CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 0:32
Boise return: upcoming fight with Marion Reneau
Joe and Cat open by teeing up her next bout in Boise and how she’s feeling heading into camp. Cat quickly frames the conversation around how scattered her recent fight schedule has been due to injuries and life events.
- •Fight announcement: Marion Reneau, July 14 at CenturyLink Arena (Boise)
- •Cat’s recent career timeline and long layoffs between fights
- •Context for why this camp and comeback matter
- 0:32 – 1:14
Layoffs, injuries, and how Cat’s schedule got disrupted
Cat walks through the stop-start rhythm of her last several years: knee damage, long recovery windows, and big gaps between fights. The discussion sets up how physical setbacks and timing issues shaped her career momentum.
- •Knee injury after Miesha Tate fight and extended time off
- •Spacing between Nunes, Rousey, and Peña fights
- •How repeated layoffs affect preparation and performance
- 1:14 – 3:10
Endocrine fallout, weight cuts, and post-fight health problems
Cat explains she’s pursued many nontraditional health approaches and believes weight cutting and head trauma can seriously disrupt endocrine function—especially for women. She describes concrete hormone changes and long-term thyroid problems after a traumatic fight experience.
- •Skepticism of “Western medicine” vs. alternative approaches
- •Weight cuts + head strikes impacting endocrine systems
- •Post-fight hormonal suppression and hypothyroidism
- 3:10 – 4:08
Revisiting Rousey and the rapid evolution of women’s MMA
They revisit Cat’s ultra-fast loss to Ronda Rousey and what it meant strategically. Joe broadens the discussion to how fast women’s MMA has evolved and how distractions, matchmaking, and timing can change careers.
- •Cat’s 14-second Rousey fight: what happened and why
- •Whether a rematch ever makes sense given Rousey’s status
- •Women’s MMA leveling up quickly; distractions and readiness matter
- 4:08 – 8:39
Amanda Nunes’ dominance, contender politics, and Cat’s title-shot frustrations
Joe and Cat analyze Nunes’ performances and how contenders get selected. Cat contrasts Raquel Pennington’s quick path to a title shot with her own experience of having to re-earn opportunities after injury and personal tragedy.
- •Breakdown of Nunes vs. Pennington and what stood out
- •Title-shot timing, marketability, and “re-earning” contention
- •Cat’s resentment over losing her original title path after Miesha win
- 8:39 – 10:52
Why Cat left Colorado: healing at sea level and starting over
Cat explains Colorado became emotionally complicated and also medically challenging for recovery—especially after brain injury concerns. Advice from specialists pushed her toward sea level, ultimately leading to the decision to relocate and rebuild her training life.
- •Altitude as a barrier to healing (inflammation, brain/heart issues)
- •Mayo Clinic guidance: heal at sea level
- •Emotional need to ‘exile’ from Colorado while keeping relationships intact
- 10:52 – 13:30
Auditioning gyms anonymously: finding the right camp fit
Cat describes visiting many gyms quietly to see their real culture and coaching style without a ‘show.’ She details near-moves (including ATT) and why San Diego/Alliance became the best overall match for authenticity, logistics, and support.
- •Showing up anonymously to evaluate gym culture and fit
- •Close to American Top Team, but felt it wasn’t right
- •Landing in San Diego with Alliance; LA traffic and lifestyle tradeoffs
- 13:30 – 14:48
Jiu-jitsu lineage, Atos training, and the pressure of a big MMA name
Cat explains why she’s remained a purple belt for years—wanting the right lineage after her husband promoted her. She talks about training at Atos, getting humbled by elite rooms, and how MMA fame affected her willingness to compete in pure grappling.
- •Purple belt ‘forever’ due to promotion lineage and meaning
- •Atos experience: high-level training and being tested daily
- •Balancing MMA identity with jiu-jitsu competition and growth
- 14:48 – 16:59
Ring rust and performance lag: ‘I don’t know what go means’
Cat describes how long layoffs have translated into slow starts in fights, including feeling out of rhythm until late rounds. She and Joe explore whether it’s adrenaline, warmup structure, psychology, or something deeper tied to brain health.
- •Feeling out of composure early, waking up late in fights
- •Possible warmup/respiratory exhaustion strategy to simulate early chaos
- •Mental vs. physiological explanations for delayed sharpness
- 16:59 – 19:59
Inside Mindset: magnetic brain therapy, PTSD symptoms, and real-world cases
Cat introduces the Mindset clinic and describes the therapy approach using EEG mapping and targeted magnetic stimulation. She shares stories of Alzheimer’s patients and veterans, explains her PTSD diagnosis and symptoms, and why the setting convinced her it was serious.
