#101 Vinc Pichel - UFC Lightweight

Vinc “From Hell” Pichel - UFC American Lightweight fighter. Black belt in Brazilian Jujitsu. Pichel currently trains out of Factory X MMA & Muay-Thai/ MAA/ BJJ under coach Marc Montoya. He started his MMA career with the guidance and coaching for Mark The Bear Smith and Big John McCarthy's Ultimate Training Academy and Alliance MMA. Vinc was a semifinalist on Reality TVs The Ultimate Fighter. A majority of his professional wins, have been finishes with all coming by T/KO. Pichel began his amateur career in 2009. In early 2012, Vinc was selected to be a part of the fifteenth season of The Ultimate Fighter which was taking on a live format for the first time. He would be paired up with Cody Pfister in his preliminary fight and would earn his spot in the house with a first-round submission win. Pichel would make his official UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale. Vince is now a ten-year UFC veteran and continues to climb his way up the ranks in the lightweight division. Holding a current record of 14 - 3 - 0. Tune in as Vinc joins Bobby Marshall in the studio to discuss the UFC, hunting, MMA, high leave training, life lessons, mountain life, and so much more.

Please subscribe or like us on social media platforms for updates on shows, events, and episode drops.

www.themountainsidepodcast.com

Sponsor Links

www.jockofuel.com

Mountain Side listeners receive 10% off all Jocko Fuel products! Use Code TMS10 to save.

www.ONNIT.com

Mountain Side listeners use Discount code TMS to receive 10% off ONNIT products!

www.OriginMaine.com

Mountain Side listeners receive 10% off Origin & Jocko Fuelproducts! Use Code TMS10 to save.

Other Affiliates Links

—

Listen to the podcast here

Vinc Pichel - UFC Lightweight

Our guest for this episode is UFC lightweight Vinc Pichel. We had a great time recording with Vinc. He's an absolute blast to be around. He's got a very interesting background and how he fell into the UFC. To me, he's one of the most entertaining fighters to watch in the Octagon. We drove all over the place in the conversation. Enjoy the episode.

—

It seems pretty nice.

It's a professional setup. We have an electrolysis next door.

I saw the sign there.

It was noise pollution. I was like, "What in the fuck?" This is a new studio. I don't know how many signatures are up there on the door.

It probably interferes with the frequencies of it and the signals.

It's like having your phone too close to it. Bobby kept on moving his phone farther away. He thought he was responsible for it.

I thought it was a phone or something but it ended up being our old recording system. It would pick up whatever laser blast was going on over there.

That was probably run at the same megahertz.

We record a lot on the weekends or at night. I was trying to track it down. I replaced all the fucking cables in here. Got a professional audio engineer. It was a $200 fix. He's like, "I don't fucking know." That's one thing we've got to get you to do. Remind me before you leave. We are starting a new tradition. Sign the door for us. We are finally doing this.

I signed someone else's wall too. My buddy, Chris Gutierrez, took me to the barbershop that he goes to. The dude is a big fan of fighting. He's got a pretty cool barbershop. I don't remember the name off the top of my head. I would have to look.

Jeremy is here to look stuff up. If it comes back to you, we will give them a shout-out. Is it in Denver?

It's in Downtown Denver here.

This is awesome, though. We finally got you in here. Sorry for the fucking back and forth on scheduling.

No worries. My life is hectic too. If I told you all the shit that's going on in my life, I don't know if you would even believe me. It's Crisp Barbershop.

Are they working on your mustache? That’s a nice face piece.

He told me he would. This thing right here is stock. This is untamed right here. When it goes in my mouth, I chew and spit it outside. I trim it while I eat.

You are letting people know what's up with that, for sure. I have a couple of friends that grow fucking awesome mustaches. I would consider yours to be in that category. It's part of the signature.

I feel like I started a little revolution in the gym too. We had a bunch of guys in there with mustaches now. We've got Rob Wilkinson and Rizwan, who fought in PFL. Gaurav got a stache now. My boy Asker has a stache. He shaved his though and my boy, Rafa. We've got 5 or 6 dudes in the gym rocking staches. Nick Tarpley, one of my other teammates, rocks a pretty good stache too.

There's my buddy, @Jeremiah_BlackBeard, on Instagram, Jeremiah Wilber. We have had him on. He's a former SF dude. He's fucking savage. He's an outfitter and a cowboy.

His name sounds familiar. I probably followed him or something.

He's a rad dude. You would probably get along well. My other buddy, Eric Martinez, has had the handlebar forever. He's a Southern California kid too. He's a good dude. Hopefully, I'm going to run into him. He's an old rock and roll touring buddy of mine.

Are you a concert buddy?

We used to fucking do all kinds of gigs and shit together back in the day.

You used to work with him. You are a grip.

I did a rock and roll touring but I've done a little grip work. I've worked on a few movies but nothing super cool. I did Pitch Perfect 3 and Fast and Furious 7.

That's not what I was expecting you to rock off with.

They brought me in to be a consultant on the staging side. They wanted the bands.

You are not just a pretty face.

They didn't put me on camera. It was all brains, no mug. We all have our uses. You have those iconic mustaches too. One of my favorite films is Tombstone. Maybe that's why.

That was a big inspiration for me. Kurt Russell was in that.

Sam Elliott.

His is unbelievably thick. That shit is crazy. He's going to have to cut an extra couple of pounds from that bad boy. I made a funny post about that one. I was cutting weight last time. I was like, "I'm going to cut a couple of pounds from this fucking stache. I'm going to trim this thing next time." That's a manstache right there. You've got to feed that thing separately.

We've got to get Jeremiah back in here. He's a fucking good time. He's a savage too. They are great people.

There's Chris Gutierrez right there. This is the barbershop I was at. He's got a skate shop in there. The dude is fucking cool shit too. He's a smart guy.

I got picked on a lot when I was younger. I was the poor kid that wore ripped-up clothes and had the mullet.

I wish I had hair to cut. I've just cut my own. I got the convertible going.

He will find something to cut, I'm sure.

Maybe it's the beard.

I told him about this. He's like, "Let me hook up that stache." I was like, "I just let this thing grow wild but I will let you."

Do you ever wax it at all?

I have to let some wax in done a little bit. I've got this cedar-smelling wax. I love the smell of it, honestly. That's the only reason why I use it.

I'm big on beard oils.

Does it get itchy for you? Is that why?

I have some beard creams and oils. Every Man Jack sent me some shit. It's awesome. It's all-natural. This isn't a commercial. It fucking works. It's got a little pumper. I put a little bit in the morning. It helps me.

I wish I had known about that or thought about that when I was growing mine because it was super itchy. Immediately at first, I probably shouldn't have been near a school when I was growing it because I grew the stache out. I didn't even grow a beard and then cut it. The first time I had was when I fought Gregor. When I fought Gregor Gillespie, it was the first time I rocked the stache. I couldn't even grow like this, honestly. It was still in his baby phase. I wish I would have had something like that because it was itchy as shit. I remember it all the time. I was like, "I'm going to shave this thing. It's bothering me." People thought I had an issue or a skin thing going on.

Does it ever get in the way of you fighting it all?

No, because it honestly perfectly hangs over both my bottom and top lip. It doesn't get to my mouth when I'm doing stuff like that, just when I'm eating because I will catch some food on it. I will jam it in there.

It's the flavor saver.

Sometimes I will see what I had earlier.

I'm stoked that you are in here.

Jordan Kurtz has been here for a while.

He's a great dude. Here's a shout-out to Jordan for helping set this up. We have had him in several times. His shows go very long. That dude can talk.

He and I had gone in some talking rampages a couple of times where I'm four hours away before I've got to go. I've done his podcast. We have been outside, chilling and talking. I'm like, "It has been half an hour." We kept the cameras rolling.

It's entertaining the whole time, though. It snowballs. He's a fucking awesome dude.

I love his attention to detail in everything and how he's so involved. He's a 100% guy. When he's in something, he's in something. I admire that about him.

That is a hard trait to have too because I have a tough time with it. I'm normally one foot in and one foot out, especially when you become a father. I don't know if you have kids.

I don't have any kids but my girlfriend has a little kid that I have been taking care of for the last few years. I know what it's like but I don't personally have any kids.

That puts a damper on some of the hobbies and stuff like that, for sure. That screwed up our recording. That was my son's first football game. I set up the recording to be with you at the same time and hit you up. I hate rescheduling on people.

There's no way I'm not going to be don't like, "Go. Fuck my interview."

What a piece of shit father I would have been for not showing up.

I would have felt like a piece of shit if I had shown up here too. I will just be talking shit to you the whole time. You could have been watching good baseball.

He's playing. He came to me and was like, "I want to play with something." I was never going to push on him. I played all through high school.

It's good on you to give him something constructive to do because I was one of those kids that didn't have anything like that. I wasn't a latchkey kid but I was a street kid. I was on the streets a lot. I wish I had something to do.

I was not on the streets. I was a mountain kid. I grew up right here but we got into trouble because I didn't grow up with a dad. Luckily, I had grandfathers and shit to beat my ass and show me the ropes. I was up to no good. I'm trying to beat that for him. At points, I'm like, "Should I be a little harder on him?" I am when he decided he wanted to get into football. He loved throwing the ball. He loves the game. He loved catching the ball and all that. The first equipment that he ever had was that he wanted a pair of receiver gloves for the ball.

I would make him run routes and stuff but then when he decided he wanted to play football, I was like, "Let's go." We went down the hill. I bought him all the equipment like a helmet, shoulder pads, and everything and put it on him. It was a fucking blistering day. It was 90 degrees up here. I took them out on an AstroTurf field. It gets extra hot. It was like, "Catch the football. You are going to run sprints." I was doing ups and downs. I was running the Oklahoma drill with him. It was good for me too. It was keeping me in shape.

That gave you some horrible memories with some good smiles.

I was trying to run sprints with him and shit. I was like, "What am I doing?" When I woke up the next morning, my hamstring was all fucking tight.

While you were telling the story, I was like, "Please tell me you gave him the rough lesson of sports and what it's all about because that's going to be a crash course for him right there."

He got it that weekend his very first play lined up against this kid that was much larger than him, who probably had 50 pounds on him. He got knocked on his ass pretty hard right out of the gate. He's playing defensive but then after that, he surprised me. He turned it up. He's like, "These guys are playing." He ended up having to step back. I was proud of him. For your background, you mentioned growing up in California.

Vinc Pichel: Colorado is what California used to be before California turned the way it did. California went from gaining a couple hundred thousand people annually to losing tens of thousands in the last couple of years.

I grew up in California in LA. I was born in Lancaster, California, which is the High Desert area. I grew up in Canoga Park.

That's where we did the Fast and Furious 7 racetrack out there. I spent a lot of time out there.

That's over at the AV. I grew up in Canoga Park. It was a weird time because when I was in sixth grade, that was when they were transitioning sixth grade to junior high instead of elementary school. In the valley, which is what I called LA, my sixth grade went to junior high. I went to junior high for a year and hated it. I got picked on a lot. A motherfucker flushed my head in the toilet and shit. I was small in high school. I got picked on a lot when I was younger. I was the poor kid that wore shitty ripped-up clothes and had the fucking mullet. I'm the first generation born. I hated my family. I was that to a tee. I hated it. We moved out of there to Simi Valley after the Northridge Quake, which was in '94.

Do you remember that?

I slept through the initial quake and woke up at the end. This is why I laugh about this but it's pretty nuts. I used to have this bunk bed. We lived in this three-bedroom apartment. It was me, my mom, my brother, and the three sisters. The shit was shaking. My brother and I slept in this bunk bed that was made out of wood. It was so janky, old, and shitty. He was on the top bunk.

If he scratched his nuts, that thing would shake like crazy. It's shaking. I wake up. I'm on the bottom bunk, "What the fuck is he doing up there?" It's still shaking. I'm like, "What the shit?" I started kicking it. I fall back asleep, and then it stops. All of a sudden, it started shaking again. My mom comes running in. She's like, "Get the fuck out of here." She grabs us. She's like, "Let's go."

I remember my apartment. The front door was right here. My bedroom was at the end, here to the left. Straight down, you could see down the kitchen. My kitchen had a wall that was shared with my living room. You could run around the living room and the kitchen in a complete circle. The walls were open at both ends. It was just a center wall. When my mom pulled me out of the room to go to the front door and get out, I looked and could see down the kitchen. I could see the whole fucking apartment do this shit. The cabinets were opening, and things were flying out.

I was like, "What the fuck is happening?" I've never seen anything like this before in my life. I was 10 or 11 years old. We go outside, and I don't know what's going on. Things were shaking. I think it was fun. I'm like, "This is cool." Everyone is freaking out. Everyone is outside. We were all in our designated areas because there was some plan I had no idea about. I was like, "Apparently, this happens." We were there chilling.

That happened. Our place got yellow-tagged. I don't know if anyone remembers they were green, yellow or red. With green, you were cool to live in there. With yellow, you live there if you want to. With red, you probably shouldn't live there. Ours was yellow-tagged. I remember there was a hole in our apartment where I could walk through into my neighbor's house.

It cracked the wall.

It destroyed the drywall. It came apart. I was tiny, so I could walk through the beams. My buddy, Jonathan, lived right next door. I would go to his house. We would chill and play for the next few days. We moved out of there. We moved to Simi Valley, which was Ventura County. From there, I moved out here to Denver.

How do you like it out here?

I honestly love it out here. If I'm honest, Colorado, to me, is what California used to be before it turned the way it turned.

It changed a lot. I grew up here. It wasn't Podunk. It was still a mountain community but it's a different vibe now. There are so many people. A lot of the cultures changed too. I'm not super into politics or anything but it's a lot more left than it has been ever. It seems like it's slowly going more that way like California's mentality when it comes to politics.

It's just the major cities. We are animals like any other species. We could be hurting like any other. Cities are the easiest part where we herd. That's why that happens in cities because outside of cities, you don't see that too much.

There's a shitload of people here. I wouldn't be surprised. Jeremy, maybe this is something you could look up like the population of Colorado in '92 or something. That's seven million people or more. In 1992, I was in high school then, middle school or junior high. I went to junior high school. When I was playing football, I used to have to go over to the high school to practice. I was a freshman but I was starting because I was always a big kid. I got fucking picked on a lot. I got beat up by some seniors.

When I moved to Simi, I went back to elementary school. I was in junior high in all these classes going my shit. I went back to elementary school. I was like, "This is fucking weird. I feel weird because I'm now back in elementary school. They downsized me. I feel like I got held back or something."

That is strange.

It's 5.6 million in 2022. In 2012, it was four and a half million. That's a million more in ten years.

