Red Hawk Essentials #2
Post UFC 281, My second gym, and my first fight.
Post UFC 281 Thoughts
What the fucking fuck. Holy shit ladies and gentlemen.
All I have to say is, Alex Pereira is a fucking freak. He made Izzy look little on Saturday night.
Every time the guy threw, it was thunderous. Everything was powerful and heavy, even his jabs looked like it could knock anyone out.
Heartbreaking for Izzy though. If he had 2-4 more seconds in that first round, he would’ve put Pereira out.
I feel like Marc Goddard could’ve let Izzy go on a bit more. Feel like the champ deserves the opportunity to go out on his shield.
I don’t know. What do you think?
Props to Alex though, he’s a fucking animal. And I’m already fucking pumped for the rematch.
But Izzy also said in his post-fight presser that he had some medical issues to take care of. If he can’t go, who would you match up with Pereira?
Someone like Khamzat would just grab hold of Pereira and smash him. So it’ll be interesting to see what the UFC does if they can’t do the rematch right away.
We also had another belt exchange hands in the women’s strawweight division.
Weili is probably my favorite girl fighter out there. She’s so fucking sick to watch.
She fights like an athletic guy. Her rhythm is good. She’s full of confidence and swagger. And she just walked Carla down the entire fight until she got the sub.
Props to Weili for getting it done.
Lastly, how can you NOT fucking love Michael Chandler?
That motherfucker comes out and goes 0 to 100 from the first second. Super explosive. And he had Dustin seriously hurt.
The commentators were saying what a good idea it was to take Dustin down. But was it?
I feel like Chandler could’ve thrown more straight shots and shots to the body when he had Dustin on the cage. But Dustin is also so good at covering up.
Dustin weathered the storm and did not accept Chandler’s takedown. It’s also hard to hold someone down when they’re both soaking wet and slick.
In the last newsletter, I predicted a 3rd round TKO by Dustin. But Dustin got the job done via submission in the 3rd.
Props to both Dustin and Michael Chandler, what a fucking fight.
Other notable highlights of the night:
Moicano is a fucking animal. He’s fucking scary. I think he beats the majority of guys in the top 15 right now.
Erin Blanchfield made it look easy against Molly McCann. I knew this was gonna happen. She’s so fucking skilled.
And what a legendary career for Frankie. Really tough to see him go out like that. But this sport is fucking ruthless.
Really sick night of fights.
My Journey Into MMA (Part I)
My first fight was fucking crazy.
I was an 18 year old who liked fighting and just wanted to be cool.
In Montana, you need to be 18 to get a fight. So when the day came, I made my MMA debut at 185 lbs.
Most people think because we beat people up for a living, we’re bad ass motherfuckers who are immune from fear.
Everyone who fights has felt fear. If a fighter tells you they’ve never been afraid, felt anxious, or nervous, they’re fucking lying.
Because let me tell you something. I was scared shitless at my first fight.
As soon as I stepped in there, I saw my opponent across from me.
A 6’2 athletic kid who looked like he was carved from stone. My first thought was, “Holy shit what I am doing?”
And when the bell rang, there was no turning back.
Even though I was scared, I had to fight and give it my best shot.
I ended up losing that fight.
But I told myself, I’m gonna take one more fight. If I lose again, I’m done. I’m just gonna go be a fireman.
Good news is, I won my next fight. In fact, I won my next 9 fights as an amateur. And I won the belts in both the major promotions in Montana.
This gave me all the confidence in the world to go pro.
From A Mechanic’s Garage To A Second Gym
A lot can fucking change in a few short years.
A couple years ago, our gym was an old mechanic’s garage. It was about 600 sq. ft. and we were renting it for about $900/month.
Before
After
We started there with about 15 members and slowly expanded. After a bit, we moved out of the garage and made a 2000 sq. ft. storefront our new gym. In that gym, we grew to about 60 to 70 members.
Now we have a 5,000 sq. ft. facility with a full cage and a ton of mat space. Plus, we have a full-fledged podcast studio.
But here’s the thing.
I know the $160/month membership fee is out of reach for a lot of people. Especially people with families and kids to take care of. And I know there are people out there who just need the basics and not necessarily the more advanced training we have.
So I’m taking back my old 2000 sq. ft. gym and I’m launching it as cardio kickboxing and beginners’ BJJ. And the price is only going to be $80/month.
The process has been super stressful. Especially now that I have to find new members to pay the rent. But I’m confident the gym will grow through word-of-mouth. That’s how I grew my other gym.
