JRE MMA Show #38 with Gaston Bolanos & Kirian Fitzgibbons

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... hundred. …

   1. KFKirian Fitzgibbons0:00

      ... hundred.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      Four, three, two, one. Yeah! And we're live, gentlemen. What's up? What's up, boys?

   3. GBGaston Bolanos0:08

      What's, what's going on, man?

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      Good to see you again. What's happening?

   5. GBGaston Bolanos0:10

      Yeah. Happy to be here, man.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      Happy to have you here, man.

   7. GBGaston Bolanos0:12

      Yeah, thanks.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      You are the only guy right now that I know of that is fighting at the highest level in three combat sports.

   9. GBGaston Bolanos0:19

      Correct.

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:20

       MMA, Muay Thai, and kickboxing. That's fucking crazy.

   11. GBGaston Bolanos0:25

       Thanks, man. I, I just-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:26

       How do you keep your head together?

   13. GBGaston Bolanos0:28

       I don't know. Like, last time warming up in Rome, actually it was the first time, like, warming up for a kickboxing fight, I threw a spinning back elbow and said, "I better not do that shit." (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:34

       Yeah.

   15. GBGaston Bolanos0:34

       While I'm in there.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       Spinning back elbows-

   17. GBGaston Bolanos0:36

       (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:36

       ... no bueno in a kickbox.

   19. GBGaston Bolanos0:37

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       You can do a spinning back fist though, right?

   21. GBGaston Bolanos0:38

       I did, which I landed two of 'em, um, in my last fight.

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:41

       Do you, do you see the, what's happening lately where a lot of guys are hitting foreheads with their arms and snapping their arm?

   23. GBGaston Bolanos0:47

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       Page did it. Um, uh, obviously, uh, who else did it recently? Paul Felder did it.

   25. KFKirian Fitzgibbons0:52

       Mm-hmm.

   26. GBGaston Bolanos0:52

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan0:53

       A couple guys have done it.

   28. GBGaston Bolanos0:54

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       They spin and you, you catch foreheads, and that is not a good combination.

   30. GBGaston Bolanos0:58

       Yeah, I feel, I feel like the kickboxing glove protects you a little bit more than the MMA glove-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Brought ice cream? …

   1. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:00

      Three months later, he hit me up, brought ice cream, came to CSA, and he said, "Hey, can I train here?"

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      Brought ice cream?

   3. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:06

      Brought ice cream.

   4. GBGaston Bolanos15:07

      I saw-

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      He knows what we like.

   6. GBGaston Bolanos15:08

      ... I saw him walk in with his fucking ice cream, and I was like, "What is going on right now?"

   7. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:12

      Gaston-

   8. GBGaston Bolanos15:13

      Why is he here?

   9. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:14

      Gaston came to me.

   10. GBGaston Bolanos15:15

       No. No.

   11. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:15

       He did.

   12. GBGaston Bolanos15:16

       No.

   13. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:17

       And he said-

   14. GBGaston Bolanos15:18

       (laughs)

   15. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:18

       ... "If Eddie trains here, I'm leaving." He said, "I'm gone."

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:21

       How long-

   17. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:21

       I'm-

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:21

       ... did it take you to warm up to him?

   19. GBGaston Bolanos15:24

       We sparred once and, you know, Kirian had a real talk with me. He's like, "Listen, man. I'm, you know, I'm the head coach here and, like, I'm your, I'm your, I'm your dad. Like, relax. I know what I'm doing. When have I failed you? You know, I'm telling you, this..."

   20. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:38

       (sighs)

   21. GBGaston Bolanos15:38

       "You know, if he, if he's, if he's who he, we think he is or we thought he was, you know, like, I'll, I'll know and he'll leave. But you gotta give him the opportunity."

   22. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:49

       And when he's saying that, he's telling the truth. I was his legal guardian at the time.

   23. GBGaston Bolanos15:51

       (laughs)

   24. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:51

       When he threatened to leave, the first question out of my mouth was, "Are you gonna leave the gym or are you gonna leave my house? 'Cause you live there too."

   25. GBGaston Bolanos15:58

       (laughs)

   26. KFKirian Fitzgibbons15:59

       (laughs) He was living with me. I said, "So it's gonna be weird if you're training somewhere else."

