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JRE MMA Show #117 with Marlon "Chito" Vera

Joe sits down with Marlon "Chito" Vera, an Ecuadorian mixed martial artist currently competing in the bantamweight division of the UFC.

Marlon "Chito" VeraguestJoe RoganhostYoung Jamieguest
Jun 27, 20242h 55mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 15:00

    (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast,…

    1. MV

      (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

    2. JR

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) He saw ... Yeah. There's, uh, a few guys in LA that are like legit LA legends, legends of tattooing. He's one of the biggest.

    3. MV

      Yeah. We did one set and that was painful.

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. MV

      That, that kicked my ass. (laughs)

    6. JR

      Is the back more painful than the arms?

    7. MV

      Oh, yeah.

    8. JR

      Really?

    9. MV

      The arms are easy.

    10. JR

      Yeah. The arms are pretty easy.

    11. MV

      I basically ... Uh, you feel it, but you're not crying. On my back-

    12. JR

      You were crying?

    13. MV

      ... there, there was ... Not crying, but about to.

    14. JR

      (laughs)

    15. MV

      There were points that my arm were shaking-

    16. JR

      Really?

    17. MV

      ... with- without me moving it.

    18. JR

      Wow. See, that's, it's weird what parts hurt, 'cause, um, uh, the elbow hurts a lot, like the inside of the elbow.

    19. MV

      Yeah.

    20. JR

      That shit hurts a lot. I was like, "I thought that was numb." Because like you think about how many times you hit things with your elbows, it doesn't hurt at all.

    21. MV

      I crack heads with elbows, but the-

    22. JR

      (laughs)

    23. MV

      ... the, the little ink it will make you pay. It's crazy.

    24. JR

      It's weird. Yeah.

    25. MV

      I have my full leg, a dragon.

    26. JR

      Yeah?

    27. MV

      Like top to bottom, my leg. That's also awful.

    28. JR

      Really? Leg is awful?

    29. MV

      And like some parts, like some parts in the thigh where the sun don't goes-

    30. JR

      Hmm.

  2. 15:00 – 30:00

    Mm-hmm. …

    1. MV

      can talk because I'm in that camp. I'm with Parillo. So they were focusing a lot on explosiveness.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. MV

      Explosions. But then what about the long distance? Like that's what Parillo says, "It's not about sprint, it's not about intervals, it's not about long distance. It's about the three of them." And that's one thing I, I add from him because he like me to sprint. He like his sprints. Me personally, my favorite thing is go over 15 miles, just run almost three hours, like just go.

    4. JR

      Why do you like doing that?

    5. MV

      Because my mind gets so sharp. I'm thinking. I'm, I'm, I'm visualizing. I'm, I'm thinking on... I'm seeing the future. I'm like... I basically, I'm thinking on what I want, how I wanna get it done. But then also you gotta be able to keep yourself active for that long, because when you do intervals, like last night I did a sprint, like fast, like 12 mi- like 12 miles per hour, two minutes. I did like six, six rounds like that. It's hard as fuck. Your heart is gonna get out of your chest, but you know it's two minutes. You know it's gonna end. So it's almost like you teach yourself to stop here. When, when I do my long distance, there's no, "It's almost done."

    6. JR

      Right.

    7. MV

      Because when I go, when I, when I go six, seven miles to the left, I know I gotta come back.

    8. JR

      Right. Right, right.

    9. MV

      So I like, I like everything. All of this work because one, it help me being explosive, help me being fast, but the other one in the, in, in the championship rounds is gonna show.

    10. JR

      Mmm.

    11. MV

      And you don't get this overnight. I don't start running and get to 13 miles in a week. It took me months to get there. Now I do 13, 15 whenever I want. But also I don't stop using it.

    12. JR

      Right.

    13. MV

      Parillo always said, "You don't use it, you lose it."

    14. JR

      Right.

    15. MV

      So you gotta come back to the basics. You gotta keep doing. That's why I say it's not seasonal. It's, it's never ending.

    16. JR

      When you're in camp, do you run long distances?

    17. MV

      They stop me to do it.

    18. JR

      Yeah?

    19. MV

      Because they're like, "Hey, okay, four weeks out, forget about it. Now we have to be fast and explosive." Which I listen to my team, that's why I'm winning.

    20. JR

      And you already have the cardio base?

    21. MV

      I already have the... The low base has been done the whole year. On camp, I just focus on be quick and be sharp and be ready to go.

    22. JR

      When you started in Ecuador, what kind of facilities were available?

    23. MV

      Nothing.

    24. JR

      Nothing?

    25. MV

      I was training on living rooms-

    26. JR

      No.

    27. MV

      ... with mats. Like, let's say you, you move this table-

    28. JR

      Yeah.

    29. MV

      ... we put mats, and we go jab, cross, hook, back, and forth.

    30. JR

      Really?

