Kind: captions
Language: en
so I like to to uh match looks from time
to time in an omage you look sexy how
many legs did you break in Eastern
Europe three or four to send a message
or just for your own personal enjoyment
if she wins I'll personally give her a
million dollars if I can foot lock her
we're going to collaborate together in
an only fans sex
tape did she agree to this she shook on
it you do have an only fans channel is
that still up after August 17th it's
going to be fire it's going to be on
fire honestly when we talk about secret
investor I think that could fun the
entire tournament I missed all that what
gives you hope that you can still make
fun of anything as long as it's
funny the following is a conversation
with Craig Jones martial artist World
traveler and one of the funniest people
in the sport of submission grappling
while he does make fun of himself a lot
he is legitimately one of the greatest
submission Grapplers in the world and
underneath the veil of non-stop
sexualized Aussie humor and incessant
online trolling he is truly a
kind-hearted human being who's trying to
do good in the
world sometimes he does so through a bit
of controversy and Chaos like with the
new cji tournament that has over $2
million in prize money and it's coming
up this Friday and
Saturday yes the same weekend as the
prestigious ADCC tournament the goal of
CGI tournament is to grow the sport so
you'll be able to watch it for free
online live on YouTube and other
places all ticket profits go to charity
mainly to cancer research so I encourage
you to support the mission of this
tournament by buying tickets and going
to see the event in person Craig gave me
a special link that gives you a 50%
discount on the tickets go to Lex
freeman.com
eji and it should forward you to the
right place they're trying to sell the
last few tickets now it's a good cause
go buy some and also let me say as a fan
of the sport I highly encourage you to
watch both cji and ADCC and to celebrate
athletes competing in both from cji with
Nikki Ryan Nikki Rod Rola Brothers Fon
Davis McKenzie D and more to ADCC with
Gordon Ryan Nicholas margali John Carlo
bodoni Rafael lado Jr mik galal and more
I have a lot of respect for everyone
involved I trained with many of them
regularly and consider many of them
friends including Craig Gordon and of
course John donaher who I will talk to
many many more times on this podcast
this is Alex Freeman podcast to support
it please check out our sponsors in the
description and now dear friends I
invite you all to come to the pool with
Craig Jones and me when you brought the
$1 million in cash on uh Rogan's podcast
did you have security with you we had
security but only by Joe Rogan's request
because he said you really going to
bring it yeah do you have security I
said no he's like don't worry about it
I'll send my security so you were going
to doal without security yeah we're
going to wing I thought I mean I was
told not to tell anyone yeah but I sent
pictures of it to everyone I know yeah
so that was probably a security risk
yeah so it's just you in a car with a
bag of cash yeah it was a company that
sponsors me shuffle.com it was their
friend a friend of their so a guy that's
never met me before yeah just took the
risk to show up to a stranger's house
with a million dollars in cash to bring
to Joe ran it was a big risk of him and
you just put it in the car and drove it
drove it over there yeah yeah with no
security except Joe except Joe that's
common sense and then Joe said he'd
never seen a million dollars before yeah
but I don't know if I believe him that's
what everyone says that's what pabl
Escobar probably says also what's your
relationship with
risk especially with the risk of death I
would say I'm very risk averse you are
no you're not that's a
lie um my relationship with risk I like
a bit of excitement I like a bit of
Adventure I'm more about the adventure
but I will not let um the risk get in
the waiver and also obviously just go
back from Ukraine I'm happy to take a
few risks if it's part of of what the
locals want me to do you know what I
mean like in Kazakhstan we did some
things that were dangerous like if the
locals are like come along join in on
this activity I feel personally
obligated to go with them so it's not
about the risk like you're not attracted
to risk you're attracted to Adventure
and the risk is a thing you don't give a
damn about yes if it comes along with it
sometimes the best Adventures involve
the most risk unfortunately speaking of
which you went to Ukraine like you said
twice recently twice really push the
limit there including to the front to
the front tell me the uh the full story
of that from the beginning how did you
end up in Ukraine so we're in Kazakhstan
we're doing some filming in Kazakhstan
and obviously borat's still a very
traumatic memory for them yeah and some
of my jokes felt like they don't go as
well in that neck of the woods so we had
some difficulty filming out there so we
film this horse game have you ever heard
of bar thanks to you yes it's a
game a very very old game they cut a
a goat or a sheep I didn't get too close
to look at it but they cut its head and
legs off and they use it as some form of
ball and then they have like up to a
thousand guys on horses violently trying
to pick this up and droing in the other
end's goals basically the goals used to
be concrete now it's just a top but
local business owners will throw down
huge amounts of money for the winners
and these horses have been trained from
a very young age the Riders have been
trained I've never ridden a horse before
we wanted to film something that made it
look like I was going to go into the
horse uh pit into the bar pit
however the drunk stunt man that we used
just decided that when he took my horse
reins he would take me straight into the
pit instead of ending the shot there so
I was in there amongst I guess the horse
riders the by Riders and we weren't
leaving we just were in there for quite
a while and he was just he could talk a
littleit he could talk English pretty
well actually and he's like I thought
you'd want to check it out from the
inside and then while we were in there
someone picked up the sort of carcass