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:02

       How old were y- how old were you then?

   28. GBGaston Bolanos16:03

       Uh...

   29. KFKirian Fitzgibbons16:03

       15? I became-

   30. GBGaston Bolanos16:05

       No, no.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Without, without question. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      of all time and literally nobody knows who he is. It's strange, you know?

   2. KFKirian Fitzgibbons30:04

      Without, without question.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:05

      Yeah.Yeah. Now when you were training with Cody, um, when you were over at Team Alpha Male, what- what is the coaching like? Like, how are they- how are they w- doing rounds with him?

   4. GBGaston Bolanos30:16

      (smacks lips) Uh, well, he was doing his sparring separately. They brought us- they brought me and Eddie up just to spar with him. Uh, it wasn't like-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:22

      But who was that? Like, who was coaching him?

   6. GBGaston Bolanos30:24

      Uh, Danny and... What's his name?

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:26

      Danny Castillo?

   8. GBGaston Bolanos30:26

      Danny Castillo and Chris Holdsworth, yeah.

   9. KFKirian Fitzgibbons30:28

      Chris.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:28

       So they were essentially his coaches.

   11. GBGaston Bolanos30:30

       They were, yeah, they were coaching him.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       Okay.

   13. GBGaston Bolanos30:31

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:32

       And so when you were working with him, were they saying, "Hey, we wanna really work on certain things," or were they just letting you do your thing? Were they asking you to, like-

   15. GBGaston Bolanos30:39

       I- I was being... You know, I- I go up there and, like I said, I go grapple.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       Right.

   17. GBGaston Bolanos30:43

       And so I was trying to be a good-

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Right.

   19. GBGaston Bolanos30:45

       ... give him good looks, give him the switches, give him that-

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:48

       Mm-hmm.

   21. GBGaston Bolanos30:48

       ... like, that TJ shoulder move type of thing.

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       Did you practice that stuff or did you...

   23. GBGaston Bolanos30:52

       No, I just, I've just been one of those guys, like, when Kirin... Ever since I started with Kirin, it's like, and I've had to help somebody, like give them looks.

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:58

       Right.

   25. GBGaston Bolanos30:58

       So I've just been that guy and I've been good at it. I've- I was good-

   26. JRJoe Rogan31:00

       Right. But did you practice TJ's looks or did you just kind of know how to do it?

   27. GBGaston Bolanos31:04

       I- I- I- I always switch regardless.

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:07

       Mm-hmm.

   29. GBGaston Bolanos31:07

       Like, that's one of my favorite things to do, just offensively and defensively. I love switching.

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:12

       Did you have a traditional martial arts background? Did you start out with traditional martial arts?
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   So if Muay Thai…

   1. GBGaston Bolanos45:00

      If I could just do Muay Thai, I'll probably do that, but-

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      So if Muay Thai had the same financial possibilities.

   3. GBGaston Bolanos45:06

      You know, I- I used to say that a lot actually, let me correct myself there. But now it's like, I feel, I feel like I'm getting so much better in, like, com- completing my journey as a martial artist that MMA is definitely where I wanna end up at, just alone. And then we had the opportunity with Bellator to do kickboxing and MMA and then maybe do a few Muay Thai fights on the side if, you know, it didn't interrupt with anything with, uh, with them. So, that's pretty much how it happened. (laughs)

   4. KFKirian Fitzgibbons45:32

      I mean, he fought, he fought five times last year, um, you know, and he fought kickboxing, MMA, and Muay Thai. And if he was just, like, with the UFC, he couldn't do that.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:43

      I think Muay Thai prepares you better for MMA than kickboxing does not just because of the fact that you have elbows, but also because of the fact that the clinch-

   6. GBGaston Bolanos45:50

      The grappling. The grappling is-

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:51

      People, people don't understand how much grappling there is-

   8. GBGaston Bolanos45:55

      Right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:55

      ... in Muay Thai. Like, when you go to Thailand, I went to Saksampang, uh, one of the best camps in, uh, in Bangkok, and one of the best camps in the world. They have ǀI was like... Right now, the Glory champion, uh, at 155 lbs. Uh, but they clinch twice a day for at least 30 or 1 hour, 30 minutes to an hour, every day. That's a lot of grappling. Yeah, a lot of grappling. Yeah, a lot of grappling.

