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All right, welcome to the Ocean Water Podcast, the voice for Indigenous Water Rights. I'm

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here with one of my best friends today, Adam Watts. And just so I get his professional

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accomplishments correct, I'm going to let him just go over real quick. You have the

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floor, brother.

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Nothing like getting put on the spot to brag about yourself.

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I know that goes against how we grew up, but it's a new world, dude. So I need you to just

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rattle off your resume for a second.

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Okay. Well, I was a professional MMA fighter. I'm a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a

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checkmate black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I won the, for my age and weight class, I

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won the world. I'm a two-time world champion, a gi and no gi world champion. I won the national

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championships twice and I'm a Pan-American finalist as well. So yeah, I also own an MMA

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gym in Sacramento. And I now have been just transitioning from fighting to more coaching.

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So now I have a professional fight team, a coach team, I mean, amateur team and a competition

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team as well. So yes, it's fun life, brother.

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Such a good dude. And also you and Mark now own Sir Coffee together in San Clemente as

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well. Adam's got a wonderful family with Julie and Kingston and Kinsley. And it's just an

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honor to have you on, bro. But let's start with a little bit of fun. Thanks for sharing

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that. I know that's not really your Steve. I appreciate it. Just want to provide a little

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context for everyone who would be listening, you know, just like for the first time. But

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do you need a favor and what's your like, your go to order at your favorite restaurant

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here in town? Man, you know, it kind of depends on what's

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day of the week. I have so many different restaurants I like and I have my, you know,

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if I'm training or if I'm not training meals, you know, so when I'm when I'm in the middle

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of training and I'm and I'm really watching what I eat, what I eat, we definitely like

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to go over to active culture and get like a nice a nice salad or or an organic veggie

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burger or something like that, which is really good. That's really hard to beat. But then

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sometimes also on my cheat days, you know, it's really hard to beat a good guichos, a

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good guichos, some meatballs over at guichos, some good Italian food over there. And or

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when me and my wife go out to dinner, we always we always end up usually going out to out

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to Nicks. You know, it's really hard to beat that, too. So those are my those are my usually

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we kind of stick with those ones. And yeah, it kind of depends on if I'm training or if

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it's if it's a cheat day. So I know Julie eats, eats clean, too. And she she she runs.

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I'll be like out on a bike ride. I'll go like on a 25 mile bike ride and your wife will

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be in the middle of a 25 mile run. So she she eats super clean and as well. But Adam,

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do me a favor and tell tell everybody like what you're doing these days and sort of take

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a couple of minutes like how you got in. How did you get into, you know, originally like

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the MMA world, the Jiu Jitsu world? Like how did you get into that?

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Well, originally, I was bullied. I was a little kid. You know, I was a little guy that get

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puberty really late. And and so I was I was just a little runt, you know, when I was in

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high school, I think I was 72 pounds. I was the littlest kid, I think, and one of the

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littlest kids in the whole high school. And Kingston, when he was in sixth grade, he was

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like 80 pounds. He was bigger in sixth grade than I was as a freshman. You know, so, you

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know, I got bullied. And from there, I, you know, I wrestled in high school. And that

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kind of developed in my and then my my stepdad, who was just an awesome guy. And when my mom

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married him, he boxed from England. He was a boxer, a little guy, too, as well. So he

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knew how to box. And so he he started teaching me boxing in high school as well. So I wrestled

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and boxed in high school. So that was kind of already like the start of of my of mixed

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martial arts a little bit. And one of the guys that I used to always be able to take

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down all the time in high school, he started jujitsu a little bit before me. And we you

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know, we're all we're all in that nine early 90s era when we fight with UFC one, two and

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three came out. So, you know, we're in the same same same scene. I was like, what was

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that new stuff? That's called Brazilian jujitsu. And when my friend actually started doing

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it before me, and I saw his little double leg and I shot a double on him and he got

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me to guillotine choke and choked me out almost and I was like, what was that? And he was

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like, Brazilian jujitsu, my friend. And I was like, man, I need to learn that stuff.