  3. 30:00 – 45:00

    You're the main event?…

    1. MV

      I don't see no kids in here, all grown men with tattoos looking mean." And then I ask the guy that contact me for the fight, I'm like, "Yo, who I'm fighting?" "See the guy there with the dread?" I was like, "He's not a fucking kid." He's like, "Ah, it's okay, you should be fine." And we're in the main event, I didn't knew shit.

    2. JR

      You're the main event?

    3. MV

      Yeah, but i- i- it's, it's a ... This is not licensed.

    4. JR

      Right.

    5. MV

      This, this is a homie making fights in the, in, in the back of the mechanic.

    6. JR

      Right.

    7. MV

      So I wrap my hands with, with just regular hand wraps, put it on. I don't have a mouthpiece with me. They go out to buy one, boil it, put it in my mouth, and then, "Okay, it's your turn. Go." No warmup, no nothing. No, no nothing. I was a Jiu-Jitsu kid showing up to this MMA show.This fucker throw a spinning wheel to my face. I close my eyes and shoot a double leg, and that thing just touch my hair, and I was like, "Okay. I'm not gonna f- strike with this guy because I don't know how to strike." So, for one round I tried to take him down over and over and over, and Q2 is like, just like Mexico City, it's high altitude. First round's over, my throat and my lungs were dry. I told my friend like, "Bro, what the fuck? I don't wanna be here." He's like, "No, you there. Don't be a fucking pussy. Go and fight." I'm like, "What should I do?" "Just keep taking him down. Jiu-jitsu wins all the time." He, that's what he told me, and I was like, "Okay, I guess you're right." Went back in the second round, take him down, armbar him. When I tap him out, there is no feeling like that. That was my first MMA win. I was the most high natural drug I ever took in my life, was winning that day by armbar. And I told myself, "I will put everything on the world that affects to be a good athlete aside." And since that day, I started training like, like a manic, like nonstop.

    8. JR

      So, everything that could possibly get in the way of that, you put that aside?

    9. MV

      Everything. Everything.

    10. JR

      Everything. Partying, fun.

    11. MV

      Like, "Hey bro, there's a good thing tonight."

    12. JR

      Yeah.

    13. MV

      No. Like, my girlfriend, which is my wife now, she wa- she knew, like, I was like, it was fighting.

    14. JR

      Obsessed.

    15. MV

      I was obsessed. I wa- I'm gonna make it to the UFC. And here we are.

    16. JR

      And where, were you tr- you said you weren't training very much striking. Did you start training striking after that?

    17. MV

      So, the, this jiu jit- Fernando Soluço have like a kickboxing coach on the side that he would use for himself and some other guys, and I started training with them in the MMA class in the mornings. So these guys, like, have some, uh, some kickboxing skills and also was, like, a brown belt at the time in jiu-jitsu. So, he would put together some classes, but MMA class was shin- shinguards and gloves, just beat the shit out of each other.

    18. JR

      So there was no, like, strategy, technique?

    19. MV

      Oh, no. Like, the technique back then was like, high kick back and forth.

    20. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    21. MV

      Five minute rounds.

    22. JR

      (laughs)

    23. MV

      Okay, f- uh, switch kick back and forth. Jab back re- like, you know, it's like, it was a beginner class.

    24. JR

      Yeah.

    25. MV

      And back then MMA was blind in Ecuador.

    26. JR

      And what year was this?

    27. MV

      This is 2012.

    28. JR

      2012?

    29. MV

      2011, yeah. This is, uh, because I make my UFC debut 2014. Oh, this is way before then. Fuck, it's a long time ago.

    30. JR

      (laughs)

  4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

    S- …

    1. MV

      and blah, blah, blah." "Cool." This ... My, my dad was ready to, like, to stop supporting me, and I was already married. I have one daughter, so my dad was helping me to ... so I can train all day. He was, like, helping me with, with my rent, helping me with some food, but just, like, basic essentials, like, I will have to figure it out the rest. And he told me, "December 1st came, kid. You're done. You find a job and fuck that fighting dream."

    2. JR

      S-

    3. MV

      I call him. "The fucking UFC called me." His parent was like, "Fuck, I'm fucked now."

    4. JR

      (laughs)

    5. MV

      And I was like, "Dad, they called me. I'm gonna leave to Albuquerque, I'm gonna make it, and we will all be good. I fucking make it. I love you. Thanks for everything you did for me, blah, blah, blah." I drove straight to my wife and I was like, "Hey, I'm leaving to Albuquerque for six month." A regular wife would be like freaking out. She ... The smile on her face just make my day. I was like-

    6. JR

      Six months?

    7. MV

      Six months.

    8. JR

      Wow.

    9. MV

      You gotta leave. So I train for those six months there, and then the finale of the Ul- Ultimate Fight was in November when ... It was at Mercurio-Huhn in Beroun.

    10. JR

      Hmm.

    11. MV

      So ...