Is there a bigger graph? Can you go back to the '90s? That's insane.

California went from gaining a couple of hundred thousand people a year to losing tens of thousands in the last couple of years.

I know so many people that have left. It has doubled.

Not quite. You are half a mil short.

It makes a lot of sense. It was a different place.

We are like cockroaches. You can't get rid of us.

Even in the '90s, I fell in love with California punk rock. In the '90s, LA was not a good spot. It was pretty rough. There was gang stuff. You had the Rodney King shit going on.

There was a lot of transitioning between the different groups of people who were ending up there and trying to make their stake in the place. Everyone was like, "This is our fucking area." "That's our area. We were here first." "We're here now." I used to see a lot of fights between gangs and even punkers too. We would be out somewhere, and I would see a group of dudes with mohawks, chains, and shit fighting sometimes. It looks like Anchorman. It's pretty nuts.

It's wild. It was a lot more affordable here back then. You could get a fucking nice house here for under $500,000 or even under $300,000. It would buy you an amazing piece of property. A bunch of my friends were from Southern California like the LA area. They were all into skating and punk rock music.

That was my scene.

I figured out about Black Flag. We were trying to skate up here in the grocery store and parking lots and getting kicked out of those. Now, they have a skate park here but it was way different. Kids are trying to be city kids.

It's the transition of the cultures. I used to love skateboarding. That was a big thing for me when I was younger. That's what kept me away from drugs until I quit skating.

It kept me out of some trouble too. Dirt bikes did for sure too. I am so fortunate that my grandfather bought me a dirt bike. That was one thing that they always made sure I had. I didn't have a whole lot of toys or nice clothes. They always made sure I had decent shoes. The dirt bike got me in some trouble too riding where you are not supposed to like in golf courses. It was fun. A bunch of the kids that moved from Southern California were into MOTO and Fleshwound Films. I don't know if you are familiar with that or Crusty Demons of Dirt or something like that.

Crusty Demons were the old videos.

Those were pre-Metal Mulisha. That was before they turned themselves into Metal Mulisha and did that little thing with them.

People do some crazy stuff. There's something about doing one of those things.

I used to know this guy, Mark The Bear Smith. He's the one who got me into fighting. He used to train with those dudes. He used to train those guys, Deegan, Twitch, and all those boys. I met them when I was younger through him. I met Twitch again through Ross Pearson because Ross hangs out with those dudes too. Twitch was like, "I fucking met you before." I was like, "Do you remember meeting me?" I was tiny.

He's a good dude. I've done a bunch with him. One of the first large production tours that I did was Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam. I was on tour with a lot of those guys like Ronnie Faisst, Mad Mike Jones, and Carey Hart. Deegan was on it. I don't think Twitch was around then. He came a little bit later. I did all kinds of stuff for Monster Energy and a bunch of these energy drink companies. They were always out at those things. We were hanging out.

Those guys have been friends since they were kids too.

They are good people. My buddy, Mickey Diamond, was one of the original Crusty dudes. He's still a good friend. We keep up pretty regularly. I love being around that too. That's such a fun sport to be around.

It's the energy that's involved in it. That's why I'm super attracted to sports like that and anything dangerous. I'm an adrenaline junkie person. I like motocross and skydiving. These guys are downhill mountain bikers and rock climbers. I love watching, seeing, learning, and doing. I don't like fucking doing that shit. People call me crazy but these dudes are nuts.

Alex Honnold did National Geographic. He free-climbed Yosemite with no ropes or anything. You need to watch that.

There's one on Netflix that I watched. It's about this twenty-year-old Canadian kid that died mountain climbing. He was a free ice climber. He went out there with a pickax. He broke records. It's The Alpinist. That documentary fucked me up. The ending is not what I thought it was. I cried a little bit but it was a good documentary about him. I enjoyed that a lot. I thought this was a good documentary.

These are wild. We have had some professional climbers in.

These motherfuckers are nuts. You will never fucking see me do this. Leave these guys. I will fight anybody but I will never climb a mountain like that.

A lot of it is in the alps.

He's an unsuspecting dude. He looks like the dorkiest dude you've ever run across in your life but he is a monster at climbing mountains. That's so nuts. You don't look down.

Some of these dudes are on the spectrum a little bit.

Look up the deal with Alex Honnold. They did a CAT scan on his brain. They were like, "You do not register fear at all. There are no receptors."

This might sound weird but I don't think people who are autistic are handicapped or anything like that.

They are superhuman.

Something is triggered differently in their brain. Although they might not be able to articulate and some things are off, some things that they do are superhuman. That's a fact. That's crazy to me. Maybe that's evolution doing something and trying to make a jump. Who knows? I've got all kinds of crazy thoughts about that shit. How high was that son of a bitch? Fuck that.

I will do that and jump into some water.

You need to watch that one. Jeremy, look up the National Geographic one.

Is it the one from Alex Honnold? You have to watch the one from Jimmy Chin.

He's an interesting dude. In any interviews, he has ever been on or anything, he's super calm. Free Solo is what it is. They did a good job filming.

Where can I watch that?

It's probably on YouTube.

It's on Nat Geo. It's on YouTube, Netflix or something like that, I would imagine. They crushed it.

This stuff is interesting. I was reading the story too about this guy. His name was John Jones. He died in Utah. He was a Sri Lankan cave dweller. He went to the Nutty Putty Cave, which is this crazy cave. I looked at it and was like, "I'm not fucking going in there. Why would you want to go in there?" People do this shit. He did it and got stuck in there because he made a wrong turn somehow. He ended up upside down, hanging with 1 arm in front of him and 1 arm behind him stuck. He was wedged there. If he weren’t wedged, he would have fallen down who knows how far. Where he was, was uncharted.

They took 27 hours to pull this guy out. They got a police system in there. They got dudes in there drilling holes and putting poles in the walls. They were pulling him out. They got him out. Something happened with the police. One of the lines snapped. He fell down back in there. When he fell back down where he was, he fell back down even worse and was wedged so bad this time that his breathing was not only restricted but was getting cut off. He died. The Nutty Putty Cave in Utah is sealed off as his grave. You can't even go in there anymore. It used to be a public thing.

They couldn't recover the body.

They left him in there. That's his grave now. They sealed it off. No more public cave dwellers can go in there anymore and do anything. They used to have search and rescue people out there all the time for people that got stuck that would pull them out and whatnot.

I don't have any desire to do caves.

There are photos of the cave that he was in. Look at this cave.

Why would you want to go there?

I have nightmares about shit like that.

I don't feel like I'm claustrophobic. I could be in tight spaces but if I can't move in a tight space, I freak the fuck out.

There are certain ways that I don't want to die. That is on the top of the fucking list.

In the very center, that's the last photo they have of him right there with feet sticking out. That's the last one or they have him. That's him wedged. Isn't that crazy?

Vinc Pichel: The Nutty Putty Cave in Utah has been closed to the public after a 26-year-old caver got hopelessly trapped upside down inside a narrow fissure and couldn't be rescued. It was sealed off as his grave.

Some people dedicate their lives to odd things like this. They are not doing it for the money. There's no other real drive.

That's better than drugs for some people.

The guy got mauled. He's making the video, and his face is hanging.

He was named the bears and shit. He thought they were his friends until they ate his ass.

He eventually died.

They eat you alive. They would hold you down and bites you off.

They can eat you as you are.

If you've ever seen him eat a moose.

They will bite you in the neck and paralyze you too, so you can't fucking run.

I would much rather have to deal with a mountain lion. They are going to kill you first before they eat you. We are so soft as humans. We think we are invincible but we have these amazing minds. At least we can outwit some shit because if not, we would be fucked.

We are so powerful but fragile.

You see so many stupid people that are in Yellowstone with their phones out or somebody like this that is trying to live with fucking grizzly bears. What do you think is going to happen?

It's crazy but how many times has he survived before that?

You get too comfortable.

He probably thought he was invincible. There’s a footage of it?

There's a strong stache right there.

That must be the pilot.

It is.

He looks like he's from Chicago.

That fucker is packing here.

He's off his rocker.

In that picture where he's got his glasses on, it reminds me of Jeff Daniels in Dumb and Dumber for some reason.

He's fucking swimming with grizzlies. He had a little fox as a pet too or something. He's a white Mowgli. People do some crazy stuff.

I'm intrigued by it too. I enjoy that shit as well.

There's something about seeing one of those things. If you've ever seen them in the wild, that pucker factor puts you in your spot. The only other time that I've gotten that feeling is being in the Pacific. I used to stand-up paddleboard. I lived in Hermosa Beach for many years. When the gray whales would migrate, we would go out and paddle next to them. We called it harpooning but it wasn't. We are not out there harpooning. If you look back, it's in Hawaiian native culture. That's how surfing originated. They would go out on these boards. I could be wrong.

They would harpoon off of a board. They would kill a whale and cut all this whale meat off. When they were coming back to shore, they would ride the waves. They were celebrating. The tribe knew. I don't know if that's factual or not but that's what some old stand-up paddlers had told me when I told them they were lazy old dudes. They got me into it. We would go out at first light. The water is like glass. You were seeing one of those things swim underneath you. It's bigger than a fucking school bus. They were huge.

They could swallow you and not even know they swallowed you.

It's unnerving. You talk about knee-knocking.

There's a picture of a little boat in the ocean. It's not a small boat. It's maybe a 20 to 30-foot boat. There's a damn whale underneath it. That boat looks like a little piece of shit. I was like, "That's the reason why we don't go in the ocean. That's the reason why we know more about space than we do about the ocean. It's because of things like this motherfucker."

There was only one time I'm pretty sure I saw a white shark because I had seen a lot of dolphins. The dolphins would swim up to you. Sometimes it was awesome. They would swim upside down underneath you while you were paddling once you got out there. It's super cool. I had seen baby dolphins with their moms in the harbor and stuff. Marine life is so badass but I'm pretty sure I saw a white shark at some point. It was either that or a dolphin that had a fucked up fin. Probably my biggest fear is getting eaten by a shark. We were talking about that on the last episode we recorded with my buddy, Andy. He's a former SEAL. They did all these dive missions, training, and shit.

He probably saw some crazy shit on the water.

He's like, "Fuck that." Getting eaten by a shark is the worst. It has to be one of the worst ways to go.

When I fought in New Zealand, I had a buddy, Brandon, who was a park ranger. He took me out venturing off and stuff. He drove by this beach. I was like, "It's a pretty good beach. It's a good little run. I could probably jog and get some workout in because I'm training for my fight still." He's like, "That's good. Stay out of the water if you see fishermen." I'm like, "Why?" He's like, "Before you came here, we had a tragedy. Some fishermen were throwing chum in the water trying to attract fish to go fishing."

There was a swimmer who was a triathlete who was always over there. There's a rock way out there. The rock was probably 100 meters. This dude would swim around the rock and come back. He would run up and down the beach and then swim around the rock. That was his little thing. He didn't see the fishermen there on the backside of that rock with their boats throwing chum in the water. The dude was swimming around and sees the fishermen. There's a shark in there now because the shark smells the blood.

Fighting was what I wanted to do. I didn't want to work because my life was rough, and I didn't get to play a whole lot as a kid.

He showed me the papers. The fishermen were there. They saw the swimmer. The next thing they saw was a shark that jumped out of the water, grabbed the fisherman, and leaped out of the water with the fisherman in his mouth. They see the fishermen looking at the fisherman like, "Help me," as he's going back into the water in the shark's mouth. I'm like, "Are you serious?" He's like, "Stay out of the water." I'm like, "That's fucking nuts."

This is a while ago.

I saw this. He was telling them to get out of the water.

Did he live?

No.

Was this in Florida?

This is Australia.

I have been to Australia. When we were there, there was a shark attack on the beach.

That's where all the craziest and most violent great whites are. Those are the sharks that jumped out of the water. I found that out too because I did some research.

I have been to South Africa. It's one of my favorite spots in the world. I thought about buying some property down there.

I have been to Northern Africa. It's not that nice.

That's a whole different story. I was into surfing, stand-up paddle, and stuff. We had a show down there or a festival. It was awesome. I ended up staying an extra week. I went to all these little surf towns. One of them was Muizenberg. If you read the surf report, sometimes they will have a shark warning. Normally, it's jokingly because surfers don't care all that much. It said, "Meat on a stick, shark popsicle or something." Shark attacks happened all the time. I was like, "I've got to go see this." It's break after break. There were perfect waves.

I wanted to check it out. I took this cab ride for 45 minutes. We went through some crazy tribal villages. They weren't tribal villages but super Third World-type villages. They were carrying buckets of water. It was cool. The people were all nice and stuff. I was giving out candy and some other shit that I brought. The taxi cab driver handed me a bag of candy. It's a toll to go through some of these spots. The kids run up to the car and you are like fucking Santa Claus or something.

Otherwise, what happens? Do the kids throw bottles at you or shit?

They might fuck you up. It's a hard life out there. They are trying to provide food for themselves and clean water, if they even have that. I got to this little German town of Muizenberg. It was awesome. It was a beautiful little spot. I look out, and there are hundreds of surfers in the water. I was like, "I've traveled all this way. I cannot-not go rent a surfboard and at least surf." My chances are pretty good. It's at least 1 in 100. The day after I left, I surfed all day. I had a fucking blast. The waves were so easy for me to get in and out of. It was incredible surfing, and somebody got munched by a white shark. We did one of those shark tours where they take you out on a boat down there.

Is it with a glass bottom?

They drag a dummy behind it. The sharks fucking breached. We were only able to get a few sharks. They were very big.

Does it jerk on the boat?

No, but it is frightening because you don't know what's coming. It's like a gunshot. All of a sudden, there are solid 6 or 8-footers.

How much do sharks weigh? They are pretty heavy.

This is a little dummy. That's not a very big shark, either.

This guy looks nervous as fuck. He looks like Troy Aikman's nervous cousin.

It's the only place in the world where the sharks come completely out of the water.

It is down there in Australia and New Zealand. That's where the sharks are crazy. I was watching Shark Week.

It's like a competition.

Females are 4,200 to 5,000 pounds. They are jumping 10 feet out of the water.

That's my fucking GMC. There are also these tiny sharks. They are fucking frightening. They look like an alien. It's called a cookie-cutter shark. It looks like a worm. It bites a perfectly round circle out of you. It's a parasite. It lives super dark and deep. It's nocturnal. It comes out at night. It will kill great whites. It goes through like a drill.

In that third picture, it looks like it's got lipstick on.

Look at that picture of that dolphin. It cuts a perfectly round circle out of it. Sometimes there are multiple ones. They eat you alive.

They are fucking leeches.