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You know, and so from there, I started training in jujitsu in the in the late 90s, 95 9697,

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but really didn't take it serious and sit till like the early 2000s 98 2000. And then,

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and then from there, I, you know, I started training every day, you know, I was in, there

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was very few Americans doing it at that time, you know, so you're just a, you know, it was

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the, the ones that were like woven from a certain fabric who could kind of take the

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beating because it was all Brazilians, you know, doing Brazilian jujitsu and they didn't

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they didn't really speak any English, there was no YouTube channel where you could YouTube

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where you can go watch like instructional videos or there was no you can even bring your record

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you can even bring your camcorder into the tournaments to record the matches because

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they didn't want you recording their secret moves or or anything like that everything

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you had to learn was either by getting smashed by them if you were even lucky enough to

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know a Brazilian to teach you or or just things that you would learn like at tournaments by

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watching and actually really remembering or sneak sneaking in your little camera or whatever.

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That's how a lot of it ended up being a lot of the guys who sneak in their cameras and

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then when iPhones came out, that was a big change because all of a sudden now they couldn't

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force you to keep your camera out and you could record it with your phone and then and

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then all of a sudden the progression of martial arts or jujitsu started happening and then

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for me I was already teaching jujitsu at a place up here in in in San Clemente and that

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was called OC Dojo and I was way ahead of its time in the early 2000s 2004.

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I actually went up there I got invited up there I was training jujitsu already for years

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now there was very many there wasn't that many people training at that time and I went

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up there and trained Rick Bassman who owns OC Dojo was he was just a famous promoter

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and manager managed like Tank Abbott and Boss Ruth, Don Frye, Dan Severn and all sorts

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all sorts of different professional fighters and I went up there just for a class and and

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they came out after one day of rolling and they're like Adam would you like to teach

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you jujitsu for us and so I ended up teaching there numerous pro fighters through the gym

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and and then from there I started coaching all these providers and then and I was and

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then you know meeting pro fighters here and there on the mat all the time and and and

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then I had a boxing coach there too was coach Jan who's actually my partner now coach Jan

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awesome awesome guy in the fight world and that's where we met there and I'd always be

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teaching jujitsu and be watching the boxing class and he'd be teaching boxing and watching

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the jujitsu classes so we'd be watching each other and so I started working on my my standup

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game perfecting it a lot more like on the professional level with him and and then the

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guys that I was training in jujitsu that were already fighting and then I would catch and

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beat they're like Adam you're beating me why aren't you fighting you know I was going to

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school at the time and and and then next thing you know I graduated I you know I got a degree

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in education and a minor in child development from school and right when I graduated from

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college they had the like the 14 million dollar budget cut and laid off like 30,000 teachers

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it was like the you know it was it was like the worst time to get into like the teaching

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field you know it's like man this is that's what my profession is in is in and they're

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just laying off all these people so I actually got into mortgage loans and and I did it I

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was actually doing quite well I was doing really well at it and you know I'm I'm a people

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person I could talk but I didn't feel comfortable doing that I just can I could tell it just

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wasn't for me you know and it just wasn't you know and and so I just I decided that

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you know I'm just gonna put all my eggs in one basket I'm gonna teach you jujitsu I stepped

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away from from doing mortgage loans and I and I and I started fighting professionally

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you know I wanted to get some fights in and that's how my my transition into into the

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fight world happened you know and you know that was that was that was a journey in itself

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you know I I only had two pro fights you know but I had a bunch of training camps I had

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my first fight and back then you know early 2000 there was no amateur league so you just

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went straight to pro you know I of course I had like a bunch of like like smoker fights

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where we'd travel at other gyms and you know they challenge but you know getting ready

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for you say of your it's a sparring match but it was like basically a fight you know

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I did numerous ones of those with all sorts of different guys but my first pro fight was

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on paper view on King of the cage and with like nam chan all these guys that made it

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to the UFC and and and I and I just had my son Kingston so I was this is what's funny

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I'm training at OC dojo OC dojo goes out of business they're 1099 I put all my eggs into

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one basket now I'm not doing mortgage loans anymore I basically lose my job at OC does

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and I'm and I just had Kingston my first boy and and now I'm like okay I have no money

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I can't I'll file for unemployment and and these guys were gonna pay me like you know

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like you know a good amount of money for this fight and so I was I ended up I was like you

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know I'll fight you know so I go to fight and then all of a sudden that weigh-ins the

