy Couture. And lo and behold, you know, asked for the job. And they didn't hire me. They had a new producer who had a friend of his, and they hired him. Another guy. Damn right. So I'm thinking, wow, when's this going to happen? So I kept trying and trying, trying. Long story cut short, I got a phone call again from them that Warner Brothers, they were, said, look, we're doing a big TV show. It's called Friends. It was the second season. Think episode 23. It's called the Ultimate Fighting Champion. And they have a voiceover in the script for the announcer to be a voiceover, but they would like to have the real guy. So would you like to co star in Friends? Sure, of course I would. Well, Warner Brothers wants to send a runner down. They're going to pick up film and audio, and then we'll take it from there. Sent the runner down. I get a call 5 o' clock that night. Be on the set Tomorrow morning at 6 in the morning, you're going to rehearse and we'll film on Wednesday. You'll rehearse all day Tuesday, and we'll film it on Wednesday in front of a live audience. So I thought, wow, here I am, I'm co starring on what was the biggest comedy show at that time, or becoming one. And I called up the owner again, Robert Meyer, which I said, are you on set? He said, yeah. I said, well, listen, I want to talk to you during the lunch break. Let's. Let's talk. So I went up to him and I basically said. I said, robert, I've been asking for this job for a year and a half. You know, what I bring to the table. You know, I'm going to be much more than the announcer. I'm going to do everything I can to build the brand. Not that it's because of me, but I will do everything I can to help you with my contacts and so on and so forth. And I said, but I feel like a girl waiting to be asked to the prom, and nobody's asking me, so I'm going to Ask you one more time. And this is it. I'm going to ask one more time. You know, let me be the Octagon announcer. Let me grow with the sport. I think it's going to be the biggest thing ever. And the answer was yes.
- [10:21]
Kyle Saleem
I just don't get. The other guy must have been pretty good, right?
- [10:24]
Bruce Buffer
The other guy was good. The guy that brought in was I. I never put down an announcer. They're all in there doing their thing, right?
- [10:29]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [10:29]
Bruce Buffer
The other guy did excellent voice, a little nervous in the service, mispronounce a couple names, you know, whatever. But I'm not going to call to say that kind of stuff. It's either you want me or you don't.
- [10:36]
Gabriel
What did you mean by growing with the sport? Like, was that part of your business deal at the time?
- [10:40]
Bruce Buffer
I knew that the sport was going to grow. It wasn't called mixed martial arts back in the beginning. That's a. That's a term that Jeff Blatnick and John McCarthy will tell you. That came about later, you know, years in. At first, let's face it, guys, it was like bloodsport. It was like, what style is the best style, right? And I had a sparring session with hoist Gracie in 91, when I was kickboxing a lot. Went to his dojo, and he took me into a private room. To understand you're a kickboxer, he goes, come at me, take my head off. You know, we had this little private thing together.
- [11:12]
Gabriel
Wow.
- [11:13]
Bruce Buffer
And I said, you want to put on gloves? And he goes, no, let's just do this, right? And that's Hoist. I said, fine, let's go. So we went at it. And I'm not embarrassed to say, but, you know, 45 seconds into it, he gets under my punches, he takes me down on the ground, gets me in a side choke, starts going tap, tap. So I tapped. And it's the. I'll never forget it. He gets up in the guard, straightens out his gi and says, see, Isn't it nice not to get hit in the face? Right? Yeah. Now, I knew jiu jitsu because I trained in different styles, but the grace of jiu jitsu was so unique. So then in 93, when he came out with his arms in the back of his family member, whoever, brothers, whatever it was, I told everybody I was watching it with. I said, see that little skinny kid? Because everybody was like, behemoth and this, that, and that. He's going to beat everybody. And we all know what happened from that point forward. So in Answer to your question. Everything. And I've owned my own businesses since I was 19. I'm, you know, entrepreneur, done a lot of different things. Everything takes growth, everything takes a process. So I knew there was going to be an evolutionary process where they needed to refine it, put in the rules better, and, you know, and. And it would grow as it did. And then we basically were almost taken off air right after the. The witch hunt, or, you know, human fighting came out and in demand dropped us. The Internet kept us alive. The fans kept us Alive, thanks to DirecTV, with their 16, 17 million subscribers at the time. Kept us alive. And then the godsend was, and I'll never forget when I was at a show in Louisiana and Lorenzo Fertitta was sitting behind me, and, you know Dana, who had been a manager of, I think, Ortiz. Chuck Liddell.
- [12:51]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [12:51]
Bruce Buffer
You know, and Dan and I, of course, had known each other before. Then I got the call from Moneroitz after the show, and he said, listen, I've got some good news and some bad news. I go, what's the bad news? He goes, well, I sold the ufc. Oh, who'd you sell it to? Dana White and the Fertitta brothers. Okay. Fertitta brothers are powerful. Dana's passionate and obviously knows everything to do. And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Dana and his amazing maverick style and everything he's done over the years with his team. I said, what's the good news? He goes, well, they're going to let everybody go except for you and John McCarthy. Okay. So then I went to a boxing match in Vegas, and I was invited with John to go out to dinner with Dana and, you know, the Fergitas, and we all met, and they put.
- [13:37]
Gabriel
What year is this?
- [13:38]
Bruce Buffer
What it's like, 99. I could be off here, guys, but 99, I think, was when they took it over, I'm pretty sure. I love wine and all. And, you know, the Fertitas have such style. They put Opus One on the table. And I go, I really like this. This is going to be good. And their passion that they exud suited and everything they wanted to do with it, I could tell this was the saving grace. This was going to put us over the top. Yeah. Then they went through their process, and as you may or may not know, you know, they bought the UFC, I think, for $2 million. You know, they mentioned sold it for 4.2 billion or whatever that thing was. They went into it, and then Dana told the story. You know, he got a Call from Lorenzo. Look, we're like, whatever, 40 million, 50 million in the hole. It's time to sell it, whatever. And then they decided not to, and they rolled the dice on the Ultimate Fighter TV series, and that was on Spike tv. And then the end of that first season was the Forrest Griffin Stefan Bonner fight, which was phenomenal, one of the
- [14:34]
Gabriel
greatest of all time.
- [14:35]
Bruce Buffer
And I think the share, if you understand Nielsen ratings share, went up to like, a 12 to 15 during that fight. Everybody was tuning into that fight. And like I always say, and I think I'm correct, I mean, Spike TV made us, and we made Spike tv. And that was like, the beginning of it all. And then again, thanks to Dana and the powers that be and the marketing team and everything, here we are today, you know, and thanks to the incredible fighters, men and women both, and the fans, the UFC fans are just incredible.
- [15:00]
Gabriel
Insane, right?
- [15:01]
Bruce Buffer
Insane.
- [15:01]
Gabriel
So you saw it. That's. That's crazy. You saw the vision all the way back then.
- [15:05]
Bruce Buffer
I knew in the very beginning, and I'm. Anybody can doubt this or whatever, but I knew this was going to be one of the biggest things in stores. Maybe not the biggest, although in some respect, it's pretty darn big. But I knew this was going to be one of the biggest thing in sports.
- [15:20]
Gabriel
So you said you're leveraging, like, your own relationships and in media and stuff to help the ufc. Were you doing back then besides announcing to help kind of make it what it is today?
- [15:28]
Bruce Buffer
And there were little things I did, like, you know, helping get on, like, the Jay Leno show or, you know, Jimmy Kimmel and, you know, use my media contacts to whatever I could. You know, they had people doing it. But, like, I even called ESPN one time, talked to them about the Ultimate Fighting. You know what they said they were afraid of the name. You know, that was the word I got back from one of the people, you know, that I was dealing with back then. Just saying. Not that I was trying to make money and make a deal for them. That's up to them to make the deal. I just was introducing and say, guys, this thing is huge. And I'll never forget the call I had with espn. Well, the name's a little, you know. And then what happened? ESPN bought the TV rights eventually.
- [16:05]
Gabriel
So did you have, like, a business role in the company officially, or was that you were kind of just doing that to help it grow?
- [16:11]
Bruce Buffer
I am the Octagon announcer. Yeah. I don't take credit for anything. It's just that if I'm out There, whether it's on a. A show like yours or I'm able to do an interview and promote the UFC and talk.
- [16:21]
Kyle Saleem
I look at. You're like a puzzle piece. You have your part, Dana, Joe Rogan, like, three people you think about. I think of it like, if I ever watch playoff base mean World Series and Joe Buck wasn't the announcer, right? I'd be like, what the. If I ever watch UFC and you weren't in the Octagon, I'd be like, this doesn't feel right.
- [16:36]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, thank you. I appreciate it.
- [16:37]
Kyle Saleem
But that's how big of a piece I think all three of you have become, where it's like you're instilled in the ufc. When you think of ufc, if you guys aren't there, it won't feel the same.
- [16:45]
Bruce Buffer
It's incredible working with Joe. It's incredible working with Dana. But like I always say, the show is not about me. I don't take credit for anything. I just go in and do my job. Whatever comes out of that, whatever accolades or criticism or whatever, I mean, that's just life, you know? But whatever happens, I'll roll with it. And it's building a brand. I never had its time. It's time. I never said it's time in the beginning. I didn't even get into that until years later. And it wasn't until, like, 2003 that I was in Brazil when I started saying it's time during the main event a few years before that, and I walked out of the Octagon during the main event, and Stitch Duran, you know, one of the best Stitch men, if not the best Stitch man in the business, up to me. And he said, buff, did you hear that? I go, hear what? Because I'm only focused on the fighters. I honestly don't hear the crowd. I'm looking in the eye of the tiger. Right. Female. I'm looking at them. My job is to enhance that moment for them as much as possible and enhance it for the fans. And he said. I said, no, here. What? He goes, the entire arena just said, it's time with you now. These are Portuguese speaking people. I said, really? And I watched it on tv and I go, oh, yeah. That's when I knew something was happening.