    12. JR

      That was Mexico City.

    13. MV

      Ah, yes.

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. MV

      So I ... We went to Ultimate Fighter.

    16. JR

      I was there for that one.

    17. MV

      I know. That's what hurt me-

    18. JR

      Yeah.

    19. MV

      ... the most. Not just not winning but not getting to talk to you that day.

    20. JR

      (laughs)

    21. MV

      I swear to God. I was so upset, and I, I really thought I won the fight. It was a, it was a decision, but I was like ... I th- I thought I did enough. I was kind of hype and then I was like, "Oh, shit. Whatever." That broke my heart in 20,000 pieces because it was my UFC debut. I made it to the UFC and I was like, "Fuck, I made all this and I'm a fucking loser." That r- that loss make me, like, hard in a way. Like, I was like, "Okay, no more fucking bullshit. No more weird coach. No more bullshit. No more whatever people say. I'm gonna focus so hard that one day I'm gonna go to, to be a world champion." Because it was like ... It was so much in the past. Like, even w- what my dad did for me and my family, my wife family, what they did for her to stay with a guy that wasn't making a fucking dime and just training all day like a maniac, for a good reason. So I was like, "If I get ... I make all that to come here and lose like this, I'm a fucking failure." So that right there kind of, like, give me the foundation to, "Don't be a fucking loser." Like, literally, I was so hard on myself that I was like, "I gotta get killed to lose again."

    22. JR

      Well, you were young and it's, uh, you know?

    23. MV

      It was early.

    24. JR

      That was a, that was a very close fight. It was a very close fight.

    25. MV

      It was early too.

    26. JR

      Just that experience too, to, to be in Mexico City, in that huge arena, fighting in the UFC. What was that like, just to s- step into the octagon like that?

    27. MV

      I walk out crying that day. I was crying in the workout. I was like, I ... I was ... As a fan, as ... All I did to be there, I was like, "I'm not gonna c- I'm not gonna contain it. I'm not gonna, like, not cry so people don't see me." I was full-on crying walking to the cage.

    28. JR

      Wow.

    29. MV

      Because I was fighting f- You remember that thing with my daughter for the surgery?

    30. JR

      Yes, yes.

  5. 1:00:00 – 1:11:01

    You cannot. …

    1. JR

      an IV.

    2. MV

      You cannot.

    3. JR

      You have to replenish everything dr- by drinking the fluids.

    4. MV

      Anyway, most- most of my... Even when IV was legal, I really use them.

    5. JR

      Yeah.

    6. MV

      Because I drink the first three, four hours. Like Perfecting Athletes told me like for each hour, 500 milligram, it will- you will fully absorb it. Because if you go crazy and you drink half a gallon, you're fucked. You just pee it out.

    7. JR

      Right.

    8. MV

      You gotta make sure you absorb it and I'm not a doctor.

    9. JR

      So you have to drink it slowly.

    10. MV

      They are.

    11. JR

      Yeah.

    12. MV

      But when you make weight, you're desperate. You're craving for... You will drink your own pee back then. So like they told me like, I bring one of the ladies with me on weighing day, I don't bring my coaches, and they say stop. They put a timer. Okay, I feeling good. Drink again. They bring me some eggs, some fruit, but then when I see around the fighters are just eating Pringles or salty shit, I'm like-

    13. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    14. MV

      It just- just drive me crazy. I'm like, "What are you fucking doing?"

    15. JR

      And when you weigh in, you h- how long, many hours after you weigh in do you start to feel good again?

    16. MV

      Like three hours later, my- my eyes are not sore anymore. I'm- my face looks normal again. But I drink, I drink for two hours just liquid. I do between watermelon juice, vegetable juices, orange juice, grape juice.... and then water. I don't stop drinking water until I leave to the arena, like-

    17. JR

      And do you put anything in the water? Do you have, like, hi- uh, uh, electrolytes?

    18. MV

      They have... We call it, like, the natural Gatorade. We put, uh, honey, salt, and lime in a, in, in, in a full gallon, and that's my... how I rehydrate. I don't use no powders, like, no bullshit, like, it's just-

    19. JR

      Right.

    20. MV

      But I eat this way the whole year.

    21. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    22. MV

      Like, if I do my 30-mile run, that's what I'm drinking when I'm... when, when I'm done. And then-

    23. JR

      So your body's accustomed to it-

    24. MV

      I am accustomed to it.

    25. JR

      ... you're accustomed to it, yeah.

    26. MV

      What drive me also crazy is when a fighter cut 10, 20 pounds, then their first meal is a fucking pizza or a, or a cheeseburger. I'm like, "Holy shit."

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. MV

      I love to fight those guys, because you attack the stomach, it's over.

    29. JR

      (laughs)

    30. MV

      Like, I'm not... If I'm not eating that out of camp, what make you think that's the way to recovery?

Episode duration: 2:55:27

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