There are killer whales.

Fuck the ocean.

If you start looking at this, you don't want to fucking go to the beach anymore, or you want to stay on the beach.

I would be more afraid if there were a giant squid, Kraken, or something like that. That trips me out that we only know 5% of our oceans or something stupid like that.

Vinc Pichel: If someone is talking shit to you and whatever, that's one thing. But if someone is being aggressive and the situation is different, you take care of yourself.

There's the megalodon or the prehistoric shark. The teeth are the size of this fucking stein over here. We got on a shark tangent. Let's get back. I've got a lot to talk to you about. We are talking about savage predators here. Speaking of that, what got you into fighting? You mentioned knowing some trainers and getting beaten up a little bit as a kid and picked on.

My story is a typical story. I'm the first generation born out here of my mom and my dad. On my dad's side are full-blood Italians. On my mom's side is Dutch-Indonesian. I didn't grow up with my dad. My dad left the first few years. I grew up an angry kid. I was super competitive. I was poor, so I was never able to play sports and stuff. When I think about it, if we were able to play sports, I don't know if I would have liked it because of the training and shit that's involved.

To me, it was a game. It was fun. That's what I wanted to do. I didn't want to work because my life was rough. Mainly, I didn't get to play a whole lot. It was shitty. I got in my first fight when I was younger. I was 5 or 7 years old. I learned how to ride a bike. I didn't have a bike of my own. When my friends would have their bikes, I would jump on their bikes, try to ride, and eat shit until I figured it out one day. One day when I figured it out, it clicked.

When I jumped off his bike and could ride the bike, I remember I was fucking hauling ass. Even my mom was like, "How the fuck do you know how to ride a bike?" I was like, "I don't know. I hit the pedal and go. I don't give a fuck." I ate shit a lot but also hauled ass on that thing. I was riding a friend's bike. My brother was getting picked on by this big ass fat kid. I was like, "What am I going to do? Fuck that shit." I was riding over there. I remember I was pissed off too because I was like, “You fucking picking up on my brother. I'm the only one who gets to beat up my brother."

I'm riding. I slam into the kid at full force with the bicycle and me. I go flying. I hit the kid. He goes flying. I get up. He's still on the ground. I'm hitting the kid, and the kid is crying. I get pulled off by my mom's boyfriend, Wayne, at the time, who is this 6'4” dude with a New York accent and a super deep voice. He was like, "What the fuck you doing over here?" He was one of those motherfuckers. He grabs me. I was like, "What the fuck are you doing?" He throws me to the ground and kicks me back inside.

It's not funny but this is a Hollywood story.

I was the asshole in his eyes because he saw me beating up the kid. Even the kid was twice my size. We go inside. They are yelling at me. I'm like, "He was picking on Tonio, my brother." They explain it because the kid's parents came over and were talking shit to my parents because I hit him on the bike. I full force hit him on the bike. The kid was fucked up. They were talking shit.

I was like, "He was picking on Tonio. I saw it. I slammed into him. What do you want me to do?" My mom was like, "Is that what happened?" My mom started cussing them. I was like, "Fuck you. Your son is a fucking piece of shit." That was my first fight. From then on, I was like, "I liked that. That was fun." When I was in first grade, I got in my first actual fist fight with two kids. I got made fun of a lot. These two kids were new to the school.

I went to a school called Limerick Elementary. I still remember my teacher. Her name was Ms. Kodani. She was a little Asian lady. She loved me but hated me because I used to curse when I was a kid. I didn't think words like piss or ass were bad words because they were normal around my environment. I didn't say fuck or shit but in those other words, I did. They were picking on me one day. I had enough. I started fighting with the taller kid.

There was a taller kid. I don't remember his name. There was a shorter and fatter Mexican kid. His name was Elias. I tackled the big kid and started punching him. The kid, Elias, tackled me and started punching me. We both got up. Him and I started punching each other until we both started crying as we were punching each other. We stopped. I jumped a 10-foot fence and ran home into the valley in LA. I live 3 or 4 miles back home. It was the 2nd or 3rd grade.

You peaced out of school.

I was crying. I was emotional. I didn't know what to do. I was lost. I didn't want to get in trouble. I was a little afraid but at the same time, I was like, "Fuck you. This only happens in this fucking place, so fuck you too." I get home and walk in the door. My door was unlocked, which was weird. I remember looking to my right. My kitchen was to the right. My mom was feeding my little sister, Nisha, who was still in the high chair at the time. My mom was like, "What the fuck are you doing here?" I told her I got into a fight at school and left. We jumped on her Cadillac. My mommy had this old '73 Cadillac Eldorado. It was a monster.

Those things are awesome. My mom had a puke green Lincoln Continental with no seatbelts. I used to have a toy truck. I would be running across the back dash. We got into an accident one time. I'm lucky I'm here.

We got hit on my mom's Cadillac too. It didn't even phase because it was made out of steel but I got fucked up. The doctors said I was going to have scoliosis and not even be able to walk when I was older but here I am. When it happened, I was twisted. I was beating up my brother in the car. We got rear-ended. We were stopped at a light. This lady was doing 60 miles an hour when she hit us. It fucked the car but didn't fuck the car up because it was steel.

Our car was fine too. That Lincoln Continental was in the '60s or '70s. It was puke green. It was a four-door.

Maybe it was a '72. The original was a '72 because the headlights were different.

That is a fucking gangster car.

The front blinkers were the tall thin ones on the side. They went vertical. Maybe it was a '72.

My uncle Jack had one of those.

That car was fucking badass. To this day, if I were to get a nice luxury car, it would be that thing. Ours wasn't nice by any means. The seats were leather but they were torn to shit. The leather fucked you up if you rubbed it. It would leather cut you. A paper cut is the worst. That seatbelt was black inside. The outside was black. If you touched a seat on a hot day, it would burn the fuck out of you. Those seatbelts would burn the shit out of you too, and leave marks on you. I got my legs slammed on that door one time because I remember that my sister shut it hard. I was getting in the back.

That is a heavy door.

I had never felt pain like that ever in my legs to this day.

We were going through an intersection on a 35-mile-an-hour street. I remember exactly where it was at. It was Bowles and Quincy or something like that. We were going through an intersection, and this lady ran a red light. I was playing in the back seat with no car seat and no nothing. I got thrown when we hit that car. It didn't fuck up the car but it threw me into the windshield. I was pinned in the windshield. The firefighters broke the rest of the windshield out to get me. My back was all cut up and shit.

You didn't get fucked up at all from it.

I'm sure it fucked up my brain a little bit. I have never been the smartest kid but I have a good time.

I was in a pretty bad accident too. I'm in a lot of accidents. I'm pretty lucky to be alive myself. I was hit by a drunk driver when I was twenty years old. It was on Halloween. That year, my grandma died. Her birthday was on Halloween. It's my omma on my mom's side. I was like, "I'm going to stay home on. I don't feel like going out." I went home. I was sleeping. I was depressed. She died a couple of months prior.

I was like, "I'm going to chill at home, smoke some weed, play some games, and relax. I don't feel like being around people or anything like that." My girlfriend at the time was like, "Let's go out and party." I had my friend, Curtis, too, who had passed away. He's like, "Let's go fucking party." I was like, "Fuck it. Let's go. I want to get cheered up anyway." We go 2 miles down the road. We were in this Toyota pickup truck. It was a single-cab pickup with a stick shift.

My buddy, Curtis, is driving. My girlfriend, Shayna, is in the middle. I'm in the passenger seat. There was no seatbelt in the center. There was not even a seat in the center. We were driving and going through a light. My buddy, Curtis, is timing the light. He was a madman driver. He drove like he was racing everywhere. Mainly, I do that too sometimes. I still to this day but he was worse than I was. I gave people fear boners. This motherfucker gives people heart attacks.

I drive aggressively. I'm an adrenaline junkie. There are some things I'm super aggressive with. I push it to the limit. Driving is one of those things. I see him time the light. Up ahead, I see this guy who's blowing a red light to turn in front of us. I'm like, "Don't go." It's already too late. He downshifted and gassed it. I reached across and grabbed his shirt to stop my girlfriend at the time from flying out the window because she didn't have a seatbelt.

When I did that, I couldn't stop and brace myself fully. I flew and hit the windshield. I hit the top crossbar. I got knocked out. I don't remember too much. I remember waking up. I'm sitting in somebody's car. I'm sitting in the back of a station wagon. A cop is flashing his lights in my face and asking me how much I had had to drink. I'm like, "Get your fucking light out of my face. I woke up twenty minutes ago."

Did the car roll?

I don't think we rolled. We just hit and spun. It was black. I wake up in the hospital. My mom and brother were there. I remember trying to talk to my mom but I couldn't. It was weird. I felt fucking trapped in my body. It wasn't coming out the way that I was meaning for it to come out. That was a scary thing for me. I was fucked up for a while. I had a severe concussion. It was to the point where any bump on me or my head would be unconscious and fall asleep somewhere.

My motor skills were fucked up too. I had to learn how to walk properly again. I couldn't walk right. I was fucked up for a little bit. I lost two years of my life in that accident. I was twenty years old before I was old enough to drink. It was pretty nuts. I had to learn how to walk again. I was like, "I wish we had a fucking car like that Cadillac when I was driving with them."

Everything has got a crumple factor. If you get in a little fender bender, your car is fucking totaled. They are plastic. There's hardly any metal in them.

When I watched Blood Sport, I was so inspired. I wanted to be the guy who's beating everybody’s ass. From an early age, I wanted to do it.

It will absorb it so much that it will pinch the driver sometimes.

You can't walk or something. That's wild. Going back, were you training for fighting at that point or anything?

No, I wasn't. Mainly, when I was younger, I wanted to fight because I watched movies like Bloodsport and Rocky. I was telling mom, "I want to fight. I want to do that."

They were doing splits on the chairs. Steven Seagal was in those movies and all that stuff.

When I watched Bloodsport, I was so inspired. I was like, "I want to win the Kumite." I want to be the guy who's like, "Fuck everybody. Fuck what you know. I will beat your ass." I want to be that guy. From an early age, I wanted to do it. My mom was always like, "I'm not paying for some kid's hospital bills when you beat him up." When I felt like I was old enough, I was 24 or 25.

How old are you now?

I’ll be 39 in 2022.

We are not that far apart. I've got a few years on you. I grew up in that same era. I'm watching First Blood. Those were kids' movies. They are rated R.

There were Michael Dudikoff movies too like American Ninja and shit. I love those movies. They are so influential. When I watch them now, I'm like, "That shit is stupid as fuck."

Do you remember Cobra?

Marion Cobretti.

Do you remember the guy who acts as the fucking serial killer?

I was watching old shit. As I used to watch Kung Fu: The Legend Continues with David Carradine. I used to watch this old show called Renegade. I don't remember the guy that used to play the part.

I know what you are talking about.

He was on a motorcycle. He was this Kung Fu guy. He would go from bars and fuck people up. It was a pointless show.

It was like a motorcycle club with Chuck Norris.

He's a one-man army fucking people and shit.

That's pretty crazy. I forgot about that.

When I was 25, I got into a fight. I got into a lot of fights when I was younger. I was at this party. I had a friend, Josh, who was smaller. He's 5'4” or 5'5”. He's a tiny guy. I was there with my girlfriend and my buddy, Curtis, at the time. We were always together at this time of my life. I see Josh. These two guys who are about my size were talking to him. I could tell he was uncomfortable.

I don't care if I know the person or not. If I see someone who's at a disadvantage or needs help, I'm going to try to help that person. I walk over there. I'm like, "What's up, Josh?" What's going on? He's like, "I'm chilling and talking to these boys." I was like, "Are you okay?" He's like, "Yeah." I was like, "I feel like you are not okay. If you need me, I will be right over there." He's okay.

The other guys was like, "He's okay. Why don't you mind your business?" I was like, "That response is the reason why I came over here. I don't like his body language. What's up? If you've got a problem with my boy, you've got a problem with me." The guy said, "Maybe we should kick your ass." I was like, "Let's go." I cracked that dude. He was on the ground, snoring.

I reach over. Some people hit his buddy. I hit his buddy. We get broken up. I get kicked out of the party. I leave. As I'm outside, there's a commotion. As I'm going to leave, there are cops ready out there. The cops are talking to me and asking me what's going on. I explained to them the whole thing. Josh corroborates my story. I'm like, "I fought. I fucking hit this dude. They had it coming."

Later on, it was Thanksgiving, Christmas or something. I'm with my girlfriend. I'm at her uncle's house. Her dad was there. Her dad is friends with the student, Mark Smith, who's the guy I was talking about earlier. He's training the Metal Mulisha guys. Mark is a hometown hero in Simi Valley. He was a fighter. He fought dudes like Dan Severn and shit like that.

Metal Mulisha used to sponsor when the UFC used to let them. Athletes get sponsored. They sponsored a bunch of dudes. I remember that. Metal Mulisha stuff was the shit back then. It was an underground thing. It was hard to get.

It was a little culty thing. You had to be part of a clique to have their shit or be cool like them. I was at this house. Mark Smith knew those two dudes. The one that I knocked out was a hapkido black belt or something. I was like, "Your boy was picking on Josh. I fucking laid him out. Fuck your boy." He goes, "Do you think you are tough? He said that you blindsided him." I was like, "We were talking face to face. He was talking shit. He said he was going to kick my ass."

The guy was lying about getting his ass kicked.

He probably told Mark I blindsided him. He recognized my girlfriend at the time because we were all friends. It's a small town. Everyone knows each other. It's the sewing circle. Mark was like, "You think you are fucking tough cheap shotting these dudes." I'm like, "I didn't get a cheap shot, that boy. He got kicked in the face." When I moved to Simi, they didn't know how to deal with me because I grew up in the valley. In the valley, I grew up rough. If someone said something to me, I didn't say anything back. I would start swinging. I'm like, "What the fuck is the point of me saying something to you? It's time to fight, then. Fuck you." I will pop them in their mouth. I will start punching people.

I was taught that the nice guy finishes last. While they are thinking about what they are going to say next, hit them in the mouth. That was the mentality that I was taught.

I was taught the same thing but I was also taught to gauge it. For instance, if someone is talking shit to you, that's one thing but if someone is being aggressive and the situation is different, then you take care of your shit. That's what I did. Mark was like, "Go to a gym. Fight some real fighters. Let's see how tough you are." I was like, "Tell me where to go." He sent me to the gym. It was called Scrap Time. I don't want to talk too much shit. Those guys were pretty shady. He's probably going to change his gym name a few times. At the time, it was called Scrap Time.