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opponent something happens with his with his uh medicals or something and and they tell

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me that uh you're you're scratched off the fight card Adam since you actually never officially

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weighed in it was it never was official and so you don't actually we don't actually have

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to pay you and at that point I already took money I was borrowing money from my friends

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you know knowing that I'm gonna get paid some money and uh and uh and then all of a sudden

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I wasn't getting gonna get paid anything you know so I'm sitting backstage you know and

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um just like just like sitting over there crying and um and all of a sudden they come

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up to me they're like you haven't left you great they're all they had this guy I was

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supposed to fight at 155 I walked around like 180 185 but I went out fight prod fight at

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155 so it was a 12-week fight camp getting ready for that you know uh and uh and then

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all of a sudden they come back to me they're Adam this guy at 170 his opponent got injured

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or he didn't get cleared his medicals didn't get cleared either and this is before there

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was like there was any rules or regulations you know they can kind of get away with this

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back in the early 2000s they're like would you want to fight him you know at 170 we'll

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still pay you what we're gonna pay you and at that time at that point I was like man

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I'll fight anybody I need this money so bad I just had my boy I was just like you know

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so I went out and I and I fought this guy and the first guy I was fighting for you got

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12 weeks to train for him and you know he backs out and then or what happened and then

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this new guy fight at 170 is cutting down from like 210 pounds you know he's this huge

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you know and and we get in the ring and I'm and I and I at weigh-ins they said you have

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to weigh at least 162 to be in the 170 class you can't beat so I had to put I'm trying

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to pound water now to get that I was I was gonna make 155 you know so now I'm trying

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to gain like seven pounds of water in like 15 minutes just trying to like guzzle I think

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I put things in my underwear like weights in there and my wallet change in it you know

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and I ended up being 162 I made weight you know but the guy with that I was fighting

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was cutting from one from 210 down to 170 so we actually go out there Herb Dean's my

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referee it's on pay-per-view you know I get out my parents all my friends are there all

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my family's there people fly out from Hawaii like everyone's there you know and and then

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they say they announced the other they knew I was the fifth fight and on the fight card

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and they announced the other guy's name and he comes out he's so big and my whole family

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stood up you know and then they're like that's Adam's opponent that's a completely different

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weight class so they all like stood back down and then all of a sudden they announced my

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name and I come running out and they're like wait Adam's fighting this guy you know he

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was enormous so I get out in the ring and I find out that you know I trained for the

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first guy regular the reg is the regular stance guy and then we get out there and find out

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the new guys a southpaw lefty and I fight and he's like six three you know 210 and he

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put on like 30 pounds after weigh-ins because he weigh-in you know the day before you fight

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you know it's 24 hours so he he goes back up to like you know like 205 you know and

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just big and and then so we go out in his first exchange he lands he's a lefty and I

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find that out like when we're standing facing up on each other he lands a big old punch

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and cuts me open and and and then he comes back again and whenever you fight a lefty

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you always want to lead with a straight right so I saw I slipped him and she righted him

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and I buckled him and that was my chance I should have jumped on him you know knowing

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now looking back on it it's always easy to be Monday morning quarterback and and you

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know and look in hindsight and what you should have done and I had a chance right there I

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should have jumped on him and took his next jujitsu as my ex was my you know as my 4k

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you know so I was I had had an opportunity and I but to be honest I was so buzzed from

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that first shot I had like 20 stitches on my eye hit me so hard and and split me I took

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a step I should have jumped on him and I took a step back to kind of like to shake it off

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and I was bleeding everywhere and and that was all the guy needed a little bit to recover

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and he recovers and bum rushes me up against the cage and I'm up on the cage and I tried

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to like push his arms up and shoot a double leg on him and and he like times just like

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the most perfect uppercut right when I was shooting in and just bomb and and literally

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like knocked me out but I wasn't really out yet I was on my knees and I was on the ground

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and I'm looking up and Herb Dean Herb Dean's my referee and the guys like right the guys

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like right here and Herb Dean's like a little bit farther away and the guy in the and I

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can't move I'm knocked out I'm in it but I'm not but I'm frozen you know I can't move

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because I'm kind of knocked out and and Herb Dean's like trying to run to get in between