You can’t find BJJ for $80/month anywhere else. Plus, I think jiu-jitsu can really save your life. You never know when you’ll get put in a dangerous situation where you have to defend yourself.
I’ll keep you guys posted with updates in future issues.
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Book I’m Reading This Week
Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday
There’s no denying how discipline can transform your life.
I learned discipline from martial arts, but I’ve taken it and applied to all facets of my life. Discipline is one key ingredient to living a happy, healthy life.
Quote from the book:
Greatness isn’t what you have. It’s who you choose to become. Or who you choose to remain.
You have the ability to change yourself. Become a greater version of yourself.
Don’t listen to those dorks who say people don’t change. The only people who don’t change are people who refuse to change or are just too lazy.
Quick Hits From This Week
This is so true and powerful. I mean just look at the UFC for example. When MMA first started, people thought it was like some Fight Club shit and not a real sport. States like New York wouldn’t allow MMA events.
Now it’s a global phenomenon. MSG wants to host 2 UFC fights a year. Every pay-per-view is a sellout show. Unknown kids living rough lives transform into superstars every year.
Red Hawk Recap Ep. 63
What is smart?
Is it having a lot of money in the bank?
Is it living a healthy life and having healthy relationships even if you’re broke?
Let me know what your definition of smart is below in the comments.
Should you ignore comments on social media?
This is a tricky one. I think you have to kind of be objective when you’re looking at comments. It’s good to scroll through comments to see if a piece of content is hitting. And yeah, it’s cool to see everyone saying how much they love you. But then there are haters that are projecting their anger and shitty life on you. It can be an emotional rollercoaster.
Suga said he used negative comments to motivate him throughout the fight camp against Petr Yan. All those comments about how he had zero chance or how Yan was going to run through Sug, all of that motivated Sug to work harder. So if you don’t take negative comments personally, you can use it to motivate you and prove those haters wrong.
I’ve also seen negative comments send people into temporary depression. So if you’re sensitive with comments, I would ignore them completely. But don’t let those comments - good or bad - dictate who you are or how you feel.
We might get Slick Rick a car.
The summers in Phoenix are scorching and winters can get cold. And you know we love Slick Rick here on the pod. So I was thinking about setting up a Venmo to collect donations and throwing down $1000 of my own money to get him a car. Nothing too fancy. Maybe a 2004 Toyota Camry with working AC. Just so he can have a place to sleep.
What do you guys think? Would you throw a couple bucks toward Rick’s car fund? Let me know in the comments.
TimboSugarShow Ep. 212
UFC 281 was fucking sick.
The fights were sick. Sug and I are both heartbroken for Izzy. He was fighting the perfect fight until he got caught. Sug agrees with the stoppage. You never know what’s gonna happen to a fighter after getting knocked out cold. They may never come back the same person. Look at Dominick Reyes, the dude has been knocked out for 3 fights in a row when he looked like a world beater against Jon Jones. Of course, it’s sick to watch in the moment. But you get concussed on the hit. Then the back of your head bounces off the mat and you get concussed again. It sucks. But overall, what a fucking great card.
R.I.P. to a legend, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.
This dude was fucking scary. If you have time, go back and watch his old fights. He would sleep people with one punch. But this goes to show you, you never know what someone is going through. Rumble wasn’t very vocal about his illness, only the ones closest to him knew what was going on. I only interacted with him a few times, but from those few times I can say this: He is one of nicest human beings you’ll ever meet. So fucking sad.
Learn to have healthy thoughts.
This is one of the most important things you can do to improve your fucking life. And it’s a learned thing. I had to develop this perspective from reading books, and learning from smart people like Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferris. But seriously, if you can’t control your thoughts, your thoughts will control you.
Tweet of The Week
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That wraps it up for this week’s Red Hawk Essentials.
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What did you think about this week’s issue? Leave me a comment below.
See you on the next one.
Tim
Half way through Discipline is Destiny and never highlighted a book so much.
My definition of smart was someone who processes information quickly and uses it in Conversations/arguments/roasts etc. I always felt “slow” at this so considered myself dumb.
I think you should get Rick a small used van, big enough for a cot in the back that way he would get some privacy. Look up “stealth van” on YouTube, it’s cool to watch while ripped.
Appreciate the wisdom and inspiration Tim
Good juice, it’s acc made me happy to see this because your pod inspired me to create my content and been doing a newsletter for a while now. Can’t wait to read weekly Jobin!