1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,880 What's up everyone? 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:05,880 Welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast. 3 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:06,880 We were super lucky today. 4 00:00:06,880 --> 00:00:07,880 We've got an awesome guest. 5 00:00:07,880 --> 00:00:11,120 We've got Pat, the Croatian sensation, Miletich here. 6 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:13,920 He's an ex MMA fighter, UFC champion. 7 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:19,680 He's in the UFC Hall of Fame, became a very successful coach and trainer after that. 8 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:20,680 And we're going to hear from him today. 9 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:21,680 Pat, thanks for coming on the podcast. 10 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:22,680 No problem. 11 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:23,680 Thank you. 12 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:24,680 Yeah, I appreciate it, man. 13 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,920 You know, first of all, if you could start us off, can you tell us a little bit about 14 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,600 your Croatian background and what you know about that? 15 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:40,640 Yeah, my family, the Milicic family is from west of Zagreb, kind of a back then coal mining 16 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,960 and farming region of Croatia. 17 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:51,600 My great grandparents that came here, when they got to Ellis Island, basically, you know, 18 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,320 back in those days, they would ask people what they did for a living, you know, in their 19 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:02,560 country of origin, and then they would try to send them to areas of the United States 20 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,760 that made sense for their, you know, their knowledge, their occupational skills, things 21 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:07,760 like that. 22 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:14,800 So they were sent to southern Iowa, where coal mining and farming was really big. 23 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,880 And that's kind of how how the Milicic has got, at least that group of Milicic has ended 24 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:21,400 up in southern Iowa. 25 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:26,600 Different times back then, I guess, where they sort of send you where they want you 26 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:29,800 to go, as opposed to where you were going to be most prosperous, right? 27 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:34,600 They wanted people to have good lives and contribute to society. 28 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:35,600 That makes sense. 29 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:36,600 Yeah. 30 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,800 How much of that sort of, you know, Croatian heritage? 31 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,840 Did you ever hear the language growing up? 32 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:44,560 Were you, I mean, surrounded by any of the culture at all? 33 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:45,560 Things like that. 34 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,080 How much were you surrounded by it? 35 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:53,360 I was what was interesting, though, and it was, you know, my my father really never taught 36 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:54,480 us any Croatian. 37 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:56,800 He knew how to speak Croatian. 38 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:02,360 But I believe he didn't teach us because he and his brother, Jerry, I think back in the 39 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:08,880 day, because they were Croatian immigrants in southern Iowa, they got in a few fights 40 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,520 back then because they were immigrants or or from immigrant, you know, families and 41 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:19,960 everybody spoke Croatian back then, and they got they got some fistfights, to say the least. 42 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,580 And so I think that they just I don't know, for whatever reason, speaking English was 43 00:02:24,580 --> 00:02:27,840 easier or however that worked. 44 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:33,240 But but definitely at family reunions, I would hear my great uncles and them speaking Croatian 45 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:34,240 a lot. 46 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:39,160 And, you know, the family reunions were always, you know, it was cool. 47 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:46,720 It was cool because you were immersed back in like real Croatian, the heritage and the 48 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,720 just the mindset, the immigrant mentality, the immigrant work ethic, you know, all those 49 00:02:51,720 --> 00:02:52,720 things. 50 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:53,720 That's right. 51 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:54,720 Yeah. 52 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:55,720 You just said immigrant mentality. 53 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,080 That made me think of Stipe Miltic, because I know his name around a lot. 54 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,160 When I hear that phrase, I forget who first. 55 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:03,160 What's the name? 56 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:09,040 Joey Diaz or someone's whoever coined that phrase and started talking about Stipe on 57 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,040 the Joe Rogan. 58 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:14,120 That's yeah, that's something that that's something that I've talked about, you know, 59 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:20,600 for many, many years, because just that, you know, you got to do the work, you got to outwork 60 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:21,600 everybody. 61 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:22,600 Right. 62 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:27,920 And that's why we, you know, when you look at the UFC, you look at a lot of guys who 63 00:03:27,920 --> 00:03:32,400 were not born in the United States, who are doing quite well winning titles, all that 64 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,520 sort of stuff, because they they know, you know, how rough life can be in certain places, 65 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:38,520 you know. 66 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:39,520 Absolutely. 67 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:40,520 Yeah. 68 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:41,520 You've got that extra edge, you know. 69 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:42,520 Sure. 70 00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:43,520 Sure. 71 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:44,520 Yeah, definitely. 72 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,800 But, you know, I want to let's get into the fighting a little bit. 73 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:52,240 You came obviously before Stipe before even, you know, Mirko Krokop, another famous, you 74 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:53,880 know, Croatian fighter. 75 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:58,600 And you're sort of people, you know, say that you might be one of the first sort of true 76 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:04,360 mixed martial artists as far as, you know, combating with all styles and not just fighting 77 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:06,840 with one sort of style. 78 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,440 How did you get started, you know, from a young age fighting or is that something you 79 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:11,440 took on later? 80 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,920 Well, I grew up obviously wrestling in Iowa. 81 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:21,720 And so that wrestling from age five, I mean, it's two hours of what most would consider 82 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:22,720 a street fight. 83 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:27,520 You know, you're you're in Bettendorf, Iowa, where I grew up. 84 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,840 You know, it was it was a powerhouse for wrestling, even in the state of Iowa. 85 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,400 You know, we were always a powerhouse. 86 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:38,480 So the second and third string guys on our wrestling teams could generally go win tournaments 87 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:42,480 everywhere else, you know, and that's just the way it was. 88 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,800 And so that work ethic, that mentality of always winning, we didn't talk about it if 89 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,420 we were going to win. 90 00:04:48,420 --> 00:04:54,040 We were, you know, starting kiddies in the locker room, throwing in a couple bucks to 91 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,100 see who would get the fastest pin or the most takedowns or whatever. 92 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:02,720 That was our mentality, you know, in that community, certainly. 93 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:08,880 But when I went to college, my mom got sick with heart problems, left school to help to 94 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:12,160 pay her bills, working three jobs. 95 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:18,080 And then totally by chance, one of my foremen, a finisher on my concrete crew was a black 96 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:22,120 belt in karate and said he could he could whip a wrestler any day because he was a black 97 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:23,120 belt. 98 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:25,320 And I said, hey, I said, you're from Kentucky. 99 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,200 Have you ever had a guy from Iowa grab a hold of you? 100 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,520 And he's like, no, he goes. 101 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:32,000 But at lunchtime, we go check it out. 102 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,000 We go see. 103 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,400 And so we went out in the field and I threw him around a little bit. 104 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,440 And he gave me a free week pass to his kickboxing and karate gym. 105 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,200 And I went to free lessons that week. 106 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:48,160 And I thought it was a complete joke until Friday. 107 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,680 I went and watched the black belt sparring and they were going hard. 108 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,360 I mean, they were they could bang. 109 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:53,840 They were going hard. 110 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:56,580 And I went, OK, this is what I'm signing up for. 111 00:05:56,580 --> 00:05:58,740 So that's how I got started in it. 112 00:05:58,740 --> 00:06:03,680 And then really kickboxing, one of us title in kickboxing and then mixed martial arts 113 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:07,920 came along, obviously, and my wrestling background and had been doing some judo and some other 114 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,520 stuff on top of the kickboxing and Muay Thai and karate. 115 00:06:12,520 --> 00:06:16,840 And I went, holy cow, my my sport has literally just been invented. 116 00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,520 So well, yeah, that's sort of I was thinking as he told that story. 117 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,200 I mean, that's pretty much how the UFC came to be. 118 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,320 You know, my style is better than your style. 119 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:26,320 Yeah. 120 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:33,280 And you know, what's cool is my great uncle, Johnny Militich, he changed his name to Myler 121 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,880 for his ring name because he didn't want his mother to know that he was boxing. 122 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:37,880 Right. 123 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:43,240 So back in the day, his late 20s, early 30s, all of that stuff, he had left Albia, Iowa, 124 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:48,280 gone to Detroit to work in the Ford Motor Company factory up there. 125 00:06:48,280 --> 00:06:50,260 And then the depression hit. 126 00:06:50,260 --> 00:06:52,940 And so he went back to boxing. 127 00:06:52,940 --> 00:06:57,160 And he as amateurs, he knocked Joe Lewis down seven times in three rounds. 128 00:06:57,160 --> 00:06:59,400 He won that fight pretty easily. 129 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:00,520 People don't know about that. 130 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:05,920 But my uncle, Johnny Mylar Militich, made the 32 Olympic boxing team. 131 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:10,400 He fought Maxie Rosenblum twice for the world title, light heavyweight world title, had 132 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,720 a drawn a split decision loss in those fights. 133 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,680 And both times the crowds rioted because my uncle beat the shit out of it. 134 00:07:19,680 --> 00:07:23,040 And you know, back then the mob ran boxing, that's just the way it was. 135 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,120 So Maxie was, I think, a product and protected to a certain extent. 136 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:32,960 But yeah, so the the combat mentality was definitely I think it runs through Croatian 137 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:34,760 blood anyway, but you know. 138 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,760 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 139 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:37,760 And war. 140 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:42,640 And back then, the catches catch can wrestling was big, which he used to go to carnivals. 141 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:46,560 You know, the farmer burns, the gotchas, all those guys, the early leader, runs back in 142 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,060 those days. 143 00:07:48,060 --> 00:07:51,520 So my uncle would go to carnivals and state fairs. 144 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,880 And when the when the carnival strongman would do their feats of strength, they'd always 145 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:59,880 after they do that challenge anyone in the crowd to get in either the boxing ring with 146 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:02,720 them or get in and do a catches catch can wrestling match with them. 147 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:06,720 And my uncle would go and beat up carnival strongman to hone his skills. 148 00:08:06,720 --> 00:08:09,120 He would he would do that stuff. 149 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:11,800 So so that was really the mixed martial artist. 150 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:15,800 He was already a mixed martial artist back in the, you know, 20s and 30s. 151 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:16,800 Wow. 152 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:17,800 Yeah. 153 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:20,680 So it was like an old school training. 154 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:21,680 Cool history, right? 155 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:22,680 Cool history. 156 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:28,680 I mean, those guys were and back in those days, when you look at I collect old books, 157 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,160 the how tos, like catches, catch, can wrestling books and stuff like that. 158 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:37,240 Those guys look like they're on a list of steroids as long as your leg, because we still 159 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,100 had a lot of nutrients left in our soil. 160 00:08:41,100 --> 00:08:46,720 So the factory farming has destroyed our soil so badly that we're not we're not as blessed 161 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:51,800 with testosterone, we're not as blessed with strength, tendon strength, explosiveness, 162 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:57,440 all those things, unless we're specifically looking for those concentrated organic nutrients 163 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:01,580 that allow our body to, you know, get a lot stronger in those ways. 164 00:09:01,580 --> 00:09:06,200 So that's, that's, it's a huge difference when you look at the people back then naturally 165 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:08,840 were just very, very powerful people. 166 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,280 Yeah, that's an interesting point. 167 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:13,960 I want I heard you tell this story on another podcast. 168 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:18,000 I think it was with Croatian sports calm way back in the day. 169 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,760 And you know, about your nickname, the Croatian sensation, I was wondering if you could sort 170 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,320 of tell that again, how you how you got that nickname. 171 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,240 Yeah, so there was a guy that played football for my dad, my dad was a college football 172 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:29,440 coach, among other things. 173 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:35,280 And that they put the white athletic tape on the front of your helmet, and write your 174 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:41,960 name in a black marker, you know, so the coaches would learn everybody's names and excuse me, 175 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:45,160 his his last name was birch. 176 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:46,160 And so he got his bell rung. 177 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:50,640 He was playing fullback, I believe at the time or linebacker, I can't remember. 178 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,800 And got his bell rung and was laying on his back. 179 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,520 My dad walked up and stood over him and said, birch, are you Croatian? 180 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,440 And he said, Yeah, he goes, then get the hell up. 181 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,200 And he called him the Croatian sensation. 182 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:01,880 My dad called him that. 183 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:08,040 And then when he was a sports broadcaster, then he dubbed me the Croatian sensation after 184 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,040 that. 185 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:10,040 So that's awesome. 186 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:11,040 I love that story. 187 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:15,480 And you stuck with your whole fighting career? 188 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:18,800 Yes, yes, it stuck with me. 189 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,040 Yes, most definitely. 190 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:25,160 And birch birch was a guy that was a really good college football player, but he also 191 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:31,000 became he did some boxing as well while he was a sports broadcaster. 192 00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:32,440 And he and I used to spar with each other. 193 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,320 He was pretty hard on his guy. 194 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,880 I want to ask him about the early days. 195 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,840 I mean, you fought in the early days of the UFC really. 196 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:46,240 What sort of difference do you see between those days when you were fighting and nowadays? 197 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:47,240 As far as your talent? 198 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:52,400 I mean, basically, well, I think I think that there's always been while there's always been 199 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:57,160 talented people in the sport, you know, you're going to get your Olympics, you know, your 200 00:10:57,160 --> 00:11:01,860 Olympic silver medalist, gold medalist, stuff like that, which existed back when I was fighting. 201 00:11:01,860 --> 00:11:06,720 But I think it's, you know, obviously, people have a lot a lot bigger purses. 202 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:13,680 You're going to get a bigger pool of athletes, generally, things like that. 203 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:18,600 It's been I think fighters do it more for the money now than the back when I was fighting, 204 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:24,560 we did it for the passion, you know, the passion, the martial arts kind of mentality, so to 205 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:25,560 speak. 206 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:32,480 And, you know, we were kind of on a mission to make the sport a mainstream sport. 207 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:38,440 We were doing debates with politicians on TV, I'll training for our fights, you know, 208 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:42,520 trying to keep it legal, you know, so the fight was more than just getting ready for 209 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:43,520 a fight, obviously. 210 00:11:43,520 --> 00:11:49,360 Do you find that there's any difference between like the stereotype around it or sort of how 211 00:11:49,360 --> 00:11:54,280 fans were back in those days versus, you know, today, now that it's mainstream? 212 00:11:54,280 --> 00:12:02,680 Well, I mean, we obviously weren't accepted in the mainstream early on, you know, the 213 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:07,080 politicians and the athletic commissions, not getting their cut of the money was the 214 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:08,080 problem, right. 215 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:11,040 And so they vilified us for those reasons. 216 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:18,840 And, you know, until they could bring people, you know, basically figure out sanctioning 217 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:20,840 all those sort of things, right? 218 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:21,840 Yeah, yeah. 219 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:26,880 But in all debates, it always came down to when the politicians were saying they were 220 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:29,320 concerned about the safety of the athletes. 221 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,920 I would just simply say they're not concerned with the safety of the athletes. 222 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:38,520 That's not even remotely their concern, because they wouldn't allow Little League baseball 223 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:43,080 to take place in their state, which has seven deaths a year from kids getting hit with line 224 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:49,240 drives or auto racing where even spectators die, you know, on down the list. 225 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:54,880 You know, boxers, I think roughly 40 boxers die worldwide a year. 226 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,760 So you know, that's not even counting the, you know, pretty severe injuries that take 227 00:12:58,760 --> 00:12:59,960 place. 228 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:04,120 So when I would say that, that it would basically have to admit that, yes, it does come down 229 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:05,120 to the money. 230 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,480 And that's what they're after, you know, all that sort of stuff. 231 00:13:07,480 --> 00:13:11,840 So it was it was pretty easy debating people who were not prepared to debate somebody that 232 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,840 knew the statistics and things like that. 233 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:14,840 That's interesting. 234 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:19,480 I want to throw sort of a fun question at you here. 235 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:21,760 What was your entrance song back in the day? 236 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:26,040 If you had to fight again today, would you change into a different song or would it be 237 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:27,040 the same one? 238 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,680 I came out to a couple of different ones, to be honest with you. 239 00:13:30,680 --> 00:13:37,840 ACDC, I used to come out to Rob Zombie, Super Beast, you know, a couple of other ones, Metallica, 240 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:38,840 stuff like that. 241 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:43,920 So but, you know, the funny thing is, is I actually that's kind of crazy. 242 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:49,480 I was I've been I've been getting my body kind of back in shape right now, kind of focusing. 243 00:13:49,480 --> 00:13:52,720 And it's coming back a lot faster than I thought it would. 244 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,240 And I know that it sounds kind of crazy. 245 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:59,160 But I mean, in my mid 50s, I actually feel really good. 246 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:02,760 I don't have any aches and pains for the most part. 247 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:06,280 I can still go out and run 10 miles. 248 00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:07,720 You know, I can get that done. 249 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:09,340 Not a problem. 250 00:14:09,340 --> 00:14:15,360 So I might actually be fighting Mike Jackson in October in Davenport, Iowa. 251 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,120 He's the guy that wrote the article, the lies, the article. 252 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:24,800 He's a very left leaning individual who wrote lies about me being in Washington, DC on January 253 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:31,920 6th and said that I supported white supremacy and domestic terrorism. 254 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,360 And I lost my broadcasting job because of it. 255 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,740 So he wrote straight out lies. 256 00:14:36,740 --> 00:14:43,480 And so he actually, at least verbally, has agreed to do a mixed martial arts fight against 257 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:48,840 me in the cage regression event in October, which we do the live pay per views for that. 258 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:52,360 I started a internet pay per view company to do that. 259 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:58,840 So he's he has, I don't know, volunteered to dedicate, you know, donate his body to 260 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:04,240 science, I guess, and going to going to take one for the team, you know, let his ego get 261 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:05,240 involved. 262 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,960 So, yeah, I'm going to do it probably one more time, it sounds like and go out and beat 263 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:16,480 up a 30 some year old youngster who's a UFC veteran and kind of teach him a lesson about 264 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:22,160 life about, you know, attempting to ruin people's lives with lies is not always going to pay 265 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:23,160 off for you. 266 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:28,520 Wow, that's I mean, it's cool that you're able to go to the ring then with him and sort 267 00:15:28,520 --> 00:15:29,520 of hash that. 268 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:35,360 Yeah, you know, I'm doing this for all the people that had to decide between feeding 269 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:42,240 their families and keeping their houses and, you know, an experimental medical treatment, 270 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:43,240 right? 271 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:47,200 That's cost that's costing people, you know, their health right now. 272 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,200 We know that for a fact. 273 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:54,560 And you know, I'm doing it for all the military people who decided to walk away or stay to 274 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:59,640 feed their families based on the mandatory, you know, stuff that was going on. 275 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:04,480 I'm doing it for all the medical professionals that stood their ground on it, you know, all 276 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,720 those people I'm doing it for people who believe in the truth, right? 277 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:13,040 If we ultimately believe in the in the First Amendment, we believe in the truth, no matter 278 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,480 how uncomfortable the truth is. 279 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:20,440 We have to accept the truth and we have to search for the truth continually within ourselves 280 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,360 and in society in general. 281 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:31,480 And you know, taking the right of people the the autonomy of their own bodies and ripping 282 00:16:31,480 --> 00:16:33,480 that out from underneath them. 283 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,120 There is no more frontiers of freedom left, right? 284 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:38,220 At that point. 285 00:16:38,220 --> 00:16:39,800 So that's why that's why I'm doing this. 286 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:45,200 I have no reason to get into a cage and have a fight with another gentleman except for 287 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:47,400 something that's this important to me. 288 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,040 So yeah, bigger than than just yourself and looking back in. 289 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:53,040 Right. 290 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:54,040 Yeah. 291 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:59,640 Sort of going back to I mean, after after you retired, you know, you got into color 292 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:00,640 commentary. 293 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:01,640 You sort of mentioned that. 294 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:05,680 But you also became a coach and trainer and you started the militant fighting systems, 295 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:11,000 which was, you know, sort of a training school for mixed martial arts, which was extremely 296 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:12,480 successful. 297 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:16,520 And I was wondering, can you attribute that to any particular thing or is it just sort 298 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,720 of a combination of everything that you were doing? 299 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,600 Well, you know, because I had done a lot of different types of martial arts, I had boxed, 300 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,240 I had wrestled my whole life, all those different things and the components. 301 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:33,600 One thing that I recognized is that many times, just like religion or something else, a belief 302 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:40,760 in life, people were going into the cage with their with their one specific discipline or 303 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:48,040 a very limited spectrum of disciplines and depending on one thing and kind of wearing 304 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:49,960 that like a religion almost. 305 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:50,960 Right. 306 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:54,360 And their egos were what was causing that. 307 00:17:54,360 --> 00:17:59,840 And so for me, I recognized that I don't think I had to admit to myself that I wasn't good 308 00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:04,880 enough at any one thing to beat people with just that one thing. 309 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:09,840 I needed to be well versed and be able to hang with the best Brazilian traditional black 310 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:15,200 belts in the world in their world, hang with the best boxers in the world and just sparring 311 00:18:15,200 --> 00:18:20,160 with with some of the world's best boxers training with the world's best movies, I kick 312 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:27,320 boxers and all those different areas and disciplines where if I could hang with them and stay fairly 313 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:32,160 competitive in those worlds, all of them independently, that I would be able to put all those tools 314 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:37,320 together and be able to find a weakness in somebody else's game, be able to exploit that 315 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:38,320 and beat them. 316 00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:39,760 And that was the mentality. 317 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,640 And that's kind of the mentality that I instilled. 318 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,080 And, you know, a lot of the fighters that I trained, obviously, and we win a good run. 319 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:53,440 We had 95 athletes put into televised careers, 12 world champions, two team world championships 320 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:54,440 in the IFL. 321 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,880 So, you know, I kind of reached all my goals as a coach. 322 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:03,400 I was coaching a lot when I was fighting as well, kind of like Paul Newman and Slapshot, 323 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:04,400 so to speak. 324 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:05,840 Have you ever seen Slapshot? 325 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:06,840 Actually, I haven't. 326 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,400 No, my dad talks about it. 327 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:09,840 I never saw it. 328 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:11,560 You go go go watch Slapshot. 329 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:12,560 It's a hilarious movie. 330 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:13,560 It's a great movie. 331 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:14,560 It's a classic. 332 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:16,520 But I was kind of like the playing coach. 333 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,240 Paul Newman was playing on the team still while he was coaching. 334 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,600 And so that's kind of how I felt. 335 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:28,520 Okay, but you stopped coaching in what, OE or somewhere around there? 336 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,200 Yeah, somewhere around there. 337 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:31,200 Somewhere around there. 338 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:38,040 And I still I still do law enforcement and military trainings, you know, where it's not 339 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,640 it's not a submission type situation, things like that. 340 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:44,000 It's the fundamentals of movement. 341 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,400 We focus on the head, the hands and the hips. 342 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:54,120 Really simplifying things for law enforcement officers who don't get a lot of time to train 343 00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:58,760 for, you know, combat soldiers and worked with, you know, a lot of different groups 344 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:00,800 in the military as well. 345 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,520 Just helping them dealing with keeping their weapon, for instance, getting back up off 346 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:11,840 the ground after they've been knocked down, you know, and getting up intelligently, being 347 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:19,360 able to deal with multiple attackers, you know, a lot of that sort of stuff as well. 348 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,520 And you know, so I've gotten, you know, I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping those 349 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:24,520 folks. 350 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:25,520 That's awesome. 351 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:26,520 Yeah. 352 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:31,080 I'll ask you this just because my dad was wondering the other day about a crop McGough. 353 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:32,400 You have any any thoughts on that? 354 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,760 Because it sounds somewhat similar to sort of what you're training sort of real life 355 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:41,440 self-defense type of I mean, obviously with being a police officer or in the military, 356 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:43,640 sort of a different aspect of that. 357 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:48,240 Yeah, I think with anything, you know, I think conceptually, conceptually, crop McGough makes 358 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,480 sense, you know, it's a combative art that deals with, you know, a spectrum of things, 359 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:59,040 whether armed or unarmed, whatever, always is going to come down to the the people that 360 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:00,760 are teaching and the practitioners. 361 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:08,000 You know, I've seen a lot of mixed martial arts gyms where it's just a lobotomy of just 362 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:10,160 horrible technique. 363 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:16,100 So I'm a big I'm really a stickler on fundamentals, technique, mechanics, all of those sorts of 364 00:21:16,100 --> 00:21:19,720 things and why we do certain things the way we do them. 365 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:26,640 You know, so I think if the instructor is good fundamentals and mechanics and knowledge 366 00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:32,840 and actual history, you know, dealing with real world situations, it makes sense. 367 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:37,920 You know, that's that's where people need to really pay attention because you can walk 368 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:42,640 in somewhere and somebody can tell you they're a nine time world champion or whatever and 369 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:49,840 just completely lead you down the wrong path. 370 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:55,280 If you go somewhere to learn how to box or do kickboxing, if the first thing they teach 371 00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:59,240 you is how to punch, leave because that's not what it's about. 372 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:03,000 It's about footwork, head movement, defensive skills, all of those sort of things. 373 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,760 And if I learn to or I teach someone how to move correctly and once they learn how to 374 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:19,120 move correctly, mechanically correct, then they're going to be correct and based off 375 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:24,840 of, you know, those the footwork and the head movement and all those sort of things. 376 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:29,160 So it's like today I was working with a kid who was brand new and we spent 45 minutes 377 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,200 working on footwork and head movement, you know, just teaching him the fundamentals of 378 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:38,240 how to move correctly so that when I did get to a jab and a cross, it was super easy for 379 00:22:38,240 --> 00:22:39,240 him. 380 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:40,240 He understood the mechanics. 381 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:44,240 That's sort of from the ground up type of deal. 382 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:45,240 Yeah, yeah. 383 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:49,720 I mean, that's 99 percent of human beings. 384 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:54,720 Well, when we look at it, you know, humans are the only animal born on this planet with 385 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:57,840 no self-defense instinct born into them, right? 386 00:22:57,840 --> 00:22:59,940 So if they're not taught, they're helpless. 387 00:22:59,940 --> 00:23:03,600 So we have to teach people how to move first and then we go from there. 388 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,160 That's a good point. 389 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:06,160 I like that. 390 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,800 Pat, you know, I sort of asked about everything that you've been doing, but I want to ask, 391 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:14,000 you know, what are what sort of projects are you involved with now? 392 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:19,380 Either in the fighting or outside of it. 393 00:23:19,380 --> 00:23:23,400 Just over the years, I've learned about some supplementation and things a little bit different 394 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,240 than most people, their path, I guess. 395 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,740 So I started a product with my partner, Tim James, a chemical free body. 396 00:23:30,740 --> 00:23:32,400 It's a product called Super Soldier. 397 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,720 So it's very high grade antioxidants that, you know, when we put antioxidants into our 398 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:42,440 body, we're looking to raise oxygen levels in the cells. 399 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:47,100 We're looking to remove heavy metals and synthetic chemicals that are affecting the 400 00:23:47,100 --> 00:23:48,900 immune system. 401 00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:55,880 And overall athletic performance and endurance and recovery and aiding in the mitochondria, 402 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,160 you know, being able to function correctly and cell function. 403 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:04,600 So most of the products that you're going to get off store shelves at any, you know, 404 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:11,560 any store or any supplement company store are generally going to be produced with a 405 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:17,040 lot of fillers, a lot of chemicals, a lot of garbage that don't move the needle. 406 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:23,400 And so if you really, really want to become, you know, more healthy, obviously, but a higher 407 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:27,960 level athlete, you're never going to do it with stuff that just comes from, you know, 408 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:28,960 laboratories. 409 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,960 It's just not going to happen. 410 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:37,040 Where can people, you know, find out more about this or, you know, contact you? 411 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:43,640 They can go to chemicalfreebody.com and the product is called Super Soldier. 412 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:49,880 And if they use promo code SOS, they can save 5% off the product as well. 413 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:56,400 And the SOS stands for kind of Americans' health right now overall, sending out an SOS 414 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:57,400 to everybody. 415 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:03,400 You know, because when we look at Americans in general, the obesity, the deformities, 416 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,840 the mental illness, you know, all the stuff that's happening generally can be contributed 417 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:12,960 to, you know, the chemicals and heavy metals in our environment, however they get there. 418 00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:17,120 So we have to be able to remove those from our body to be able to, you know, sustain 419 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:18,120 health. 420 00:25:18,120 --> 00:25:19,120 Mm hmm. 421 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:23,400 I mean, that's one thing they say here about Europe is that, you know, the food is so much 422 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,040 healthier than that in the US. 423 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:27,080 Well, that's the thing. 424 00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:28,080 Yeah. 425 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:29,520 And I tell this story all the time. 426 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,560 Fighters would come from all over the world and they'd go to our grocery stores in the 427 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,840 town I grew up in. 428 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,560 They would come back to the gym that night and go, now we know why Americans are all 429 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,720 disease-ridden and obese, you guys are being poisoned. 430 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,680 And it's a lot different here. 431 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,480 And so you have to at some point go, is this by design? 432 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,680 It's been going on 40, 45 years, right? 433 00:25:54,680 --> 00:26:01,760 So where are these chemicals in farming, chemicals in our food, all these sort of things are 434 00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,480 not even legal in places like Europe. 435 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:10,480 Why are they being thrown all over our soil and our crops, you know, nationwide here? 436 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:11,480 Yeah, definitely. 437 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:12,480 Yeah. 438 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:14,080 Just what you mentioned, high fructose corn syrup. 439 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,880 I know that's not legal here in Europe or at least most parts in Europe. 440 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,560 And it's in like every, every food imaginable in the US. 441 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:22,560 Yeah. 442 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:23,560 Yeah. 443 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:24,560 Yeah. 444 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:26,800 Well, Pat, I got just a few more quick questions for you. 445 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,840 One, actually, I forgot to ask this earlier on, but I know you've got a tattoo of the 446 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,640 Croatian gooder, you know, the symbol on your arm. 447 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,040 I couldn't tell if it was the left or right. 448 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:38,200 I saw a couple pictures, I guess. 449 00:26:38,200 --> 00:26:40,680 Yes, the crest on my left shoulder. 450 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:41,680 Okay. 451 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,680 When did you get that? 452 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,760 I couldn't even tell you many years ago. 453 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:48,360 Yeah, a long time ago. 454 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:49,360 It's awesome. 455 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:50,360 It's a super sick tattoo. 456 00:26:50,360 --> 00:26:52,960 I love that. 457 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:55,240 And then just last two questions here. 458 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:01,080 One piece of advice that you would give to sort of young adults? 459 00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:07,480 You know, that's yeah, do your research on what food you're putting in your body. 460 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:15,440 Find good purification system for your water, certainly in America, and be your own doctor. 461 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:22,080 Educate yourself so that you're not dependent on the system, because the system is one of 462 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:23,960 synthetic chemicals causing illness. 463 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,040 And then you go to a guy in a white lab coat and he writes you a prescription for more 464 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,800 synthetic chemicals. 465 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,920 So free yourself from the system, be your own doctor, and take care of yourself so that 466 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:38,680 you're not one of these folks walking around in public who can barely walk or have to use 467 00:27:38,680 --> 00:27:45,320 a hover around or whatever, you know, ended up mentally or physically deformed and ill 468 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,760 because they didn't know any better. 469 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,960 Well, Pat, you know, I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. 470 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:56,000 I just have one last thing that I have been asking, you know, all the guests who come 471 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:57,000 on. 472 00:27:57,000 --> 00:27:58,000 And that's just for you. 473 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,780 What makes Croatia or Croatians special? 474 00:28:02,780 --> 00:28:08,240 I think throughout their history, it's just been a, you know, a unique, tiny country that 475 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:16,600 has been able to do things like stop the Ottoman Empire in 15, what, 97 in Sysyk. 476 00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:21,240 You know, a tiny country that was the only country on the planet that could yield a basketball 477 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:26,200 team that could hang with the, you know, NBA All Stars in the Olympics, the dream team, 478 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:27,200 so to speak. 479 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,480 You know, just Croatian blood. 480 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:32,480 There's something special about it. 481 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:33,480 Awesome. 482 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:34,960 Pat, thank you again for coming here on the podcast. 483 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,960 It's been a pleasure hearing from you. 484 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:37,960 All right. 485 00:28:37,960 --> 00:29:02,960 Thank you.