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me and the guy but doesn't get there in time and and the guy just gets there right before

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Herb and lands this bomb elbow right on my face and and and my head like goes like I

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can stand that in the ground and and then Herb Dean runs on the guy and breaks him off

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and and then I went out cold I got knocked out stiff cold got taken out in the ambulance

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I have told people close to me that that Adam Watts is the best storyteller of anyone that

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I know I mean we're you have you have you always have have the best stories you are

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like this really interesting combination of world-class talent humility and the funnest

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guy you could ever want to hang out so you have you have so much to share so we'll definitely

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have like part two and three and four of this you know in in in

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I went off on a tangent there sorry about that no no I you I know please please not

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at all well we'll do we'll do parts three four and five for sure you have you have so

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much so much to say and you know so much to offer in the way of lessons out of the school

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of hard knocks to guys to people that are coming up that are half our age and that was

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a lot of the intent of why we wanted to to start to be a voice in this in this space

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and that to offer some of those some of those lessons you're a teacher at heart you teach

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over 150 students but it share share with everybody something that you a lesson something

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that you know now that you wish you knew when you started out is there anything that comes

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to mind like something you know it's okay it's okay to look bad it's okay to look bad

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to look bad when you're to do it when you're doing something new that was something that

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I wish when I when I was when I was first starting I didn't want to I didn't want to

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let people down I didn't want to look bad in front of people you know and I felt like

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that you know like anything I don't want to be I don't want to be a dork you know I don't

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want to look like some poop out there and be like oh I don't want to go surf and then

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have everyone make fun of me because look at that guy look how he's look how he's holding

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his board look how he's wearing his I could just tell by someone how they wear their shorts

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whether or not they've been surfing whether they thought they could surf or not you know

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and I know what that is like or same in jujitsu you know I could just tell how they step on

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the mat whether or not if they've been rolling or not so and it's and but as I look back

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on it it's like who cares who cares you know that's it just comes down to just just having

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fun and and learning you know and what and earlier in my career I think that might have

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helped me back a little bit you know because I didn't want to look bad I didn't want to

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look bad in front of people so the biggest going back to maybe that MMA story right there

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I got knocked out in front of on pay-per-view in front of all my friends and family and

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I got taken out on a stretcher and I mean it couldn't it doesn't get anyone worse than

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that I only go up from there you know so at that point on basically I realized it's like

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you can't care what people think you got to just do you just got to do it you know and

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you just got to do it for for you you know and everyone's accomplishing their own like

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they have their own personal fears or demons or goals that they're that they're trying

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to accomplish you know and if you let the fear of looking bad stop you you'll never

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do anything you know I used to walk around I used to walk around with this poem in my

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pocket and and it used to say is to say thousands of bullfighters ranked in rows but only one

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in their nose and that's the man that fights the bull you know thousands of bull fighters

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thousands of you have thousands of bull critics ranked in rows but only one in their nose

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and that's the man that fights the bull.

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Yeah thousands of bull critics ranked in rows but only one in their nose and that's the

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man that fights the bull because you know what it is there's so many people that are

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in the audience, oh look I've been at so many fights and I'll be in the stands you know

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be a fan you know one of our guys maybe fought earlier on the fight card and we

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go after go out afterwards we sit in the audience and they'll be like some guys

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behind me that are that have never fought in a life that are like so out

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of shape and and that are yelling at the fighter in there that are like this guy

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sucks you have no heart you know I just want to look back at that guy and I'm

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like what do you know about heart you know like what do you know you have no

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first of all you have no clue how much like like how much like courage and how

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and and how how much just how much dedication and how much work goes in

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just it's just a step foot in the ring win or lose just think just to have the

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the courage just just that just and the bravery to go into that cage when they

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lock that door and there's no rules and you're fighting in front of all it's

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easy to it's easy to get and if someone something happens on the street and you

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got to in something happens you know there's no thought process that's easy

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but when everyone knows and you sign the contract and all your friends you're

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gonna be there and all your family's gonna be there you know it's a different

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it's a different it's a different animal you know and so yeah just I think yeah

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when that happened to me it made me just realize when I lost it was like who cares

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what people think you can't get any worse than that you know and then from

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that point on it was just like you know I'm just gonna learn I'm just gonna

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grow and I'm just gonna do all these things that I want to do and and and and

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and usually the person that has on is is that is too afraid to do anything is on

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that never accomplished anything in life anyways you know so it's like there it's

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it's like you can't be afraid to start because because basically it comes down

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to just just just doing it who cares and just do it have fun everyone's

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everyone could have an opinion and you can't let it those happen yeah so if I

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was gonna say if I could look back on something in my life that I could maybe

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tell myself earlier it's like who cares what people think you know just like

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what you said about you know not being not being afraid to start ocean water

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actually we actually started it at at Fight Strong at on a on a Wednesday

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night with like a few guys it was it was you and in and me and Bobby basically

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and then you invited Jason Lusk and and it's kind of it's kind of evolved from

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there if we could make and you and I you and I and Bobby and some of the guys

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out of that first group that actually been to El Salvador already twice

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together and it can you just do me a favor and explain to everyone like what

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is your sort of understanding of like the the water situation right now in the

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world well definitely I think I think right now it's definitely a problem but

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in the future it's gonna be even bigger problem and that's where I see a lot of

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these things that's yeah we're helping right now but also we're planting seeds

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for you know in the future when you know it's overpopulation you know I see the

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people a lot of people hopefully there's gonna be a lot of people using a lot of

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pesticides which gets into our water system and things like that which means

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that the limited limits the amount of clean water you're not to get into like

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a huge like like like like big corporations taking over anything but I

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know Nestle is trying to privatize water they want to basically take over all

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water rights you know turn water into like a natural resource like like oil

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you know and I know that so they're basically and this is just from my

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person and I might be wrong but from what I read from my understanding from

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what I what I've seen it seems like they're like these big corporations

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working cahoots they allow these big comfort like Monsanto and in all these

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companies that are these huge poison companies that are using all these

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pesticides on all their farms and everything and and all that runoff goes

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into where where does it go you know it goes into our water systems you know and

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then they're Nestle wants to buy all the actually good water and allow these

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companies to poison these other places where where we actually get our water

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from you know adult which basically is gonna limit the sources of clean water

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and the only stores only clean water that's gonna be out there in the future

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I think is gonna be owned by private companies so with ocean water being on

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this on this like forefront not only is it you know allowing you know basically

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getting clean ocean water to you know local indigenous people but I think it's

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gonna be something that it's gonna be it can grow to something way bigger than

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we even imagined you know and you know going down there to El Salvador which

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is really cool seeing just just how the people lived and in what they go through

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in their daily and their daily lives and their daily struggles and and you don't

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realize how you know we here you know in the United States sometimes we take you

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know having you know you know like third world problems you know we take you know

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having water for granted you know and down there it's like they don't have

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clean water you know let's say if you only make you know 100 or 200 dollars a

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month you know and and you have to spend you know 70 to 80 dollars a month on

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fresh drinking water that's half of your salary now you know going down there and

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you know if you're able to eliminate an expense that's you know a quarter to a

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third half of your salary that is huge that is huge you know going down there

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and seeing you know this you know going I've only gone down there twice you've

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been down there you know a lot more times than me you know planting those seeds

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establishing those relationships with the locals you know and you know the

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really the real cool thing that I saw when I went down there with you is how

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you know I've traveled all over the world you know my whole life and my mom

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was a flight attendant you know so I've been I've been really fortunate you know

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and I you know I know I know how you know how tourists are treated lots of

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times when you you know when you go to a lot of these local situations and in the

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way you've established a relationship with the locals there and yeah knowing

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they know that you don't want anything you know you're giving you know and and

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you're just trying to you just it's all through love and it's all through and

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it's all through it's all through the church and and through God you know and

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they realize that you know and I can see other people come and I think last time

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we were there someone I forget who's mentioned to me might have been you or

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Bobby but but there are some other guys out in the water and we were surfing to

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with the locals and and and they were like oh look at those tourists over there

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and we were like are we tourists in there and they said to us right no you

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guys are locals you know it made us feel good I was like oh man they think because

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you're helping you know we're not just coming to the little town and taking you

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know we're going and and and with yours with the system that you've brought and

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and set up with you know with the local community and training the local