I was training there for a month. I got there. Mark was like, "Go to this place." I told the owner, "This guy sent me down here." He said, "He's my boy. I've known him for years. I've got you a deal. You come in. With $115 a month, you train." I was like, "I don't want to be taking your fucking soccer mom classes. I want to be coming in here and be trained to beat the fuck out of people because that's what I'm going to do when I come in here. I'm not coming in here to mess around. I want to make sure I'm coming in here to fight."

You have that same mentality now.

My mentality hasn't changed.

This didn't go the way that you wanted it to in the Madsen fight but I love watching you fight because you were talking shit. At one point, you were like, "You better watch out, motherfucker."

I'm so embarrassed about that because I normally do talk shit but I didn't know they mic-ed me that time. Normally, I do say things.

Vinc Pichel: Fighting is more than just a physical fight. It's a mental fight, too. It's a mind game.

Was there an audience there, then?

There was an audience there. The reason why I was talking shit to him is that he made a post on social media. It was something about how he's going to throw me around and not just skip wrestling day. I'm like, "Don't get hurt, motherfucker. I'm going to see you on this day." He ended up getting hurt and flaking out for whatever reason. I told him, "They offered me Nasrat Haqparast," who Bobby ended up fighting. I was like, "I don't want him. I want Madsen because I want to take his belt." They rebooked us.

It was a short turnaround. He was hurt, and then a couple of days later, he wasn't or something.

I'm not sure what it was. He tried to dodge me. It didn't work, honestly. It was something like that because I'm a dangerous fight for him as much as he's a dangerous fight for me.

That was a brawl. It was an exciting fight to watch.

I'm super embarrassed. I heard it and was like, "They heard me say that shit."

Rogan was commentating on it. They were fucking dying laughing. They were like, "Let's see if he can play that."

That's why I was talking shit to him. It was because of that. He made a post talking shit. I was like, "Wait." I don't know if you heard the rest because, in between the rounds, I was kicking him and punching him. I'm like, "Are you fucking tired yet, motherfucker?" That was the first time I beat a dude's ass and still lost the fight. I feel so cheated.

What round was that? It had to be the second.

That was in the very beginning, honestly. I clipped him with something. I've seen his eyes cross. I slapped him. I was like, "You better watch out, motherfucker." Looking at him makes me sick. I don't know what it is about his face.

This was a good fight. I need to go back and watch this again.

He surprised me a little bit. I was expecting him to calf kick but I wasn't expecting him to rely on it so much. I was expecting him to try to engage more in a clench with me but he didn't. I was working a lot on clench work because I wanted to clench with him and fuck him up in the clench but he didn't clench with me at all.

Does this piss you off going back and watching your film or stuff like that? Most football teams go back and watch films and stuff. Do you do that as a fighter?

I do. I've watched this back couple of times. That's why I made a post afterward. I felt more pissed off and embarrassed about myself than anything because I let my emotions get the best of me in this. I was like, "I need to fuck this dude up. I don't care where it is," instead of thinking, "This is a competition. I need to win the competition."

If you watch the fight, he wasn't holding me down at any particular time where I couldn't get up. I was trying to hit and submit him because I wanted a submission. Admittingly, I wanted to get a submission. I wanted him to be my first admission because I thought that would be a fucking stamp on that. I made a poor life choice in that aspect. I didn't get up and kept punching him more. I should have done that and not worried about it but I wanted a submission.

You were fucking close a couple of times in this.

I almost had him with that calf slicer. In the third, I popped his elbow.

You had him in a leg lock at some point.

He was hurt for almost a whole second in that calf slicer but they didn't give me any credit for that. They gave him credit for that. They didn't give me any submission attempts. I didn't get any credit for that second round at all for my control time.

That is one thing that frustrates me.

I slapped him with that right hand. I've seen his eyes cross.

As a fan, I love watching that. I've watched a lot of your fights. I have been a fan of you for quite a while before you even came to Factory X. It was like, “If Vinc was stepping in the ring, there were some fireworks that were going to go off.” I like that spiciness.

I love fighting. To me, it's more than a physical fight. It's a mental fight, too. We are in there playing physical chess. It's a mind game. This is why another big part of why all the way I was is that I could smell that motherfucker's fear. He was so afraid to be in there with me. I could see it coming out of his fucking pores. That was another part of why I was fighting him the way I was.

I didn't respect him at all. I gave him no respect in the striking. I was like, "Fuck it." He hit me 1 or 2 times. I was like, "Let's go." That's what let my pride get the best of me in that fight. It sucks. I gave him that win when I shouldn't have. That's the only thing that makes me mad about it. It's that I made a poor life choice in that aspect.

Is there a chance to run it back?

Possibly but I doubt he would take that. I doubt he would take it unless it were for something. It's a top-five position, even for a title shot. He would probably take that again but I doubt it otherwise. It's the same with Gregor. I don't think he would take that fight again, either.

It's another level.

My loss is to a fucking wrestler. I can't beat a wrestler now.

I guarantee you fucking can.

I've stomped on wrestlers but my only loss is to a wrestler.

A lot of it comes down to the judging too. It's so piss-poor and backward. We have seen many people get robbed or I have as a fan.

For instance, with Yusuff, the law is the last fucking card.

Was it a fucking draw?

Yeah. That was bullshit to me.

I don't care if I know the person or not. If I see someone at a disadvantage or need help, I will try to help that person.

It's something that they need to work on. Everybody is on their ass about it but why is it so hard? Is it because of the boxing commissions that are involved in fighting that it has to be this way?

It's honestly because of the variables. In fighting, there are too many variables. It's not like boxing, where you've got punches. If this punch hits, it hurts or doesn't. In fighting, you have takedowns, punches, kicks, and knees. You have guys who get hit that could take it sometimes. You don't know. I don't know what their actual criteria are for judging but I know a lot of it has to do with domination, positioning, and controlling. That's one. Aggression should be one. Who's the aggressor? Who's controlling it?

These things cause problems because sometimes the aggressor is the guy that's always winning. For instance, I don't think TJ Dillashaw beat Sandhagen. He was the aggressor in that fight. He had him backed up. He laid on him against the cage that whole time and controlled him but what did he do? He stalled out the position in a fight. Why is stalling legal in MMA? It's not legal in any other sport. In every other sport, you lose for stalling.

I am a major fan of the UFC. I'm not knocking anybody by any means but I got into watching a little bit of combat sambo too because they have five minutes. Those guys are fucking throwing down for those five minutes. They travel around the world to go do five minutes, and that's all they have. There's some headgear and different stuff. It's not quite to this level.

My buddy, Zac Haynes, is an incredible combat sambo national champion. He's fighting worlds and stuff. There's some of that feeling out. I can't speak for any of this. This is my other issue with the UFC. The fans are so critical about shit. They are sitting in their armchairs and quarterbacking a lot of it. I don't want to come off like I'm doing that. Who did Rose fight last?

She lost her title to Esparza.

There were maybe twenty strikes in it. They were feeling each other out the whole time. That's my issue in a lot of first rounds but then you get somebody like Justin Gaethje or you. There are going to be fireworks right out of the gate.

Sometimes guys will walk through the fire for a tan. It's hard. Honestly, I talk shit about the judges a lot and some referees and whatnot but they do have a hard job. I wish they would do a little better sometimes too but what do you do? You make them have experience in it. How do they do that? They involve themselves in the world. They become part of the fighting. They train and fight to compete.

Could it be old fighters? That was one of my thoughts. Could it be retired guys that don't want to get into commentary? They want to be around the sport.

This is where I was leading. You have guys like that who have been in it and competed but then what happens when they are judging? They are biased towards people they might know.

That's the problem because there are camps and lineages that go deep. You are talking about martial arts.

Pick your poison. What would you rather have? Would you rather have something like that and deal with super biased bullshit sometimes where it's like, "You can't even talk shit because if you talk shit, he's going to fuck you next time. He knows you too. Good luck. I hope you are not fighting one of his boys especially?" Do you deal with people who are underqualified and fucked up because they are dumb as shit and don't know what they are looking at sometimes?

What frustrates me is that I'm a dumb mountain guy that's got his head bashed in a couple of times, whether it's playing football, wrecking on dirt bikes or car accidents at five years old. I'm not the sharpest guy out there but I have fucking common sense. When I'm sitting on my couch watching a fight go that's one-sided, and it goes to a decision in the opposite direction, that's frustrating. I know a little bit about fighting but I'm not a professional. I don't train. I roll a little jiu-jitsu here or there.

That's why people like striking more because you can't do that when striking. You have to throw and go. That's why I like striking because that's the purest form of reality of truth. Let's see who has more. You are going to find out who. You can't lie about that.

That standup game is no joke.

That's why I love fighting too. You can't lie about fighting. You are going to find out the truth. The truth is going to come out right there.

It's the same with jiu-jitsu, though. You get on a jiu-jitsu mat. You can't sit there, say that you are a black belt, and then roll. There are some gyms because of my traveling around. I've gone in and rolled against black belts that were given to them and not earned. There are some white belts over some of those Gracie gyms and stuff that would pommel.

There are levels to the games because I've rolled with black belts and black belts who were actual black belts. The difference is pretty astonishing. I rode with Gilbert Burns. I've never felt so helpless in my life. I've rolled other black belts as a blue belt and purple belt, which I have strangled the shit out of. They couldn't even touch me. I've seen both sides of it too. I'm like, "That's crazy." That opened my eyes too and made me think, "Fuck a Gi. Why do I need to wear a Gi? It doesn't apply to fighting. It doesn't apply to me here." At the time, I was super young. My mentality was, “I'm not going to wear pajamas. I'm going to fight. We can't pull clothes anyway. Fuck it."

My mentality is always, "I don't want to go up in belt level, so I switch around gyms." I'm a pretty seasoned white belt.

I told my coach, Brian, that I didn't want to get belt promoted either because I would rather not be a black belt, compete with black belts, and be expected of something.

I want to earn it. That's the other part of it.

Earning is pretty nice.

There are some scenarios. I had to use it one time. Training in a Gi is helpful in some of those chokeholds in a real-life scenario. Somebody is wearing a leather jacket. They might as well be wearing a Gi top. Those collared zippers and shit are no joke.

What's funny is I started wearing a Gi a little bit. I don't wear it now religiously but I did wear a Gi, a bunch, so I could learn those things for that exact reason.

There's the spider guard-type stuff where you are holding onto somebody's sleeve. You are helpless.

I use that guard a lot when I roll jiu-jitsu.

It's fun.

Mark challenged me into this gym. It's a good but shitty story at the same time. Things in my life fell together sometimes. It's almost unbelievable. It's almost like a movie where my life has been like that on too many occasions that I can remember. Too many vital points in my life have led me to where I am. One of them is this. I get in that fight. It happens to be Mark's friend. I already knew Mark at the time but we never talked about me getting in a fight. He knew I was a punk kid. He knew I had gotten a lot of fights on the weekends and shit. I fought every weekend.

I'm going to the gym and training. I pay him $115 for the first month. We were cool. I get my ass kicked. I love it. I'm like, "This motherfucker has got superpowers that I want. Let's do this." I'm training there the next month. He's like, "It's $125." I was like, "That's $10 more." He's like, "You are doing everything. I didn't realize you were so serious. It was $125. We are going to get you fighting soon." I was like, "Here's your money." Next month he goes, "It's $135." I go, "What is it?" He goes, "The commission is charging more for this. I'm going to have to charge more because they are making me do it."

At the time, I didn't know too much about fighting or the way things worked but I did know that it was his business. No one else decides your prices in your business besides you. I was like, "This is off. Something is up. That's cool. I'm going to go. I'm done. Fuck that." He was like, "What are you talking about?" I was like, "I'm not going to pay $10 a month more every month until I'm eventually broke. Do you see where this is going?"

That's what happens in a lot of jiu-jitsu gyms. People don't realize how long it takes to become an actual fucking black belt. They've got to keep people interested. If they feel like they are making no progress, that's one of the worst feelings in the world. It's grinding and making no progress. You know about this as a professional fighter. Every professional fighter experiences this.

Every competitor feels it. We all hit plateaus in our training and skillset. That's a shitty thing to feel. I have felt that flat tail a couple of times but I've also felt big leaps and bounds.

That cuts into jiu-jitsu gyms' money because people start to fall off, "I only made it to purple belt. That's all I want to be here for."

People get satisfied and complacent. They are happy with what they've got. I'm never happy.

Vinc Pichel: Striking is the purest form of reality, of truth. You’ll find out who has more, and you can’t lie about that.

I'm glad I'm not in that business.

"I'm out of here. I'm not going to do this until I'm broke." He was like, "You are Mark's friend. Let's drop it down to 115. We will call it there." I was like, "Now that you said that, go fuck yourself. I'm out of here." I walked out. I was like, "I'm not doing this. I'm going to quit and go back to work." At the time, I was working as an electrician. I was learning how to be an electrician at the time. My buddy, Steve, who was a foreman, got me the job. I was driving from Simi Valley to Bakersfield every morning, which is a two-hour drive on my motorcycle CBR600RR with a 60-pound tool bag on the fucking back of that thing.

I was splitting lanes and doing a buck 30, so I get there quickly that I don't have to be on that fucking bike for any longer than I have to. I work my ten hours because I only work Monday through Thursday. I would ride home, take a shower, and drive back another half hour to Valencia. At the time, that was in Simi. I was still driving out the Big Sur but I was dreading that place. That place was in Simi.

When I quit there, I didn't train for a week. My buddies, Marco, Bjorn, and Casey, were there. They still train. I still have contact with them. They were like, "What are you doing?" I was like, "I'm fucking chilling at home." I was at the gym lifting again. I started lifting. Before I started training too, I was lifting. I was big. I was almost 200 pounds. I was jacked. I was a beefy motherfucker.

What do you walk around at now?

I'm pretty light now. I'm in the mid-70s or low 80s but back home in California, I was low 90s. Between 85 and 95 was my typical weight. Once I moved out here, I got light at first. I was below 70. I was like, "I have cancer or something." I was telling the coach, "What is this?" He was like, "It's the altitude. Your body will adjust. You will eventually start to gain your weight back," which I am. I'm getting my weight back. I haven't gained back to where I normally am, which I'm not too pissed off about because my weight cuts have been easy. They do not get easier over time. They get harder. They fucking suck. The only thing about fighting I don't like is the weight.

I know about that in age. I can imagine. The amount that you have to cut is fucking insane.

I will give you an example. When I fought Anthony Njokuani, I wore a weighted vest for that fight the whole training camp, so I would be a beefcake for that fight. I was walking around at 193. I cut it down to 174 or 173. I dehydrated the rest down to 55. The next day, when I fought Anthony Njokuani, I was 189 pounds. I posted a photo on my Instagram of me the next morning before I ate breakfast at 189 pounds.