and a wave of horse riders came at me I
was quite concerned at that point cuz
they're bashing into each other and
obviously they're angry they're seeing a
foreigner in there I was wearing like
basically biggy small cogi geeku looking
sweater so I stood out they definitely
didn't like that I was participating in
a game that they probably trained their
whole life for and that amount of money
they could win is very very significant
and there's me in there they're also
pointing out Borat Borat thinking I was
making Borat Jokes which again very
traumatic memory for the people of
Kazakhstan were you making Borat jokes
no but I guess it's the same type of
humor but sure just I guess I'm not
pretending to be kazak I'm just there
being an idiot and enjoying the local
culture but we were over there in kazak
we did that that was obviously a bit
risky did they learn to love you I think
they learned to love me and then to hate
me again so I was like a a bit of a all
incomp relationship for the kazak people
but we we basically abandoned it
was proven too difficult to film some
things some sensitive subjects over
there and I said where should we go next
and I just looked at the map and I was
like we near Ukraine Ukraine was a place
that i' been offered to teach a
Jiu-Jitsu seminar prior to I guess the
war commencing the full scale war
commencing and we're looking for a bit
of Adventure something interesting to
film some following the news uh
obviously very controversial in the news
people have very strong opinions and I
was like let's go over there let's throw
a charity event let's do something let's
train with the people and really
experience for ourselves so we set up
the seminar turned out to be the biggest
seminar for Jiu-Jitsu in Ukraine history
which is wild considering obviously they
are at War but everyone came together to
support it and one of the soldiers there
one of my friends there good friend now
who's on the front line he made a
comment on there and he said hey like
this is a seminar to donate profits to
the soldiers but we're on the front line
and I was like you know what I'll come
to you and he's like listen I can't
promise you'll survive but I'll promise
you have a good time and I said that's
all I needed to hear so we connected and
my friend Rome and we went really really
close I think we were at the closest
point 7 km from the front line obviously
very surreal experience to be over there
seeing basically how the battle's fought
with all drones how long ago was this I
think it would have been March or April
so we went there we went basically spent
two nights up on the front line went
back to ke and that was it for that trip
in terms of crazy stuff that happened
obviously just the people living like
you download the uh air defense tracker
so at any time there could be a air
siren going off an air Alert on your
phone could be like drones heading your
way planes are in the air missiles
flying and then those missiles will
change direction and stuff so the air
alert you don't know if it's heading a
different direction but they just sort
of warn everyone so you live under a
constant state of of fear basically and
then on that first trip the heaviest
moment was I was going downstairs in the
hotel to work out which is honestly a
rare thing these days doing something
healthy with myself you're working up
getting in the gym pumping some iron and
this was divine intervention that a
Hypersonic missile was shot down by the
Patriot event system just like 5 minutes
from the hotel so the whole hotel and
the uh attached gym just shook like
crazy and people start some people
started freaking out most people went to
leave to go outside which I don't think
is recommended but you want to see
what's going on out there this was in ke
this was in ke so it got shot down and
then some of the local troops actually
took me to the site of where just part
of the missile had landed in the ground
and left this huge sort of indentation
they already cleared up most of the um I
guess shrapnel from the missile I don't
know if I should or if if I was legally
allowed to do this but I took some of
that missile back home with me I don't
know where I left it actually but I
thought maybe that would raise some
alarm bells and Airport scans but I took
I took it
regardless and that was basically the
crazy thing that happened on that first
trip the Patriot defense system is is
incredible it's an incredible piece of
technology that's from the United States
it's expensive but it's incredible and
then so that's protecting ke that's
protecting ke yeah that was at the time
where us hadn't uh voted to I guess keep
funding the weapons over there so it was
kind of a tense moment cuz I think I
don't know everyone was thinking like
when did those air defense missiles run
out so that was a heavy moment for me
thinking look at what it shot out the
sky like imagine if that didn't they
didn't have that but we yeah that that
was probably the most surreal moment but
ke largely life goes on most of the time
as
paranormal I I was faced with crazy
messages and comments even just posting
that video like I'm uh getting paid by
Ukraine and stuff and it's just like
people just don't understand that like
life has to go on like ke's here the
front Line's far away like the cities
have to largely try to operate as normal
or just life life will not go on in
those Villages and cities well it's
human nature as well it's not just Kev
it's hard cave it's even Damas uh hon
people get accustomed to war quickly cuz
it's impossible to suffer for long
periods of time so you get adjust you
adjust and you appreciate the things you
still have yeah some Bing moves out
there I love seeing like people that
just crazy stuff's going on from the war
and they don't even react to it they
don't go to the bomb shelter it's like a
bowler move like I'm not going to change
my lifestyle actually on that first trip
as well something else that I probably
shouldn't have been allowed to do was go
to Chernobyl yeah so
Chernobyl I believe troops came through
bellarus and there was some fighting
going on in Chernobyl I think the whole
World got concerned at that point if any
sort of radiation leaked but Chernobyl
as it stands the troops backed down and
