Such Great Heights (2012) - full transcript
An intimate and gripping journey into the world of mixed martial arts, as Jon Fitch prepares for the fight of his life against perennial UFC Champ Georges St. Pierre.
Hey, what
are we doin'?
I'm stayin'
in his face.
Stay in his face.
Constant pressure, alright?
Constant pressure.
Always moving, okay?
Never let him initiate
the attack.
When you're punching,
don't throw one punch.
Combinations in
punching, okay?
Try and get
some hands on his face, too.
You know, elbows and stuff
in the clench,
in the grind,
on the ground.
On the ground keep it simple.
This kid
is very motivated,
very hungry,
and is lookin' to take
georges St. Pierre's title
on Saturday night.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Jon Fitch.
You have to live it.
It's as simple as that.
You gotta live fighting.
Daily, you're gonna
get punched in the head.
Daily, you're gonna
get thrown.
Daily, you're gonna
have soreness.
Daily, when you
get up in the morning,
your knees
are gonna hurt,
your hips'll hurt,
your ears are hurting.
It's something
that's in you.
You're not normal if you
choose to be a fighter,
and put everything else
in the world on hold.
There's something
wrong with you.
There's hidden things
down deep in these guys
that motivate them
to do what they do.
I look back at it,
if I'm sleepin' in the gutter,
at least someone's gonna
walk by me one day,
"you know who that is?
That's pat minihan.
"He used to fight
in the u.F.C.
Too bad he's pushin'
a shopping cart around."
You tellin' me you want me
to fight for two grand?
I'm gonna fight
for two grand,
'cause I wanna put
$2,000 in my pocket.
I want to take
my girlfriend to the movies.
I was basically
born to do this, you know?
I know it's kinda cheesy,
but my dad raised me
to be this way.
The beauty of this is
that I love it so much
that even if this is
as good as it gets,
this is pretty damn good.
You know if you
put in the work,
something good's
gonna come out of it.
And time and time again,
it happens.
You put in hard work,
do all the things right,
something positive
comes out of it.
We're aggressive,
we're not reckless.
Head movement,
feet movement,
in and out,
cuttin' angles.
Things get tough,
keep pushing.
We're goin' old school
on this guy.
- One, two, three.
- A.K.A.
An accomplishment for me
that is kind of...
I haven't been able
to get my grasp on quite yet
is I want a homegrown
u.F.C. Champion,
and somebody that I've brought
up from the beginning
to the belt, and that's
what I'm hoping to accomplish
with Jon Fitch
coming up in this next fight.
And hopefully, he can
get that for himself,
and get a little win
for me, also.
Look, you are
dominating.
Come on, Jon.
No, I'm all right.
No, no, you're
watching what you're doing.
I know, it's okay.
But, Fitch, look
what you're doing.
Aren't you happy
with that?
- Yeah.
- Okay. That's all.
You know, I think
a lot of people
kind of look at us,
at a.K.A.,
and they say
we train too hard,
they say
we hurt too much.
But then,
if you think about it,
I mean, cung le
trains here, I train here,
Jon Fitch trains here.
Bobby southworth
trains here,
and Trevor prangley
trains here,
and we all
have world titles.
Well, Fitch will
soon have his.
And sometimes,
you kinda forget
like, who you're wrestling,
so, like, man, I got
my ass kicked again.
I got beat up again.
You're comin' home,
you're bruised, you're beat up,
and then,
all of a sudden,
you're, like,
why am I doin' this?
I'm not getting
any better.
But it's hard to see
and hard to Gauge yourself
when you're goin' against
the best in the world.
I feel like the guys
we have now
are really fortunate that
they're plugged into a system
that we know
exactly what we're doing,
and how to create them,
how to get them in shape,
how to prepare them
for what they're going into.
I got a broken finger,
and my training partner's
playing for the title,
so I gotta help him out.
- No choice.
- No choice.
Put a fresh guy in
every two-and-a- half minutes.
Five fuckin' rounds,
that's why.
Here's what
you're getting.
You're getting will
until you wear him out.
Then you're gonna
get koss.
Then you're gonna finish up
with the speedy little
back-kicking thomson.
- So...
- Okay.
I know. I don't care
how you do it.
I just know
it's gonna suck.
No, it's gonna
suck, but...
- I got my two
minutes, baby.
- It's his day today.
He's got will,
you and you to
finish out
for his five.
All the way
through.
Nice! On him,
on him, on him!
Good. Beautiful.
Nice, Jon!
Nice.
One more round.
One more good one.
Let's go.
All right.
Set the offense.
Circle on
the outside.
Let the right hand go.
Squeeze it!
Hands up.
Good.
A.K.A.
If you're
showing power,
you give 'em
less of a chance
to come back.
I'm gonna give you
a perfect example
what I'm talking about.
Mike Van arsdale
with Randy couture.
Mike Van arsdale
won the first round.
All of a sudden,
Randy was super tired.
Mike Van arsdale
didn't wanna
come out there.
All of a sudden,
Randy couture sees
Mike Van arsdale
in the corner
being super tired.
He's goin' like this,
and I'm telling Mike,
I go, suck it up.
Randy's tired.
All of a sudden,
Randy sees Mike
getting tired.
What did Randy do?
Sucked it up and
finished him off quick.
He gave away
that much power.
I can't have you
do that, okay?
That was beautiful, man.
He sent us out
a videotape.
I watched the videotape,
and I saw that
he was a scrappy wrestler
that was aggressive,
and not afraid to throw
and not afraid to get hit.
And Eric tix
is just knocked out.
Jon Fitch got a very fast
knockout on Eric tix.
He kinda had
two left feet.
Couldn't strike very well.
Didn't know much
on the ground.
But he was real
hard-nosed.
When Bob and I
watched that film,
and, god, that had to have
been maybe eight years ago,
Jon really stood out
in Bob's mind,
because here was
a wrestler
who wasn't scared
to throw punches.
I started watching.
It's sloppy, but I was
fuckin' hella aggressive.
Yeah, you were
bombin'.
Like, fuckin'...
He said go, and I was...
Aarrrgh!!
He just hit the ground,
and i'm, aaarrgh!
We called him up
and had him come out.
He stayed at
my house for a week.
Trained, we liked him,
he liked us.
Went home, packed
all his stuff up
in his buick skylark,
drove across country,
and he's been here
ever since.
The winner,
by unanimous decision,
representing the American
kickboxing academy,
Jon Fitch!
I thought he was okay.
I didn't think
he was great, by any means.
I just thought
he was okay.
Little by little, though,
Jon Fitch was one of
those rare individuals
that has what it takes
to be a great champion.
He's got the mind.
I think
I love the training.
I love... you know,
it sucks,
the daily routine of
working out and being beat up,
whatever,
but something about me
loves it,
I think,
'cause it makes sense,
and it's an honest thing.
The world we live in
is not very honest, you know.
People get shortcuts
and freebies all the time.
But, like,
with fighting,
it's rare that you get
a freebie or a shortcut.
Yeah, actually.
You know that point
where all I think
about is food?
No, you look good.
You look good, too.
Where's the rest
of the crew?
Pick me up early.
And have breakfast there.
- That's fair.
- That's fair.
See, I dressed
a little nicer today.
I'm impressed.
Oops. Shit!
How are you doing?
Hi. Thanks for
catching me.
Wow, I'm impressed.
- That's still
jaywalking.
- Hmm?
That's still
jaywalking.
That's all right.
Could have him teach me
something French to say.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah.
That'd be funny.
I will break you.
Something nice or...?
I will break you?
I must
break you.
What is that?
- It's a "j."
- It's a "j"?
- That's a "j."
- I'm sorry.
Remember that line
is "j."
Okay, yeah.
Every fight that
he's had in the u.F.C.,
my heart beats
a little faster.
It's to the point where
it makes me, like, anxious,
like, nervous,
uncomfortable.
When we met, she was, like,
oh, yeah, whatever.
Sure, you're a fighter.
She didn't pay it
much attention.
She didn't care about
any of that stuff.
I hate sitting close, because
you can hear the contact.
It just makes it
more real.
When you're sitting far away,
you can't really hear all that.
She gets really nervous
about the fights.
She's gotta sit
kinda far away,
and she usually has to
have two or three drinks
before she watches,
otherwise,
she's a nervous wreck.
It's like a joke
in our gym.
Can't finish
with me.
Now I'm on the bottom.
The worst possible...
No way? That just
happened right there?
I brought fruit
for you guys.
Today's
your birthday?
Did she really
just do that to you?
Did she really just
do that to you?
Huge difference between
American kickboxing academy
and a lot of other corners
and camps.
It's experience.
Has nothing to do with
what they're doing wrong
or whatever it is.
It's experience.
We have a lot of experience.
There's a reality there.
We're one of the best
mmhm's in the world, I think.
One of
the best teams.
Gettin' on the team
is not easy,
but it can be done
with hard work.
I mean, it doesn't have to be
incredible talent.
Jon Fitch is proof of that,
and Jon Fitch could
very easily go down
as one of the great
m.M.A. Fighters of all time.
We're masterminds.
You know, Javier,
Bob cook,
huitzi, Teddy lucio.
Dave camarillo.
We sit together,
and we study tape,
and we're masterminds.
If you listen to
our game plan,
and you stick to it,
your chances of winning
are huge.
You know, at first it was,
I'm gonna fight, but i'm
also gonna get a job.
I'll have my job,
and I can train,
I'll use my degrees
for something.
The more and more serious
I got about it,
the more fights I had.
Came out for a week,
kinda tried out
for the team.
They said
I was accepted.
And about a month later,
I drove my car out here.
Packed all my stuff
in my car,
and didn't look back.
I didn't know
how big a deal it was,
because I didn't know a lot
of people don't get accepted,
and how exclusive it is,
and how much
it would change my life,
because training there
has just been phenomenal.
- Mike fazzino.
- Here.
- Matt green.
- Here.
Jaime Rodriguez.
Oakland.
- Gabriel solorio.
- Here.
- Josh Neal.
- Here.
- Raul castillo.
- Here.
- Kurt osiander.
- Here.
- Nate Moore.
- Here.
We're good.
"Butting with the head,
eye gouging of any kind,
"biting, hair pulling,
fish hooking,
"clawing, pinching,
or twisting the flesh.
"Putting a finger
into any orifice,
"or any cut or laceration
of your opponent.