- [17:55]
Kyle Saleem
The fans get fired the up when they hear that. Yeah, you got a favorite. A favorite guy that his name to say or nickname or you thought was came out the best.
- [18:03]
Bruce Buffer
I can just tell you that the longer the nickname, the longer, the more syllables in the name, then the beefier it is. The more fun it is for me to get behind it. You know, Habib Nurmagomedov, you know, like, give me those names. The single syllable names are probably the hardest ones because you want to. You want to make them sound great. You know, Mike Swick, you know, Frank Trigg, you know, Mike Swig, Frank Trick. You know, you got to really just draw those out. But when you got a lot of syllables, you got a lot of beef. And it really.
- [18:33]
Gabriel
George Rush St. Pierre was good. Oh, he was my favorite because I'm from Canada.
- [18:37]
Bruce Buffer
I blew my ACL announcing George St. Pierre.
- [18:39]
Gabriel
Really?
- [18:39]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- [18:41]
Kyle Saleem
I've heard that story.
- [18:42]
Gabriel
What happened?
- [18:42]
Bruce Buffer
Sorry.
- [18:43]
Kyle Saleem
I mean, to laugh, but that's how married passion.
- [18:47]
Gabriel
So how did that happen?
- [18:48]
Bruce Buffer
I. You guys know, or maybe you don't, that I'm. I'm a. I love playing poker. Okay. Too. And I. I final table, the World Series. You know, I've been up there. I actually, I love this. I got called the. One of the top 10 best celebrity poker players in the world about 12 years ago by card players. So that's my one little braggadocia.
- [19:06]
Gabriel
Okay.
- [19:06]
Bruce Buffer
But I just love playing poker. I'm very competitive, and instead of not, you know, instead of going after somebody, now it's like, let me take all your chips and knock you off the table. That kind of thing.
- [19:14]
Kyle Saleem
Hold them's your favorite game. Hold them?
- [19:16]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, hold them. I'll play plo. But I've been my first cat. I was playing cash games when I was 15.
- [19:21]
Kyle Saleem
Oh.
- [19:22]
Bruce Buffer
So I've been playing poker a lot. So anyway, I was at a poker tournament the week before the Toronto show, which was George St. Pierre and Jake Shields, and that was the biggest UFC ever. 55, 000 people at the Rogers Arena. Sold out in, like, I don't know, an hour or something. Some crazy, crazy thing. So this is, like the biggest show happening now. I go to this poker tournament the Saturday before, and I play day one, and I get up during the break and I walk and I hit a dip in the carpet roll. My ankle twisted my ankle. My ankle was filled up with blood. The next morning, it was only like 20 people left in the tournament, so I had to get back. I ran to the hospital, got all the blood taken out, went to the tournament at crutches, came in third, won a nice little chunk of change, but now I'm thinking I can't even walk. And this is the biggest show ever, right? So I finally got off the crutches on Thursday before the Friday I left for Toronto. I Got in the octagon. Just energy takes over, adrenaline takes over, and I do all my stuff, you know, I never know what I'm going to do until I do it. You know, I don't like standing still. I'd like to be passionate in my approach and announce fighters the way I would want to be announced if I was about to go bang. And so I go in, I do it, I jump, I turn, I do all the. Whatever I do. And then I go to George's corner and I go, george Rush. And notoriously with George, who's like the greatest guy, he lunges out when I go Rush. And I would always bunny hop back like a foot and a half, you know, as to stay in front of him as he came out. Well, when I did the. The hop back, the bad ankle wobbled and my whole ACL severed. I didn't fall. I heard the snap and my leg wasn't working too well. And then I walked over to the referee to put the mic underneath his arm. You know, when he's getting. Doing his thing and my knee is just going like this and I've got my face on, but inside I'm going, holy. You know, usually, you know, it blew my knee.
- [21:13]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [21:13]
Gabriel
And you felt that at the time with the adrenaline even.
- [21:15]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, I felt the snap, the whole bit, yeah.
- [21:17]
Kyle Saleem
And then did you finish the event on a 20?
- [21:20]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, sure. Of course. I gotta go back and watch that
- [21:22]
Gabriel
and see your face when it happens.
- [21:24]
Bruce Buffer
No, I don't think you'll see it. You'll see it when I. When I hop out on one leg and then I get out and. And John McCarthy comes a big. John comes up to me, goes, I think you just blew your acl. I go, really? And then stitched around, puts an ice bag on my knee, rolls up my pan leg, ice back on my knee. Two great warriors are going at it, and the announcers in the sidelines, you know, with a blown knee, that's. There's something wrong with that picture. So anyway, I went and got an MRI and they said, you've severed your acl. You need to rice, you know, get it, get it operated, get a chance. Joe Rogan's like, you know, get it, get it replaced, get it this, that. But you know what? I had shows consistently for three months, and I was filming a movie called Here Comes the Boom, like a week and a half later, and I go, I'm not going to miss all this. So there's a company called Osser that makes knee braces. And I got with Them and they made me this incredible knee brace. I had emblazoned the USC logo on it, the whole bit. And I just braced up for three months, and then I went in. Dr. Elytrash did my knee, who did Tom Brady's knee. And one of the top guys, and I knew him from before, and he said, buff, Bruce, I know you and listen to what I say. I said, I have a four week break. I want to be back in the octagon. Bruce, it takes two to three months, but if you follow what I say, I know you and I, I'll get you back in in four weeks. Four weeks later, I was back in the octagon and healed up. Then lo and behold, five years, six years later, I went to do a lip sync contest again for the ufc. And I did Billy Idol's Rebel Yell, which is one of my favorite songs. And I watched this video. I thought they wanted me to host it. They go, no, we want you to just you and a few others go out and entertain the people and lip sync. Okay, fine, whatever you want, I'll do it. So at the beginning, he jumps and I go out. And if you Google Buffer blows knee at lip sync contest, you'll see what happened. So I come out, I do a little jump, come down. This was the knee I heard with George, this knee. I heard the same thwack, the same whatever, right? And it's a three minute rendition of Rebel Yell. And 45 seconds in, my knee went out twice during that period. Finally, I fell. And I didn't fall in the octagon. And you see me on my back doing this. Then I get up and do the air guitar, finish the whole bit, get out, and go into next morning to get an mri. And they go, well, you severed your acl. You need to like rest this, that and the other go, I gotta be in the octagon in three hours. Okay, get me a brace right now. Here's the kicker, guys. This was the one time the UFC had. It was a fight night. It was, you know, like Ultimate Fighter show at fight nights. And they had three shows in a row, three days in a row, three shows. I blow my ACL the night before the first one. So I would go do the show, go back, I sit, sleep, brace up, go back to show, go back, ice it, sleep. And I did all three shows.
- [24:05]
Kyle Saleem
Everybody else involved know you were suffering
- [24:07]
Bruce Buffer
through this or did you died on that one. Yeah, they knew. And that one.
- [24:10]
Kyle Saleem
Your passion is incredible. You sound like a fighter. Like, doc, I gotta get back in the octagon.
- [24:14]
Bruce Buffer
And in my heart I call it warrior spirit. Yeah, you've got it. Whether it's, whether you're a fighter, whether it's life, whether you're whatever, you got to have warrior spirit. And you know, let's face it, the men and women of the ufc, the fighters, they're in there putting their blood, sweat and tears and lies on the line. I'm announcing, I don't care what's going on, I can do it. Dana once said he'd have to shoot me to keep me out of there. Yeah, I've definitely blown out back, blown out knee, 103 degree temperature coming off. Larry, you're not supposed to know that, right? I have to get my job done.
- [24:41]
Gabriel
Have you missed an event?
- [24:42]
Bruce Buffer
Like I missed an event once? I was like the Cal Ripken. I was just going for the perfect record. And during the heavy time of COVID I got coveted and I couldn't go do a show in Abu Dhabi that was. And because believe me, sick wise, I still want to get in there and done it. But you know, you can't go give covet to everybody.
- [24:57]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, I feel like even the fighters would be phased. A guy who's fought 26 times and then you're not in there with him like a khabib, you know what I mean? Like, I think it just be so different.
- [25:06]
Bruce Buffer
One of the greatest comments. There's, there's a few things when a, when a young kid, boy or girl, comes up to you and asks for a picture or an autograph, you know, it's, it's like one of the most, most pleasurable moments to know that you can fulfill that kiss thing and because if you don't do that, you're going to make a bad impression. When I was five, I was in a hotel in Philadelphia, Marriott Hotel with my brother Brian, who was 7. And a tall black man walked in the lobby and I, and I recognized him from tv and I said, dad, look. He goes, son, go say hi. So I went over say hi. He spent like five or ten minutes with us talking. His name was Cassius Clay.
- [25:40]
Kyle Saleem
Oh, right.
- [25:41]
Bruce Buffer
That had an impression on me. Who became, for those on the know, Muhammad Ali. And that had a huge impression on me. And I remember that to this day. And I remember when I met John Wayne, I remember the impression that had on me at like 10 years old during a premier True Grid. So I don't care. When I'm walking through the audience, I see that little hand sticking out, you know, I, no matter what I Will make sure to give them the time of day.
- [26:03]
Kyle Saleem
You ever have anybody? You ever have anybody? You always hear the stories of the athlete that said no photo and it like breaks the kid heart.
- [26:09]
Bruce Buffer
I would never do that. That's horrible.
- [26:10]
Kyle Saleem
I think I had that happen to me when I was younger. From an athlete.