it's completely covered in Minds very
very difficult to go to go to Cho
basically as a tourist or as like a I
guess a idiot like myself should really
probably not be allowed in a place like
that but we were able to get there we
passed like four security checkpoints it
took two attempts first TR time we tried
to go in there was with a special force
sky we cleared two security gates then
they stopped us and basically threatened
us with arrest rightfully so really have
no business going to
choby we made a connection I won't say
this connection was but he had heard
about what I had done sort of with a
charity event and opened some doors for
us to be able to go to shinob so we got
to see shinob we had some filming
restrictions there just because it was a
crazy military sort of conflict at one
point and we got to actually see Shob
know always been a dream of M to see cuz
it's just such an interesting place and
to see it under these conditions very
very strange yeah what was that like so
there's no civilians there now it's just
completely empty I guess it's kind of
like the fantasy you have I I imagine
people going tours of Chernobyl back in
the tourist days when it was a tourist
spot and it would be busy full of
tourists we got basically a private tour
so we got to really feel that abandoned
sort of Vibes I guess I was interested
in it from playing Call of Duty and then
right Chernobyl series all the
documentaries and stuff but very very
strange place to go visit and it is now
a Minefield like a lot of parts of
Ukraine that's one of
the dark terrifying aspects of war is
how many mines are left even when the
war ends for decades after there's mines
everywhere because Dem mining is
extremely difficult and
that that could continually kill people
I don't think it'll be a spot for a very
long time because if you were thinking
about areas to demine when the conflict
ends an area where if you accidentally
trigger a mine could cause a radiation
leag it's probably going to be very low
on the list so tourism for Chernobyl who
knows how long until that Returns what
do you think you were able to to get to
Chernobyl is there why why don't you
think uh the Ukrainian people the
Ukrainian soldiers don't see you as a
threat maybe they were hoping I did step
on a m maybe my jokes didn't go too well
there so your connection was actually
Putin he was trying to get rid of you
Putin
yeah now I don't know I mean we felt
pretty safe when we're there there was
an air alert went off they were kind of
more concerned with me dying just for
the pr side of things it's like
Australian tourist in one of your videos
actually you know heard Ukrainian uh
language they're talking about we we
don't want to lose an athlete that's
what they're saying as you're loading
the the rocket launcher oh yeah The Rock
launcher I shot a rocket launcher with
the troops on the first trip but the
second trip I went back to which was
only maybe four to five weeks ago yeah
this time we went to some crazier spots
so we went to Odessa which has been hit
a ton I really enjoyed the video of old
man stretching and like exercising on
the yeah what local local custom well a
deser people are known historically to
be wild that was wild it was abrasive to
the eyes but I appreciated it especially
a middle a man in underwear with a beer
belly doing a Sundance at dusk that
would frighten many
people yeah yeah yeah the battleship
would turn around uh yeah so where else
we went yeah so we went Odessa we
briefly went back to Keef we so I made a
connection with the police chief of
basically the entire country last time
and he had said to me that if I wanted
to go somewhere sort of really heavy in
terms of action we could go to curse on
and he's like oh personally escort you
to curse on and I was just like well
here we have an invitation for
adventure I think it's a great idea to
go and I thought you know what I'll
completely lie to my cameraman and tell
him it's a safe trip to go on so that he
can pass that information onto his
fiance yeah and she won't have any
concerns yes so we basically take this
huge Journey all the way down to Kon we
switch at a city outside I can't
remember the name but we had to switch
of armored vehicles and I remember the
guy that picked us up there said hey
give me a phone number uh for someone to
call to recover your bodies yeah and he
said that in a joking way but I think he
was serious but I said just leave it you
know I'm not I don't think they need I
don't think be much left probably if we
get hit over there but we go basically
into kerson I think kon's population
used to be like
250,000 now it's like basically all
military down to 50,000 so we went into
the police basically station in the
bunker underneath the top of the
building was destroyed and then one of
the local guys just took us on a city
tour which again we had some filming
restrictions because obviously anytime
something's hit I guess the other side
wants to be able to see what damage has
been done so if you take any footage of
recently destroyed buildings that's
going to help him re-calibrate and
Target the next shot so kers on being so
heavily hit it's basically within range
of every single thing Russia has every
form of weapon drones before we took the
tour he put some drone blocking things
on top of the car which didn't look
reassuring he also took a helmet out the
back of the car which I thought he was
going to give to me but he just threw it
in the back of the pickup truck and said
oh you you won't need this you'll be
dead anyway and I was like ah I've made
a great life decision with this little
kers on tour but then we took a tour of
the city and kerson used to be kind of
like a beautiful beach city by the Neo
River but basically it's just the river
that separat Ates Russia from uh well I
guess the Russian land they've they've
taken from kerson so Kon split across
that River and there's just Russians on
the other side of the river and
ukrainians on this side so very very
dangerous spot K makes a lot of press
because of the longrange missiles that
hit but kon's just being hit all the
time so we took this tour we went along
the river we went to within 1 kilometer
of the front line so that was the
closest we got after this point we heard
artillery strike and because you're in
an armored vehicle it sounds further
away than it is obviously the sound
doesn't get in so I thought it sounded
far away we could see some smoke that
actually appeared closer in the distance
the guy driving us took us to a point
where a large building was blocking us
from I guess the angle at which the
missile would have came from and I
thought well I thought everything was
cool thought it was that must have been
off the disc distance and then we heard
two more strikes hit very very close
they sounded really loud and then I
think um he's radio in to see if
everything's safe if we can leave this
point and then we basically race back
but we kind I started to realize we're
in danger at any point where he really
sped the car up or sort of took sort of
evasive movements in the car but we got
out of there and I think I had someone
translate it later and basically yeah he
was checking to see if the roads were
clear for us to leave ultimately it
ended up being someone died and a people
injured from that blast which was less
than half a kilometer from us and
basically they were radi radioing saying
end the tour come back to police
station artillery is terrifying cuz
there's just shelling and it's the the
the destructive power of artillery is
insane yeah and it's constant all the
time yeah and you hear that noise you're
like is that coming or going very uh
very concerning right you don't know
yeah I'm you don't know and just like
that it could you gone last time the
village we went to um
basically it was the day we left so we
stayed there over night the day we left
it just started getting extremely
shelled and the soldier we were with
just took a selfie video of us and
basically the location we were in just
hearing just artillery strike after
artillery strike just being like Oh you
guys left and the the fun began so they
they take it in good spirit I was trying
to use their energy to reassure myself
but I guess when they see it every day
it's they're kind of more adjusted to it
they're not like they're not freaking
out every time something crazy like that
goes on well they have to right they
have to be in good spirit you have to be
joking and laughing and yeah the guys
are always laughing and joking they were
laughing and joking at me quite a bit
holding weapons trying to shoot weapons
and stuff they got a lot of enjoyment
out of me shooting the RPG yeah they're
they're probably still telling
stories that crazy
Australian American that rolled in they
help they helped me out though in my
marketing campaign for the tournament we
were able to secure a l classic Soviet
Union car mhm we towed it we painted it
with the logos of the other event the
ADCC yeah and we got to shoot some RPGs
at it yeah great experience great fun
yeah it's a very creative marketing
campaign very dangerous one I don't
think like Coke or Pepsi are going to do
that one so it's very very Innovative it
was a bold move luckily they let me get
away with posting it but when we were
there it was at a basically at a
shooting range and we cleared them out
for a while so we'd blown up the car we'
set it on fire we'd done all this sort
of stuff I remember we we were trying to
blow it up it wasn't quite hitting one
of the missiles was lodged in under the
car so it's kind of risky that could
have gone off at any moment but we
needed to get it to ignite we needed to
get a shot where it was on fire the logo
of the enemy tournament was basically on
fire so we poured gasoline on it we shot
the gasoline tank
that didn't work that must be a movie
trick or something and then we decided
we'd light on fire a rag and just throw
it into the blowing out back window MH
so I'm with this guy special forces guy
and we throw the rag in the back like
soaked in gasoline rag yeah and we start
running and he's like stop stop he's
like it didn't go off so we're sitting
there quite close to the car lighting it
trying to light more as we walk back to
the car and then we just hear the car
ignite and he's like run run run so we
came quite close to death already at
that point but we wanted to get this
shot with some photos in front of the
burning logos but we told the guys at
the shooting range to basically give us
10 minutes or so so we could take the
photos I don't know if they didn't wait
the full 10 minutes or if we took too
long but they started firing at the
targets anyway and then the ricochets
were flying very very close to us over
our head One landed right by my leg
we're like we better get out of
here obviously not much safety concerns
at that point but we survived basically
artillery strikes we survived a bit of
friendly fire with the bullets coming
our way but again I was strangely calm
because the other guys were calm but
then afterwards they were they said to
me they were like oh bro if you got shot
we' just have to dump your body at the
hospital we wouldn't be able to explain
why you're here blowing up cars right
right and you're American and athlete
International Celebrity they'd be like
what is what is he doing on the front
line there's no real good explanation
for it but I mean through even through
the jokes and stuff it's good to like
highlight what's actually kind of
happening over there you know it's
obviously very very bad what's the
morale of the soldiers like is there
still an optimism is there still a hope
I mean the the sort of the battle
fatigue you know and as they say like
all the heroes die early you know the
guys that the real heroes that are
willing to sacrifice themselves they're
the ones that are going to get taken out
quick unfortunately that's the reality
for them over there but their thoughts
are mostly that it's going to be a
prolonged War like when I ask them about
how fast the front line moves they're
like oh could take 6 months to move 1
200 meters yeah so it just feels like
it's going to go on forever and from the
Ukrainian side's P perspective those
guys talk to me about how when they hear
radio intercepts of Russian soldiers
marching to the same front line spot is
that
basically they're marching into certain
death at certain level locations and
based on the radio
Transmissions they know they're going to
die but they head forth anyway straight
forward into a Ukrainian position which
is just wild to me I guess like World
War II they just keep throwing troops at
it and you see a ton of footage they
take themselves which is just
mind-blowing obviously some of this
footage doesn't make it to the internet
because it's got important sort of
details in those conflicts but like
they're showing firstperson perspectives
of trench warfare it's just crazy to see
what some of these guys have have gone
through so I went to a lot of the same
places as well including
Heron um what was your sense of the
place Kon was like it was just so
destroyed I think at this point most of
the civilians are
gone I saw a lot of just elderly people
left behind especially a lot of old men
and I just think they're just like hey
I've lived here my whole life I'm just
never leaving so no matter the level
danger those guys just remain and then
for the it's largely just I guess
military and curs on but that place felt
very very dangerous I didn't realize
until we got there just quite how
destroyed it is how did that experience
change you just seeing War head on how
it change me I guess just realizing a
lot of these soldiers are just like you
you kind of distance yourself from them
thinking that they're something separate
but really speaking to a lot of the
Ukrainian soldiers like my friend Roman
he hadn't lived in Ukraine for 8 years
he lived in France he had a life he's
got a wife over there he's got a
daughter he basically volunteered to
come back to protect his uh mom and
brother who still lived there so it's
like you sort of I used to view them
military guys cuz in Australia and I
guess in the US they don't have this
conscription ongoing right now you know
what I mean like whereas obviously this
guy's like like Roman who volunteered
but then there's a lot of Ukrainian
soldiers that were conscripted into the
war so it's like you just realize how a
lot of these guys are Everyday People
they're just in this crazy situation
like where Roman felt obligated to
return to Ukraine like from my
perspective anyone in from Australia or
us just it's just a different
perspective on like those they feel
different to the regular people fighting
in Ukraine from my perspective yeah
defending the land that is your home
yeah like Japan was coming for Australia
I guess in World War II they attacked
the north but really there was no foot
battle and there was no soldiers on the
ground within Australia guess us too
during World War II so it's like a
completely different
perspective from our recent histories
compared to like if you were a Ukrainian
and there's Russians within the defined
border their responsibility to protect
their Homeland and their family is just
something you can't imagine but also
after having spent time with them you
can see why they feel such a strong
sense of obligation to protect uh to
protect Ukraine protect their family and
friends and in a lot of cases
uh the the soldiers are using their own
funds to buy
equipment uh whether it's bullets
whether it's guns whether it's armor is
that's still what you saw yeah I mean in
terms of the weapons America provides
weapons so we saw a wide selection of
weapons some of those would be old
Soviet weapons like obviously the RPG we
shot and what we shot out of it is all
Soviet it's very old weaponry and then
you've got us weapons that have been
given as well but in terms of the basic
soldiers equipment like if they want
good quality stuff that might be the
difference between them surviving the
winter or the summer just an extreme
temperature range like they have to pay
for that all themselves so they always
joke about when foreign soldiers come
over to train them or they a lot of
foreign soldiers come to learn about
sort of the Drone technology they've
developed on a budget is they always
joke with them about how like everything
from most countries is basically
supplied all the good quality standard
equipment they' need is just supplied by
the government but in Ukraine obviously
funding is very stretched so these guys
to have the best equipment they have to
basically find money to pay for it
themselves and they'll do that by
seeking donations best way to get
donations would be to grow social media
profiles so that's when you see a lot of
sort of social media Warfare from a
perspective of gaining Fame to secure
donations for the Battalion to be able
to fight better or protect themselves
and also some of the social media
Warfare I guess is psychological warfare
against the enemy yeah you'll see like
private telegram groups where they're
showing what they've done to the enemy
what the enemy's done to them it's just
it's just crazy
yeah there's telegram groups on both
sides and it's basically some of it is
propaganda some of it is psychological
warfare some of it is just the human
nature of being like of increasing your
own morale and the morale of the people
around you by showing off successfully
killing other human beings which are
made other in
War uh and the nature of this war has
has evolved so drones have become more
and more
prevalent of consumer level cheap drones
can you speak to that have you seen have
you seen the use of fbv fpv drones yeah
so I mean basically like a $300 to $500
drone I think it's like carbon fiber 3D
printed they can add attach different
forms of Weaponry to it whether it's
just dropping a frag they could drop a
mine out of it I know they were talking
about how they had a liquid that could
basically burn through sort of a lot of
cars and tanks so the person inside
would basically melt alive which sounds
horrible but what's mind- blowing me you
could have like a $3 million Russian
tank that could be destroyed by a
$300 drone which is just crazy how fast
the war changes I think they're kind of
the world leaders in budget drone
technology they didn't obviously don't
have the budget for these crazy
elaborate uh massive drones I did see
some higher budget bigger drones over
there but for the most part those fpv
drones is really how most of the battles
are fought and you're seeing the um
you're seeing the Hamas on them so you
can see like basically kamakazi drone
will chase someone down and they have
that footage and that's what the police
chief said to me when he he gifted me
one of the drones they used and he
basically said he's like artillery is
scary but a drone Will Follow You into a
building it's like kind of a haunting
thing to think about like they'll see
the Drone they'll hear the Drone they
might try to shoot it down or they might
try to run but if it's a kamakazi one
those guys are pretty good at find them
it's going to chase the soldiers down a
lot of soldiers like pretending to be
dead it's it's really crazy some of the
footage out there of those fpv DRS so
it's a terrifying tool of war and Tool
of psychological war and used by both
sides increasingly yeah both sides use
it I remember I was with Roman in
Marseilles and he had his break period
he was allowed to leave the country
because he's volunt he basically
volunteered to join the Army Ukrainian
men can't really leave Ukraine right now
but Roman I was in Mars and this was a
surreal experience for him we went to
the beach and there was some tourists
there flying a drone and you just saw
his instinctual reaction to that drone
sound in the sky flashback to
that currently they're all as far as I
know all human controlled so fpv but to
me increasingly terrifying notion is of
them becoming autonomous it's the best
way to defend against the Drone that's
fpv controlled is for AI to be
controlling that drone just have swarms
of drones that are $500 controlled by AI
systems and that's
a terrifying possibility that the future
of warfare is essentially swarms of
drones on both sides and then maybe
swarms of drones say between us and
China over Taiwan that would be wild
because I mean they do those crazy drone
L shows where they do those performances
with the lights and stuff so they're
already pretty sophisticated with sort
of pre-programming those are
pre-programmed so the the lowle control
flight control of those is done
autonomously but there's a interface for
doing the choreography that's hardcoded
in but adding increasing levels of
intelligence to a drone where you can
detect another drone follow it and
defend yourself like in terms of the the
military on both sides of the Ukraine
war that's that's a that's a technology
that's like the Most Wanted technology
is drone defense like how do you defend
against drones on both sides and anybody
that come up with an autonomous drone
technology is going toh help whichever
side uses that technology to gain a
military advantage and so there's a huge
incentive to build that technology but
then of course once both sides are
starting using that technology then
there's swarms of autonomous drones who
don't give a about humans just
killing everything in sight on both
sides and that that that's that's
terrifying there civilian deaths that
are possible that are terrifying
especially when you look 10 20 30 40 50
years from now yes I mean surreal like
when we went to Kon he was like uh the
entire sky is just full of full of
drones at any given time they could
decide to come and attack so like just
the they could just sit there forever
waiting waiting for you to come out of
that building they'll wait a long time
when someone goes and hides inside or
potentially if it's open window fly
straight through the open window to get
it to get people yeah so you're not even
safe indoors yeah there's nowhere to
hide and they can wait for a very very
long time and as far as I know even
politicians like you're in danger
everywhere in
Ukraine so if if you want to do a public
speaking thing and doing it outside
you're in danger because it's very
difficult to detect those drones it
could be anywhere so it's a
terrifying life where you don't know if
you're safe at any moment anywhere in
Ukraine well sure I mean it's crazy with
what happened to Trump I thought maybe
the next attack on a public figure might
come in the form of drone technology
something sort of something along those
lines I wonder how they protect against
that here if that happens just imagine
the insanity that would ensue cuz we
understand the idea of a gunman with a
rifle shooting somebody but just like a
drone they just imagine the conspiracy
theories who controlled that drone where
did it come from yeah and now everybody
I mean that would just cause chaos and
the range is ever increasing one of the
battalions in Ukraine cuz the those fpv
drones have short range pretty short
range but they were able to attach it to
one of the larger drones with a signal
booster so that it could potentially go
up to 30 40 km into the distance so the
Drone that hits you could be flown by
someone so far away from you and if they
did that domestically that would be very
frightening to think of the sphere of
where it could have come from do they
when you talked to the soldiers there
did they have a hope or a vision how the
war will end
not really it just see I guess it just
seems to everyone that it's sort of
there's going to be no middle ground
when I was there there's a kind of
optimism that they would be
victorious like
definitively and uh so is there still
that optimism and
also are they ready for prolonged War I
mean I think it would be a soldier by
Soldier basis I know like um each of
them had a different perspective I
remember I would ask him about like in
terms of us politics and their fears cuz
the first trip I went there us hadn't
agreed to resupply weapons so it was a
very different feeling in the air there
of concern over what was going to happen
but they still remained quite optimistic
that no matter who got in they felt
would do the right thing but in terms of
prolonged War most people think it's
going to go for a very long time like
the Children's Hospital that just uh was
bombed in ke anytime there's a moment
like that that reignites everything and
I think it happens on both sides so I
know that there was an attack in uh
cremier there was an attack on a beach I
guess um and I don't know attacking the
hospital was retribution for that but
that's sort of the energy that is felt
like um they might have battle fatigue
but when something happens to civilians
especially kids on your side kind of
reinvigorates the energy to fight for as
long as necessary and in terms of a
case-by case basis one of my friends
Demitri over there who transitu own jym
he was very passionate about it just
because of the history like he brought
out documents of his grandfather being
executed by the USSR so I know that when
the war started he basically he took a a
bicycle helmet in his AK-47 and went out
into the streets and he's like I'd
rather be dead than live under Russian
rule again so I mean
very case- by case basis sort of
personal history for them I think did
they comment on um us politics whether
they hope for Trump or for in that
situation Biden now Harris to win the
presidential election I think they most
of the guys tried to keep it pretty
positive you know what I mean like some
people did think that maybe if Trump was
elected he wouldn't continue to fund it
but they really try to stay optimistic
most of the people I spoke to really
tried to remain optimistic that they
would be protected if if it comes down
to it like but obviously there was a
9month period where they weren't
refunded so as that stretched obviously
they're refunded now but it takes a lot
of time to get that equipment back to
the points at which they need it so I
mean if ammunition had ran out Patriot
defense system had ran out really really
sort of scary prospect there I don't
know what's all I guess no one knows
what's going to happen there but did you
lie to people and say you were close to
the president so they can be nice to you
like so they can convince you to
continue the funding I'm an Australian
Diplomat over
here that could be a nice way in yeah
that would have been a nice way to the
top um L luckily for me most of the
place I travel to uh Jiu-Jitsu gives me
access to so many different individuals
it's it's super bizarre like oligarchs
royalty I guess Tech wizard it's just
it's a strange group of people like a
cold around the world of just I get
strange access just for being good at
wrestling wrestling dudes yeah martial
arts there's a there's like a code and
there's a respect the mutual respect
even if you don't know anything about
the other person if you both have done
martial arts I mean there's similar
things with Judo with jiu-jitsu with
grappling all that I don't know what
that is it's like an inner cirle that's
kind of like cuz this film Project we're
working on it's kind of focused on that
is uh because of the history of having
Jiu-Jitsu and traveling and doing
seminars and just getting access to
strange experiences from the local
strange in a positive way and
participating in those experiences
that's what I sort of wanted to focus
this travel show on was the community of
Jiu-Jitsu people around the world kind
of really has no sort of ethnic
background religious background even
level of wealth like it as cheesy as it
sounds kind of a good equalizer on the
mats and that Community camaraderie so
there's no limits there including like
mats the shittiest mats and some small
town in the middle of nowhere 100% even
like Shake tanon who started ADCC I know
when he went to the US and he studied
there he would train at a very simple gy
he wouldn't declare who he was like I I
watched a documentary produced about
sort of the story of shake tanon and how
he studied in America basically in
anonymity the people at his gym didn't
know who he was in his country and he
trained there he trained with him for
years cleaned the mounts like anyone
else and then they didn't realize who he
was until he said hey I want to invite
you to my country but he actually meant
basically as royalty come and then they
realized who this guy was and the
significance of him that's gangster
that's great one of the things I love
about noi Jiu-Jitsu is like you don't
see rank so on a small scale there's no
hierarchy that's that emerges when you
have the different color belts
everybody's kind of the same it's nice
you get see the skill the skill speaks
but there's just like a mutual respect
and whatever I mean you can quickly find
out who I actually wonder if I would be
able to figure out the rank of a person
you think you can can usually figure out
how long a person's been doing J Jes I
like to think with some of the
aggressive clothing choices I've made
and sold in the sport that that should
be a beacon that that person is a blue
belt has hopefully some Talent cuz
they're fearlessly provoking the other
body there oh it's it's like in the
jungle whenever there's like a insect
that's red that it's like really
flamboyant looking that means they're
dangerous it's a Target yeah though yeah
being flamboyant if you come on the mats
with something pink pink gay or
something people are circling in fast
especially in Eastern
Europe okay so uh yeah you mentioned the
project can you talk about that I saw
there's a preview that you showed Craig
Jones gone Walkabout gone Walkabout yeah
and uh so you showed a preview in
Indonesia where you're both kind of
celebrating and maybe poking a bit of
fun at Hicks and Gracie Hicks and Gracie
yes so I like to to uh match looks from
time to time in an homage you look sexy
it's comfortable actually I enjoy it
yeah you should keep it I only wear this
now I'll wear
this I wear this for the Gabby match um
I mean yeah we're trying to do a
documentary series cuz the way I see it
is I want to grow the sport of Jiu-Jitsu
and every this sounds funny to say now
cuz I'm doing a tournament but everyone
tries to do it through competition but
as we know most Jiu-Jitsu gyms you visit
a very small percentage of people
compete let alone compete regularly
you'll go to gyms that could be brown or
black belts that don't know many of the
bigname competitors so my thoughts were
we're never going to grow this sport by
competition we're going to grow it by
appealing to the large majority of
people that do it which are just people
that enjoy it for the benefits it
provides to them whether health or
psychological and obviously many people
inspired by Anthony
Bourdain basically he's looking at what
he did with food by showing the very
interesting characters in the food
culture the Food Industries especially
with street food and building around
that so I'm trying to look at Jiu-Jitsu
like a giant cult Scientology isn't
starting with Planet Zeno it's starting
with John trod and Tom so we can create