That is wild. Does that fucking wreck you energy-wise?

Honestly, no. I felt a fucking shithouse. I felt so strong. Back then, we were left IV bags too. I had two IV bags. They don't allow it now. They took IVs away a couple of years ago.

Why? Is it because people are putting other shit in them?

It was a little bit of that but also, guys were relying on them too much. We are having a lot of bad weight cuts. People were going to the hospital and almost fucking dying. Their organs were shutting down. That's because they were relying too much on that IV bag afterward to get them back. They were cutting too much weight and taking their selves into that dangerous zone.

It makes a fucking world of difference. I would get one every week if I could afford it, especially when you start throwing some vitamins in there and the AD shit.

You have some BCAs in there and all that. You will be jacked. I remember feeling like absolute dog shit when I cut that way for Njokuani. I felt like I was underwater. My senses were fucked. I cut weight and get through it. I'm sitting in the hotel room. I get the IV bag. Five minutes later, I felt so good. That was the first time I ever had an IV bag too. I felt like I was fucking Superman. I was like, "Let me get another one. Hook that shit to my veins." The nurse was like, "Fuck yeah." I had one in each arm. We were plugged. They were squeezing the bags. I'm eating my peanut butter and jellies with my Goldfish and Cheez-Its and getting my weight back up. That was nice.

When I had COVID, I called up my buddy, Gunner, at Rocky Mountain IV. Here's a shout-out to those guys. They are awesome. They came up and released me up here. I was like, "I got COVID." He's like, "I will come to your house." He showed up. He's like, "I'm around all the time. I recommend this and that." He was like a drug dealer. He was like, "I would stack this one." I'm getting pillbillied. I went through an IV bag. He was like, "I recommend stacking this with this and that." I called Jeremy an hour later. I was like, "I feel better than I did before I had fucking COVID."

He's like, "You need to get in on this."

How much do you sell these things for? Can you drink them?

It was expensive. It was $500 or some shit. You start getting into those NADs and all that.

I used to have a boy that was a paramedic. He used to snag up on me.

It makes a world of difference. What's crazy is that I was dealing with plantar fasciitis for a while. I don't know if you've ever had it.

I've never had it but I know people that have.

It's not debilitating but it's the constant pain in that foot and the dick. I had 3 IVs in a matter of 10 days or something. It went away. I don't know if it was a coincidence for me not to train because I had COVID and was taking it easy.

I will be honest. When COVID first came, I was worried. I was like, "That sounds bad. If I get it, I'm going to fucking off myself because I'm not going out like that."

There are a lot of people that fucking did.

As the numbers came out, I was like, "It's not that bad."

When I got it, it was nothing. I was overweight then too pretty bad.

I infected myself. I had chickenpox myself. After a while, I was like, "I'm going to bite the bullet." I have a good immune system too. I'm one of those people that rarely get sick.

You are in fighter shape.

I'm in good shape. I took care of myself. In my eyes, when I see these pieces of shit at the CDC who don't take care of themselves trying to tell me how to live my life, I'm like, "Go fuck yourself." I infected myself with it. I got sick. It wasn't that bad. I had a pretty gnarly headache for 2 or 3 days. I didn't have bad coughing. It was mildly there. I lost my taste and my smell. That took a while to come back.

I did lose my taste but it's back now. For the longest time, I used to drink coffee like crazy. I was like, "This is fucking hot water." I'm making it stronger. I would be shaking from all the caffeine but I couldn't taste the coffee.

I got mine back in 6 to 8 months for my smell and taste to come back. I was like, "It's no big deal." My mom had it after that. I went to visit her and tried to infect myself again. I didn't get sick at all. I've had no symptoms since I've had it. I was like, "I'm going to risk it because I'm not that kind of guy." If I'm honest, without being too braggy, I'm one of those herd immunity guys that will get it and dumb it down for everybody else. I'm more than willing to fucking do that.

It makes much more sense than fucking living your life in a cave trying to hide from everybody. I know people that are going through that. I have family members that are immunocompromised and scared to death. They got those monoclonal antibodies. They breezed through it like it was nothing. You were living in fear for a year and a half.

It's like anything else. Take care of yourself. You will be all right.

That's a big part of it.

I grew up in the Valley, and it was rough. If someone said something to me, I didn't say anything back. I just started swinging.

It's something that you need to be conscious of but it's not stronger than us.

It was a wake-up call for a lot of people, including myself. That still happens, believe me. It was an eye-opener.

Our number one threat used to be our diet, honestly. There are heart diseases.

It still is for me. I struggle so fucking bad. I went through honestly a life-changing 140 days. I'm now on this diet.

You didn't have a heart attack or something, did you?

No. That was my biggest fear. Heart disease runs in my family. I'm 60% Italian. I don't know about you being Italian but my metabolism is fucking slowed way down. I used to be super active. If I ate pizza or something like that, it was constant.

I worry about that myself.

I could gain weight. It got to a point where I was going to jiu-jitsu a couple of times a week. I'm in the backcountry all the time. I'm a bow hunter. I was training for that. In the summer, I dropped some weight. Every year in my life, I was going up another 10 pounds but my activity was staying the same. It's getting older. My body is starting to slow down and stuff. I was like, "This isn't working." I tried a ketogenic diet.

Let me ask you this real quick. Did you ever take a step back and wonder? This is what I've done too. I've noticed this. I've only done it by taking a step back and realizing my actions. Do you feel like it's because you are getting older and gaining that weight? Do you feel like it's because you are getting older and doing things a little differently?

It's because of that. It's not because of the activity. I put more activity out but being a father, I'm taking a step back when the kids go to ice cream.

They can't be the only ones eating ice cream.

My daughter is trying to talk me off a cliff. I have been on the carnivore diet. I've dropped 60 pounds.

How have you been feeling?

I feel fucking great.

I know this guy, Jake, who works at BARWIS. He's a PT over at BARWIS. Here's a shout-out to BARWIS. He started on that too. He's got psoriasis and stuff. It helped him feel a lot better.

It's got autoimmune. I had nothing major skin-wise but noticed my skin had cleared up and my reaction time. The first month, I was ready to fuck up somebody. I'm a little bit spicier. I'm not afraid to say certain things sometimes. I catch myself almost. I never did roids or anything like that but you catch yourself when you are on some of those supplements, "What am I doing?"

"I'm in a mood, aren't I?"

It was hard at first but I feel fucking great. I was on blood pressure medication. That's what first spiked it. It was like, "I've got pretty good cardio."

When you want to put on things for a lot of the time, that's a different story.

Some of that 60 pounds has been some muscle mass too.

That comes with it too. That's part of it. That's not a bad thing.

I feel better. I went in and got a bunch of blood work done. I've got the SpectraCell. Here's a shout-out to Marc Montoya for turning me onto some stuff. I called him up. I was like, "I've dropped a bunch of weight. I'm on this crazy diet. I want to make sure that I'm taking care of myself and I'm not fucking myself up long-term." I've got some awesome doctors that have been helping me out. I got a bunch of blood work. I'm waiting for that to come back. I'm not selling it to everybody yet.

You better watch out for 23andMe. Those fucking guys are slinging all kinds of DNA.

I've got to see what's up but if it's fucking work. I feel good and strong.

That's good for you. I'm glad. That's good to hear.

I needed to do something. It was a drastic step. For me, the best part of it, aside from losing all the weight and stuff, is having the mental discipline to not fucking touch a potato chip or even my daughter. I will taste his ice cream. I'm like, "No, baby."

It makes you feel a lot better too.

Steak and Element slushies are it. That's all I'm eating.

Element slushies are savage. Those things are good.

There's one thing. If you are considering doing it, you've got to watch your salt intake to make sure that you are getting salt because, in your everyday food, there's plenty of salt to get by.

What meats are you eating? Do you eat fish and chicken or red meat mainly?

When I first started it, I was eating like a savage. There was fucking bacon, chicken, and steak. I have a bunch of wild games. I was eating a lot of that. I consider it more than the carnivore diet and elimination diet. Once I get the SpectraCell blood work back, it tells you vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. I'm hoping that I can add some fruits and some of that back in.

Did you take one of those tests?

I did.

Vinc Pichel: Sometimes, you need to take a step back and realize your own actions.

Let me give you a little insight into my thought process about those tests. I like those tests because they give you that stuff but I don't like that they take one test. It's just that one test. When you get that test back, they are going to say, "You are low on this. You are good on this." Let's say you take another test. That test is going to come out completely different than what that is because you don't have a guideline or a base. What you are eating in your daily life will alter that test drastically as far as what you will get. If you are going to do those tests, I recommend doing them probably once a week for a month. That way, you have a good steady thing over some course of time.

It was expensive too.

That's what sucks about it but that's how you are going to get a good benefit from that. That's why they are called a fucking medical field of practice. These motherfuckers are doing what they feel like doing.

It's guesswork sometimes.

That's how they get away with a lot of shit. Doctors fucking hate me because I do shit like that. When they do tests, I'm like, "You are not giving me one test, and that's going to be that because that's bullshit." We need to control it. We need some actual tasks to go against that control, so we know what the reality is.

The plan is to do this 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 times but probably not that close.

How much do they charge you for those tests?

Luckily, I've got somebody hooking me up.

Maybe it's even once a month.

It's a doctor that choked me out a couple of times. He's a badass. He's a good guy. We are fucking working on that. I found out that if I eat fish, I don't feel as satisfied or as good. If I eat beef steak, I feel great. If I eat pork, I don't feel that good. If I eat chicken, it's good but I'm not satisfied. If I have a ribeye as opposed to a filet, I have way more energy when I eat a ribeye. It was an elimination-type thing, and figuring out how my body reacts to it.

When you look at food as fuel as opposed to pleasure, it's different. Luckily, Shawn Baker, the doctor that I was working with, was like, "Pay attention to what makes you feel good and what doesn't. I'm not saying you have to stay on the carnivore diet. Everybody's body is different. Everybody works a little bit differently." When I notice a drastic jump if I eat elk or deer, it's tenfold. I feel way better than I do when I eat a beef steak.

You are eating hunted game, not store-bought shit. That's also better meat. That's probably a big part of it as well.

I've got some awesome beef suppliers here too. Colorado Craft Beef is awesome. They are right here. It's local. You can go to his fucking ranch and get half a cow.

I heard there was a restaurant that serves wild game meat.

There are a couple of them. Here's the problem with that though. I'm not speaking for these ones. A lot of that wild game meat that you buy in the store comes from New Zealand. It's killed, butchered, and then shipped all the way across. Maybe they were farm-raised. To me, there's no better way to get your meat than hunting it.

That was a big thing why I wanted to come out here too. Another perk of me moving out here is to do that. I've got my hunting license. I've got my rifle in the car. I'm going to go to zero my scope. That's why I asked you about a shooting range.

Did you draw any big game tags?

Not yet.

Did you go over the counter?

Yes. I've got the thing. I have a small game, so I could shoot.

If you need any help on how the system works or trying to figure it out, Mark is a fucking great guy.

I hit him up too because I want to go hunting with him.

He's a savage. Did you see the bull he killed in 2021?

I want to get a bow too, so I could go bow hunting.

That's what I'm into. I don't hunt with a rifle.

I want to do both because I'm going to go bear hunting too. I don't know if I would trust a bow to go bear hunting with.

The thing about a bow is that it's like a martial art. You would have to put in the time and get good at it. There are multiple different ways that you can go. You can go traditional, which is super primitive. You can go straight primitive as Donnie does but I choose the latter to shoot a compound because I still travel. I can't travel everywhere with my bow. You have to put in reps and train. That's one of the things that I focus on. My main thing is shooting my bow. It's good mentally. Let's go shoot. I will take you down to a range. They will set you up with a bow. I've taken Jeremy down. He doesn't own one. They will give you one off-the-shelf and let you try or rent it. Did we rent at no limits? How did we do that?

We rented one.

They set you up to your draw length. That's a nice bow and all that stuff.

It was a great experience. It was fun going the first time. I've never done it before.

It's fucking addictive.

I only did archery 1 or 2 times. It was when I was in summer camps or shit like that. That's the only time I ever got to shoot a bow.

That's different because that's traditional. I'm not knocking that but I prefer to shoot a compound because it's easier to control. I get bashed all the time for saying this but I'm being fucking truthful. I enjoy shooting foam targets more than I enjoy hunting because I'm not a trophy hunter. I'm a meat hunter. I enjoy the process of it. I have so much fun.

We go to these 3D courses. It's 3D foam animals that are set up in the trees as they would be in real scenarios. Some of the shots are off of cliffs. There will be mountain goats, grizzly bears, and black bears. It's the full-size bison, moose, and caribou. You are shooting through trees. It's uneven terrain. You score it like golf. It's a lot of fun to go out with a buddy.

I was trained to fight, not to mess around. But one time, I let my emotions get the best of me. Instead of thinking this is a competition, and I need to win the competition, I messed the guy up.

Do they have little targets on them if you want to hit them in the lung?

There are different associations that score it in different ways but they have vital signs as part of the target. If you hit it in the heart, you get twelve points. If you hit it a little outside the heart or on liver-type areas, that's ten. If you hit it anywhere in the vitals, that's an eight. If you hit it in the body, it's a five. A miss is a zero. You go through the course and shoot twenty targets. Two hundred forty would be your best score. If you shoot 200, it's pretty good. Some of the shots are way out there. Mark has been talking about coming out with me to American Bowmen.

Is it an indoor place?

It's outdoor. It's 50 acres. It's private. It's awesome. There are 40-plus targets.

I want to do that. That sounds like a lot of fun.

I have been trying to get Jeremy to come out too. I want everybody to come out. Let's do it. We will do it for sure.

I'm down.

It's fun and addictive. You are going to spend a little bit of money getting set up but it's worth it.

Everything costs money.

You can go down and retrieve your arrows. You don't have to buy more bullets.

It's like a golf range.

I take that back. You start going up to the American Bowmen. They set up a mountain goat behind a rock face. If you miss the target, your arrow is fucked. You can spend up to $20 an arrow if you wanted to. Mine is about $15 apiece. Once you start shooting good with a compound, you can dial it into where you Robinhood an arrow. It's where one arrow goes into the back of it. For the first couple, I hung it on the wall. Once it happens a couple of times, you are like, "There goes $15."

“I've got damn good aim but I'm going to buy an arrow.”

It's still cool.