- [26:13]
Gabriel
Yeah.
- [26:13]
Kyle Saleem
I swear Kobe rip but I swear Kobe, but he was too busy.
- [26:17]
Bruce Buffer
But when that happens or a fighter comes up and as has happened many times, you know, you really got me going. I mean that's the ultimate compliment.
- [26:22]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [26:23]
Bruce Buffer
You know.
- [26:23]
Gabriel
All right guys, I want to let you guys know about some new stuff going on on Daily Wire plus, it is a lot more than just politics. They are investing in some high end shows and some real films. One series they just released is the Pendragon Cycle. The Rise of the Merlin. And it's already pulling some crazy buzz. This is a story that Hollywood never wanted wanted to touch even though the fans wanted it. So Daily Wire plus made it themselves. It's about power, sacrifice and the belief systems that shaped western civilization. This is the kind of story that empires were built on. The series takes place before King Arthur and follows Merlin, a man navigating a brutal world where power decides everything. He had the ability to rule it, end it or walk away from it entirely. If you're into epic history, war, loyalty and top tier production, this one has absolutely hits. I'm going to be checking that out. The pen Dragon cycle Rise of Merlin Episodes one and two are streaming now on Daily Wire plus and new episodes are out every Thursday. Go check it out.
- [27:19]
Bruce Buffer
Who's the most intimidating fighter you stood next to next to in the cage? I think the first time that I introduced Miro CRO Cop because he had such a reput. He's actually a super nice guy, but he was. I don't really get intimidated, you know, I still get in there. But I knew certain fighters I can get like this or they'll come up to me and other fighters like, well, I think I need to warm up to this guy a little bit before I start, you know, whatever. But Miracle CRO Cop was a little intimidating. But you know what, the fighters, they're. They're some of the coolest people you've ever met.
- [27:50]
Kyle Saleem
Oh yeah.
- [27:51]
Bruce Buffer
I mean I've probably met four A holes in 30 years and I'm not going to say any names. Yeah, you know, I mean, you guys know, you're there all the time.
- [27:57]
Kyle Saleem
Everyone we've ever met has been so cool to us.
- [27:59]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, they really are. They're great.
- [28:01]
Kyle Saleem
You mentioned cameo, and I know with your voice and your commentary, there has to have been some just crazy, absurd request for you to commentate over.
- [28:11]
Bruce Buffer
Well, my website, Bruce buffer.com. yeah, I get multiple requests weekly. I do probably five to 10 weddings a week, whether it's a video or an audio. And on the video. A reason I. I don't do those on Cameo because cameo do casual. But the weddings I want to do, I want to really make it special for them. So special day. So I'll be in tuxedo in front of a green screen. We can put anything behind the green screen, you know, walking down the aisle of Love forever, presenting. I mean, there's a lot more build up than that. Yeah, the cameos are, you know, championship introductions. Introducing them like a champion, you know, presenting the champion of the world, you know, and really make it big for them to remember forever.
- [28:50]
Gabriel
That goes crazy at the wedding.
- [28:51]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, I know. I need to get that for something for me, just to build confidence before I walk in a room, maybe find.
- [28:56]
Bruce Buffer
You got it. Just.
- [28:57]
Kyle Saleem
I gotta figure out the right situation, though. Did you do the fight back in the day or.
- [29:00]
Bruce Buffer
No, the cockfight.
- [29:02]
Kyle Saleem
Can you imagine if you did a fight, though? No, he's.
- [29:04]
Bruce Buffer
No, I won't dock fighting because I don't like fighting. I wouldn't do it.
- [29:06]
Kyle Saleem
That would. He compared it to cockfighting. Oh, I thought.
- [29:10]
Bruce Buffer
I've turned down different things, you know, I've had.
- [29:12]
Gabriel
What's the craziest request?
- [29:14]
Kyle Saleem
There's got to be something like giving birth coming out of the womb.
- [29:17]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, no, no. On cameos and stuff, I do birth of babies. I do birthdays, I do championship introductions,
- [29:24]
Kyle Saleem
the birth of the baby. You watch the baby come out and
- [29:26]
Bruce Buffer
you say, no, no, no, if it's like that. I think one time I did do it this way, I. On this very special day, you know, February 18th, a very special baby boy was born. And then I'll go into the whole thing, the family, the whole bid, and presenting the future champion of the world, you know, that kind of thing.
- [29:42]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [29:42]
Bruce Buffer
In the hospital room coming up now, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, I got one of those. But one of the strange requests was a. A pastor who wanted me to introduce Jesus against the devil, you know, for his whole congregation, which was like 4, 000 people in an event.
- [30:00]
Kyle Saleem
Did you do it?
- [30:01]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, it was cool the way it went. Yeah, it worked out. But I mean, I turned down stuff all the time. If it's. Look, I'm not going to do anything that's disrespectful. I'm not going to do anything that's not classy. And one time a guy got one by, by me on a cameo. He said, I think it was Kaylee, Kaylee, it's time to move on. Right? But the way he described it.
- [30:20]
Kyle Saleem
Wait for a breakup up.
- [30:21]
Bruce Buffer
That's what it was.
- [30:22]
Kyle Saleem
Dude, you have to. For me.
- [30:24]
Bruce Buffer
I, I can't, I won't do them anymore because it's going to hurt the girl you're in love.
- [30:28]
Kyle Saleem
That's a funny way to do it. You got, there's got to be some light in that.
- [30:31]
Bruce Buffer
If she's into it and you're into it, fine. If it's her and she doesn't know about it, it's just, I just can't do that. Yeah, I mean, when I did this, because he made it sound like she was getting a new car or a new job. Right. So I did it and then it came out like that. And then it went viral. It got picked up by, you know, the, the Post in London and the Times and TMZ and all this and hate to say it, it kind of boosted the business, but it's like that's not what I want to be known for. So. And I got, he even wrote me again three years later. He wanted another breakup for another girl. And I said, you know, dude, you got one, that's it, you're done.
- [31:01]
Gabriel
How many have you done? Do you know? Cameos?
- [31:03]
Bruce Buffer
Thousand? Yeah. Yeah, a lot.
- [31:05]
Gabriel
How many think you do like a week?
- [31:07]
Bruce Buffer
It depends. I mean a busy week. You know, I did, I did seven before I came here earlier today. So, yeah, they told me I'm in like the top 5%, which is very cool.
- [31:18]
Kyle Saleem
Makes sense. Makes sense. We, we talked downstairs a little bit about how not only you like to commentate or sorry, not commentating, announce the fights, but you're a scrapper yourself. And I've heard this video or Dana's talked about this.
- [31:32]
Bruce Buffer
Well, I know where you're going. Okay.
- [31:33]
Kyle Saleem
He talked about a video and it pops up for me randomly where he got in an elevator with you and somebody else and in the elevator you and the other guy. And I don't know if we can say his name, but Dana says his name.
- [31:45]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, yeah.
- [31:46]
Kyle Saleem
And you guys fighter, right?
- [31:47]
Bruce Buffer
Frank Trick was a top 10 welterweight.
- [31:49]
Kyle Saleem
And you guys got in the elevator and you and him started throwing punches and gotten a full on fighting elevator. Which is a true story, I imagine if Dana told it.
- [31:57]
Bruce Buffer
God bless Dana. It was. I, I, you know, if I Get in a scrap. I don't talk about it. You know, I might tell my friends or my family. But here's what happened. We were doing. I think I had to stay in town for two ufcs, and it was a. A fight night, and we went back to the room, and Mike Goldberg, the, you know, the commentator, you know, fantastic commentator that was doing UFC back then, Frank and I, you know, we're all friends, right? So we were in Mike's room, we had a drink, and then we were going to go out. So it was like the 10th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel. And we go to the elevator. Elevator opens up. There's Dana White and a security guy and Tom. And we walk in, and I'm the last one walking in. The doors are still open. And Frank had been released or, you know, is contracting and renewed from the UFC recently before that. So immediately, he's asking to go back in the octagon, right? Basically, like Frank said, asking for a job.
- [32:48]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [32:49]
Bruce Buffer
So as he's talk, immediately, it was on this with Dana. And then as I'm walking in, I'm a watch freak, and Dana had on this really cool watch band, right? So picture this. I'm walking in the elevator. Dana and Tom are here, Frank is over here, and Mike. And so I walk in, and now I go over to Dana, right? Nice watch. And as I lean over, I said, dana, it's a cool wristband. I get. I get a ridge hand at the back of my throat, right to the front of my throat from behind, you know, which is basically known as a cheap shot. And it was firm, and I turned around. I mean, I was coughing. I mean, he. He caught me. And I go, frank, you hit me. Why the f. Did you hit me? And then he said, what are you going to do about it? Right? And I don't know what clicked to me, but then just, you know, pop. And doors closed. And we went at it, you know, for 10 floors. What is that, like, 30, 40 seconds or whatever the case might be.
- [33:47]
Gabriel
And then the doors, at the time,
- [33:49]
Bruce Buffer
well, Dana was peeled against the wall. I wasn't really looking at that. It was kind of like, you know, I'm looking at what's going on in front of me, and, you know, punch, get thrown, get thrown harder, harder, harder, harder. You know, that kind of thing. And then the doors started open, and in the Hard Rock Hotel, if you remember back then, there's all these glass encase. So I knew that we would probably roll out of the elevator and, God forbid, go through the glass one of the encasements or whatever, and I threw my hands up in the air, go, we're done. We're done. We're done, right? And then started to laugh, and I had blood up and down my shirt, and I got right here. My thumb was peeled back to the bone. I guess I hit a ring or belt buckle. You know, shite happens when you're in a little scuffle. And that was it, you know, And I just laughed it off and went. Went back and went to the. I went to the triage. I went to the triage, and they said, no, you got to go get stitches. So I had to go to the emergency room. I went to the emergency room, and I could hear my voice announcing fights, you know, in the next room. They were watching a repeat of the. Of the show I just did earlier. And the doctor came in. He goes, what are you doing here? And so 500 tetanus shot and six or seven stitches later. And then I went out, had a nice time, and felt like 18 years all over again.
- [35:03]
Gabriel
You don't know why he did it still?
- [35:05]
Bruce Buffer
Well, if you watch the animated show that Dana did, when Frank was interviewed, he said, hey, you know, I interrupted him, basically. He was asking for a job. But Frank and I are friends. I mean, we saw each other later on, and, you know, friendly scrap. I didn't tell anybody. A fighter.
- [35:22]
Kyle Saleem
That's the only reason I said that, by the way. It's because Dana put it out there.
- [35:25]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, Dana put it out, Mike. Mikey Burnett, a fighter who was in the ufc, came up to me the next day, and. Yeah, next day it was, and. Or day after. And he said, hey, Buff, I heard you took it to Trigg. And I go, go, Mikey, I haven't told anybody. Where'd you hear that? Dana's telling everybody. So, you know, thanks, Dana. Then Dana called me up, and he said they were doing this special animated show they made about it, and he goes, oh, you're gonna love this. One of the best things we ever did. And I said, oh, great. Okay. Thanks, Dana.
- [35:53]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, that's what it is. There's an animation, right?
- [35:55]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, it was like, an animated thing about it. And they interviewed Frank, and Dana's reaction
- [35:59]
Kyle Saleem
was probably like, that was badass, Right?
- [36:01]
Bruce Buffer
All I can say is that, you know. You know, Dana's a very tough guy himself. Let's not kid ourselves. And I guess he knows he doesn't have a wimp announcing his fighters in the gun. That's all I can tell you.
- [36:09]
Kyle Saleem
When did you fall in love with just the fighting game, as you know.
- [36:13]
Bruce Buffer
I met my legendary brother, Michael Buffer. Yeah, when I was 28 years old. We didn't grow up together. We're long lost half brothers. But my dad introduced me to boxing. My dad was a Marine, World War II in Korea. Was in the court for like 13 years, was a drill instructor at Camp Pendleton and went on to. I learned all my entrepreneurial spirit from my dad. He went on to run Fortune 500 companies and. And all that kind of stuff. So my dad was. We were. My brother Brian were watching boxing. I mean, Saturday night was. My mom was great meal in New York. Steak, baked potato, vegetables. And boxing. You know, I was watching boxing, like, fresh out of the room.
- [36:54]
Kyle Saleem
Who was fighting at that point?
- [36:55]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, these are all in the great days. And then you can go back on to the, you know, the 80s and 90s. You know, Mike Tyson coming out in 86. And then, you know, Michael coming on the scene in the late 80s and realizing when they put his name on the screen, I go, who is this guy with the last name Buffer? Long story cut short, I would call up the office of Don King and Bob Arum and everybody and asking about him. And finally I was driving up north with my dad and I said, dad, people are stopping me, asking me if this guy's my brother. Michael Buffer, the boxing announcer, he had this whole debonair, great looking, still great looking guy, the James Bond demeanor. The whole bit changed, the whole role of announcing. And they said, is that your brother? And I go, no, my brother's Brian. Brian's my brother I've, you know, grown up with. And I would say, no. And they said, dad, do you know anything about this? And I got this. I think that's your brother. What are you talking about? I'm 28. What are you talking about? Son, I never told you before I met your mom or before I married your mom at 20 years old. I was married briefly, went overseas to do my part during World War II. I came back and a son was pretty. It was Michael.
- [38:04]
Kyle Saleem
Do you want to know why if you guys have this, you share the same gift? Why he never told you?
- [38:08]
Bruce Buffer
No, just one of those things. You know where I think the last time he saw him was two and a half, you know, a divorce ensued. And I can't question that beyond a certain point. It's just one of those things.
- [38:17]
Kyle Saleem
I guess what I'm saying too is when you're watching Mike Tyson fight, like, did you fall more in love with fighting or when did you decide? I Want to be the announcer in the ring.
- [38:24]
Bruce Buffer
One little additive to that. When I. When I met Michael, we all got together, my dad and him. My dad called him when he was doing an event in California and they got together for lunch. Turned out to be his son. They got along great, great. And then we all got together, and we all got along great. And then it was basically about four years later I saw Michael growing with the let's get ready to rumble. And. And he never even made a hat or T shirt. Right. And I just realized that, you know, this needed to be trademarked properly, so it couldn't be, you know, totally his. When you trademark something, it's not just in one area. It's in multiple areas. And. And I was making great money, beach house, the whole bit in the telemarketing industry. And. But I was burned out on what I was doing, and I just had this epiphany. When Riddick Bow fought Evander Holyfield in 1992 for the first time, they fought. I was at the event, and I saw everybody go crazy that night when Michael would go into his Rumble, whether it was Hulk Hogan, Jack Nicholson, whatever, just going nuts. And I went back to my hotel room instead of going out in Vegas and doing what we all like to do in Vegas and party, Blackjack, whatever the case might be. And I incessantly wrote three pages of notes, you know, trademark the phrase put them in. Football fields, basketball toys, video games, all this kind of stuff I thought I could create and make happen. And I met with Michael and I said, you know, I want to roll the dice. I mean, I'm doing great, but I'm burned out. I mean, I love the money I make and everything, but I'd rather. I want to sell both my companies. I want to quit with the money I have in the bank. I want to be your manager and your business partner and make this five words, you know, part of American culture, you know, and build the brand with you and. And put you in every area of sports and entertainment possible.
- [40:04]
Kyle Saleem
Was he doing it at Caesars, like, back in the day when they used to fight?
- [40:07]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, the Caesars palace fights, all that. Yeah, Michael. Michael's the man. I mean, Michael did all the big fights. Yeah.
- [40:12]
Kyle Saleem
That's crazy. I guess White House is probably going to be the closest thing to, like, an outdoor. Not closest thing, but you don't get.
- [40:17]
Gabriel
The outdoor White House can be one of the biggest sporting events of all time.
- [40:20]
Bruce Buffer
The way it's going to be publicized, the people behind it, that Dana and his amazing Machine, President Trump and all that he wants to put behind it,
- [40:29]
Gabriel
potentially on CBS too.
- [40:32]
Bruce Buffer
Listen, I'm a media mercenary. I point, they point, I shoot. Okay? So I do what I'm told. I know I'll be there. I can't tell you who's going to fight. I can't tell you anything about it. But I only know really what you know, and that's about it. I mean, I have heard that the security is going to be outrageous. So it's not like people can just walk on the White House lawn and then next door they're going to have the big area where they're going, going to be whatever, knowing Dana will probably have great bands playing the whole bit leading up to the show and everybody will enjoy it on the video Trons. It's going to be a spectacle and it'll be probably, it will be probably one of the highest viewed sporting events in history. Do you think Conor will fight on that f. On that card? I would venture to guess. And again, it's not. Oh, me, I, I'm not a part.
- [41:15]
Gabriel
As a fan of the sport.
- [41:16]
Bruce Buffer
Fan of the sport. I would venture to guess the way Conor's acting now. You know, he hasn't fought in what, four years or whatever. I would eventually guess it'd be on the card.
- [41:25]
Gabriel
I would agree.
- [41:26]
Bruce Buffer
I mean, there's definitely going to be.
- [41:28]
Gabriel
He's the most tested this year, too, I think.
- [41:30]
Bruce Buffer
I think that came out at one point. Yeah. But, you know, I, I think you're basically going to have three or four championship fights, you know, too. It'd be great to have Jon. Come on. I mean, I just saw the thing he talked recently that he's dealing with arthritis in his hips. But I mean, if you had Jon Jones and Pereira fighting each other. Yeah, that would be. That would be absolutely huge.
- [41:51]
Gabriel
I think both those guys, they probably want to fight out their deals and it seems like this is that extra bit of incentive, the White House card. I think it's now or never for both of them.
- [41:59]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, I don't think there's a fighter in, in UFC that doesn't want to be on the White House card. I don't think there's an announcer that they work with that doesn't want to be the one in the Octagon. Yeah, I mean, everybody wants to be,
- [42:09]
Gabriel
but I feel like we might have maybe not seen McGregor again if it wasn't for this White House.
- [42:13]
Bruce Buffer
Very possibly, you know, but again, because
- [42:16]
Gabriel
this is, this is once in a lifetime.
- [42:18]
Kyle Saleem
I agree with that. I think you're right on that.
- [42:20]
Bruce Buffer
Conor likes to grab the limelight and he'll certainly bring a lot of eyeball table beyond. The eyeballs are going to be tuning in.
- [42:26]
Gabriel
So who would you like to see him fight?
- [42:29]
Bruce Buffer
It'd be great to see him fight, like Justin Gaethje or something like that. But Justin's a champion. I don't think it's fair to give Conor a shot at a championship. I mean, I. I've always wanted to see him fight Mike Chandler. You know, I thought that'd be a great fight.
- [42:42]
Gabriel
I guess they said that's not happening now.
- [42:44]
Kyle Saleem
Why?
- [42:45]
Gabriel
Or Dana's like, no, that was in the past.
- [42:47]
Kyle Saleem
What option do you think?
- [42:48]
Gabriel
I guess there was Nate. Diaz talks too. Right.
- [42:51]
Bruce Buffer
You know, I love Nate. Of course it'd be great. But you know, they've already fought, what, twice?
- [42:54]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [42:55]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. So.
- [42:55]
Gabriel
So it'd be a trilogy.
- [42:56]
Bruce Buffer
It's a trilogy. The trilogy fight could be there. It'd be great for both fighters. You know, I'm a huge fan of Nate. Nate's a great guy.
- [43:02]
Kyle Saleem
That's probably your most anticipated event to announce. But outside of that, did you have a favorite event of all time? You've done 300 of them, right?
- [43:11]
Bruce Buffer
I've done. No, I've done more than that of UFC all the fight nights, you know. Yeah. Remember, you're talking about number pay per view.
- [43:17]
Kyle Saleem
I'm just seeing a pay per view.
- [43:18]
Bruce Buffer
There's 325 number pay per views. Right. About to be 326. Think of all the fight nights I've done and I think on Grok, I think it said I've announced like over 3,500 fights.
- [43:28]
Kyle Saleem
Really?
- [43:28]
Bruce Buffer
I was just told in. In a. By people this morning that there's 211 trading cards of me out there. I'm not even aware of all those trading cards. Wow.
- [43:37]
Kyle Saleem
So what about McGregor and Khabib, when the. All the chaos happened? Yeah, like a. Moments like that, they don't stick out to you or it's not more memorable because of.
- [43:46]
Bruce Buffer
I've been involved in so many melees over the years and different events I used to do. I used to do events in cowboy bars where there were better fights in the audience than they were going on in the ring I was in. You know, so it's like I'm always want to walk into the fight. But yeah, that was. That was a melee. That was a melee for sure.
- [44:03]
Gabriel
Can you like explain? Do you remember that?
- [44:05]
Kyle Saleem
I feel like you were ready to go if you had to.
- [44:07]
Bruce Buffer
Listen, I don't want to sound like the toughest guy in the world, but, I mean, you know, whenever you deal with something, you can be a scrapper. Yeah, I mean, I remember there was an afterparty one time. I forget the number of the ufc. I was talking to Tank Abbott and Walid Ishmael. All of a sudden, he walks over and just throws a overhand right into Tank's face, and all hell breaks loose. Everybody's just brawling, going at it. So I get my back. When you're ever in a group fight like that, you want to get your back against the wall. You don't want to be in the middle. You want to make sure you're only looking at three areas. You don't want to have people coming up behind you. And I remember one time, one of the fighters turned around, he was, you know, getting ready to throw. He goes, oh, sorry, Bruce. And then he goes back into the melee. Melee, right. All these little things. Then the fight ended, and Mark Coleman burst through the front door. You know, the double door is ready to just take on everybody. But the fight's already calming down. There's been a lot of situations. You know, who are some of your
- [44:55]
Gabriel
favorite fighters from, like, the Spike TV era?
- [44:58]
Bruce Buffer
Rashad Evans. I mean, I always enjoyed Stefan Bonner. Forest Griffin always brawled like crazy. You know, let's get down to basics. I mean, you take great fighters like Anderson Silva, you know, Chuck Liddell and George. They weren't the ultimate fighters, but, you know, they were all fighting during that period. Every. Every period, every. There's just a whole array of fighters. You know, you have fighters that come into the UFC as, like, you could say, probably about boxing, too, that rarely have what they call the it factor. Those. Those kind of fighters come along every few years, right? So, like, Patty Pimblett has the it factor, right? Conor McGregor has the it factor. Ronda Rousey has the it factor. She basically helped make female mixed martial arts. George St. Pierre had the IP factor. That's why when I see fighters and they do their interviews and the way that I always say, listen, the mark of a fighter is not just how you fight in the Octagon, it's how you handle yourself outside of the Octagon in interviews and everything else, you got sponsors that want to come at you and throw a bunch of money at you. So don't be dropping F bombs all over the place and putting fingers in the air. You're going to. To push away certain potential sponsors you can have and, you know, keep it classy. I mean, I could build. If I was a fighter, I could build a fight without a single curse word. And if I curse, when I do say that, you're going to know I mean it, right?
- [46:17]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [46:18]
Bruce Buffer
Instead of throwing it out 25 times during a speech.
- [46:20]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, I think McGregor did a good job of that. Even though he did curse. Like, he knew what to say and he knew what worked.
- [46:26]
Bruce Buffer
Conor Knor knows how to build a fight.
- [46:28]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [46:28]
Bruce Buffer
I'm not saying everybody should do it like Conor because they're going to probably look a little ridiculous trying to be like Connor.
- [46:33]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [46:34]
Bruce Buffer
And we know, we've seen people try that. But personality is part of sport. If you. The more personality you have and you'll be recognized individually, but be a role model in sport.
- [46:44]
Kyle Saleem
That's what I'm saying. I wonder if there will be more limitations and they're going to make us try and be a little bit classier with. With the event being at the White House, or do you not think that'll change at all?
- [46:53]
Bruce Buffer
Well, you know, Dana's openly said. I mean, he's not against. He doesn't want to do anything against free speech, you know.
- [46:58]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, yeah.
- [46:59]
Bruce Buffer
He has his way of governing, and if they talk to him beforehand about anything, I. I'm not privy to that. So I don't know.
- [47:05]
Gabriel
I think a lot of fighters are going to be conscious themselves of their brands and not too crazy. They're going to be a little more respectful in a way at the White House.
- [47:13]
Kyle Saleem
Can't have a Conor Khabib situation at the White House.
- [47:16]
Bruce Buffer
You shouldn't. I'm a brand builder. I mean, I built, you know, obviously with let's Get Ready to Rumble and the It's Time brand. A couple other things I go into with you. My products.
- [47:25]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, we'll show a couple of them if you want.
- [47:27]
Bruce Buffer
Want. But, you know, there's a way to build a brand and that. That's your base. You want to build a base and then you grow from the base. Okay.
- [47:32]
Gabriel
Cologne. Yeah, it's time.
- [47:34]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, it's time.
- [47:35]
Bruce Buffer
It's time.
- [47:36]
Kyle Saleem
Can you give us one? Can you? Or is that asking, too?
- [47:39]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, no, it's fine. I mean, I'll. If want to save it for something, we'll. I'll do it during the show. Whatever you want to do. But I'll do it once and I'll do it real special for you. So you tell me when you want me to do it. I'll do it. All right.
- [47:49]
Kyle Saleem
This is Bruce Buffer. It's Time Cologne. And then there's a bourbon in there too, right?
- [47:53]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, yeah. It's a puncher's chance. I have about six different variations of that out. I've won over 20 Golden Platinum awards for the juice and everything else. It's one of the finest, highest rated bourbons in America today.
- [48:04]
Gabriel
Nice.
- [48:05]
Bruce Buffer
That you can go to puncherchance, bourbon.com, have it delivered to your house.
- [48:09]
Gabriel
I really like this.
- [48:10]
Kyle Saleem
Get into all these different cologne and alcohol.
- [48:13]
Gabriel
Damn. Having your own cologne.
- [48:15]
Bruce Buffer
Sick.
- [48:15]
Gabriel
How'd you. How did you come up with the scent?
- [48:16]
Bruce Buffer
I like a scent when I wear a scent. I don't know when it's nice. Yeah. I don't want it to be overpowered, boring. Where you walk in and go, oh, my God, these guys. What's that guy wearing? So I wanted to be sensual, charismatic. I love the vanilla tinge to it, you know, and all the other things that go into it. So we had a number of different. My partner, Kristen and I, the company we work with, they presented us with a number of different scents based on what I wanted. And then it came down to this one. And I have another version called Iconic.
- [48:44]
Kyle Saleem
It is. It's. It's major key.
- [48:45]
Gabriel
You know, when a girl tells you you smell good, you're like, yeah, it's huge. I think you need much.
- [48:51]
Kyle Saleem
You should drop a limited bottle that has a speaker and it drops the. It's time just to get you fired up when you put it on to go out.
- [48:56]
Bruce Buffer
We've talked about it. I have a bottle coming out, but it doesn't have the speaker in it.
- [48:59]
Kyle Saleem
But, yeah, something like that. Because this.
- [49:01]
Bruce Buffer
This is sick. This was the top seller on Amazon when it first came out. Was one of the top selling. You can still buy. It smells really good.
- [49:07]
Gabriel
I'm not just saying.
- [49:08]
Kyle Saleem
What other. What other ventures do you have?
- [49:09]
Bruce Buffer
Well, the other venture that, I mean, I have a number of different ventures. I have a company called Millions Co. Millions Co, where you can go to. And it has athletes from NCAA all the way through to every single sport there is, where you can buy their merchandise. We make the merchandise for them and ship it all over the world. So as a fighter, let's say you don't have to pay and stock your merchandise and ship it, which is a lot of costs involved. And we give them the lion's share of the profits, so they're just not making a 10% license fee. And again, being about branding and building your brand, Millions Co is all about you can market to your fan base, your social media fan base, and give them the Clothes and videos like are done on cameo and you can even have watch parties, you know, for ufc, all this stuff. So I created that with my partners out of Canada to give the fighters away, you know, and teach them more so about how to build their brand and build a brand.
- [50:03]
Gabriel
All right guys, if you guys have thought of starting an e commerce business, you guys gotta check out Shopify. I've been using Shopify at night elk since the very beginning of FullSend.com all the way back when we were shipping merch orders out of my dad's garage in Canada, all the way till when we had 300000 people on our website for the merch drops. And even today we still use it on FullSend.com and Happy dad. What I love about Shopify is they have literally everything from A to Z. They have a ton of custom templates that can help you design your site and they also handle all the boring stuff like shipping, inventory, returns, everything. Now they have a bunch of AI tools too that we didn't have back in the day that help you with marketing email campaigns. It's like having an entire marketing team behind you. I've used that my entire tire business career. I love everything about Shopify. They power 10% of all the e commerce globally. So if you guys have an e commerce idea, you guys can take advantage of this deal, go to shopify.com/full send and you can do a $1 per month trial. Take it from me, Shopify is the best in the game. Take advantage of that deal and take your business to the next level today.
- [51:12]
Kyle Saleem
I wanted to ask you this earlier, but just talking about like your business, how often do you have you over your 30 year tenor, like renegotiated your contract?
- [51:21]
Bruce Buffer
Contracts usually. You mean with ufc?
- [51:23]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, just because like, and it's probably pretty different from like sports, but you see how much these guys make.
- [51:29]
Bruce Buffer
Well, you know, it's all private, it's not made public.
- [51:31]
Kyle Saleem
Right. So just curious how often you've done it because you've been there for that long.
- [51:35]
Bruce Buffer
A number of different times I've renewed.
- [51:37]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, yeah.
- [51:38]
Bruce Buffer
You know, usually two, three year period.
- [51:40]
Kyle Saleem
Has there ever been another thread of this? You know, this guy in the audience has a, this young man has a nice strong voice, good chords in there.
- [51:46]
Bruce Buffer
You know what if you're announcer out there and you're watching this, bring it. That's all I can tell you bring it, you get the job, Good power to you, but just bring it.
- [51:54]
Gabriel
You're not replaceable.
- [51:55]
Bruce Buffer
I'm not going anywhere.
- [51:56]
Gabriel
You're not replaceable.
- [51:57]
Bruce Buffer
I mean, unless I'm told I'm going somewhere, I'm not going anywhere. I love what I do. But, you know, come on, you young bucks go for it.
- [52:05]
Gabriel
That's amazing. I didn't know that you were just like, even back then, you were just using your own connections to help build the sport. That's pretty cool.
- [52:11]
Bruce Buffer
Well, again, just to clarify, when I say I'm going to give all the credit to Dana and. But I'm saying if I had a chance to publicize or to maybe to get them on a TV show through media contact before, because they have all the contacts now. Come on, they're with wme. They don't need anybody else. They got everything they, they can put together. But back then, you know, when not everybody was listening or watching, I wanted to make sure whether it was writing an article for a magazine or doing an interview or somewhere to publicize. Yeah, remember ABC used to have that thing after Monday Night Football and they did have the guy doing the show afterwards, you know, and I used to go on there and, you know, bring fighters on there once in a while. Anything I possibly could do, you know, I'm a team player.
- [52:53]
Kyle Saleem
How much longer you think you'll just do this for?
- [52:55]
Bruce Buffer
I get asked that question a lot. And I recently said that I, you know, want to be at UFC 400.
- [53:00]
Kyle Saleem
Let me say.
- [53:01]
Bruce Buffer
So I'm 68. Yeah. Okay. So I, I've still got the energy, you know, I'm still training, keep my six pack in order, you know, whatever the case might be, just do my thing, you know, I'm passionate about the business and about what I do. The moment the enjoyment and the passion wanes and it's just going to a job, you know, for a seat or paycheck, I'll cat. I'll always cast a paycheck on a Monday at the bank trust. Trust me. Yeah, but it's not about the paycheck. You know, it's. You get to a point where you just, you hopefully life by design. People out there, if you have that, you wake up and you love what you do. But if I ever lose the passion for it, then, or physically or mentally, it's not. I can't do it the way I want to do it, then it's time for me to say, hey, I'm done.
- [53:41]
Kyle Saleem
I got to think of the, the best scenario to have you do some sort of introduction for me, because there's going to be a day when I need to. People need to Lock in. And that'll be the time to use it.
- [53:50]
Bruce Buffer
It. I'll be happy to.
- [53:51]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [53:52]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah.
- [53:53]
Gabriel
Maybe a girl.
- [53:54]
Kyle Saleem
Maybe Love Love Island.
- [53:55]
Gabriel
Yeah.
- [53:56]
Kyle Saleem
He comes out just to announce me, walking out.
- [53:58]
Gabriel
Be good.
- [53:58]
Kyle Saleem
You know, like those love shows, the dating shows.
- [54:00]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, okay.
- [54:01]
Kyle Saleem
So no one gets like a cool introduction and then you come out to introduce me. But you know what's funny? That actually is great. And because I've gone out with Sugar Sean after his fights is you'll come to Zuk.
- [54:10]
Bruce Buffer
I've been on Sugar at Zoo.
- [54:11]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, I know, I've seen it. Yeah. And it's fucking incredible.
- [54:13]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, thank you.
- [54:14]
Kyle Saleem
So does he just personally ask you like, hey, can you do this? Or how do you guys work that out?
- [54:17]
Bruce Buffer
No, Sugar didn't. I surprised him the first time. But I mean, I, I, I know the Zoo people and contacts there and you know, I get, I've done a lot in different clubs. You know, I get hired to come out on New Year's Eve or whatever. Steve Aoki and I would appear together because we have a song together called It's Time. We did a whole music video and song together. Listen, I'm not, I, I've done more clubbing in my lifetime than most people have. And it's like I'm not really into doing the clubs.
- [54:40]
Gabriel
You used to drink too.
- [54:41]
Bruce Buffer
I mean, I've always, I, I drink responsibly. I've never been like a guzzler. Drink to get drunk. Yeah, I mean, I enjoyed it. Avoid a good bourbon. But I love a fine wine. Definitely. For sure. But I don't drink a lot of hard liquor and if I do, I enjoy my bourbon.
- [54:56]
Kyle Saleem
You ever had Screaming Eagle?
- [54:57]
Bruce Buffer
Screaming Eagle, that's. What is that again? I don't know.
- [55:00]
Kyle Saleem
It's like $5,000 a bottle. I saw it on this menu.
- [55:02]
Bruce Buffer
I'm not going to spend $5,000 for a drink. If somebody wants to pour me a five thousand dollar Screaming Eagle.
- [55:06]
Kyle Saleem
I like Quintessa.
- [55:07]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, I mean I, I've definitely had, I've definitely tried brands that are like that.
- [55:12]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, it's good wine.
- [55:13]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. Nice.
- [55:13]
Gabriel
Where's your favorite place to travel for fights? And what do you do when you travel? Do you like go and see the town and stuff or do you kind
- [55:20]
Bruce Buffer
of just lay low? With all the fights and the number of fights we do now, I'm kind of really quick in and quick out a lot. If it's domestic, I'm in on a Friday, out on a Sunday morning. I just went to Australia and I left on Wednesday, landed on Friday, did the show on Sunday and came back Monday morning. You know, and Sydney is one of my favorite towns.
- [55:36]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, it's awesome.
- [55:38]
Bruce Buffer
Went out, did a seaplane expedition there. It was pretty cool. I used to be, I would, when it wasn't so many so tight together. Take a couple days, you know, enjoy the territory. You know, if I was in Australia, I remember when I first went there, I go surfing, you know, I used to do a show called Rumble on the Rock in Hawaii, which was one of the pen. BJ Pen's family did. I love that because I could surf in the morning, put on the tuxedo at 4, go to the Blazdale, announce the show and then have some fun. But yeah, it varies. I mean, great cities, you know, Montreal, great city. London, great city. I used to love when we did shows in Germany. I wish we would still do that. Waiting for when we go to Italy. Sydney, Australia, one of the greatest cities in the world. Everybody should get a chance to go to Tokyo, Japan once in their life, you know, see what's going on there. Canada is a great place to visit. Then you've got America, you know, you've got Madison Square Garden, you know, the Big Apple. One of the greatest cities in the world. Of course, Vegas is Vegas. We all know about Vegas. Every city has its own flavor.
- [56:37]
Kyle Saleem
I think the events in Miami have been great too.
- [56:39]
Bruce Buffer
The events in Miami have been excellent. Yep, yep. You know, Texas, it's always good everywhere. I, I get, I just, I just appreciate wherever.
- [56:46]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [56:47]
Bruce Buffer
What's your, what's your routine before a fight? What do I do? Fight? Yeah, before. Yeah, before you call a fight, like whether it be the, like the build up. Build up? Yeah. I mean I used to go out on Friday nights and I would just, you know, have fun, do whatever, all that. It's not like I still can't, but
- [57:01]
Gabriel
I like in Australia, back in the day, like when UFC's getting big, like, like papa, see some Australian girls.
- [57:07]
Bruce Buffer
We all have. We've all had our fun, let's put it that way. Yeah, of course, I would say a good night's sleep because I mean, it's in like an eight hour day, right? And I got to be on top of it. So I love getting a good eight or nine hours sleep minimum. You know, before the show, get up, power breakfast, workout, stretch, do a little meditation, you know, and get my head in the gear and then just relax and then get to the arena and say hi to everybody, you know, get all mixed up and like I said, Then I walk out. As soon as I feel that energy, then it's okay, I came out of the phone booth, I got the outfit on. Let's get it done.
- [57:44]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah. I don't take you as a guy that makes mistakes, but have you ever been in there and misread a name and been upset with yourself?
- [57:49]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, sure, I've made mistakes, but you
- [57:50]
Kyle Saleem
just battle through it.
- [57:51]
Bruce Buffer
His trick is to just work through it. You know, I can count them pretty much. But, I mean, I made a. You know, I think one of the worst mistakes I ever made. I was in Brazil and I was looking at a referee named Mario Yamasaki. And I turned around and your referee in charge of the octagon is her Dean. As I'm saying, I could feel my lips going. Dean. It just came out.
- [58:13]
Gabriel
And it was Yamasaki.
- [58:14]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, and it was Murray Yamasaki.
- [58:15]
Gabriel
And they look nothing alike.
- [58:17]
Bruce Buffer
We all get a big laugh. Have you ever messed up a record? I would say I probably have. You know, I don't know if it was the Derek Lewis one, but that. I think they reversed his. I think there was a Derek Lewis one where I got his win ratio wrong. It was funny just how he reacted, but. Yeah, yeah. No, but things happen, you know, you got to roll over them. Right. We're only human. Yeah, 100%.
- [58:37]
Kyle Saleem
You grew up a surfer in Malibu. We talked downstairs. You were spending time in Venice. Surfers, skaters or brawlers, bro.
- [58:45]
Bruce Buffer
They're very territorial.
- [58:46]
Kyle Saleem
Why is that a thing? Like, why can every surfer skate? Every kid at the skate park has hands. It seems like, like. And you're one of the guys to be a skater? No. Have you ever seen skate park fights? Like, you ever watch those on YouTube? Yeah. That every skater, it's like they have, they can throw hands and there from a guy with experience.
- [59:01]
Bruce Buffer
You know, when I went to school, when I, I went to high school with Tony Albert from Dogtown and, you know, a bunch of other guys and stuff like that. And the, the weekends would come, you know, we go to these house parties and I, I could never understand why parents would let their kids have a house party with like a 200 people showing up in their house. And, and you know, it'd be like you, fights would break out, people, you know, things would happen. I mean, we used to have football games, Malibu versus Santa Monica, you know, And I mean, people would get broken arms in these games. We would go at it so hard, you know, I don't know. I, I. Well, I do know surfers are very territorial, right? But then some surfers are even more territorial than others to the point of being a little too much. It's too much. Much. Yeah. There's no reason to beat somebody up. There's no reason to do any of that, you know, unless something really bad happens. But they're never seen to hesitate. I mean, there's been a lot of broad. I've seen a lot of brawls of surfing. Try. Try ground and pounding or getting ground and pounded on the sand.
- [59:59]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [59:59]
Bruce Buffer
Versus, you know, whatever. Maybe a little safer than hitting your head on the curb in the street. But listen, I. I encourage everybody not to get involved in street fights because I've seen some pretty bad stuff.
- [60:10]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [60:10]
Bruce Buffer
And, you know, you. You can die from a street fight. You can. You can. Can fall down, hit your head on a curb or whatever. Something crazy can happen.
- [60:17]
Kyle Saleem
Right.
- [60:17]
Bruce Buffer
One of my friends had a boxing ring and In Malibu and on Point Doom and the Sean Penn and the Lowe's and. And the Sheen boys. They all grew up on Point Doom up there.
- [60:27]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [60:28]
Bruce Buffer
And if we had a disagreement or something like that, and we were local, we would meet in the boxing ring.
- [60:33]
Kyle Saleem
You had one in the backyard or
- [60:34]
Bruce Buffer
close by, my friend did.
- [60:36]
Kyle Saleem
Damn headgear.
- [60:37]
Bruce Buffer
Put on the gloves and. No, screw the headgear. Put on the gloves and go at
- [60:40]
Kyle Saleem
it and just settle it.
- [60:41]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah.
- [60:41]
Kyle Saleem
They don't make them like that anymore.
- [60:43]
Bruce Buffer
It's not the same anymore. You don't know. Mean. Usually you could be able. I always say, and I think I said it in that thing that Dana made about the trig. In my situation, I come from the days when you kind of go at it afterwards, you have a beer, you know, or. Or you never talk again or you become friends or whatever the case might be. But there's. There's so many different scenarios that can happen.
- [61:02]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [61:02]
Bruce Buffer
But if you're in a. If you're surfing or skating, I have to talk more from a surfer standpoint and you're in somebody else's break, you've got to have. There's. There's a code of ethics. There's a courtesy factor factor. You don't take off on people. You don't. Whatever. And, you know, you follow that. Follow that factor and there won't be any hassle.
- [61:20]
Kyle Saleem
Is surfing, I feel like, is that something that you've done, like a therapeutic type thing?
- [61:25]
Bruce Buffer
It's one of the most therapeutic things you can do when you're out there and, you know, in the North Shore of Hawaii at Sunset beach or whatever. I remember a big day out there it was like 10 foot Hawaiian, which is like ridiculous, you know, 15, 20 foot face waves. And then you know when the wave would break and it would break and form a rainbow, Go.
- [61:42]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [61:42]
Bruce Buffer
And you know when you're out there looking around and seeing some of the greatest surfers in the world and you're in paradise. It's just if that doesn't give you a spiritual therapeutic feeling, I don't know what would.
- [61:50]
Gabriel
That's one of the nice spots in the world.
- [61:52]
Bruce Buffer
North Shore.
- [61:54]
Gabriel
I was just there in December too.
- [61:55]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, it's dangerous with what Pipeline, when you're taking off and all the surfing there.
- [62:01]
Kyle Saleem
You know, I didn't get into, you know, what about the sharks up in there? Have you ever had an account? You fought off a shark? I know you have.
- [62:06]
Bruce Buffer
No, I, I don't lie. I'm never gonna lie. I know I haven't. Have I seen sharks in the water? Are, yeah, but have I fought off a shark?
- [62:13]
Kyle Saleem
You're ready to go. You're not spooked.
- [62:14]
Bruce Buffer
I don't care who you are, shark's going to scare the hell out of you. Okay?
- [62:17]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, 100%.
- [62:18]
Bruce Buffer
That fin. I remember I was in Mexico one time on a trip and, and that,
- [62:21]
Gabriel
bro, that's why I don't surf.
- [62:23]
Bruce Buffer
Well, you can't, you can't. Think about it. You got to. First off, how though I don't get that.
- [62:28]
Gabriel
Well, like when you see a fin in the water, here's the.
- [62:31]
Bruce Buffer
Right. That's a terrifying feeling. Here's the trick. Here's the trick. Okay, Okay. A dolphin has a dorsal and has a tail like this. A shark is like this. If you see a double braid awake, you're talking about a shark. And the distance between that and the doors and the tail, you double that and that's the size of the shark. If you're looking at six feet distance, they have a 12 foot shark around you, right? Okay. Or three feet, you got a six foot shark. I don't care how a four foot shark is going to ruin your sex life forever. Bites you in the wrong place. Okay, so. But you can't be paranoid about that, right? You got to just, you go out. Now there's certain areas in like Brazil and Recife and Day and the bull sharks are some of the most vicious aggressive sharks there are. And it says there don't go in the water bull sharks, but people will go in waist deep and they get bit within like a couple minutes. I mean you got to know the brakes, you got to know where you're going. But sharks are everywhere. There's great white sharks off the coast of Santa Monica. Yeah.
- [63:25]
Gabriel
You know, you've never seen a great white in the water, though, have you?
- [63:28]
Bruce Buffer
Have not seen a great white. I do want to do one thing, and that is I want to go cage diving with a great white. That's one thing on my bucket list. To do what?
- [63:35]
Gabriel
I kind of want to do that, too, too.
- [63:36]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. I think that'd be so cool, because
- [63:38]
Kyle Saleem
that's where you're in the cage and they can.
- [63:39]
Gabriel
Where would you do that?
- [63:40]
Bruce Buffer
You could do that up north. You can do that in Mexico, or you can do it in Australia.
- [63:44]
Kyle Saleem
There's a 100% survival rate, or is there? Is it not? 100%?
- [63:47]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, you've probably seen videos where the sharks broken open the plexiglass cage or. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You just want.
- [63:54]
Kyle Saleem
You're adrenaline junkie.
- [63:55]
Bruce Buffer
No, I'm not jumping out of planes, although I've had the chance to. But you know what? It's not that I'm going for the adrenaline. It's just something I think would just be really, really cool. Cool.
- [64:03]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah. 100% really cool.
- [64:04]
Bruce Buffer
I find it fascinating. It's about as prehistoric as you can get.
- [64:07]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [64:08]
Bruce Buffer
I was in Mexico one time, one of my first trips, and the fence came up and we all scattered. But then I realized that it was a dolphin. You know, you're out there with dolphins, and if there's dolphins out there, there's not going to be any sharks around.
- [64:18]
Kyle Saleem
I want to say I think it's pretty impressive and cool. We obviously don't see everything that happens behind the scenes, but just that you, the Fers, Dana, and Joe all maintained such a, like, great relationship for so long. It seems pretty rare, but it seems like you all have a individual appreciation for one another and what you bring. And I. I think that's because they're all just beauties. Yeah. I mean, you guys all. I know, Dana, like.
- [64:40]
Gabriel
Like, Bruce, you're a weapon. You know, you fight.
- [64:42]
Bruce Buffer
I'm what?
- [64:43]
Gabriel
You're a weapon.
- [64:44]
Bruce Buffer
I never referred to as.
- [64:45]
Gabriel
Bruce is just that wet. Like, he's a weapon in every category.
- [64:48]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, No, I know.
- [64:49]
Bruce Buffer
Thanks, guys. I appreciate your words. Thank you very much. Just call me Bruce. I'm just Bruce. Yeah. Just doing. Doing what I love. But, you know, it's like the appreciation I have for Dana, the appreciation I have for Joe. I mean, does Jo. Ufc, does Dana. Do you know, they got more money than God, you know, it's all. It's Passion. It's a passionate move. And Dana's been just making these big moves with, you know, his team to just make this thing bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah. You know, Joe loves what he does. There was a time when Joe worked and didn't even take it. He did it for free. You know, according to the story I heard from Dana, you know, and we've all been together working like this forever. You know, it's boy Scouts go to camp, guys, the fights happen. We're all going to see each other on a weekend and I call Dana chief. Yeah. Simple as that.
- [65:32]
Gabriel
It's awesome.
- [65:33]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah, it is.
- [65:34]
Gabriel
What do we got here? Oh, it's time.
- [65:37]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah.
- [65:39]
Gabriel
By the way, this cologne is just amazing.
- [65:41]
Kyle Saleem
I've needed this. Huh? I've needed. I'm not a cologne guy, so I've needed this forever.
- [65:45]
Gabriel
Like, and I hate cologne that when you spray it, it goes away too fast.
- [65:48]
Bruce Buffer
Like, this will last. This last stays on. Yeah.
- [65:50]
Gabriel
I'm going to try this out. I think I'm going to try this out tonight.
- [65:52]
Kyle Saleem
Do a rip on here.
- [65:54]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah. So anyway, way.
- [65:55]
Gabriel
Hell yeah. Give me that. I love opening cards.
- [65:57]
Bruce Buffer
Well, here, here's the reason these are here. And Gabriel, I told you about the stuff and I think you might show it in the show, but I opened up a venture that I'm so proud about. I opened up the IT Time sports card and TCG center in Agura, California. And it's an 8,000 square foot sports card center. Right. We've got everything from Pokemon to the sports to the UFC cards. My partner Oday sent this down for you guys to rip open some cards.
- [66:25]
Kyle Saleem
Dana has. I think he has a Jordan rookie in his collection that we saw.
- [66:28]
Bruce Buffer
He's got a Jordan 10 rookie, I think.
- [66:30]
Kyle Saleem
What, what do you have? Do you have anything crazy like that?
- [66:32]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, I've got Jordan rookies, Magic Johnson rookies. I have an open wax packs.
- [66:35]
Kyle Saleem
What's your number one most valuable?
- [66:37]
Bruce Buffer
I've got a couple. I mean the wax pack 61 FLIR that could have the Wilt Chamberlain rookie in it. The Jordan rookie. I have the eight is probably, you know, 15, 20,000 unopened boxes of 87 FLIR and open wax packs of the Jordan rookies.
- [66:51]
Kyle Saleem
What is the most. Oh, I know the guy's name. He's the. What's the guy's name? The most valuable baseball card.
- [66:55]
Bruce Buffer
Oh, no, you're talking Honus Wagner.
- [66:57]
Kyle Saleem
Honus Wagner? Yeah. Is that the most valuable one out there?
- [67:00]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, but there's cards more valuable. The Honus Wagner card. Is worth millions and millions of dollars.
- [67:04]
Kyle Saleem
Right. So this whole new. With what you do with your store, the. The new. It's almost. People are obsessed with this because it's a sweat.
- [67:11]
Bruce Buffer
The Pokemon cards have outperformed the stock market for the last six or seven years or more.
- [67:16]
Kyle Saleem
And appreciation.
- [67:17]
Bruce Buffer
Appreciation, you know, and these things sell. I mean, we sell a ton of Pokemon cards. We have all the different sports cards. And again, just to clarify for the audience, you can go to its timecards dot com, right? Or go on Instagram at it's time under slash. Agurahills just put in this time cards. It'll come up. And that's my Mecca Center. It's 8,000 square feet and it's two big rooms for the cards, the sports cards, the Pokemon cards. We've got another room that can hold 200 people for watch parties, UFC, Super Bowl. There's a basketball court in there. I've got a big mural of me and Kobe and Tiger Woods. There's a. We put in a $65,000 simulator that you can golf in front of. So it's a whole facility. It's a whole facility. People spend hours there.
- [68:03]
Kyle Saleem
Oh, it's awesome.
- [68:04]
Bruce Buffer
We're open till 10 o' clock at night.
- [68:05]
Kyle Saleem
Damn. Basketball court and a golf simulator.
- [68:07]
Bruce Buffer
When I say basketball court, it's like a little half court, you know, with like, it's fun. Nerf basketballs. I have a lot of fun.
- [68:11]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah. Wait, my question just for people, like, I see this happening all the time on tick tock, YouTube shorts, all that.
- [68:19]
Bruce Buffer
The world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot I always think,
- [68:49]
Kyle Saleem
like, to get the big cards, you got to go in and buy them from the store and you got to buy the Jordan rookie. But like, do you have the chance of pulling the big boys, like right now?
- [69:00]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, you have a chance of pulling. I mean, the. My experience. Jordan's rookie card is an 1986 FLIR basketball. Right. My experience with that is the first time I ever bought a. A wax pack.
- [69:12]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [69:12]
Bruce Buffer
I opened it up at a shop in Westwood, right here in Westwood in la. And. And a Jordan rookie was in it. Holy. Yeah. I pulled a Jordan Rookie out, very first pack. And I wish I would have bought the cases back then. I could add a case of those 86 fleer for $450 at the time, which eventually became worth. They went up to about a half million dollars in value.
- [69:33]
Kyle Saleem
The Jordan.
- [69:34]
Bruce Buffer
The cases of. Of a case of, like, whatever's in there. 12 or 16 boxes of the cards.
- [69:39]
Kyle Saleem
Oh, my God.
- [69:40]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah.
- [69:41]
Kyle Saleem
But do you still have the Jordan that you pulled?
- [69:43]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, no, no. That one I sold like an idiot for $1,100. You know, five years later. Oh. And it's now worth, you know, God knows what. But I do. Yeah. I have Jordan rookies. Yeah.
- [69:55]
Kyle Saleem
This whole new phase, it's pretty sick. What's like, the best market? Is it Pokemon baseball?
- [70:01]
Bruce Buffer
Pokemon is just going crazy right now, but sports cards are going great. UFC cards are going up in value. I bought two boxes, two cases of the second issue UFC cards from tops back in 1999.
- [70:13]
Kyle Saleem
Nine.
- [70:14]
Bruce Buffer
I pay 750 a case and that. And there's 12 boxes in the case. The box is worth $2,000 now. That makes the case is worth 22, $24,000 each.
- [70:24]
Kyle Saleem
Do you know who the. Who's the most valuable UFC card?
- [70:26]
Bruce Buffer
There's. There's different ones. Sean Brady.
- [70:28]
Kyle Saleem
I want to open one of these. That's cool.
- [70:29]
Gabriel
Yeah,
- [70:31]
Kyle Saleem
I can open that.
- [70:32]
Bruce Buffer
Favorite fighter. These are yours, guys. These are. These are a gift from ITS time.
- [70:36]
Gabriel
Thank you.
- [70:37]
Bruce Buffer
It's sports cards. Thank you so much. I sent her to you and my partner o' Day is amazing because he just sent you down. Well, you'd probably have to pay 2 to 3,000 for it.
- [70:45]
Gabriel
I want to get time Sports.
- [70:47]
Bruce Buffer
Thank you.
- [70:48]
Gabriel
Oh, Mewtwo.
- [70:50]
Kyle Saleem
That one looks like it could be expensive. I'm not even kidding you.
- [70:52]
Gabriel
There's no way.
- [70:53]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, but you know what? I'm not a total aficionado of Pokemon, but if you think you found a good one, put it aside.
- [70:58]
Gabriel
I am. Well, I know.
- [70:59]
Kyle Saleem
I mean, Mewtwo's one of the top dogs.
- [71:01]
Gabriel
He's the best Pokemon you can get.
- [71:04]
Bruce Buffer
An app. There's apps that you can download where you can hold it on the card to tell you the value.
- [71:07]
Kyle Saleem
I got a DC in here.
- [71:08]
Bruce Buffer
Here we have streamers, you know, that work with us. Of course, people go in the shop.
- [71:14]
Kyle Saleem
I live here, so I'm going to come down, check it out.
- [71:16]
Bruce Buffer
Please do. Yeah, we ship all over the world, you know, through my website. It's time cards. Is that Daniel Cormier?
- [71:22]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah. I got Anderson Silver right here. Oh, I got dude this is also so fun. You got a Conor McGregor right there, bro. What the going on? What's going on?
- [71:32]
Bruce Buffer
Let me see, though.
- [71:33]
Kyle Saleem
Don't swoop that from me.
- [71:35]
Gabriel
You got a McGregor?
- [71:35]
Kyle Saleem
I got a McGregor up in here.
- [71:36]
Bruce Buffer
There you go. Sick Johnny Walker. No.
- [71:39]
Gabriel
Oh, yeah. It's the old Charizards that are.
- [71:41]
Kyle Saleem
The old Charizards are, like, six figure cards.
- [71:43]
Bruce Buffer
I'm pretty sure we know, like, Logan Paul was selling that one of one Pokemon card. Now.
- [71:47]
Kyle Saleem
5 million, right?
- [71:47]
Bruce Buffer
I think the bidding was over 6 million. It might be higher now. All right, well, Bruce was.
- [71:51]
Gabriel
This was amazing.
- [71:52]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [71:52]
Bruce Buffer
Thank you so much for coming on.
- [71:53]
Gabriel
This was amazing.
- [71:54]
Bruce Buffer
Yeah, you're very.
- [71:55]
Gabriel
You're a very smart guy. Interesting. I didn't know all this about, like, you know, how much you help the ufc, so it's great to have you on. You're an absolute legend. Like I said, he's a weapon.
- [72:05]
Bruce Buffer
So thank you. I appreciate. I'll take it. Okay.
- [72:07]
Gabriel
Thank you, bro.
- [72:08]
Bruce Buffer
You got it.
- [72:08]
Gabriel
All right, Bruce Buffer.
- [72:09]
Kyle Saleem
Thank you, Bruce.
- [72:10]
Gabriel
That was awesome.
- [72:10]
Bruce Buffer
Big cheers, everybody.
- [72:11]
Kyle Saleem
Yeah.
- [72:12]
Gabriel
Thank you, bro.
- [72:12]
Bruce Buffer
Thank you for having me on the show.
- [72:13]
Kyle Saleem
Really appreciate it.