   10. GBGaston Bolanos46:18

       Yeah, a lot of grappling.

   11. JRJoe Rogan46:18

       So their sweeps and just their ability to w- to manipulate each other.

   12. GBGaston Bolanos46:22

       Mm-hmm. And I think that's one, that's one thing that ha- has helped me, ha- has helped my understanding in wrestling and jiu-jitsu as well.

   13. JRJoe Rogan46:29

       Mm-hmm. Sure.

   14. GBGaston Bolanos46:29

       I pick up things a lot faster than your average Muay Thai fighter probably does.

   15. JRJoe Rogan46:33

       Right.

   16. GBGaston Bolanos46:34

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan46:34

       Just because of that clinch.

   18. GBGaston Bolanos46:35

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan46:36

       So, um, how much jiu-jitsu are you doing?

   20. GBGaston Bolanos46:39

       Uh... What are we focusing on right now? So, we have Monday... About four days a week?

   21. JRJoe Rogan46:44

       About four days a week.

   22. GBGaston Bolanos46:45

       Oh, about four days. So we co-... Of jiu-jitsu, uh, a couple of days of just, uh, drills and situational sparring, that type of thing.

   23. JRJoe Rogan46:52

       So, when you're doing a fight like your last Bellator fight-

   24. GBGaston Bolanos46:55

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:55

       ... which you just won... Was it three- two weeks ago? Three weeks ago?

   26. GBGaston Bolanos46:58

       Three weeks ago?

   27. KFKirian Fitzgibbons46:58

       About three weeks ago.

   28. GBGaston Bolanos46:58

       Three weeks ago? Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:58

       So, when, when you're doing that, how far out will you just do kickboxing? Like, how much time do you give yourself where you don't do anything else? Or do you still wrestle and still do jiu-jitsu even though you're preparing for kickboxing?

   30. GBGaston Bolanos46:58

       We're still... You know, I'm, I'm fairly new to MMA and to grappling alone, so I try to just keep a couple of days a week in there so I can, you know, keep it fresh, you know?
5. 1:00:00 – 1:02:28

   It said... It sounded…

   1. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:00

      is what you- Yeah. Yeah.

   2. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:00

      It said... It sounded like you said Pinky Milan salt.

   3. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:02

      Oh, no. (laughs) No. Pink Himalayan salt.

   4. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:05

      (laughs)

   5. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:06

      Uh-

   6. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:06

      (laughs) He said it again.

   7. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:06

      You should hear him ask for... You should hear him ask for packwort.

   8. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:09

      I have-

   9. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:09

      Can we do packwort tonight?

   10. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:10

       I wanna hear from... I get it.

   11. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:11

       I've only... I-

   12. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:11

       You're Spanish.

   13. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:12

       I've only been speaking English for what, like, 12 years?

   14. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:14

       Yeah.

   15. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:14

       Come on.

   16. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:15

       Yeah. It's... I get it, man. No big deal.

   17. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:17

       (laughs)

   18. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:18

       (laughs) Coach, can we do packwort tonight? Sure. Of course, Gaston. No problem.

   19. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:22

       (laughs) Yeah.

   20. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:22

       So, um, sorry. Uh, chia seeds, pink Himalayan salt-

   21. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:26

       Lemon-

   22. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:26

       ... lemon-

   23. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:26

       ... and honey.

   24. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:27

       Why honey? What is the honey for?

   25. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:29

       I don't know the purpose behind it. I just put it... It tastes good. I don't know.

   26. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:31

       Right. Sure.

   27. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:32

       You know?

   28. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:32

       Definitely tastes good. Yeah. I feel like you're gonna take some of the sting off with the salt and, uh, just for a little bit of the, the, the carb and the sugar. Mm-hmm.

   29. GBGaston Bolanos1:00:39

       Yeah. So right off the, the scale, you take 16 ounces of the drink with some fruit.

   30. KFKirian Fitzgibbons1:00:44

       Uh-huh.

Episode duration: 2:29:07