a documentary travel series highlighting
the diverse interesting people that
participate in the sport in that sense I
hope we can grow up but also doing some
charity work along the way like as we'll
release the Indonesia barley episode
pretty soon but as an
Australian I do do a lot of damage
culturally around the world so I'd like
to uh do some good as well we've we've
done a lot of damage to Bley so give
back to local communities we have an
Australian there that runs in Academy
Academy Christos he's one of the guys
we're donating a portion of the ticket
sales to from our event but he basically
went straight into a balones slum
started teaching Jiu-Jitsu on a mount
under a tree and then slowly through
donations has built a gym and his real
focus is not just taking money from
people and gifting it to them to help
the community but to teach them skills
so he'll take a lot of the disadvantaged
kids and he'll teach them things like
photo editing so they can get that work
from the internet really incredible guy
it's good to know that you see yourself
as the J trol of Jiu-Jitsu many massas
have accused me of the same thing
unfortunately old lies yeah there's
there's a lot there's a lot of
similarities between the two of you so
you mentioned Anthony
Bourdain what do you like about the guy
what do you what do you find inspiring
and instructive about the way he was
able to as you said scratch beneath the
surface of a place I just felt like very
authentic wasn't afraid like this is
something I had trouble with when we
first started doing the travel show it's
easy to do a travel show if you only say
positive things about a place yeah you
know but he would find a very creative
way to show what's good and bad a very
honest reflection of the place so that's
something I would strive to do however
in some places it's very difficult you
know what I mean like for example
Kazakhstan if I would to say something
negative about Kazakhstan they'd be like
who's this yeah foreign idiot talking
about our culture and I think that was
what was incredible about balain is he
could talk about both the good and bad
of places and he would do it in such a
way that it was tasteful and was
respected by the locals yeah that's
actually a skill that you're incredibly
good at you make fun of a lot of people
but there's
something maybe there's an underlying
respect maybe it's the accent maybe I
don't know what it
is there's there's a love underneath
your trolling i' like to think so
hopefully yeah Gabby Garcia
a deep a deep passionate love underneath
the trolling
yeah uh speaking of which let's talk
about
cji you're putting on the CGI tournament
it's it's in about a week same weekend
as ADCC $3 million budget two divisions
and two super fights winner of each
division gets $1
million everyone gets
$110,000 how do you even say that plus
one 10,000 plus one yeah plus one
uh just to compete so it's August 16th
and 17th everybody should get tickets
same weekend as ADCC so which is August
17th okay so what's the mission what
you're doing there the the mission has
always been first and foremost increase
athlete pay so ADCC has invested a ton
into the sport obviously I mentioned
shake tanu shake Tano's done so much for
the sport of grappling particularly noi
grappling so he's growing it he has
funded this for a very very long time
but we've kind of hit a point since 2017
where the audience the crowd watching
live and at home behind a pay wall has
grown considerably we had things like
meta moris we had the Eddie Bravo
Invitational Polaris all these sort of
professional events that have also
contributed to Growing the sport and
obviously people like Gordon Ryan have
definitely increased the popularity of
the sport but
the payment for ADCC has never gone up
despite again the growth of it so what I
did a lot of fans were asking me earlier
in the year they said c you going to do
ADCC and I said that is a big commitment
of time energy expenses on steroids to
get my body ready for a tournament that
I'll probably lose and if I lose on day
one I make $ Z if I lose on if I lose in
the final which I have done a couple
times only only get $6,000 I think third
place is 3,000 fourth place is 1,000 so
if you make day two you get paid but for
me personally seeing ADCC 2022 you're
looking out to a soldout crowd of like
10,000 people it's on Flow grappling
which you know PID quite a bit of money
for the streaming rights I can't comment
on what that number would be and then
you go home despite having put in all
that effort with only 6,000 and they
basically the argument is you're paid an
exposure but again there's many ways to
expose yourself you know what I mean
that's just one of the platforms to do
so yeah my problem was that they
announced they were going to go from
Thomas and Mac to T-Mobile which is a
jump in quality of Stadium but not a
significant jump in sort of seating so
we've gone from like 11,000 seat Arena
to I think a 15 16,000 seat Arena and I
knew that flow grappling would have had
to pay more money cuz now the Sport's
growing so much and I can personally
kind of track the growth of the sport
through selling instructional dvds
instructional online products cuz that
keeps growing and we're targeting those
white and blue belts vulnerable to
internet marketing yeah and that
audience continues to grow and those
will be the people that largely watch
ADCC events like this so I simply said
in response to a lot of fans asking me
why are you going to do ADCC and I
simply made a video saying no probably
not probably not it' be nice to make
some more money and then I listed a
bunch of sports such as bar that
you get paid more to win bar in The
Villages of Kazakhstan the payment
structure is higher MH and I received a
very aggressive response not from any of
shake tan Hun's people but from
basically who runs the event today one
of those guys amongst giving me death
threats said hey T-Mobile costs $2
million you don't know what you're
talking about and in terms of business
and production and he's probably right
but to me $2 million is a waste of money
for a Jiu-Jitsu event I don't think
we're at that level yet like that's
where the UFC host events you know $2
million that's an expensive e