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community and and and it wasn't like I think the first time they thought maybe

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they were gonna take it with you and you're like no you're like I'm leaving

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this here and this is where you guys and and and you know it was like a big

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eye-opener for them you know and now with with this whole pandemic that's

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happening you know you know looking back on it it was like seeds that were

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planting where it was such a like a blessing in disguise for them because

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now they're one of the only water sources from what in I think all of El

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Salvador that has getting fresh fresh water you know and they're supplying a

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whole little village now with you know with water to clean their clothes clean

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their dishes to do all sorts of different things you know and and it's

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funny how just one you know God just works in mysterious ways man it's it's

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really really cool so yeah that my understanding of the water of the

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whole water situation the world is you know like I said I tried to read a lot

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you know you know my understanding might be a little different than than a lot of

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people's you know some people might agree with me some people might not you

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know but that's just my personal opinion on it and but yeah this I think

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what you're doing and and how you're bringing you know God and and just love

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to these do these little to these villages you know and not taking

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anything but just but giving and and establishing you know something that is

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a long-term sustainable foundational piece for to for any forever for any for

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any community to grow it's just awesome man I'm just real blessed to be a part

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of it you know the feelings the feelings mutual brother I mean when when you

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start years in your spot when you start to understand that the water supply in

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the world is really trying to be commoditized in other words that was the

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word yeah people are trying to gain control corporations are trying to be

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in control of the supplies and they can monetize the water system and what we're

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doing is we're saying no water is actually an indigenous person's

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fundamental right in not only that but we're gonna provide a platform for them

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to source it and so and so what what's happened now it's funny because in you're

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right I mean literally after we got to him with our last trip coven 19 but

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El Salvador on lockdown and because we left the system there and had trained

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some pop-o all 38 families that are in Palmar Cedar there are only 38 families

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in Palmar Cedar and all 30 of those families are have the ability to get

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water from our system they're taking care of some Papa's been instrumental in

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all of that not only providing water for everybody and but food as well and when

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you think about Jesus and you think about the church providing water and

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food for people is at the top of the list for for ways that we can love and

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help and and and serve other people and it's funny because we actually took a

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picture of Bobby it's with our system and somebody commented a friend of some

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Papa commented on that yesterday who lives in El Zante where we went and

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served and commented me to me yesterday less than 24 hours ago from when I'm

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talking to you right now I live in El Zante which for our listeners is seven

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miles up the road from Palmarcito I live on the river in El Zante we do come

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and bring one of these systems to me in Ozante and so people are yeah and that's

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a beautiful thing and so what what is what is what is happening now is through

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through love and friendship people are seeing what's possible when you when you

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empower and provide a platform for people to to empower indigenous that's a

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different conversation and that's one of the reasons why again guys like you and

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I now wanted to start to step into this space so that we could we could we could

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really educate you know and start to have this conversation about how

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important this this really is dude and man I want to I want to thank you Adam

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and and please dude if you'll if you'll come back on at least a few more times

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maybe we'll do once a month with you you have so much to offer from the school of

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hard knocks and experience you have so much to offer to people that are half our

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age now and and thank you dude for your time man that's like one of the most

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precious things that we can give people these days thank you so much dude in an

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um and any last words dude no worries brother yeah any dude I love you guys

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but yeah anything anytime uh yeah just basically a star strong fight strong

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finish strong guys don't give up that's the biggest thing you know just don't

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give up on the difference the only difference between a white belt and the

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black belt as a black belt is a white belt that never quit that's one thing I

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always tell my new students I'm like when you walk in the door it doesn't

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matter what you do just don't quit you know and that's the only difference in a

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black belt and a white belt as a I'm just a white belt that never gave up you

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know now 20 years later you know I got a couple world championships and you know

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and a couple of a couple cool things under my belt you know but just don't

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quit learn from all your mistakes we were the winner we learned you know it

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sounds like cliche but it's so true you know winner we learned and don't give up

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that's that's one thing that I could uh that if I could recommend all that's what

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I say to all my guys and I can remember if I can recommend anything that's what

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I would say start strong fight strong finish strong don't give up my bread us

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thank you brother ladies and gentlemen Adam Watts thank you so much brother

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love you brother