I used to work with this guy, Tyler, who used to bring his compound belt with him on the job. One day, we were working on this avocado farm. This is how I found out he brought the bow with him everywhere he went. As we were working on this avocado farm, the avocado guy was like, "Whatever avocados you want, they are yours. Go ahead and take them. Don't pick them out of the trees. Take the ones off the floor." I'm sitting there and picking up avocados.

All of a sudden, I hear a thump. I turn and look at what the fuck was that noise. He was sitting there. He's got a bone in his hand. I'm like, "Where the fuck did you get that thing from?" He's like, "This is mine. I always have it with me." I was like, "Do you carry a bow with you 24/7?" He's like, "It's always in the toolbox." I was like, "That's pretty tight. Let's shoot some shit." He had a badass bow. It had a little red dot on it and little ticks for the range.

That's how mine is. I wish I had it here. Don't tell anybody I shoot in here once in a while. It has an adjustable sight. We have range finders. You pull up your range finder and click it on the target. It will tell you how many yards it is. It compensates for the angle. You adjust the dial to what it is and pull the trigger. There's a lot more that goes into it than that. The engineering that's behind some of that, the speed, and how fast it is, it's crazy.

The first time I pulled one back on a compound bow, it was like, "That's pretty crazy." It's hard to pull back, rather. You have to pull that string back. Once it's there, it locks.

As soon as you get over that cam, it's pretty nothing. It's 80% led off.

That surprised me. There's not much tension in it. I was like, "This thing shoots the air that fast."

Marc Montoya is a big bow hunter. When he comes in, that's what we talk about. We don't even get into the fighting all that much. The last time he was in, we talked about hunting the whole time. That guy is such a savage. I love that dude.

He's the one that helped me do the steps to get my hunting license. I got my fishing license too because I'm super outdoorsy. I'm solely into that. I bought a bunch of hiking gear and shit. I could live in the woods for a week if I wanted to. I have all my shit ready to go.

There's something about connecting with nature. Living in a spot like this, there are so many places to fucking do it. We have so much public land. California is a great spot for that too if you live somewhere close to a mountain.

There are very many mountains. Whitney is the biggest mountain.

From Lancaster, you could be in Mammoth in 3 or 4 hours. That's fucking incredible.

That wasn't too bad. Mammoth is beautiful too. There's awesome snow because, other than that, we have Mountain High. Mountain High has that shitty ass man-made snow where they are squirting water in there and hoping it freezes. The ice is over as soon as it touches the ground.

Colorado is on another level. How are you liking training at Factory X? That's a huge community down there. We love all the dudes that have come in. That's how you and I have made this connection.

I love it. It feels like home to me. It's weird. I can't explain it besides that. It's tough. The guys are gritty. It's a hard practice. Everything is organized. We get after it. I love the culture and the mentality of most of them. I fit in well with a lot of them. We all have the same mentality. We are all killers. We are all cool dudes that like to hang out and do what we want to do.

Dustin Jacoby has been in a couple of times. I love that guy.

He's laid-back.

He's another savage.

It's one of those situations where you bring all these amazing people in one spot, and it works. It's almost like the '90s Bulls team and shit. It works South. It's a family. It's nice.

They even adopted me into it with the coin and different stuff like that from having guys on. I don't even train down there.

There's no loss of love, no matter who you are. That's what I loved about it too. I enjoyed it. It feels like home. I loved it because, in my last few years of fighting, I haven't felt like that. I have been roguing, going from gym to gym, and doing what I had to do to train and survive.

Vinc Pichel: What you're eating in your daily life and things like that will drastically alter a lab test.

You have been in the UFC for a minute.

Since 2012, I have been on The Ultimate Fighter. I started training at Big John's. Let me finish telling my story. I left that gym. I wasn't training. My boys hit me up. They were like, "What are you doing?" I was like, "I'm fucking lifting and getting jacked again. Fuck this." They were like, "You should come train with us. We are training more for our college. We've got a wrestling match. Bjorn used to wrestle here. He knows a coach. The coach said, ‘Come here to train.’” I'm like, "Let's do it." I went there for a couple of weeks for our training.

Like anyone else, I was like, "I'm wasting my time. I want to fight and beat the fuck out of people. What we are doing is training with each other. We are beating each other up. I want to compete. I want to be better than everybody. I want to make sure that this is something that I'm good at. I love fighting. I want to make sure that it's something that I'm good at and not something that people were sandbagging me or blowing smoke on my ass about." I would beat up a lot of people. I'm naturally pretty good at fighting but, “Am I good against actual fighters?” It was what I wanted to know for myself.

I quit. I was like, "Fuck it. I'm done." A week later, they hit me up again. They were like, "What are you doing?" I was like, "I'm at the gym lifting. I'm not working this week. What are you doing? Training?" They were like, "Big John is having fighting tryouts. You should come to try out." I was like, "I don't know. I haven't trained in a couple of weeks. I barely trained. I have been training for two months. Big John is not going to take me on his fight team." He goes, "You should try out anyway. We can get pretty good. You will fucking make it." I was like, "Fuck it."

Marco gives me the directions, which were shitty fucking directions. I missed the first tryout and showed up late. I walked in. Big John was right there at the door. He's a gigantic person. He's super cool. He's an amazing bear of a guy. I said, "What's up, Big John? My name is Vinc. I came from the tryouts." He said, "I'm sorry you missed it. We had tryouts for a couple of weeks. Don't worry about it, though. You can come in a couple of weeks for the tryouts. Brian is our guy. Talk to Brian. He will get you squared away."

I go to the gym and talk to Brian. The tryouts are going on. The guys are fighting and doing their thing. Brian was like, "What's up?" I'm like, "What's up? My name is Vinc. I'm sorry I'm late for the tryout. I missed it. I still want to try it out. Big John told me to go for two weeks. I'm going to come back in two weeks and try out." He said, "We've got this paperwork. Here you go. Fill this out. Come back in a couple of weeks. We will see what you've got."

I said, "Do you mind if I stay and watch?" He's like, "Not at all." I'm sitting there watching. We were small talking as I was watching. He goes, "How long have you been training for?" I was like, "Two months solid." He was like, "Have you been training for this for two months?" I was like, "I have been training for two months." He rolled his eyes and was like, "You have to fill that paperwork out. I will see you in a couple of weeks." He walked off. I was like, "I know exactly what you fucking said to me, you piece of shit."

I watched the tryouts and left with my boys who were there and who Brian knew. I don't know if he knew Bjorn. They trained together or something prior in wrestling. I leave with them. I come back and try out. This is what the tryouts were. The first thing is that I had to do a kickboxing round. I had to go against some Taekwondo black belts. That dude was kicking the fucking shit out of me every which way he possibly could. I got pissed. I thew the hardest overhand right I could and floored the dude.

Hector Pena, who was watching at the time and was a world champion kickboxer multiple times, comes in. That's it. His name is Gavin. He gets up. He's like, "I'm good. Let's go again." We go again. The same shit happens. I'm getting the shit kicked out of me again. He's kicking me every which fucking way. I fake the overhand and throw a left hook. That dropped him. He goes down. I'm like, "What's up?" Hector was like, "I've seen enough."

We do a wrestling round. I get taken down but I take the guy down too. We both suck at wrestling. I do a Jitsu round. The Jitsu round was a win to me because I didn't get subs but I got my ass kicked the whole time. I didn't get subs so that was a win for me. We did a workout. The workout consisted of pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, jumping over some thigh pads, and stupid shit like that.

Brian and Big John had a speech afterward. They were like, "We are going to make cuts. We will let you know over the weekend. Training starts Monday." At the time, I was working as an electrician. I was driving to Bakersfield and back. I tried out with my buddy, Sal, who I lived with. Prior to this, I was homeless. My buddy Sal's mom took me and let me live with them. I was living on a couch. I was living with him at the time. My buddy, Sal, tried out with me.

It wasn't making enough money working.

My mama kicked me out when I was seventeen. I was a piece of shit. I did a lot of drugs and stuff. I was throwing parties at the house. I don't even know what happened but I threw a party one day and woke up in jail. When I came back home, the doors were locked. Mom was like, "You are fucking gone." I was seventeen. I was like, "What am I going to do?" She's like, "I don't give a fuck. You can't go home but you can't stay here. Figure it out." I was on the street for I don't know how long. I got arrested again. I don't remember what I got arrested for.

My buddy, Mike, and his mom picked me up. It was my buddy Sal's mom. Sal was my age. Mike was his younger brother but I hung out with Mike more because we were always smoking weed and doing shit. Sal was more responsible. He was in a band and stuff. He was getting his shit together. They picked me up from jail. The mom was like, "Where do you want to go?" I was like, "Drop me off right here." She's like, "We are in fucking Ventura. You live in Simi." I was like, "I don't have a house." I told her. She was like, "You live with us." I was living with them at the time.

Sal tried out with me. Sal got a call on Friday. Brian told him, "You didn't make the fight team but you showed a lot of potentials. Come train. We will give you a discounted rate. If you get better and show potential, we will take you on the team." He came up to me, "Did you get a call?" I was like, "I didn't get a call." He was like, "They are not going to give your bitch ass a call. That's why motherfucker. You suck." I'm only a little heartbroken. We were all sad and a little pouty. I was a little sad panda.

I didn't get a call on Friday or Saturday. On Sunday night, I got a call at 6:30. I'm sitting at the computer. I don't want to say what I was doing. I wasn't watching porn but I was doing illegal shit. I got a call from Brian and went, "What's up? This is Brian from the fight team at Big John's. Do you want the good news or the bad news?" I was like, "Give me the bad news. Let's end on a good note."

He's like, "The bad news is you don't have any training, formal experience in fighting, and baseline. You have nothing to start from. You are an open book. We don't know if you are going to be able to take to this and pick it up. We don't know about you. We put you in the maybe pile. You are a big risk. There are so many other people who have years of experience. Why did you try out?"

I talked to him for a minute. I was like, "I want to be a fighter. I want to test it and see. My buddies told me it was a good opportunity to try out. I like fighting. It was something that I've always had in life that helped me get rid of the anger that I had. I want to try out." We talked. I was like, "What's good news?" He's like, "The good news is that you don't have any fucking training. You are an open book. You don't have any bad habits. You haven't been trained in any particular way."

Nobody else sculpted or tried to mold you.

"We don't have to detrain anything out of you to train you to become a good fighter. That's pretty good. You showed a lot of conditioning. You are tough as shit. You knocked Gavin down twice. You didn't get submitted. In wrestling, you didn't do too well but you didn't get your ass kicked either. We decided that we were going to take you out of the maybe pile and put you in the yes pile. Congratulations. You made the fight team."

"Where's my buddy?"

I got so excited. I'm like, "Sal." He's like, "What?" I was like, "I made the fight team, bitch." I threw my fucking phone at Sal. I missed and broke my phone. Brian was still on the phone, so I figured the phone still worked. It was a Samsung. It was a black and white one. That was a brick. That phone was badass. I remember that phone. That was my favorite phone still to this day because I could be in my car blasting Pennywise as loud as I possibly could and still have a full-blown conversation on my phone with that thing. With my iPhone, if someone is farting next to me, I can't hear shit on that thing. It's crazy.

They cost about fifteen times as much, probably.

I tried to buy this piece of shit because I smashed my other one. I talked shit to Sal. I'm like, "I made the fight team. You fucking suck." I was there. I got my ass kicked for eight months to a year in my first year of training.

Your story could have gone the other way. You could have been pulling wire through walls.

To this day, I still do. I'm a journeyman electrician now. I continued that.

That's a fucking great backup career.

When I'm done with fighting, that's probably what I'm going to do on my own, so I don't have to make some other asshole rich. I was super stoked. I got my ass kicked for a long time because there were many guys who were blue and purple belts at the time when I first joined but then I noticed after that, ten months to a year mark, the dudes who were kicking my ass and showing me stuff, I was kicking their ass and showing them things.

That's when I noticed I had a big acceleration in my skills. I got my blue belt 6 or 8 months after my first year. In a year and a half, I got my blue belt. In 2 years or 3 years, my coach, Brian, gave me my purple belt. I stayed at the purple belt for a few years and got my brown and then eventually my black after I beat Miller. That was how I got started. It all started with that guy, Mark Smith. It's crazy.

This is another part of that weird coincidental story that I told you. Mark Smith passed away. I got into fighting. I got in the UFC. I was trying to get ahold of him one day because he moved back to Hawaii, so I could thank him and be like, "Thank you because you are the reason why I'm in the UFC. You showed me where to step the first time and the path to walk. Here I am." I wanted to thank him but Mark ended up passing away from a heart attack. I never got that chance.

When I made it to the UFC, I lost my first fight in the UFC. I very soon realized that $8,000 isn't enough money in California to live long. I had to go back to work. I got a job at AAA. I was selling and installing batteries. People would call, "I'm broken down. My car won't start." I would drive there with a van and test their battery. If it were bad, I would sell them one. I would install it and send them on their way.

One day, I get a call. It's this lady. Her name is Patricia Smith. I was wearing my Metal Mulisha hat. I'm working. I'm like, "Your battery is shot. You need a new one." We were talking. I'm giving her my salesman spiel. She goes, "That's a pretty cool hat. My son used to train the Metal Mulisha boys." I'm like, "Your last name is Smith. Who's your son?" She's like, "Mark. Maybe you know him." I was like, "Mark The Bear Smith?" She's like, "That's my son." She walks inside, comes out, and brings out this collage that the Mulisha boys made for her of him. It was photos of him and them and all these memories and stuff.

Immediately, I was like, "This is crazy. How is this happening? Let me give you a big old hug." It's weird because when I ran into her, it was the week after I tried to get ahold of Mark and found out that he had passed away. I didn't know because I didn't have contact with him. I was friends with him because he was friends with my girlfriend's dad. We broke up that whole bond. I didn't talk to him as I talked to him before. I got emotional. I gave her a big old hug. I was like, "Thank you."

She's like, "What?" I'm like, "You don't know this but your son, Mark, is the reason why I'm a fighter." I explained it to her and showed her stuff. She's like, "You made it." I was like, "Your son is the reason why I did. He's the one that brought me there. I want to thank you." I bought her battery, put it in for her, and gave her my number. I was like, "If you ever have a fucking issue, you call me. Fuck AAA."

If fighters feel like they're just grinding and making no progress, that's one of the worst feelings in the world.

How trippy is that? It's so weird those connections that happen to you in life like that.