Small joint manipulation."
If you're gonna
peel the hand off,
it's gotta be
three fingers or more.
That's what
you're talking about.
That's right.
Nate Moore!
Hey, I saw your
promo fight yesterday.
- I was watching silva.
- It was pretty cool.
Still kinda weird
seeing myself on TV.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
How's the training
coming along?
- Good.
- Yeah?
Tired. I'm glad
to have the day off.
You win that fight,
what you gonna be?
One? Middleweight?
I'm fighting for
the belt.
- For the belt.
- So he would be...
So I'll be
world champion
if I win this fight.
- In your weight.
- Welterweight, yes.
Hi. Aah!
He's nice.
Can you pet him? Hm?
- What's his name?
- It's bricks.
- Bricks?
- Bricks. Yep.
These are my new gloves.
Don't take them.
I just had to buy some,
or hoff had to. Thanks, hoff.
Dude, I swear, I've had
all this nice equipment.
I see fighters up there.
One guy's got
my shin guards on,
the other guy's
got my gloves on.
Borrowed indefinitely?
No, no, it's known as
misappropriation of property.
That's what it is.
I found these
about six months ago.
I found these
two weeks ago.
These were given to me.
So is there hope
for my equipment or...?
Someone
gave me this.
I found these
about a year ago.
This just appeared in here,
got the stickers on it.
This is...
What do you do, pat?
I do, like,
the ultimate fighting.
Whoa! What's that?
Is that like fight club?
No, no. You ever see
the cage around the ring?
Uh, no,
I never seen that.
I go, well,
that's what I do.
Pat minihan...
Never seen someone like--
he's just a maniac.
He's just gonna
keep comin',
and he's big and strong,
and he's full of
a lot of piss and vinegar.
He sacrificed a lot.
He used to live
100 yards from me right now,
in an r.V.
In our parking lot.
He's a warrior.
Talk about sacrifice.
He wakes up
in the morning,
he hears the car
next to him park,
gets out, goes to
the gym, and trains.
This stuff right here
is cracking.
Your best bet in
the rainy season
is just put
a frickin' tarp.
Pretty much, the thing that's
cool about living in here
is that you don't
have to pay rent.
But in the winter,
it gets cold.
I got, like, four different
flus sleepin' in this thing.
Basically folds out
into a bed,
and, uh, I used
to sleep here,
and my dog
used to sleep here.
He invited me in,
and I was, like,
uh... I'm good.
Basically, where
that flames truck is,
right there, that's where
I usually parked it.
Right where
the flames truck is.
We used to battle
for position.
Not a lot of people
wanted to park next to
an r.V. For some reason.
And it'd be like a fair,
because some
white trash people
would come out over here,
and they parked kinda
side to side with me,
and i'm, like,
you can't be in here.
You need to leave.
This is my territory.
There's a big disparity
between the guys in the gym--
the haves
and the have-nots.
We have people
livin' in the gym,
they just started out.
We actually converted Bob's
office, crazy Bob's office,
into a room.
It's got a bunk bed
in there now.
They live
up in the gym.
They live in warehouses,
they work at bars.
Next thing you know,
they're on a trip
to go fight in the u.F.C.
Somebody needs some help,
there's always somebody
that says,
hey, well, I've got an extra
room, or I've got this.
Yeah, this is gonna be
home for about two nights.
Drive 300 feet.
Maybe I should turn
the volume down on that.
When you come back,
park across the street.
Right here...
No, across the street.
Oh, across that...
- No. 162.
- 162?
That's Michelle's parking
spot, park there.
I'll park somewhere
around here.
Okay.
From the time
I've been on the team,
I've slept everywhere
from a warehouse,
people's couches,
in the back of my car,
with the window broken
when it's raining.
There was rats and machines
goin' off all the time,
and mosquitoes,
and you spill your drink,
you don't clean it.
It's just a warehouse.
Part of mixed martial arts
is that suffering,
and you gotta do
what you gotta do
to get where you wanna be.
Yeah, those are still
some of the best gloves, man.
- Yeah, they're very good.
- They really are.
They're super safe.
I don't have any
hand problems with
'em either.
We do bag work
and small mitt work
sometimes, too.
Can I get
a pair of these?
- Who are you looking for?
- For my girlfriend.
- Size small?
- Yeah.
There's that
style, too.
I think I had
blonde hair for this.
Where is the--
let's see what
Scotty says about Fitch.
This is
the debut here.
- Let's get some volume.
- Yeah, where is it?
Scotty's probably
talkin' trash.
Blonde guy.
Jon Fitch.
You'll be hearing
a lot from this guy.
Oh, they spelled
the name wrong.
This guy's tough.
I trained with him
down at a.K.A.
Former wrestling captain
at purdue.
How famous is this guy
you're fighting?
Combine the two together,
the traditional jiu-jitsu
game with the wrestling base,
you got a monster
on your hands.
Yeah, once he gets
his technique dialed in,
he's gonna be
a big monster.
He's a super strong guy.
Tons of heart.
I talked to him
about his hair.
See, this is
the best part.
You gotta listen to
the whole thing over again.
You may have to
live with me
for a little bit.
- Me?
- Yeah.
Matt major's
comin' back,
and I sure the hell
don't want him
livin' with me.
The anti-Christ.
Don't fuck
with Matt.
Let me think about it
for a second. Okay!
Matt comes out of Florida.
He's another one
that sent a tape.
And he's a real character.
You want me to,
all of a sudden,
you come in and change
the lineup for you?
Not gonna happen.
Whatever.
Come on.
One round.
No. No rounds.
You're out of the loop,
unless I need you.
I just wanna get paid.
I wanna get paid so I can
take care of my family,
so I can buy
my girlfriend nice things,
so I can live
like a rock star.
I wanna drive
a lamborghini when I'm 30.
I wanna be a hope for
a little black kid in Miami.
I wanna go back to my hood
when Christmas comes up,
and buy 1,000 bikes for every
kid in the neighborhood.
That's what I wanna do.
They stole
my freakin' gloves, man.
If he didn't leave
his shit everywhere,
it'd be easier to find it.
You gotta put
your stuff away, man.
I put it in
my bag, dude!
I put it
in my bag.
- That's...
- R-a.
R-a. No "h."
All right.
She's a professional.
When we first started,
we would just hear
about a fight,
because I was
in Indiana.
We would hear about a fight
that was goin' on
in, like, Minnesota,
or we'd hear about
a fight in Iowa,
and we'd just
pack up the car
and drive there,
weigh in,
and hopefully have
somebody that matches up.
So you might drive
all the way out there,
and you don't know
what you're gonna get paid,
you have no idea if
you're even gonna
get a fight.
You're actually tied
right now with
Royce Gracie's record
- for most consecutive
wins in the u.F.C.
- Without a loss.
Yeah, um, I don't
really pay much
attention to it, actually,
'cause I'm always
lookin', like, forward.
When I retire,
then I'll look back,
and go, oh, yeah,
that's cool. I did
all this stuff.
'Cause now, I take it
one fight at a time,
and I don't even realize
the stuff I've done,
except the mistakes.
I always dwell on
the mistakes I've made.
I lost
my very first fight
because I was an idiot,
and I started off
a lot higher level
than I should have.
I flew out
without a corner.
I didn't have a cup.
You never wrestle
with a cup.
Why would you need
a cup to fight in?
It didn't make sense to me.
They're kickin' at ya,
like somebody's swingin'
a baseball bat in
your groin area.
I didn't put
two and two together.
So actually, I had
to borrow a cup.
I borrowed a cup,
and afterwards,
he said, keep it.
I just got an email
from one of my friends.
They took a picture.
They got a billboard up
in Times Square right now.
And it's got
your picture?
Yeah, me and St. Pierre.
It's fuckin' sweet.
I saw you on
the poster,
and you're, like...
I thought it was
so weird,
'cause Brock Larson,
they spent a lot
of money on that dude,
he was little,
and you're, like, huge.
I'm huge,
towering over Brock, yeah.
First time ever.
Yeah, hopefully,
we get it done,
but we're gettin'
real pinched on time.
And if it doesn't
happen, it doesn't happen.
We've got a lot
on board already,
and things are good.
Obviously, ultimately,
that's the goal.
Dale, dewayne and Bob.
How's it going?
Good. How are you?
Doin' good,
doin' good.
Good. We were calling you
in regards to Fitch.
I know you said
you were highly interested
- in his shirt.
- Okay.
The shirt is available,
however, we're gonna
have to do
a non-exclusive deal
with it,
so therefore, we're gonna
have to make sure
we can get another sponsor
on the shirt.
Okay. Who would
that be?
Most likely, it'll be
someone who isn't
a competing force
to you.
We got Fitch
comin' up on the ninth.
Are you in on him?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
We'll put you down,
and we'll run you
at the usual?
For the champ?
For the champ.
That's right.
First welterweight champ.
It's growing.
It's the number one
pay-per-view in America,
over boxing
and over w.W.E. Wrestling.
I mean, this is
where it's at right now.
Really, it was
just a hobby for dewayne and I
for probably the first
five to six years.
Basically
supporting fighters,
helping 'em out,
doing whatever we can do
without being paid back.
There was a time
where we were wondering
if it was gonna
be around much more.
The companies
were struggling,
fighters were struggling,
there was no endorsements.
I mean, endorsements meant
you got a box of free t-shirts.
I was having a hard time,
I couldn't get fights.
I couldn't even get on
a show
where anybody
would show up to fights.
I had no name, even though
I was beating decent people.
I was fighting
and training
for about a month and a half
with this guy named Ron.
He had one leg.
I mean, Ron was tough,
but still, he's got one leg.
One day... I'd had him
for about a month and a half,
and I broke his hand
when we were grappling.
So now he had
one leg and no hand.
...he was getting
fights canceled,
and having to take
fights in Mexico,
and this, that,
and the other.
He was extremely
motivated.
And he tackled every task,
and he won every fight.
I think all these unfortunate
things that happened to him
has made him so strong
mentally,
and so hungry for that success,
and to make it to the top.
That's why he's
been unstoppable.
I mean, he has a hunger
that a lot of guys haven't,
because he didn't get
the easy road.
Protect yourself.
Second leg,
second leg.
Fitch, just
flatten him out.
Angle right
and flatten him out.
Fitch,
angle right.
If Bob makes a match
for you guys,
you guys better damn well
be in shape.
'Cause the last thing
I wanna do
is listen to you guys cry
in the dressing room and after
about how you
lost your fight
because, blah, I couldn't
do this, I couldn't do that.
Well, did you do
your homework?
If you're not
doin' your homework,
you're not gettin' an "a,"
you're not gettin' the best
grade possible, are you? No.
I'm bummed
I'm gonna miss the fight.
- Are you?
- I mean, I'll watch it,
but I won't
be able to come.
I have a music festival
that night.
Oh, okay.
Get a jumbo-tron.
I fought dino Sanchez
the night of his wedding.
Did you go
to the wedding?
I went to the wedding.
It was my wedding.
We wanted to
put the fight
where the head's
supposed to be
on the mannequin.
I tried to put
it out of my head.
I had two things,
and, like, well,
put that aside,
ya know.
And then, we were dancing,
and they announced, Fitch won.
It just made
everything perfect.
Well, I'll be
pullin' for ya.
Thanks, man.
It's a rock star job.
We don't really do
anything that...
That we have to.
I mean, we do
show up to work,
but we don't have to
get anybody coffee or anything.
We seen your
fight, dude.
- Good luck, man.
- Thank you.
- Congratulations, bro.
- Thank you.
We seen the fight
yesterday,
and i'm, all,
baby, that's
him, that's him.
You're off the hook, bro.
Off the hook.
- Congratulations.
- Congratulations, man.
- Keep goin', man.
- I will.
I want a hug.
You represent
hope.
Thank you.
You're famous.
He's famous.
It's a job that
not everybody can do,
and it's an experience
that many people
haven't experienced.
It's a very unique feeling
to be in the octagon.
You get in the cage,
the lights are on you,
everything goes into
slow motion.
Everything goes slow motion
to real fast,
and the punches
are swingin'.
Losing is the least
of my worries, really.
What's your
biggest worry?
Just bein' hurt, and I can't
fight next time,
because then I gotta
get a real job.
I really don't
wanna do that.
That's it. Nice.
I went to juvie
for a little while.
One of the guards
was sayin', like,
you're a big guy.
You should be a fighter.
And I was, like,
ah, I could never do that.
Those guys
are maniacs.
Do you know
who in the fuck this is?
Do you know
who this is?
Attaboy, Jon.
Don't try that
elementary schoolyard shit.
I just cold-called
the gym,
and Javier
picked up the phone.
Javier never
answers the phone.
But that day,
he answered the phone.
When Josh thomson,
even though he's
punching you in the face,
and he's tellin' you
to get up,
and you don't have
a mouthpiece in.
Well, you know what?
Josh thomson's
a world champion.
He doesn't need to
punch you in the face
and tell you to get up.
He can just roll
with some other chump,
and help that guy out,
ya know.
That's pretty awesome.
- Um, Zack.
- Zack?
Yeah. Z-a-c-k.
How do you go about
cutting weight?
I know that some fighters
do it, like, six weeks,
eight weeks.
No, like,
two days, man.
I drop anywhere from
14 to 18 pounds
in two days.
- How much?
- Two days.
- 18 pounds in two days?
- Yeah. Really, like,
a day and a half.
I'll start-- weigh-ins
will be on a Friday.
I'll start Thursday night,
finish Friday morning.
- John.
- Isaac.
- I'm the manager here.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- No problem.
You're awesome, man.
Can't wait to see
you guys fight.
We also have
a celebrity here.
Jon Fitch,
if you know who that is.
If you don't,
he's the future
170-pound
world champion...
No, this is live.
Thanks, man.
Whip his ass.
That fucking canuck,
back to fucking Canada.
I will, bro.
- Have a good night.
- Bye.
Okay, this guy's got
a pretty decent record.
I don't know
if it's decent.
It's ten, eight and one.
B.j. Lacy.
He's fought some
bigger guys though.
I'm tryin' to find
some footage online
to get an idea of what
his fighting style is,
and see which guy
he matches up best with.
Do we have anything
in the works for
Nate James at this time?
No.
It's gonna be
a tough fight for him,
but he could
probably get him.
Yeah, let's call him.
Let's talk to him and see
if he wants this fight.
Hey, Nate.
You wanna fight
this Saturday?
This Saturday.
It's not a whole
lot of money.
It's only...
It's 15 and a grand,
so 2,500.
The guy's b.J. Lacy.
He's ten and eight and one.
I give myself a two-year
window to do something.
I'm a year and a half
into it.
And so, when this
two years is up,
I've got to decide
basically should I continue,
am I finding success in this,
and if not,
I'll be broken-hearted.
I think I'm doin'
all the right things.
I'm tryin' to do
all the right things
to make sure that I do
stay in this for a long time.
All right,
shut him down.
Left hook.
Choke him.
Finish, finish!
Finish!
You're not that bad.
You're okay, you're okay.
Listen to Bob.
Listen to him.
You gotta listen.
Back to the legs,
back to the legs!
Hand position,
back to the legs.
Hand position,
back to the legs!
You need to do
something.
Push off!
Quit hitting
and get outta there!
You gotta go out
and fuckin' finish this guy.
You ain't got
no other fuckin' rounds,
do you understand?
You need to listen to
what Bob is telling you.
You got three minutes
to let it go,
and you can't
settle for nothin'.
Right now, baby.
Stand up! Go!
Get on the legs!
You gotta
want it, Nate.
That's not
acceptable.
Finish him!
Finish, finish!
Finish him!
Finish him!
By a split decision,
b.j. "Da beast" Lacy!
I don't know
who's more pissed,
me or you.
How do you
feel, champ?
You didn't stick to
the strategy at all.
You settled for
position when you
shouldn't have.
You didn't listen
for nothin'.
We shouldn't have
lost that fight.
There's no reason
we lost that fight.
Let me ask
you a question.
Could you hear us?
I know you
could hear my ass.
Everybody in
the damn building
could hear.
Were you able
to hear us?
I was trying.
So you got
through it.
That not what
I need to be doin',
just gettin' through it.
But you can't have
an all-star day every day.
I intend to have
at least one.
I didn't get...
In my last two fights,
two takedowns,
all in both camps,
and I get eight
takedowns between
two fights, man.
It just happens
like that.
You know that.
You see him right now,
he's mentally
a little bit broken down,
because you're dealing
with someone that has...
That's dealing with
fresh people.
So that person that
comes in for one round,
he's on cloud nine.
"I'm just gonna beat you up."
'Cause he knows
he can get out in one round.
He doesn't gotta
deal with you anymore.
The next guy comes in,
whereas that same guy...
Fitch has gotta be in there
for the whole five rounds.
It's always a fresh guy,
and that just starts
breakin' you mentally,
and then, when you have one bad
round against a fresh guy,
you're thinking you should
be doing better,
when in reality,
you're in the fifth round,
you just fought 25 minutes,
and that guy's only
fought two minutes.
I failed miserably
many times
throughout my life,
so I just keep at it.
I try to refer to it
to people as, like,
drivin' through
the mud.
You gotta
keep the tires movin'.
You gotta keep goin', otherwise
you're gonna get stuck.
Relax, relax, relax.
Kick him backwards.
I felt it
pull back.
Matt, what
did you feel?
What hurts, Matt?
Don't put me on.
No, dude.
I'm not doin' that.
Sometimes it doesn't
feel bad; When you cool
down, it's gonna get worse.
I'm not nobody's
punch highlight reel, man.
I'm fuckin' hurtin',
man, and these little punks
take advantage
of me and shit.
I'm hurt.
I hate trainin'
at a.K.A., man.
It's just too much
fuckin' pain.
I'll go across
the whole United States and...
I don't know... just
a bunch of pussies, ya know.
I come here,
and nobody's a pussy, so...
They train,
we train pretty hard.
It's like real fights
in there, man.
I take it serious.
I try to hurt people
when I'm in there. Period.
Today, with Matt and Luke...
You could just tell
as soon as they squared off
with each other,
ya know,
something's gonna happen.
We're trying to
kick each other's ass,
but at the same time,
we gotta do it
somewhat safety conscious,
so we all can make our fights,
and hope we make
a couple of dollars
at the end of the day.
And we're all sacrificing
our bodies to each other.
You know, that
commands respect.
And you have to
respect that because...
I'm not saying
Matt twisting his ankle--
that was just incidental,
but if you're bringing
your personal stuff in here,
and takin' 'em out
on your teammates,
something negative
is gonna happen from that.
I heard that Luke
stole Matt's gloves.
Okay, let's get
this ear thing done.
Let's get rid of it.
I hate needles, man.
You need to do it.
Can it wait
till tomorrow?
No, you need to
do it now so you
can get some sleep.
Are you icing it
at all?
No. Ice. What's ice?
This is a little
puny needle.
I needed a bigger one.
It works better.
Is that
all we got?
Yeah, what is this,
Botox?
Quit stallin'.
Let's get this
shit over with.
I got shit to do.
Got everything?
I got everything.
Quit stallin'.
Lay down.
Fuck!
Come on, man!
You come on.
I do not like needles!
You're bein'
a fuckin' sissy.
Shit, there's hardly
even anything there.
Then fuck it.
Ice it.
No, lay down,
lay down.
- I'll ice it.
- Lay down.
There's almost no
blood swelling.
How disappointing. Shit!
I was lookin' forward
to stickin' him.
This life...
Has cauliflower ears
as part of it.
The contract it has...
Living in the gym
as part of the contract it has.
Potential staph infections,
whatever it is.
It's a tough life.
It's not easy.
It's getting
punched in the face,
it's getting
smashed on the ground.
It's getting arm-barred,
it's getting choked,
every single day.
One week of training left.
About halfway
through sunday.
So week 11,
and then, week 12
is fight week.
Let's go.
Get on that bike, Jon.
Let's go, go, go.
Faster.
It's not fast enough.
Let's go, faster.
Let's go, Jon!
Break it. Come on.
Break it, let's go!
More. More,
more, more.
You're almost there.
Let's go!
Come on, no pause.
Let's go. Punch and go.
That's it.
Okay, against the wall.
I'd like to keep him
a little bit more
with smaller guys.
Smaller guys.
I know. Nate...
So will's good,
pat's good.
Pat is needed for Phil,
as I understand it.
Do the bit.
And then go...
You can do three.
Right? Okay.
- I know I got
two in me.
- Okay.
Come on, will,
you gotta move.
Nice work.