- •EEG assessment + personalized transcranial magnetic stimulation
- •Veterans, PTSD, depression, and neurocognitive recovery examples
- •Cat’s symptoms: startle reflex, sleep issues, anxiety, memory problems
- 19:59 – 25:57
Antidepressants, emotional flatness, and the Juliana Peña camp experience
Cat explains Mayo Clinic prescribed antidepressants partly to address cortisol and stress, but they left her emotionally ‘flat.’ She recounts how that numbness affected her camp and fight week experience, including the pain of hearing familiar coaches corner against her.
- •Antidepressants as a stress/cortisol intervention
- •Loss of normal fight-week emotions and adrenaline response
- •Emotional strain of gym politics during the Peña fight
- 25:57 – 50:09
‘If they can’t fix me, I’m done’: retirement thoughts and Nunes’ power
Cat describes how close she came to retiring if the brain-health interventions failed. They pivot into how hard Nunes hits, Cat’s memories of the fight, and the primal scream after her comeback win—framed as survival and relief.
- •Retirement as a real possibility without recovery
- •Nunes’ punching power and the ‘tweety birds’ concussion moment
- •Cat’s scream as primal relief: ‘we lived, they didn’t’
- 50:09 – 53:58
Fighter health coverage and the UFC insurance window problem
Joe and Cat discuss how brain injuries and endocrine damage may not be covered if not reported quickly after a bout. Joe argues this is irrational for head trauma, while Cat explains how the experience changed how she reports injuries and thinks about long-term risk.
- •Coverage denied if issues aren’t claimed within a short window
- •Brain injury symptoms often persist or appear well after 30 days
- •Stigma of invisible injuries and the economics of fighting vs. recovery
- 53:58 – 1:26:58
What recovery felt like: getting timing, patterns, and ‘the chess’ back
Cat describes the most meaningful improvements: seeing patterns again, retaining instructions, and regaining the ability to manipulate opponents’ reactions. She explains how terrifying it was when that perception disappeared and how training joy returned as the fog lifted.
- •Before: only ‘go’—no pattern recognition, poor retention, limited feedback loop
- •After weeks of therapy: timing, angles, feints, and decision-making return
- •Training becomes playful again—‘the art’ and the games
- 1:26:58 – 1:35:53
Building a modern camp: outsourcing Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu, and S&C
Cat breaks down how her current camp is structured—specialists for separate disciplines, then integrating via sparring. They also discuss weight, hypothyroid medication, and how endocrine issues changed her body composition and weight-cut realities.
- •Camp architecture: separate disciplines + MMA sparring integration
- •Support team: S&C (Chad Macias), nutrition (Josh Ford), coordination with coaches
- •Hypothyroid treatment (levothyroxine) and dramatic weight changes
- 1:35:53 – 1:44:59
The brutality of weight cuts—and why the sport should change
Cat recounts extreme weight cutting at 125, including heatstroke-like symptoms and passing out during a bath cut. Joe and Cat argue weight-cut culture is unnecessary and discuss hydration testing (ONE FC model), more weight classes, and fighting at healthier weights.
- •Cat’s 125 cut story: passing out, cramps, dangerous recovery
- •Hydration testing and shifting athletes to natural weight classes
- •Contracts, entertainment matchmaking, and why division rules may evolve
- 1:44:59 – 1:48:15
Cyborg at 145 and the thin featherweight division problem
They explore the challenges of the women’s 145 division: Cyborg’s size, lack of contenders, and the risks of fighting up a class. The conversation also touches on Jermaine de Randamie’s title situation and how few athletes populate the division.
- •Cyborg’s walkaround size and matchup realities
- •Featherweight roster is tiny; limited matchmaking options
- •Jermaine de Randamie vs. Holly controversy and title vacating context
- 1:48:15 – 2:03:15
Life outside camp: no cable, escape rooms, horse rescue, and border-wall surrealism
Cat describes her off-mat routine: parenting, beach time, escape rooms, and volunteering at a horse rescue as a calming counterweight to fighting. A long tangent follows about the US–Mexico border wall near Imperial Beach, migration practicality, and how technology changes human connection.
- •Minimal TV life: Netflix + DVDs; limited MMA viewing
- •Escape rooms and equine/animal rescue work for balance and purpose
- •Border wall visibility at the beach; broader talk on countries, tech, and community
- 2:03:15 – 2:32:04
Striking development, yoga/sauna recovery, and training the body to endure heat
Cat explains how Alliance helped sharpen her hands and why boxing felt least natural compared with wrestling and Muay Thai clinch work. Joe and Cat then dig into yoga’s benefits and sauna protocols—both for recovery and for preparing the body for weight-cut heat stress.
- •Boxing as a learned skill: hard to translate from prior sports; getting hit teaches defense
- •Yoga for mobility, joint health, and mental endurance (especially hot yoga)
- •Sauna use for recovery, heat tolerance, and inflammation reduction; portable sauna logistics