That's not even the only one. Even before I got into the UFC, I almost quit fighting in 2011. During summer, I was sick of it. I was fighting people and getting paid a couple of thousand dollars here and there to fight. I was working and training to fight. I was sacrificing so much of my time, money, and body. I was starting to be unhappy. I lost a relationship over it. I was in a limbo part of my life with fighting. I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I was like, "I'm telling Big John." To my coach, Brian, I was like, "You always seem to get me in a fight. I want to fight in WEC at the time or Strikeforce. Bellator is coming around. Give me something like that. The UFC is not going to fucking take me in. I want to make sure I'm a good fighter and that I'm not here beating up on tomato cans."

I was 3-0 or 4-0 undefeated at the time. Big John came back at me with an offer from Bellator. They wanted me to sign a 5-year, 5-fight deal or something stupid like that. I was like, "Let's fucking do it. Bellator is on TV. I will be on TV fighting people." John was like, "I don't like it because it's five years. You are trapped in that contract. Imagine if The Ultimate Fighter comes around, and we stick you in there. You can't do The Ultimate Fighter."

It's unheard of to have a ten-year career, honestly.

I'm a rare bird. John and I ultimately decided to say no to that contract. I got an offer in Pride to fight Maximo Blanco. I almost took that too. John was like, "Let's not take that after all because it's in Japan. It's not that I don't trust that you can't beat this guy. I don't trust the yakuza." I was like, "Excuse me?" He's like, "When we go out there, I can't promise you anything."

I was like, "What do you mean, John?" He was like, "You are going to fight Maximo Blanco, who's most likely on steroids, and who they are probably feeding steroids to. You are a piece of meat that they want him to chew on next. They might not pay you. They are probably going to fuck with you and malnourish you before it. I don't think it's a good decision to do that." I was like, "Fuck that."

Thank God you had people like that are looking out for you a little bit because the first knee-jerk reaction when you are trying to make it is to take it, "That's a big deal. I'm going to be on TV."

"Fuck the safety lines. Let me jump." I was going to jump on that too. We ultimately said no. I was like, "We are saying no to opportunities that I want to take and that I'm feeling are going to propel me." One day, we were partying at my house. I was with my buddy, Curtis, my girlfriend, and a couple of other friends. I was telling him, "I'm going to quit fighting. This is fucking stupid."

I'm explaining these things. My girlfriend was there at the time. We had a serious relationship. I was like, "I don't want to lose her too." I saw my future falling apart as it did already. I don't want that to happen again. I was like, "I'm going to part my ways and move on. I can make a lot of money." Money is the root of all evil but it also rules the world. I've got to do what I've got to do.

He's like, "Don't be a fucking pussy." These are the kinds of friends that I love in my life. He's like, "You are feeling shitty about it in some way but fight out the rest of the year. Promise me that you will at least fight out the rest of the year. If it doesn't work out, you don't get an opportunity or something doesn't fall in your lap, then fuck it. At least you say you tried and did what you did. At least give it up for the rest of the year. You can't quit halfway through the year. You fight some dudes."

I was like, "I am being a pussy. I'm a little emotional. I'm fucked up. Fuck it. I'm going to fight the rest of the year. Let's do it. I'm fighting." I fought one more time that year. Later that same year, my buddy Curtis passed away. I found him passed away in his house. He was in a train accident in Chatsworth. He was one of the top 3% of people who got severely injured and survived that crash. The train crash was pretty nuts.

Was this one of those Amtraks?

It was a speeding Amtrak crash. Two speeding Amtraks head-on collision. He was in the car. That was in Chatsworth in 2010 or 2009. It was right around that time. He was fucked up. He was in the hospital for months. He ended up getting a settlement. He got a few million dollars for it. He was fucked up for life, though. His back was fused. He was on pain meds for the rest of his life. He was a very active guy. He was the guy I was always skating, bike riding, and doing shit with. He asphyxiated. He was on his pain meds.

We were bowling the night before. He went home, took his pain meds, and fell asleep. He had to sleep on his back. He suffocated and died. He choked on his own throat. I was working with AAA. I went to work the next morning. I told him the night before, "I'm going to bust your fucking door down at 6:00 AM when I started work. We are going to start our day." He's like, "Don't even show up at my house." I show up at his house at 6:30. His garage door was wide open. He's got motocross on the TV, loud as fuck. He's got speakers all through his house. It's on surround sound.

I'm like, "There's no one fucking sleep in here. There's no way." I'm sitting there, eating breakfast, and waiting for a call because I'm on call for AAA. His cousin, Brian, comes home. Brian goes, "Where's Curtis at?" I was like, "I don't know. I got here. I figured that you were up here doing something. This shit is so loud." He's like, "Turn that down." I turned it down. I leave and get a call. I come back around lunchtime. It's noon or 11:00. No one was there. The garage is still open. The TV is exactly where it was. I felt weird. I can't explain it.

Something was up. That's the sixth sense.

My hair stood up. I'm like, "What the fuck?" I went to his room. It's all dark in there. I see him in bed. I'm like, "Curtis, wake the fuck up." I walk over there and open a sliding glass door at the blinds. I see him and I'm like, "He's dead." He's not the first person I've seen dead in my life. I turned his head. It was cold. Shit comes out of his mouth. He threw up. I'm like, "He's gone. Call 911. Tell them to come and get him. Call the family and let them know what happened." That whole process goes through. I don't go to the gym. I found him on November 22nd. The day before my birthday was the day that I found him.

This is the friend that was telling you not to quit.

I was talking to him. He told me not to quit. He was a huge part of my life. I don't want to say this because it sounds bad for my brother but I love my brother. He's my brother. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Curtis is like another brother that I never had. He's the brother I never had.

I've got some friends like that too.

Sometimes you meet people in your life that have such an effect on you.

You make a connection. You have that camaraderie. You can give each other shit. You are looking out for each other.

Nothing could break that bond. That bond will never be broken. He was that guy for me.

You can get in a bit more trouble with them. There are no family elements.

You are willing to risk a little more. That happened. I was super emotional. I didn't train and go to the gym for a few weeks. I went to the gym in December, right before Christmas. I was feeling it one day. I was like, "I'm going to go to the gym and train." I train and get my emotions out. I'm going to leave the gym. My coach, Brian, stops me. He's like, "I've got some good news for you." I'm like, "What's up?"

He's like, "The Ultimate Fighter is coming around." I was like, "Brian, if you are fucking with me, I'm not in the mood. I'm going to punch you in the throat. If you are fucking with me, we are fighting. I'm not kidding. I'm not in the mood for any shit like this." He pulls out behind him the application he already had printed, which was fake as fuck that I still have. It's probably about an inch thick, "Here's the application. Fill this out. We need to make you a highlight DVD."

What season was that?

It was season fifteen, the only live season they did. Normally, the season is only six weeks. The guys fight every other day. Ours was three months.

Who were the coaches on that?

Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. I get the application and start crying. I get emotional. I'm like, "This is Curtis telling me not to be a pussy in the last week of the year. This is a sign. This is too coincidental." This is why. The Ultimate Fighter has a certain pattern in the way they do the show. They go super light, super heavy, not so light, not so heavy, and so on until they shrink down. It's usually welterweight and middleweight together.

It used to be one season a year. Now, they are doing a bit more. It stopped for a while too.

They shut it down and started the Contender Series because they realized the Contender Series cost them less money.

It's not as entertaining to watch.

Vinc Pichel: If you haven’t been trained, that can actually be pretty good. You’re basically an open book. You haven’t developed bad habits or trained or sculpted in any particular way. You can be trained to be a good fighter.

It's not like the Kardashians. He told me, "We are going to try out." I'm like, "This is Curtis in the last week of the year telling me not to be a fucking pussy." At that moment, I heard his voice so loud in my head that I couldn't hear anybody. He was screaming in my ear, "Fill that thing out." I fill it out and try it out. The tryouts were nuts. I showed up in Vegas at the Palace Station.

Did you try it out before you get it?

You have to try it out. There's a process.

Were there hundreds of dudes?

There were 800 or almost 900 people trying out for the season that I tried out for. I have a picture of the line. It was in one of their big ballrooms. A line coiled in the room. Starting in the center of the room, it coiled around the room and went out down the fucking hallway and out the goddamn building.

Are you getting in the ring with guys? What is the tryout? Is it conditioning?

There are multiple things. First of all, I got there at 7:00 AM. I didn't get pulled in until 6:30 PM in my group. They were pulling us into groups of 40. They pull us in there. The first thing you do is grapple with somebody live. Joe Silva and Reed Harris were there. There were a couple of other people in there. We roll somebody to give you minor rules. There were no heel hooks and nothing that was going to potentially put somebody out. You roll for 90 seconds. They make cuts.

I rolled with this guy. He guillotined me. I shot in, "I'm going to shoot in." He teased me. I tap and get pissed. He plays possum the whole time, "I've got you. I'm not going to give you back." I jumped for a heel hook and grabbed him but didn’t crank it. I grabbed him. I got him. At the time, I'm like, "Fuck this guy." We were done. The round is over. I come back. My coach, Brian, was like, "You are a fucking asshole." I'm like, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "Joe Silva said no heel hooks or none of that shit. The first thing you do is jump for a goddamn heel hook."

I was like, "I held it. I didn't grab it. I didn't hear him say that, honestly. He's fine. He walked away. Fuck that guy. He guillotined me. I got him back." He made cuts. I made the cut. I tried out with another teammate, Dave Weber, at the time. The next one was pads. Coach Brian pulls up the hidden pads. I'm hammering these fucking things, being loud, and having a good time. I'm starting to get tired, "When is this motherfucker going to tell me I'm done hitting pads?"

They want to see the guy go for a minute.

I don't know how hard I was hitting this pad. I was hitting this pad as hard as I could for as long as I could. It seemed like half an hour but it was probably 30 seconds. I'm smashing this pad. Finally, Silva goes, "Vinc, we have seen enough. You can sit down now." I was like, "He's talking to me. That motherfucker called me Vinc. Is that good, Brian?" We were in the back office. I was like, "He knows my name." They make cuts. I make the cut. My buddy, Dave, gets cut right there.

The third thing we have to do is the face-to-face interview with the producers. I'm like, "I have to be cool. I have to be a little douchey in there. They want some douchey people. I have to be stern and strong. I have to let them know I'm playful." All the shit was going through my head. I'm like, "What the fuck am I going to do?" We were sitting on a bench like it was a prison and waiting to get mugshots. I go in there. There's an oval desk in the room. I'm on this side of it.

There was Craig Piligian, Jamie, Gary, all the lead producers, and a couple of other people. There were ten cameras. There were three big ones and little ones all over the walls. They are on the desk and my nose and shit. It's fucking weird. I feel like I'm getting prodded by aliens. The guy, Craig, goes, "What's up? Your named Vinc?" I was like, "It's Vinc. I spell it like that." He's like, "That's weird." I was like, "You probably spell your name weird to other people. It is what it is." He's like, "Why do you spell it that way?" I'm like, "Let me explain."

When I was younger, my mom used to call me Vin C. My full name is Vincent. Anyone knows that. That's my full name but my mom always called me Vin C when I was a kid. When I was learning to write my name, I thought Vince with the E was Vince. I took the E off, Vinc. That's why I spell my name the way I do. That's the only reason. When I was in school, teachers were like, "That's not how you spell Vince. It's with an E." I'm like, "Fuck off. It's my name. Spell it how you want it."

I've always spelled it like that. That was the logic of my head at the time. It's funny. To this day, I still think that way about things. I still have that weird logic in me, which probably kept me as weird as I am. I'm sitting in there. He goes, "That's cool. You were born in Lancaster. You lived at Canoga Park and Simi Valley. You are in Sherman Oaks. It's one shithole to the next. How do you like Sherman Oaks?"

I'm like, "It's okay but there are a lot of fucking weirdos out there." He's like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "I don't want to sound racist or anything but there are a lot of Armenians out there. They are weirdos. I have friends that are Armenian but they are weird to me sometimes." He gives me this look. I'm like, "Let me explain." I live in this building. It's 90% Armenians. There's me, my super pasty White ass girlfriend, and some other random people in there.

There's this one dude who I always talk to. He had the thickest eyebrows I've ever fucking seen in my life. He smells like cool track cologne. There was gold everywhere to the tee. Hair is coming out of his shirt. I always talk to him. He's a super cool dude. I don't remember his name. It was Ramsey or something. We would always talk. One day, I was in the elevator, and then he came in with his wife or his girlfriend. They have a little son. I'm like, "What's up? How are you doing?"

I talk to him. He doesn't say shit to me. He just looks at me. I'm like, "I'm high. Maybe I said that quietly, slurred or something." I'm like, "What's up? How are you doing?" He starts speaking to me but he's speaking to me in Arab or what he speaks. I don't know what the name of the language is. I'm like, "Did you forget English or something? You can't pretend like you know English because your girlfriend is here." I got into an argument with him but I was arguing with myself with him because he wasn't talking back to me at this point. It's a weird thing.

I'm friends with Karo Parisyan too. I love you but you are too proud sometimes for your good. That's when he goes, "I'm Armenian." I'm like, "I fucked up." I look over, and both the other producers are like, "This guy is fucking dead in the water now." I'm standing there. He goes, "Pichel. What is that?" I was like, "The last name is French but I'm Dutch-Italian." He's like, "Did anyone ever tell you that you look Hispanic?" He says it in a way. I chuckled. I was like, "Are you trying to talk shit to me? Is that how you talk shit? You need to do a little better. That was garbage." The other two producers start chuckling.

He gets mad and says something else. I answered with some smart-ass comment. He goes, "I've seen enough. Get the fuck out of here now. The interview is over." I was like, "See you later." I salute him and walk off. As I walk outside, I immediately want to kick myself in the dick. I want to jump headfirst at a window because I fucked up so bad, "How did I fuck up so bad? You did well. You made it here. It was the timeline of things. Things that shouldn't fall into place fell into place. You go all the way here, and you fucking did that. You dumb shit. You retard. What is wrong with you?"

I'm having this conversation. I hear the door open. I turn around, and it's Gary, the other lead producer. He's laughing his balls off. He's like, "Vinc, what's up?" I was like, "I fucked up." He's like, "What do you mean?" I was like, "I fucked up, didn't I? That went bad." I was too much of the asshole that I can be. He's like, "Honestly, that was the best fucking interview that we have ever seen for The Ultimate Fighter. Craig is pissed off. He's a little upset but fuck him. That was the best interview we have ever seen. Don't tell anyone but we are pushing you through."

I go home. I'm like, "I'm going to get a call. They are going to let me know when I needed to come back and do the other shit." I get that call. They were like, "You've got to come back." Jamie was talking to me. She's the lead producer. Jamie goes, "You have to fly out here. We have to do the medical stuff, photos, videos, and the whole nine yards because you are going to go through a second part of the process. If you make this, you are on The Ultimate Fighter. You fight to get in the house."