Beautiful!
Beautiful.
Hands up!
U.f.c. Champ right there!
He's just done
what we've all planned to do.
We all show up,
and he trains,
and we train him,
and next thing you know,
he's a superstar,
because he goes out
and performs.
This is the biggest thing
I've ever been a part of.
The biggest thing.
And like I said,
I feel closer to Fitch
than some of the other guys.
I think I'm just
a fan of his mannerisms,
and how he carries himself,
and his humbleness,
more than anything.
You get a guy up there
who's fighting for the title,
who's that humble, you know,
in a sport where...
It literally pays
to be cocky.
I just...
I think everything's gonna
come together that Saturday.
It's just gonna be
a great day.
Would I take
any of it back? Hell, no.
Would I change anything?
Hell, no.
This is what I am,
this is what I enjoy doing.
Like I said,
when it becomes a job,
I'll quit doin' it,
but right now, it's not.
I don't wanna grow up
and wake up when I was 40,
and say, I spent my whole life
around the cornfields.
I wanna experience
something different.
I want that one
big fight.
I want that guy who's gonna
bring the fight out in me,
and I'll bring the fight out
in him, and we'll go to war.
One of us
is gonna fall.
I want people to
look back and go,
that was one of the baddest
fights I've ever seen.
So I wanted to come here and
show them I'm a team player,
and that I want to be
where these guys are.
And I know I'm not
gonna get there overnight,
so, hey, I'm gonna be the best
team player that I can be,
and by osmosis,
I'll be there.
I'm not goin' anywhere.
As much as I complain
and talk shit,
I ain't goin' nowhere.
This is my team,
I'm not going anywhere,
I'm always gonna be here,
no matter what.
Next week, we're gonna
start taperin' 'em down.
We're gonna keep
workin' the smaller guys,
and just stay
hard on the cardio,
stay hard on the...
Even in the jiu-jitsu,
we wanna be a little
bit careful.
The guys are
a little bit
safety conscious.
We're where we need
to be right now.
Everything is on.
Partner up, let's go.
We just gotta keep
the momentum,
keep 'em in shape,
and we're good to go.
Timing's good,
everything's good.
I thought we had
a great chance
goin' into this,
but I never thought
he would look that good.
- I gotta be honest.
- Yeah, g.S.P.
Is the underdog.
He's a totally
different fighter.
Fucking lost a bag.
This is the worst
airline ever.
Oh, man. You don't
see it anywhere?
I had to pay 25
fucking dollars to
put it on the plane, too.
I can't explain it,
but it just happened.
It happens all the time.
We will deliver it to you.
I need you to
fill that out.
This is the home of prince.
U2 has been here.
Bruce Springsteen's
been here.
The Minnesota timberwolves
play at the target center.
So you think of
all those different acts,
and the fact that
none of them have ever,
ya know, produced as much
revenue as this u.F.C. Event.
I think that's
kinda shocking to some people.
Probably the toughest guy
to come out of a.K.A.
That's a pretty bold
statement,
being one of the best
mixed martial arts
academies in the world.
This kid
is very motivated,
he's very hungry,
and is lookin' to take
georges St. Pierre's title
on Saturday night.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Jon Fitch.
I wanna thank everybody
for comin' out tonight.
I'm really excited
about this fight.
I worked
very hard for it.
We'll put on a hell of a show
and a hell of a fight,
and I plan on takin'
that belt on Saturday night.
It's startin' to hit me
right now really,
now that you said that.
I don't want it
to hit me.
I wanna relax,
and then, uh...
But I've done this
100 times, man.
I've been here
so many times.
It's different
this time, though.
It's different.
It's not just
the last 12 weeks.
It's the last
seven years.
Come fight time,
I'm gonna be a mess, ya know.
I'm gonna be a mess,
just like all our
other three coaches.
We're gonna be a mess,
'cause we're gonna be,
like, wow, this is it.
And Jon's gonna be
worse off than us.
You gonna eat some stuff
that you got from the store?
Yeah, it's
right here.
So you wanna...
- This is huitzi.
- Hi, huitzi.
This is
my mom Cindy.
I'm a very
spiritual person,
because I want to be me.
I'm not religious,
but I see this as,
I guess you call it
spirituality.
Spiritual, you know.
He's got his spirits.
Yes.
His necklace.
Everything else
up to this point
has gone fantastic,
so as long as he can
get some decent sleep
between now and then,
the weight cut
shouldn't be an issue.
You know, as long as
he doesn't stub his toe
crossin' the street,
break his ankle or something,
we're good.
Hey, I realized
something about your woman.
What? She's crazy?
She can't go a day
without callin' you stupid.
Oh, did I call him stupid?
- We're from Nebraska.
Where are you from?
- Indiana.
Indiana?
Nice to meet you.
Say u.F.C. Title.
U.f.c. Title.
Yeah, baby.
It's different.
You know, if we lose,
it's gonna hurt
probably more than
the other ones.
'Cause you don't
get this chance
uh, whenever you want it.
It's a ladder.
You lose, you get knocked down
to the beginning.
You're only as good
as your last fight.
If you have
a bad performance,
and you lose,
all of a sudden,
it's like your rankings
and the fans,
and just everything,
it's just, uh...
It's black and white
between winning and losing.
Watch a guy like g.S.P.,
who I think is just
a great athlete,
watch him perform
in the ring.
It's pretty amazing.
Oh, I think
he's a great fighter.
He's a very
talented fighter,
and I think
he represents
sort of the new breed
of u.F.C. Fighters.
His potential
has no bounds.
I think he's shown that.
It's gonna be very hard
for anybody to beat him
probably from 170,
probably up to 205.
He's that good.
He's probably top three
pound-for-pound fighters
in the entire world.
When we were at San Jose,
I told him, oh, man.
I wish that we can come across
with georges St. Pierre,
to see how
he's gonna react
when he sees you
or he sees me,
because I think I have
a strong sight.
I can go deep into
your soul, into your spirit,
and make you feel
a little bit uncomfortable.
We were goin' out to eat
and ran into Greg Jackson,
and St. Pierre
and his camp.
So when I look,
georges kinda like,
he didn't wanna look at Jon,
and he tried to look down,
but then I see that
he was like,
when you are
surrounded by enemies.
He seemed like he was a little
uncomfortable, actually.
I don't know if he was
just surprised,
or in shock that
we ran into him,
or if he's worried.
I know he was worried.
He didn't wanna look,
he was nervous.
I say, well,
we won the first round.
You know, with him, the focus
is usually just makin' weight.
Bob normally does the...
What do you call it?
I mean, I do whatever
you want me to do,
but I'm here
for moral support.
- Same?
- The same.
This is point six
heavy.
It's a little bit light,
compared to
the other one.
Usually, when
your shorts are wet,
it means they're
on weight.
No more!
I'm not Canadian.
I'm gonna head
down there now.
Good luck.
I don't think Jon Fitch
is afraid of much.
Just watchin' him
this week,
he's not in awe
of georges St. Pierre.
He very much believes that
he'll win this fight Saturday.
I was just talkin' to
some of the guys earlier.
Everybody's got a plan,
where they're goin',
who they're goin' with,
to go watch the fight.
It's the team that's
goin' for the gold.
Am I gonna
miss this moment?
Yeah. Of course.
I... for a moment,
I went to the cage,
and I see Jon.
Yeah! Winning with
a big belt here on his waist.
Hello.
Okay. 7:45. All right.
They want you in
the lobby at 7:45.
That guy sounded like
a spy or something.
He's all
secretive.
He's all, they want you
in the lobby at 7:45.
That's when we'll
give you the briefcase.
He will be
a star tonight.
I can't guarantee
the win.
I can guarantee
he will be a star,
because he's gonna
perform like one.
I believe he's
gonna go out there,
and he's gonna
leave it all in the ring.
Whichever way it happens,
it happens,
but that's
the kind of guy he is.
He's gonna put his heart
and soul out there,
and we'll see it.
Hey, it's
7:38.
Good luck.
- Let's go.
- Bye.
- Bye. We'll see
you later.
- Take care of him.
Hey, you're gaining.
We were 27% last time.
We're aggressive,
but we're not reckless.
Head movement,
feet movement.
In and out,
cuttin' angles,
in the clinch.
Damaging him,
him not damaging you.
Try to get some
hands on his face.
Some elbows
and stuff in
the clinch,
in the grind,
on the ground.
Keep it simple.
Last thing, no fuckin'
lazy kicking.
Nothing's lazy.
Everything's
fast aggressive.
Things get tough,
keep pushing.
- One, two, three.
- A.K.A.
As you come out
of the tunnel,
you can feel
the energy of the crowd.
There was nothing else
in the world.
All his dreams and hopes
to be the world champion,
they're all at stake.
I was completely
in that moment.
G.s.p. Came out
and gets nailed.
He bloodied my eye,
made me see double.
Everything else kinda
goes out the window.
G.s.p. Caught him
with a beautiful
straight shot.
Can Jon continue;
Should we continue?
Everybody's watching,
all your friends,
all your family.
Everybody in the gym.
It's like having
one of your best
friends out there.
You don't have it in your head
to stop or quit.
He just went out there
and out-pointed him.
Jon just came after him.
He does not stop.
He just keeps
looking forward.
All of a sudden,
boom, he got nailed again.
He was able to get
to my back.
He reversed g.S.P.
And started doing
some damage.
Jon still had
that desire to fight,
the desire to win.
He was saying,
I'm gonna get
into the crowd.
Jon kept comin',
and he didn't stop.
It was such an incredible
display of courage.
Unbelievable
performance.
It was just amazing.
Keepin' my phone
blown up.
People are blown away.
He fought with
his whole fuckin' heart.
That's all
you can ask for.
We never got
that moment to exploit.
I did stuff, you know.
After the third round,
I was looking at the clock,
and Jon Fitch,
he never died.
I tried to finish him.
After the first round,
I tried everything.
I saw him, like,
like, fell down
and come back.
I was, like, my god,
what am I gonna have to do
to beat this guy?
Hey, Jon.
Good fight, Jon.
Good job, Jon.
You fought great, bro.
We all love ya.
You fought great.
I didn't get tired, Bob.
- No, you didn't.
- No,
you didn't get tired.
That's probably why
you look like that.
If this is what
happens when you
get tired...
Is it time
for jokes?
Unbelievable.
I mean, that fight
is unbelievable.
He put his heart
on the outside
and showed it
to the world.
What's up, baby?!
are we doin'?
I'm stayin'
in his face.
Stay in his face.
Constant pressure, alright?
Constant pressure.
Always moving, okay?
Never let him initiate
the attack.
When you're punching,
don't throw one punch.
Combinations in
punching, okay?
Try and get
some hands on his face, too.
You know, elbows and stuff
in the clench,
in the grind,
on the ground.
On the ground keep it simple.
This kid
is very motivated,
very hungry,
and is lookin' to take
georges St. Pierre's title
on Saturday night.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Jon Fitch.
You have to live it.
It's as simple as that.
You gotta live fighting.
Daily, you're gonna
get punched in the head.
Daily, you're gonna
get thrown.
Daily, you're gonna
have soreness.
Daily, when you
get up in the morning,
your knees
are gonna hurt,
your hips'll hurt,
your ears are hurting.
It's something
that's in you.
You're not normal if you
choose to be a fighter,
and put everything else
in the world on hold.
There's something
wrong with you.
There's hidden things
down deep in these guys
that motivate them
to do what they do.
I look back at it,
if I'm sleepin' in the gutter,
at least someone's gonna
walk by me one day,
"you know who that is?
That's pat minihan.
"He used to fight
in the u.F.C.
Too bad he's pushin'
a shopping cart around."
You tellin' me you want me
to fight for two grand?
I'm gonna fight
for two grand,
'cause I wanna put
$2,000 in my pocket.
I want to take
my girlfriend to the movies.
I was basically
born to do this, you know?
I know it's kinda cheesy,
but my dad raised me
to be this way.
The beauty of this is
that I love it so much
that even if this is
as good as it gets,
this is pretty damn good.
You know if you
put in the work,
something good's
gonna come out of it.
And time and time again,
it happens.
You put in hard work,
do all the things right,
something positive
comes out of it.
We're aggressive,
we're not reckless.
Head movement,
feet movement,
in and out,
cuttin' angles.
Things get tough,
keep pushing.
We're goin' old school
on this guy.
- One, two, three.
- A.K.A.
An accomplishment for me
that is kind of...
I haven't been able
to get my grasp on quite yet
is I want a homegrown
u.F.C. Champion,
and somebody that I've brought
up from the beginning
to the belt, and that's
what I'm hoping to accomplish
with Jon Fitch
coming up in this next fight.
And hopefully, he can
get that for himself,
and get a little win
for me, also.
Look, you are
dominating.
Come on, Jon.
No, I'm all right.
No, no, you're
watching what you're doing.
I know, it's okay.
But, Fitch, look
what you're doing.
Aren't you happy
with that?
- Yeah.
- Okay. That's all.
You know, I think
a lot of people
kind of look at us,
at a.K.A.,
and they say
we train too hard,
they say
we hurt too much.
But then,
if you think about it,
I mean, cung le
trains here, I train here,
Jon Fitch trains here.
Bobby southworth
trains here,
and Trevor prangley
trains here,
and we all
have world titles.
Well, Fitch will
soon have his.
And sometimes,
you kinda forget
like, who you're wrestling,
so, like, man, I got
my ass kicked again.
I got beat up again.
You're comin' home,
you're bruised, you're beat up,
and then,
all of a sudden,
you're, like,
why am I doin' this?
I'm not getting
any better.
But it's hard to see
and hard to Gauge yourself
when you're goin' against
the best in the world.
I feel like the guys
we have now
are really fortunate that
they're plugged into a system
that we know
exactly what we're doing,
and how to create them,
how to get them in shape,
how to prepare them
for what they're going into.
I got a broken finger,
and my training partner's
playing for the title,
so I gotta help him out.
- No choice.
- No choice.
Put a fresh guy in
every two-and-a- half minutes.
Five fuckin' rounds,
that's why.
Here's what
you're getting.
You're getting will
until you wear him out.
Then you're gonna
get koss.
Then you're gonna finish up
with the speedy little
back-kicking thomson.
- So...
- Okay.
I know. I don't care
how you do it.
I just know
it's gonna suck.
No, it's gonna
suck, but...
- I got my two
minutes, baby.
- It's his day today.
He's got will,
you and you to
finish out
for his five.
All the way
through.
Nice! On him,
on him, on him!
Good. Beautiful.
Nice, Jon!
Nice.
One more round.
One more good one.
Let's go.
All right.
Set the offense.
Circle on
the outside.
Let the right hand go.
Squeeze it!
Hands up.
Good.
A.K.A.
If you're
showing power,
you give 'em
less of a chance
to come back.
I'm gonna give you
a perfect example
what I'm talking about.
Mike Van arsdale
with Randy couture.
Mike Van arsdale
won the first round.
All of a sudden,
Randy was super tired.
Mike Van arsdale
didn't wanna
come out there.
All of a sudden,
Randy couture sees
Mike Van arsdale
in the corner
being super tired.
He's goin' like this,
and I'm telling Mike,
I go, suck it up.
Randy's tired.
All of a sudden,
Randy sees Mike
getting tired.
What did Randy do?
Sucked it up and
finished him off quick.
He gave away
that much power.
I can't have you
do that, okay?
That was beautiful, man.
He sent us out
a videotape.
I watched the videotape,
and I saw that
he was a scrappy wrestler
that was aggressive,
and not afraid to throw
and not afraid to get hit.
And Eric tix
is just knocked out.
Jon Fitch got a very fast
knockout on Eric tix.
He kinda had
two left feet.
Couldn't strike very well.
Didn't know much
on the ground.
But he was real
hard-nosed.
When Bob and I
watched that film,
and, god, that had to have
been maybe eight years ago,
Jon really stood out
in Bob's mind,
because here was
a wrestler
who wasn't scared
to throw punches.
I started watching.
It's sloppy, but I was
fuckin' hella aggressive.
Yeah, you were
bombin'.
Like, fuckin'...
He said go, and I was...
Aarrrgh!!
He just hit the ground,
and i'm, aaarrgh!
We called him up
and had him come out.
He stayed at
my house for a week.
Trained, we liked him,
he liked us.
Went home, packed
all his stuff up
in his buick skylark,
drove across country,
and he's been here
ever since.
The winner,
by unanimous decision,
representing the American
kickboxing academy,
Jon Fitch!
I thought he was okay.
I didn't think
he was great, by any means.
I just thought
he was okay.
Little by little, though,
Jon Fitch was one of
those rare individuals
that has what it takes
to be a great champion.
He's got the mind.
I think
I love the training.
I love... you know,
it sucks,
the daily routine of
working out and being beat up,
whatever,
but something about me
loves it,
I think,
'cause it makes sense,
and it's an honest thing.
The world we live in
is not very honest, you know.
People get shortcuts
and freebies all the time.
But, like,
with fighting,
it's rare that you get
a freebie or a shortcut.
Yeah, actually.
You know that point
where all I think
about is food?
No, you look good.
You look good, too.
Where's the rest
of the crew?
Pick me up early.
And have breakfast there.
- That's fair.
- That's fair.
See, I dressed
a little nicer today.
I'm impressed.
Oops. Shit!
How are you doing?
Hi. Thanks for
catching me.
Wow, I'm impressed.
- That's still
jaywalking.
- Hmm?
That's still
jaywalking.
That's all right.
Could have him teach me
something French to say.
- Oh, yeah.
- Oh, yeah.
That'd be funny.
I will break you.
Something nice or...?
I will break you?
I must
break you.
What is that?
- It's a "j."
- It's a "j"?
- That's a "j."
- I'm sorry.
Remember that line
is "j."
Okay, yeah.
Every fight that
he's had in the u.F.C.,
my heart beats
a little faster.
It's to the point where
it makes me, like, anxious,
like, nervous,
uncomfortable.
When we met, she was, like,
oh, yeah, whatever.
Sure, you're a fighter.
She didn't pay it
much attention.
She didn't care about
any of that stuff.
I hate sitting close, because
you can hear the contact.
It just makes it
more real.
When you're sitting far away,
you can't really hear all that.
She gets really nervous
about the fights.
She's gotta sit
kinda far away,
and she usually has to
have two or three drinks
before she watches,
otherwise,
she's a nervous wreck.
It's like a joke
in our gym.
Can't finish
with me.
Now I'm on the bottom.
The worst possible...
No way? That just
happened right there?
I brought fruit
for you guys.
Today's
your birthday?
Did she really
just do that to you?
Did she really just
do that to you?
Huge difference between
American kickboxing academy
and a lot of other corners
and camps.
It's experience.
Has nothing to do with
what they're doing wrong
or whatever it is.
It's experience.
We have a lot of experience.
There's a reality there.
We're one of the best
mmhm's in the world, I think.
One of
the best teams.
Gettin' on the team
is not easy,
but it can be done
with hard work.
I mean, it doesn't have to be
incredible talent.
Jon Fitch is proof of that,
and Jon Fitch could
very easily go down
as one of the great
m.M.A. Fighters of all time.
We're masterminds.
You know, Javier,
Bob cook,
huitzi, Teddy lucio.
Dave camarillo.
We sit together,
and we study tape,
and we're masterminds.
If you listen to
our game plan,
and you stick to it,
your chances of winning
are huge.
You know, at first it was,
I'm gonna fight, but i'm
also gonna get a job.
I'll have my job,
and I can train,
I'll use my degrees
for something.
The more and more serious
I got about it,
the more fights I had.
Came out for a week,
kinda tried out
for the team.
They said
I was accepted.
And about a month later,
I drove my car out here.
Packed all my stuff
in my car,
and didn't look back.
I didn't know
how big a deal it was,
because I didn't know a lot
of people don't get accepted,
and how exclusive it is,
and how much
it would change my life,
because training there
has just been phenomenal.
- Mike fazzino.
- Here.
- Matt green.
- Here.
Jaime Rodriguez.
Oakland.
- Gabriel solorio.
- Here.
- Josh Neal.
- Here.
- Raul castillo.
- Here.
- Kurt osiander.
- Here.
- Nate Moore.
- Here.
We're good.
"Butting with the head,
eye gouging of any kind,
"biting, hair pulling,
fish hooking,
"clawing, pinching,
or twisting the flesh.
"Putting a finger
into any orifice,
"or any cut or laceration
of your opponent.
Small joint manipulation."
If you're gonna
peel the hand off,
it's gotta be
three fingers or more.
That's what
you're talking about.
That's right.
Nate Moore!
Hey, I saw your
promo fight yesterday.
- I was watching silva.
- It was pretty cool.
Still kinda weird
seeing myself on TV.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
How's the training
coming along?
- Good.
- Yeah?
Tired. I'm glad
to have the day off.
You win that fight,
what you gonna be?
One? Middleweight?
I'm fighting for
the belt.
- For the belt.
- So he would be...
So I'll be
world champion
if I win this fight.
- In your weight.
- Welterweight, yes.
Hi. Aah!
He's nice.
Can you pet him? Hm?
- What's his name?
- It's bricks.
- Bricks?
- Bricks. Yep.
These are my new gloves.
Don't take them.
I just had to buy some,
or hoff had to. Thanks, hoff.
Dude, I swear, I've had
all this nice equipment.
I see fighters up there.
One guy's got
my shin guards on,
the other guy's
got my gloves on.
Borrowed indefinitely?
No, no, it's known as
misappropriation of property.
That's what it is.
I found these
about six months ago.
I found these
two weeks ago.
These were given to me.
So is there hope
for my equipment or...?
Someone
gave me this.
I found these
about a year ago.
This just appeared in here,
got the stickers on it.
This is...
What do you do, pat?
I do, like,
the ultimate fighting.
Whoa! What's that?
Is that like fight club?
No, no. You ever see
the cage around the ring?
Uh, no,
I never seen that.
I go, well,
that's what I do.
Pat minihan...
Never seen someone like--
he's just a maniac.
He's just gonna
keep comin',
and he's big and strong,
and he's full of
a lot of piss and vinegar.
He sacrificed a lot.
He used to live
100 yards from me right now,
in an r.V.
In our parking lot.
He's a warrior.
Talk about sacrifice.
He wakes up
in the morning,
he hears the car
next to him park,
gets out, goes to
the gym, and trains.
This stuff right here
is cracking.
Your best bet in
the rainy season
is just put
a frickin' tarp.
Pretty much, the thing that's
cool about living in here
is that you don't
have to pay rent.
But in the winter,
it gets cold.
I got, like, four different
flus sleepin' in this thing.
Basically folds out
into a bed,
and, uh, I used
to sleep here,
and my dog
used to sleep here.
He invited me in,
and I was, like,
uh... I'm good.
Basically, where
that flames truck is,
right there, that's where
I usually parked it.
Right where
the flames truck is.
We used to battle
for position.
Not a lot of people
wanted to park next to
an r.V. For some reason.
And it'd be like a fair,
because some
white trash people
would come out over here,
and they parked kinda
side to side with me,
and i'm, like,
you can't be in here.
You need to leave.
This is my territory.
There's a big disparity
between the guys in the gym--
the haves
and the have-nots.
We have people
livin' in the gym,
they just started out.
We actually converted Bob's
office, crazy Bob's office,
into a room.
It's got a bunk bed
in there now.
They live
up in the gym.
They live in warehouses,
they work at bars.
Next thing you know,
they're on a trip
to go fight in the u.F.C.
Somebody needs some help,
there's always somebody
that says,
hey, well, I've got an extra
room, or I've got this.
Yeah, this is gonna be
home for about two nights.
Drive 300 feet.
Maybe I should turn
the volume down on that.
When you come back,
park across the street.
Right here...
No, across the street.
Oh, across that...
- No. 162.
- 162?
That's Michelle's parking
spot, park there.
I'll park somewhere
around here.
Okay.
From the time
I've been on the team,
I've slept everywhere
from a warehouse,
people's couches,
in the back of my car,
with the window broken
when it's raining.
There was rats and machines
goin' off all the time,
and mosquitoes,
and you spill your drink,
you don't clean it.
It's just a warehouse.
Part of mixed martial arts
is that suffering,
and you gotta do
what you gotta do
to get where you wanna be.
Yeah, those are still
some of the best gloves, man.
- Yeah, they're very good.
- They really are.
They're super safe.
I don't have any
hand problems with
'em either.
We do bag work
and small mitt work
sometimes, too.
Can I get
a pair of these?
- Who are you looking for?
- For my girlfriend.
- Size small?
- Yeah.
There's that
style, too.
I think I had
blonde hair for this.
Where is the--
let's see what
Scotty says about Fitch.
This is
the debut here.
- Let's get some volume.
- Yeah, where is it?
Scotty's probably
talkin' trash.
Blonde guy.
Jon Fitch.
You'll be hearing
a lot from this guy.
Oh, they spelled
the name wrong.
This guy's tough.
I trained with him
down at a.K.A.
Former wrestling captain
at purdue.
How famous is this guy
you're fighting?
Combine the two together,
the traditional jiu-jitsu
game with the wrestling base,
you got a monster
on your hands.
Yeah, once he gets
his technique dialed in,
he's gonna be
a big monster.
He's a super strong guy.
Tons of heart.
I talked to him
about his hair.
See, this is
the best part.
You gotta listen to
the whole thing over again.
You may have to
live with me
for a little bit.
- Me?
- Yeah.
Matt major's
comin' back,
and I sure the hell
don't want him
livin' with me.
The anti-Christ.
Don't fuck
with Matt.
Let me think about it
for a second. Okay!
Matt comes out of Florida.
He's another one
that sent a tape.
And he's a real character.
You want me to,
all of a sudden,
you come in and change
the lineup for you?
Not gonna happen.
Whatever.
Come on.
One round.
No. No rounds.
You're out of the loop,
unless I need you.
I just wanna get paid.
I wanna get paid so I can
take care of my family,
so I can buy
my girlfriend nice things,
so I can live
like a rock star.
I wanna drive
a lamborghini when I'm 30.
I wanna be a hope for
a little black kid in Miami.
I wanna go back to my hood
when Christmas comes up,
and buy 1,000 bikes for every
kid in the neighborhood.
That's what I wanna do.
They stole
my freakin' gloves, man.
If he didn't leave
his shit everywhere,
it'd be easier to find it.
You gotta put
your stuff away, man.
I put it in
my bag, dude!
I put it
in my bag.
- That's...
- R-a.
R-a. No "h."
All right.
She's a professional.
When we first started,
we would just hear
about a fight,
because I was
in Indiana.
We would hear about a fight
that was goin' on
in, like, Minnesota,
or we'd hear about
a fight in Iowa,
and we'd just
pack up the car
and drive there,
weigh in,
and hopefully have
somebody that matches up.
So you might drive
all the way out there,
and you don't know
what you're gonna get paid,
you have no idea if
you're even gonna
get a fight.
You're actually tied
right now with
Royce Gracie's record
- for most consecutive
wins in the u.F.C.
- Without a loss.
Yeah, um, I don't
really pay much
attention to it, actually,
'cause I'm always
lookin', like, forward.
When I retire,
then I'll look back,
and go, oh, yeah,
that's cool. I did
all this stuff.
'Cause now, I take it
one fight at a time,
and I don't even realize
the stuff I've done,
except the mistakes.
I always dwell on
the mistakes I've made.
I lost
my very first fight
because I was an idiot,
and I started off
a lot higher level
than I should have.
I flew out
without a corner.
I didn't have a cup.
You never wrestle
with a cup.
Why would you need
a cup to fight in?
It didn't make sense to me.
They're kickin' at ya,
like somebody's swingin'
a baseball bat in
your groin area.
I didn't put
two and two together.
So actually, I had
to borrow a cup.
I borrowed a cup,
and afterwards,
he said, keep it.
I just got an email
from one of my friends.
They took a picture.
They got a billboard up
in Times Square right now.
And it's got
your picture?
Yeah, me and St. Pierre.
It's fuckin' sweet.
I saw you on
the poster,
and you're, like...
I thought it was
so weird,
'cause Brock Larson,
they spent a lot
of money on that dude,
he was little,
and you're, like, huge.
I'm huge,
towering over Brock, yeah.
First time ever.
Yeah, hopefully,
we get it done,
but we're gettin'
real pinched on time.
And if it doesn't
happen, it doesn't happen.
We've got a lot
on board already,
and things are good.
Obviously, ultimately,
that's the goal.
Dale, dewayne and Bob.
How's it going?
Good. How are you?
Doin' good,
doin' good.
Good. We were calling you
in regards to Fitch.
I know you said
you were highly interested
- in his shirt.
- Okay.
The shirt is available,
however, we're gonna
have to do
a non-exclusive deal
with it,
so therefore, we're gonna
have to make sure
we can get another sponsor
on the shirt.
Okay. Who would
that be?
Most likely, it'll be
someone who isn't
a competing force
to you.
We got Fitch
comin' up on the ninth.
Are you in on him?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
We'll put you down,
and we'll run you
at the usual?
For the champ?
For the champ.
That's right.
First welterweight champ.
It's growing.
It's the number one
pay-per-view in America,
over boxing
and over w.W.E. Wrestling.
I mean, this is
where it's at right now.
Really, it was
just a hobby for dewayne and I
for probably the first
five to six years.
Basically
supporting fighters,
helping 'em out,
doing whatever we can do
without being paid back.
There was a time
where we were wondering
if it was gonna
be around much more.
The companies
were struggling,
fighters were struggling,
there was no endorsements.
I mean, endorsements meant
you got a box of free t-shirts.
I was having a hard time,
I couldn't get fights.
I couldn't even get on
a show
where anybody
would show up to fights.
I had no name, even though
I was beating decent people.
I was fighting
and training
for about a month and a half
with this guy named Ron.
He had one leg.
I mean, Ron was tough,
but still, he's got one leg.
One day... I'd had him
for about a month and a half,
and I broke his hand
when we were grappling.
So now he had
one leg and no hand.
...he was getting
fights canceled,
and having to take
fights in Mexico,
and this, that,
and the other.
He was extremely
motivated.
And he tackled every task,
and he won every fight.
I think all these unfortunate
things that happened to him
has made him so strong
mentally,
and so hungry for that success,
and to make it to the top.
That's why he's
been unstoppable.
I mean, he has a hunger
that a lot of guys haven't,
because he didn't get
the easy road.
Protect yourself.
Second leg,
second leg.
Fitch, just
flatten him out.
Angle right
and flatten him out.
Fitch,
angle right.
If Bob makes a match
for you guys,
you guys better damn well
be in shape.
'Cause the last thing
I wanna do
is listen to you guys cry
in the dressing room and after
about how you
lost your fight
because, blah, I couldn't
do this, I couldn't do that.
Well, did you do
your homework?
If you're not
doin' your homework,
you're not gettin' an "a,"
you're not gettin' the best
grade possible, are you? No.
I'm bummed
I'm gonna miss the fight.
- Are you?
- I mean, I'll watch it,
but I won't
be able to come.
I have a music festival
that night.
Oh, okay.
Get a jumbo-tron.
I fought dino Sanchez
the night of his wedding.
Did you go
to the wedding?
I went to the wedding.
It was my wedding.
We wanted to
put the fight
where the head's
supposed to be
on the mannequin.
I tried to put
it out of my head.
I had two things,
and, like, well,
put that aside,
ya know.
And then, we were dancing,
and they announced, Fitch won.
It just made
everything perfect.
Well, I'll be
pullin' for ya.
Thanks, man.
It's a rock star job.
We don't really do
anything that...
That we have to.
I mean, we do
show up to work,
but we don't have to
get anybody coffee or anything.
We seen your
fight, dude.
- Good luck, man.
- Thank you.
- Congratulations, bro.
- Thank you.
We seen the fight
yesterday,
and i'm, all,
baby, that's
him, that's him.
You're off the hook, bro.
Off the hook.
- Congratulations.
- Congratulations, man.
- Keep goin', man.
- I will.
I want a hug.
You represent
hope.
Thank you.
You're famous.
He's famous.
It's a job that
not everybody can do,
and it's an experience
that many people
haven't experienced.
It's a very unique feeling
to be in the octagon.
You get in the cage,
the lights are on you,
everything goes into
slow motion.
Everything goes slow motion
to real fast,
and the punches
are swingin'.
Losing is the least
of my worries, really.
What's your
biggest worry?
Just bein' hurt, and I can't
fight next time,
because then I gotta
get a real job.
I really don't
wanna do that.
That's it. Nice.
I went to juvie
for a little while.
One of the guards
was sayin', like,
you're a big guy.
You should be a fighter.
And I was, like,
ah, I could never do that.
Those guys
are maniacs.
Do you know
who in the fuck this is?
Do you know
who this is?
Attaboy, Jon.
Don't try that
elementary schoolyard shit.
I just cold-called
the gym,
and Javier
picked up the phone.
Javier never
answers the phone.
But that day,
he answered the phone.
When Josh thomson,
even though he's
punching you in the face,
and he's tellin' you
to get up,
and you don't have
a mouthpiece in.
Well, you know what?
Josh thomson's
a world champion.
He doesn't need to
punch you in the face
and tell you to get up.
He can just roll
with some other chump,
and help that guy out,
ya know.
That's pretty awesome.
- Um, Zack.
- Zack?
Yeah. Z-a-c-k.
How do you go about
cutting weight?
I know that some fighters
do it, like, six weeks,
eight weeks.
No, like,
two days, man.
I drop anywhere from
14 to 18 pounds
in two days.
- How much?
- Two days.
- 18 pounds in two days?
- Yeah. Really, like,
a day and a half.
I'll start-- weigh-ins
will be on a Friday.
I'll start Thursday night,
finish Friday morning.
- John.
- Isaac.
- I'm the manager here.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thanks.
- No problem.
You're awesome, man.
Can't wait to see
you guys fight.
We also have
a celebrity here.
Jon Fitch,
if you know who that is.
If you don't,
he's the future
170-pound
world champion...
No, this is live.
Thanks, man.
Whip his ass.
That fucking canuck,
back to fucking Canada.
I will, bro.
- Have a good night.
- Bye.
Okay, this guy's got
a pretty decent record.
I don't know
if it's decent.
It's ten, eight and one.
B.j. Lacy.
He's fought some
bigger guys though.
I'm tryin' to find
some footage online
to get an idea of what
his fighting style is,
and see which guy
he matches up best with.
Do we have anything
in the works for
Nate James at this time?
No.
It's gonna be
a tough fight for him,
but he could
probably get him.
Yeah, let's call him.
Let's talk to him and see
if he wants this fight.
Hey, Nate.
You wanna fight
this Saturday?
This Saturday.
It's not a whole
lot of money.
It's only...
It's 15 and a grand,
so 2,500.
The guy's b.J. Lacy.
He's ten and eight and one.
I give myself a two-year
window to do something.
I'm a year and a half
into it.
And so, when this
two years is up,
I've got to decide
basically should I continue,
am I finding success in this,
and if not,
I'll be broken-hearted.
I think I'm doin'
all the right things.
I'm tryin' to do
all the right things
to make sure that I do
stay in this for a long time.
All right,
shut him down.
Left hook.
Choke him.
Finish, finish!
Finish!
You're not that bad.
You're okay, you're okay.
Listen to Bob.
Listen to him.
You gotta listen.
Back to the legs,
back to the legs!
Hand position,
back to the legs.
Hand position,
back to the legs!
You need to do
something.
Push off!
Quit hitting
and get outta there!
You gotta go out
and fuckin' finish this guy.
You ain't got
no other fuckin' rounds,
do you understand?
You need to listen to
what Bob is telling you.
You got three minutes
to let it go,
and you can't
settle for nothin'.
Right now, baby.
Stand up! Go!
Get on the legs!
You gotta
want it, Nate.
That's not
acceptable.
Finish him!
Finish, finish!
Finish him!
Finish him!
By a split decision,
b.j. "Da beast" Lacy!
I don't know
who's more pissed,
me or you.
How do you
feel, champ?
You didn't stick to
the strategy at all.
You settled for
position when you
shouldn't have.
You didn't listen
for nothin'.
We shouldn't have
lost that fight.
There's no reason
we lost that fight.
Let me ask
you a question.
Could you hear us?
I know you
could hear my ass.
Everybody in
the damn building
could hear.
Were you able
to hear us?
I was trying.
So you got
through it.
That not what
I need to be doin',
just gettin' through it.
But you can't have
an all-star day every day.
I intend to have
at least one.
I didn't get...
In my last two fights,
two takedowns,
all in both camps,
and I get eight
takedowns between
two fights, man.
It just happens
like that.
You know that.
You see him right now,
he's mentally
a little bit broken down,
because you're dealing
with someone that has...
That's dealing with
fresh people.
So that person that
comes in for one round,
he's on cloud nine.
"I'm just gonna beat you up."
'Cause he knows
he can get out in one round.
He doesn't gotta
deal with you anymore.
The next guy comes in,
whereas that same guy...
Fitch has gotta be in there
for the whole five rounds.
It's always a fresh guy,
and that just starts
breakin' you mentally,
and then, when you have one bad
round against a fresh guy,
you're thinking you should
be doing better,
when in reality,
you're in the fifth round,
you just fought 25 minutes,
and that guy's only
fought two minutes.
I failed miserably
many times
throughout my life,
so I just keep at it.
I try to refer to it
to people as, like,
drivin' through
the mud.
You gotta
keep the tires movin'.
You gotta keep goin', otherwise
you're gonna get stuck.
Relax, relax, relax.
Kick him backwards.
I felt it
pull back.
Matt, what
did you feel?
What hurts, Matt?
Don't put me on.
No, dude.
I'm not doin' that.
Sometimes it doesn't
feel bad; When you cool
down, it's gonna get worse.
I'm not nobody's
punch highlight reel, man.
I'm fuckin' hurtin',
man, and these little punks
take advantage
of me and shit.
I'm hurt.
I hate trainin'
at a.K.A., man.
It's just too much
fuckin' pain.
I'll go across
the whole United States and...
I don't know... just
a bunch of pussies, ya know.
I come here,
and nobody's a pussy, so...
They train,
we train pretty hard.
It's like real fights
in there, man.
I take it serious.
I try to hurt people
when I'm in there. Period.
Today, with Matt and Luke...
You could just tell
as soon as they squared off
with each other,
ya know,
something's gonna happen.
We're trying to
kick each other's ass,
but at the same time,
we gotta do it
somewhat safety conscious,
so we all can make our fights,
and hope we make
a couple of dollars
at the end of the day.
And we're all sacrificing
our bodies to each other.
You know, that
commands respect.
And you have to
respect that because...
I'm not saying
Matt twisting his ankle--
that was just incidental,
but if you're bringing
your personal stuff in here,
and takin' 'em out
on your teammates,
something negative
is gonna happen from that.
I heard that Luke
stole Matt's gloves.
Okay, let's get
this ear thing done.
Let's get rid of it.
I hate needles, man.
You need to do it.
Can it wait
till tomorrow?
No, you need to
do it now so you
can get some sleep.
Are you icing it
at all?
No. Ice. What's ice?
This is a little
puny needle.
I needed a bigger one.
It works better.
Is that
all we got?
Yeah, what is this,
Botox?
Quit stallin'.
Let's get this
shit over with.
I got shit to do.
Got everything?
I got everything.
Quit stallin'.
Lay down.
Fuck!
Come on, man!
You come on.
I do not like needles!
You're bein'
a fuckin' sissy.
Shit, there's hardly
even anything there.
Then fuck it.
Ice it.
No, lay down,
lay down.
- I'll ice it.
- Lay down.
There's almost no
blood swelling.
How disappointing. Shit!
I was lookin' forward
to stickin' him.
This life...
Has cauliflower ears
as part of it.
The contract it has...
Living in the gym
as part of the contract it has.
Potential staph infections,
whatever it is.
It's a tough life.
It's not easy.
It's getting
punched in the face,
it's getting
smashed on the ground.
It's getting arm-barred,
it's getting choked,
every single day.
One week of training left.
About halfway
through sunday.
So week 11,
and then, week 12
is fight week.
Let's go.
Get on that bike, Jon.
Let's go, go, go.
Faster.
It's not fast enough.
Let's go, faster.
Let's go, Jon!
Break it. Come on.
Break it, let's go!
More. More,
more, more.
You're almost there.
Let's go!
Come on, no pause.
Let's go. Punch and go.
That's it.
Okay, against the wall.
I'd like to keep him
a little bit more
with smaller guys.
Smaller guys.
I know. Nate...
So will's good,
pat's good.
Pat is needed for Phil,
as I understand it.
Do the bit.
And then go...
You can do three.
Right? Okay.
- I know I got
two in me.
- Okay.
Come on, will,
you gotta move.
Nice work.
Beautiful!
Beautiful.
Hands up!
U.f.c. Champ right there!
He's just done
what we've all planned to do.
We all show up,
and he trains,
and we train him,
and next thing you know,
he's a superstar,
because he goes out
and performs.
This is the biggest thing
I've ever been a part of.
The biggest thing.
And like I said,
I feel closer to Fitch
than some of the other guys.
I think I'm just
a fan of his mannerisms,
and how he carries himself,
and his humbleness,
more than anything.
You get a guy up there
who's fighting for the title,
who's that humble, you know,
in a sport where...
It literally pays
to be cocky.
I just...
I think everything's gonna
come together that Saturday.
It's just gonna be
a great day.
Would I take
any of it back? Hell, no.
Would I change anything?
Hell, no.
This is what I am,
this is what I enjoy doing.
Like I said,
when it becomes a job,
I'll quit doin' it,
but right now, it's not.
I don't wanna grow up
and wake up when I was 40,
and say, I spent my whole life
around the cornfields.
I wanna experience
something different.
I want that one
big fight.
I want that guy who's gonna
bring the fight out in me,
and I'll bring the fight out
in him, and we'll go to war.
One of us
is gonna fall.
I want people to
look back and go,
that was one of the baddest
fights I've ever seen.
So I wanted to come here and
show them I'm a team player,
and that I want to be
where these guys are.
And I know I'm not
gonna get there overnight,
so, hey, I'm gonna be the best
team player that I can be,
and by osmosis,
I'll be there.
I'm not goin' anywhere.
As much as I complain
and talk shit,
I ain't goin' nowhere.
This is my team,
I'm not going anywhere,
I'm always gonna be here,
no matter what.
Next week, we're gonna
start taperin' 'em down.
We're gonna keep
workin' the smaller guys,
and just stay
hard on the cardio,
stay hard on the...
Even in the jiu-jitsu,
we wanna be a little
bit careful.
The guys are
a little bit
safety conscious.
We're where we need
to be right now.
Everything is on.
Partner up, let's go.
We just gotta keep
the momentum,
keep 'em in shape,
and we're good to go.
Timing's good,
everything's good.
I thought we had
a great chance
goin' into this,
but I never thought
he would look that good.
- I gotta be honest.
- Yeah, g.S.P.
Is the underdog.
He's a totally
different fighter.
Fucking lost a bag.
This is the worst
airline ever.
Oh, man. You don't
see it anywhere?
I had to pay 25
fucking dollars to
put it on the plane, too.
I can't explain it,
but it just happened.
It happens all the time.
We will deliver it to you.
I need you to
fill that out.
This is the home of prince.
U2 has been here.
Bruce Springsteen's
been here.
The Minnesota timberwolves
play at the target center.
So you think of
all those different acts,
and the fact that
none of them have ever,
ya know, produced as much
revenue as this u.F.C. Event.
I think that's
kinda shocking to some people.
Probably the toughest guy
to come out of a.K.A.
That's a pretty bold
statement,
being one of the best
mixed martial arts
academies in the world.
This kid
is very motivated,
he's very hungry,
and is lookin' to take
georges St. Pierre's title
on Saturday night.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Jon Fitch.
I wanna thank everybody
for comin' out tonight.
I'm really excited
about this fight.
I worked
very hard for it.
We'll put on a hell of a show
and a hell of a fight,
and I plan on takin'
that belt on Saturday night.
It's startin' to hit me
right now really,
now that you said that.
I don't want it
to hit me.
I wanna relax,
and then, uh...
But I've done this
100 times, man.
I've been here
so many times.
It's different
this time, though.
It's different.
It's not just
the last 12 weeks.
It's the last
seven years.
Come fight time,
I'm gonna be a mess, ya know.
I'm gonna be a mess,
just like all our
other three coaches.
We're gonna be a mess,
'cause we're gonna be,
like, wow, this is it.
And Jon's gonna be
worse off than us.
You gonna eat some stuff
that you got from the store?
Yeah, it's
right here.
So you wanna...
- This is huitzi.
- Hi, huitzi.
This is
my mom Cindy.
I'm a very
spiritual person,
because I want to be me.
I'm not religious,
but I see this as,
I guess you call it
spirituality.
Spiritual, you know.
He's got his spirits.
Yes.
His necklace.
Everything else
up to this point
has gone fantastic,
so as long as he can
get some decent sleep
between now and then,
the weight cut
shouldn't be an issue.
You know, as long as
he doesn't stub his toe
crossin' the street,
break his ankle or something,
we're good.
Hey, I realized
something about your woman.
What? She's crazy?
She can't go a day
without callin' you stupid.
Oh, did I call him stupid?
- We're from Nebraska.
Where are you from?
- Indiana.
Indiana?
Nice to meet you.
Say u.F.C. Title.
U.f.c. Title.
Yeah, baby.
It's different.
You know, if we lose,
it's gonna hurt
probably more than
the other ones.
'Cause you don't
get this chance
uh, whenever you want it.
It's a ladder.
You lose, you get knocked down
to the beginning.
You're only as good
as your last fight.
If you have
a bad performance,
and you lose,
all of a sudden,
it's like your rankings
and the fans,
and just everything,
it's just, uh...
It's black and white
between winning and losing.
Watch a guy like g.S.P.,
who I think is just
a great athlete,
watch him perform
in the ring.
It's pretty amazing.
Oh, I think
he's a great fighter.
He's a very
talented fighter,
and I think
he represents
sort of the new breed
of u.F.C. Fighters.
His potential
has no bounds.
I think he's shown that.
It's gonna be very hard
for anybody to beat him
probably from 170,
probably up to 205.
He's that good.
He's probably top three
pound-for-pound fighters
in the entire world.
When we were at San Jose,
I told him, oh, man.
I wish that we can come across
with georges St. Pierre,
to see how
he's gonna react
when he sees you
or he sees me,
because I think I have
a strong sight.
I can go deep into
your soul, into your spirit,
and make you feel
a little bit uncomfortable.
We were goin' out to eat
and ran into Greg Jackson,
and St. Pierre
and his camp.
So when I look,
georges kinda like,
he didn't wanna look at Jon,
and he tried to look down,
but then I see that
he was like,
when you are
surrounded by enemies.
He seemed like he was a little
uncomfortable, actually.
I don't know if he was
just surprised,
or in shock that
we ran into him,
or if he's worried.
I know he was worried.
He didn't wanna look,
he was nervous.
I say, well,
we won the first round.
You know, with him, the focus
is usually just makin' weight.
Bob normally does the...
What do you call it?
I mean, I do whatever
you want me to do,
but I'm here
for moral support.
- Same?
- The same.
This is point six
heavy.
It's a little bit light,
compared to
the other one.
Usually, when
your shorts are wet,
it means they're
on weight.
No more!
I'm not Canadian.
I'm gonna head
down there now.
Good luck.
I don't think Jon Fitch
is afraid of much.
Just watchin' him
this week,
he's not in awe
of georges St. Pierre.
He very much believes that
he'll win this fight Saturday.
I was just talkin' to
some of the guys earlier.
Everybody's got a plan,
where they're goin',
who they're goin' with,
to go watch the fight.
It's the team that's
goin' for the gold.
Am I gonna
miss this moment?
Yeah. Of course.
I... for a moment,
I went to the cage,
and I see Jon.
Yeah! Winning with
a big belt here on his waist.
Hello.
Okay. 7:45. All right.
They want you in
the lobby at 7:45.
That guy sounded like
a spy or something.
He's all
secretive.
He's all, they want you
in the lobby at 7:45.
That's when we'll
give you the briefcase.
He will be
a star tonight.
I can't guarantee
the win.
I can guarantee
he will be a star,
because he's gonna
perform like one.
I believe he's
gonna go out there,
and he's gonna
leave it all in the ring.
Whichever way it happens,
it happens,
but that's
the kind of guy he is.
He's gonna put his heart
and soul out there,
and we'll see it.
Hey, it's
7:38.
Good luck.
- Let's go.
- Bye.
- Bye. We'll see
you later.
- Take care of him.
Hey, you're gaining.
We were 27% last time.
We're aggressive,
but we're not reckless.
Head movement,
feet movement.
In and out,
cuttin' angles,
in the clinch.
Damaging him,
him not damaging you.
Try to get some
hands on his face.
Some elbows
and stuff in
the clinch,
in the grind,
on the ground.
Keep it simple.
Last thing, no fuckin'
lazy kicking.
Nothing's lazy.
Everything's
fast aggressive.
Things get tough,
keep pushing.
- One, two, three.
- A.K.A.
As you come out
of the tunnel,
you can feel
the energy of the crowd.
There was nothing else
in the world.
All his dreams and hopes
to be the world champion,
they're all at stake.
I was completely
in that moment.
G.s.p. Came out
and gets nailed.
He bloodied my eye,
made me see double.
Everything else kinda
goes out the window.
G.s.p. Caught him
with a beautiful
straight shot.
Can Jon continue;
Should we continue?
Everybody's watching,
all your friends,
all your family.
Everybody in the gym.
It's like having
one of your best
friends out there.
You don't have it in your head
to stop or quit.
He just went out there
and out-pointed him.
Jon just came after him.
He does not stop.
He just keeps
looking forward.
All of a sudden,
boom, he got nailed again.
He was able to get
to my back.
He reversed g.S.P.
And started doing
some damage.
Jon still had
that desire to fight,
the desire to win.
He was saying,
I'm gonna get
into the crowd.
Jon kept comin',
and he didn't stop.
It was such an incredible
display of courage.
Unbelievable
performance.
It was just amazing.
Keepin' my phone
blown up.
People are blown away.
He fought with
his whole fuckin' heart.
That's all
you can ask for.
We never got
that moment to exploit.
I did stuff, you know.
After the third round,
I was looking at the clock,
and Jon Fitch,
he never died.
I tried to finish him.
After the first round,
I tried everything.
I saw him, like,
like, fell down
and come back.
I was, like, my god,
what am I gonna have to do
to beat this guy?
Hey, Jon.
Good fight, Jon.
Good job, Jon.
You fought great, bro.
We all love ya.
You fought great.
I didn't get tired, Bob.
- No, you didn't.
- No,
you didn't get tired.
That's probably why
you look like that.
If this is what
happens when you
get tired...
Is it time
for jokes?
Unbelievable.
I mean, that fight
is unbelievable.
He put his heart
on the outside
and showed it
to the world.
What's up, baby?!