I'm like, "Did you say flight?" She goes, "We are going to fly you out here." I was like, "I can't go on a plane." She goes, "Why? Are you afraid of Heights or flying?" I will tell you about how long this craziness has been in me. When I was 15 or 16, I made a promise to myself that I would not go on a plane until it was to skydive. I told Jamie this. I was like, "I made a promise to myself. I don't break my promises." I explained this to her. She goes, "You better fucking book it. You have three months."

I book it. Luckily, it was right around my birthday time that I got to do it. It was almost a whole-year process to even get in this place. The process goes pretty nuts. I didn't realize how long it took to even be on The Ultimate Fighter. Later that year, I went skydiving. I steal the video. I didn't pay for it because they wanted too much money for it. It's California. I even have the video of a lady screaming at me, telling me I'm stealing video as I'm recording it off their TV screen.

I'm like, "Fuck you, this is the first time I'm on a plane, bitch. I'm stealing this shit. Call the fucking cops. See if they get here in time." I fly out there to Vegas and do the medical stuff. I go to the interview. We are sequestered in a hotel room. I couldn't leave. They took my cell phone, wallet, and everything and gave me a bag of clothes. They told me I could order whatever I want to eat, "Stay in the hotel room. Don't leave the hotel room or you are fucked."

From there, it's only a 4 or 5-hour drive.

It's not a far drive. They are like, "We are going to fly you out there." I'm sequestered. I go to the interview room for the second interview or the final one. Right before I go in, Gary was out there. He stops me. I'm like, "What's up?" He's like, "You know what to do on there." I was like, "I don't know. Honestly, I'm so nervous. I don't know what to do. Last time, I fucked it up. You told me I did well." He's like, "Honestly, go in there as you did last time. Pretend like you don't give a fuck and go in there."

I walk in and sit down. This time, we were at a long table. I'm at the end of the table. There are too many people on both sides. Craig Piligian was at the very end. He was the king of the castle. He's looking at me and doesn't say shit for a minute. I'm sitting there, twiddling my thumbs and looking around. He goes, "Pichel, why do I have this feeling like I want to say fuck you for some reason to you?" I was like, "I'm the motherfucker that hates Armenians. That's why." I don't know why I said that but I said it. Everyone starts erupting in there.

Craig Piligian was like, "Get the fuck out of here." I sat there. I was like, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right fucking here." Him and I talked bullshit. It was so different than I was expecting it to be. It was a conversation like me, and you are having, not like he's interviewing me. He was asking me about my mentality and how I would react in certain situations. I'm like, "I will react this way and that way but honestly, I'm a product of my environment. Variables matter. In certain situations, I will do this or that. Poke me and see how I react. It's what you are going to get out of me."

He let me know. He was like, "We are going to take you. As long as your medicals pass, you are fine to get on the fucking show. Be prepared to fight and get on the show." I left there so excited and happy. I was like, "All these things came together so crazily." Even before that, I talked to Big John about it. Big John was like, "You are going to be selected on Faber's team. Faber is going to take you because I talked to him and told him about you. He knows. Faber is going to pick you. Don't be surprised if Faber picks you."

I'm like, "I like Faber." At the time. I did not like Dominick Cruz because all I knew of him was his interviews and how he was. I was like, "This guy is a fucking douchenozzle. I do not like this guy." I thought he was so douchey. Faber does not pick me. I'm on Dominick's team, which I had a little resentment towards Faber for but in the end, I'm like, "It's probably better that way." I remember asking Faber about it one day. We were in the house. We were all drinking.

Did you get your fighter name there? Did you have it prior to going?

I had it prior. I got it from my mom. It's a funny story. I got into a lot of fights. I was young. I got arrested a lot for fighting. I didn't tell my mom I was fighting until my first professional fight. She had no idea. I was training on my own and doing my thing on my own. I didn't live with her. Admittedly, I didn't talk to my mom a whole lot at the time because I was still a little resentful toward her for kicking me out. The prior years of my life were hard on me.

I had a lot of baggage towards her for that. I didn't talk to her too much but when I turned pro, I went there and made it a point to tell her and talk to her. I was like, "I've got a new job. I'm making money now. I want to tell you what it is." She's like, "What is it?" I was like, "It's fighting." She's like, "I know, you fucking idiot." I got arrested a couple of months prior for getting on a flight. She's like, "You got arrested a couple of months back for it."

I want to compete. I want to be better than everybody. I love fighting, and I want to make sure that this is something I'm good at that.

I was like, "I'm fighting in a ring professionally as a sport. I'm an athlete now. It's a big deal." My mom starts laughing. I'm like, "What the fuck is so funny?" She goes, "Is your ring name going to be the Pichel from Hell?" I immediately started laughing and then was like, "Holy shit." Me and my coach, Brian, were thinking for the longest time of a nickname. We were like, "You've got to have a nickname because you are smashing these days. You are going to have a nickname. It's going to be something violent because that's the way you fight." I was like, "Let's do it."

Peter Cunningham was my kickboxing coach. The nickname they had for me was Punisher. It's because he gave us all superhero names. Depending on who we were, he would match us to a superhero who we were most relatable to. My mentality and the way that I view and feel about things are relatable to him in the way he is. That's why I got that from him.

Plus, I'm the violent one in the gym. Everybody knows it. If someone comes in the gym and is an asshole, I'm the guy that they were like, "Spar with this guy. We want you to fuck him up." I have a story about that with Big John. Big John fed someone to me one time in the gym. I was that guy. He gave me that but then my mom says that. I laugh. I'm like, "That fits fucking well, mom."

That's the way fighter names should come too. Some of these guys named themselves.

If it's not organic. It's like a fart you push too hard. It's shit. That's all it is. My mom gave me that. I was stoked. I told my coach, Brian, and Big John. They started chuckling about it. They were like, "That's good. The Pichel from Hell, from Hell Pichel, Vinc from Hell Pichel." Big John got his buffer voice on. He started saying it right around the gym, and then it stuck. Everyone was like, "Fancy little fucking demon, that's you." I was like, "I can't argue it."

It fits perfectly. Your style of fighting and everything is fucking awesome. We are burning through time. I love it. If we had more time, we would keep going. Let's do this again. This has been a blast. We could talk forever.

I'm down. That's not even half my story.

We could talk for hours but before we jump off, let's spend a little bit more time if you have the time. What do you have coming up? Do you have any fights lined up at the moment?

I've got this fight on October 1st, 2022, against Jesse Ronson. I'm at camp training and doing that thing. My life is hectic. I'm dealing with a lot of bullshit on top of this stuff too. I'm moving out of my place because there's black mold going on. They don't fix it. I've got other people trying to rip me off and lawyers being scummy and shit. I've got a lot of crazy scummy people trying to dirty-shit me. I'm going through the wringer that way but everything else is pretty good. My findings and training are good.

People can be pieces of shit.

I remember a time. I cherish that time and hope that time comes back when morals and self-responsibility become a thing where people aren't able to be bought out by materialistic things. A lot of people don't understand the way I am because I'm that way. I can't be bought by things. I don't understand that but I feel like that has been lost over time.

That's a good mentality to have. If you can realize that material shit doesn't matter all that much, you are a lot happier in life.

In the end, we all lose anyway. We all fucking die. What do you take with you? You take the dust you came in with. That's it.

You can't take it all with you when you die.

That's the way I see it.

You've got your fight coming up in October 2022.

I've got the fight coming up but that's it. I'm training. I'm going to probably take off here and do some shooting a little bit. I bought that rifle. I've got a 308 rifle. I'm trying to dial in that scope. I put it on there and get that thing going because I want to do hunting. I'm probably going to do that and chill. I'm a pretty chill dude. I don't do too much. I like to hang out with boys and do outdoorsy stuff. I go dirt bike riding a lot. I like camping, exploring, and shit like that.

I got my fishing license. I'm going to go do some fishing and shit. I'm chill and laid-back. I like to play video games. I smoke a lot of weed. I'm a normal dude outside of fighting. I stream on Twitch. I play video games on Twitch. When I play games, I do that, which is pretty cool because I get to hang out with fans and people who I don't normally get to talk to you throughout the day. That's my little interaction with fans. I make a little bit of money off that too. I get to have fun while I'm playing games. I love video games. I play video games.

That's why I enjoy this so much. I get to hang out with people. It's not like I'm trying to kill it.

This is why I love fighting so much. When I joined fighting, I was like, "I'm going to make stacks of money," which I didn't at first. I didn't make dog shit but I mainly got into fighting because I loved it but then I didn't realize the people that I've met and the things that I've gotten to do because of fighting. I've had an extraordinary life, honestly. If fighting wasn't in my life, I don't want to say I would be a nobody but you wouldn't even know who I was. I would be a normal everyday person. We would just be two dudes, which I am but I have an extraordinary skillset for beating people up.

What is your walkout music? I'm trying to recall it.

Highway to Hell.

I knew it was something like that. I'm such a rocker. We upgraded or meddled up the intro song because we did 100 episodes.

Congrats.

You are 101. That's dope. We have had a buddy of mine on the show several times. He's an incredible musician. He's a metal dude. Here's a shout-out to Justin Freeman for hooking us up. I called him up and I was like, "When I first started the show, I picked this song and bought the rights to it." It was very sports center-y and catchy. I was like, "That sounds cool but I never even liked it then. This is what I want to do. I want to fuck with people's minds. I want the intro to be the same, leading into it. We are going straight Pantera or somewhere down that line of metal."

I'm a big metalhead. I love metal and rock and roll. That's my shit. I love rap too.

Highway to Hell is the perfect song to come into.

I used to come out to Slipknot's Pulse of the Maggots because I liked that war siren and what the song is about.

That's important to me as a fight fan. When somebody is walking out to Sting or something, I'm like, "Come on. This is your fucking moment."

They are coming up to something In The Air or some Phil Collins. He comes out to some Seattle grunge shit. He's headbanging like it's Pantera. I was thinking of my Twitch channel. I want to do a little intro too because I have been watching other streamers and trying to pick their shit and see what they do to make the stream look cool and whatnot. I was like, "I'm going to have one of my fights."

What I want to do is I want to have my song, Highway to Hell, playing. I wanted that to be the beginning or the end of my stream. I wanted to have one of my fights. It turns out that my fight with Damien Brown where I knocked him out, is exactly almost the time of the song, Highway to Hell. I'm making a video of the song, Highway to Hell, with the fight that I'm going to use as an intro and outro thing.

Have any fighters ever done a custom song? Justin wrote this for me specifically.

I don't remember who it was but someone used to always have a custom song every time. It was an older guy. It was a long time since we used to have our sponsors. It was that long ago. I don't remember who it was though but it used to be mixtures of songs. He would have a DJ. It was Deadmau5 or someone like that making songs. I don't remember who it was, though. Someone who used to do that, though. I remember that. I used to come out to the Pulse of the Maggots. I remember that the song was for me because of the war siren in the beginning and whatnot. I would walk through the crowd and be jacked up. The crowd would be looking around like, "What the fuck?"

If you are not a metalhead, it's the most annoying shit in the world.

Vinc Pichel: Sometimes you meet people in your life with whom you make a unique connection and have that camaraderie where you look out for each other.

It's like waiting for someone to start burning cats and shit. Some pentagons are going to start showing up on the walls. I was like, "I need to do something to get the crowd involved, something that's also me." That riff at the beginning and the way it starts is so perfect. It makes my adrenaline go.

I saw this concert live because I had a bunch of friends that were on the lighting crew. It was AC/DC. It must have been about 2006. They had a train in the background. It's Highway to Hell. Vinc, let's wrap this up. This has been awesome. Where can people find you on Insta, websites, your Twitch, and all that stuff? Let's drop all that.

All my social media is the same. I keep it pretty simple, not for you but mainly for me because, let's be honest. I get punched in the head a lot. One of these days, it's going to affect me eventually. @FromHellPichel is my social media. It's all of them. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, ones that I probably don't even use anymore, and all the ones that I made over the years that I don't use are all FromHellPichel. I keep it simple. I also have a website called FanArch.com.

What's going on there?

That's where I sell my stuff. I sell my hats, shirts, and phone cases. I sell that logo in the hat that I have. I still sell some old logos, old shirts, and whatnot. I'm going to make a new shirt design. I'm going to have a mustache design going pretty soon here, maybe some cowboy-esque feel to it or something like that, and maybe some wider type of shit or even Bronson. That's what I was going to tell you too. Bronson was also a big part of it, not Charles Bronson, the old-school actor but the new Charlie Bronson with Tom Hardy in that movie because of his mustache. I was like, "That's hard as fuck."

There's a resemblance a little bit.

I can grow a dirty stache like that too. My pops could grow a stache like that. I was like, "I bet I could too." It's pretty simple.

This has been a lot of fun. Let's do this again. I appreciate you coming up, dealing with me, and scheduling. I felt like I was bugging the shit out of you. I was like, "We've got to get Vinc in here."

Not at all. We will do whatever you want.

Let's do it again.

We will do an outside stream doing something outdoors. I don't care. Do whatever you want to do.

We will get you out. Let's shoot bows or whatever you want to do.

I'm down.

Thanks. Jeremy, are you good over there?

Yeah.

Thanks, everybody, for reading. We will catch you on the next one.

—

Thanks for reading. If you haven't had a chance to do this already, please take a moment. Follow, like, subscribe or rate on whatever platform you catch The Mountain Side. If you would like some more information on upcoming episodes, safety tips, access to all of our affiliates, and all the badass discounts that we get here, check out TheMountainSidePodcast.com.

Important Links

• Vinc Pichel

• Crisp Barbershop - Instagram

• @Jeremiah_BlackBeard - Instagram

• Jeremiah Wilber - Previous episode

• Every Man Jack

• Jordan Kurtz - Previous episode

• Andy Arrabito - Previous episode

• Factory X - Instagram

• Rocky Mountain IV

• BARWIS

• SpectraCell

• Marc Montoya - Previous episode

• 23andMe

• Shawn Baker

• Colorado Craft Beef

• American Bowmen

• Dustin Jacoby - Previous episode

• Justin Freeman - Previous episode

• @FromHellPichel – Instagram

• Facebook - Vinc “From Hell” Pichel

• Twitter - Vinc Pichel

• Twitch - Vinc Pichel

• FanArch.com

• www.JockFuel.com

• www.ONNIT.com

• www.OriginMaine.com

• https://www.purespectrumcbd.com/ref/489/

• http://onnit.sjv.io/tms

• https://originmaine.com/?ref=mountainside&utm_source=affiliate

About Vincent Alan Pichel

Vincent Alan Pichel is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2009, Pichel was also a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter