687. The Power Of Daily Discipline Ft. Michael Chandler

Andy Frisella
Yeah went from sleeping on the flow now my jury box froze fuck up. Bow, fuck up stove counted millions in. A cold bad bitch booted swole got her own bank roll can't fold dust a no head shot case cloak low what is up, guys? It's Andy for selling. This is the show for the realists.

Say goodbye to the lies, to fakeness and delusions of modern society. And welcome to motherfucking reality, guys. Today, instead of our normal cruise the Internet episode, we have a special guest. I'm gonna get right into it. Let's do it.

Yeah. Michael Chandler. What's up, bro? Dude, living the dream, dude. I just got the tour of the hq here.

Michael Chandler
Absolutely ridiculous. So pumped up to be here, man. Thanks, bro. It's so good to see you, man. You too, man.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Awesome. So a lot of you guys may or may not know, but Michael and I grew up ten minutes from each other, and we've been trying to connect for years. Yep. And, dude, it's really cool to finally have you here, especially after the big announcement this weekend.

Michael Chandler
Crazy. 48 hours ago, dude. Yeah. So I texted you right after. I was like, hey, Monday's about to be lit.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Yeah. What was the big announcement? There's this. There's this.

Yeah, there's this fight. Yeah, this little thing.

Michael Chandler
Gloss over it. So, dude, how you feeling about everything? Dude, honestly, you know, I've kind of made the joke. I really have been in a very unique position the last. It's been about 16 months, really.

You know, got done with my last fight in November of 2022. January, I get a phone call. Hey, you want to do the ultimate fighter against Conor McGregor? We fight it right after the season. My answer, of course, is, absolutely.

We do the ultimate fighter, and then since the fight, the show wrapped up in August, we've kind of just been gone back and forth. So I feel like I called it mma purgatory. I've kind of been. I've waited too long to not stay on the train of fighting Connor. I've had enough behind the scenes indications that the fight's definitely happening.

Even though media, even though the fans, even though everybody's like, this fight's never happening, he's never coming back. So, honestly, it's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders that we can finally talk about it. I've known for months that the fight was going to be June 29, but wasn't exactly public about it, and now we can talk about it. Now the cat is out the bag, and we got 75 hard days between right now. We were talking about this this morning.

Andy Frisella
So he sends me a text at like, 06:00 a.m. And he's like, bro, I was going to tell you later, but do you know how many days it is until my fight? And I'm like, no. And he's like, 75 days. And I'm like, holy shit, man.

Michael Chandler
The fact that. I'm sorry. That's so crazy. With the godfather of 75 hard. And now we are.

We're about to go into this training. I mean, I've already kind of started, but, yeah, the fact that it got announced and this is the first Monday after it gets announced. Five days, man. Just a dream come true. It's exciting.

Andy Frisella
I told you, bro, I'm going to go hard. As hard as I can for. I'm already on. I'm like, day 30 on 75 right now, but I'm just going to finish that out and do phase one so I can be done on the same day you're done. So I'll be done on fight day, dude.

Michael Chandler
Let's go, babe. Yeah, this is going to be so I'll be doing it with you. Not the same stuff, obviously. Well, I mean, I might have dj. Punch me in the face.

There you go. You got a couple Spartans, man. You guys got, you got a. You got a full basketball court over there. You got the gyms.

I heard there were some mats, but you had to clear them out for some. Yeah, they're usually right there next to the court. Yeah, the guys train jiu jitsu there every Tuesday and Thursdays. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, seven. Yeah, dude, so crazy, man.

Andy Frisella
Yeah, man. So, dude, how did this. All the fight? I mean, was there a lot of negotiation or was it pretty much like, okay, we could do this? I, uh, I already kind of had my stuff set up.

Michael Chandler
Cause I. I had the foresight to negotiate with the UFC. Hey, here's my contract. But if I fight Conor, here's my contract. And we came to an agreement.

Um, so it's kind of already been set, and I'm very happy with it. And lo and behold, obviously that fight happened. The UFC knew about my contract. They were completely okay with it all happening. And the UFC is awesome, man.

They. They have been absolute dream to work with behind the scenes, even though there's been so much craziness going on. You know, I mean, just for a quick timeline of people who haven't really followed it all, there was the big, you know, the drug testing thing. Cause Conor was outside of USADA, the drug testing pool, and that was a big hang up. Then he got into the USadA testing pool.

Then they switched drug testing agencies. Now he's gonna be in the new drug testing agency for six months. So it's just been. How do they test you for that? Is it consistently completely random?

So I got my location on my phone. So my location, they know where my location is. Technically they could call me right now. And I have basically 2 hours is the time limit. If you don't show up to where they are or them to you in a two hour time frame, you get a whereabouts failure, you do get three.

You know, it's not like a one and done, you get suspended. But if you do three whereabouts failures, you get suspended for the minimum two years. So it's completely random. We are under. We're still under WADA.

So it's the same thing the NCAA, NFL, NHL, MLB uses, I believe. And it's completely random. And here we are, dude. Now it's. It's been cool to watch you come up and do your thing.

Andy Frisella
Especially being a fellow St. Louisian, right? Missouri. Missourian. You know, every time we talk, it's always a conversation about two freaking redneck Missouri dudes putting it together, man.

Michael Chandler
Dudes that weren't supposed to be here. And so here we are. I guess we'll keep going. And it's been really cool, bro, to follow your career and see you come up and see you do what you've. What you've been doing and what you're gonna do.

Andy Frisella
Um, I mean when you. When you think back and you think like, you know, growing up in house springs and high ridge, you know, which isn't exactly, you know, for people that don't know. It's. It's. It's.

It's. It's not poor. It's just. It's regular America. Regular America.

Michael Chandler
Middle class. Yeah. Lower middle class. Midwestern, you know, place. And uh, you, you know, know, to be where you are right now.

Andy Frisella
I mean, it's fucking awesome, dude. And like, when you think back to like all like, did you ever. I think this is. Might be a silly question, but I just gotta ask it. I mean, did you ever think like this is where you wanted to end up?

Or how did this all play out for you? No, I mean, honestly, I didn't even know. Professional athlete. Like, for me to be a professional athlete, never really thought about it. I don't really think I ever.

Michael Chandler
You know, first of all, I was four foot eleven, 100 pounds in high school. Going into high school, I wasn't going to be the star quarterback. I wasn't going to be playing basketball, so I knew I had to wrestle. Wrestled 103 pounds. So I never really thought about being a professional athlete, man.

But so the fact that I've been a professional athlete now for 16 years and had the success I've had is just crazy. And then in the sport of wrestling, there's really no path after. I mean, you can maybe go to the Olympics and that, but that's not. It's professional athlete athletics style or something. Yeah, it's professional athletics, kind of, but it's not a.

It's not a big glory thing. You know, it's. It's. It's training for the Olympics, and I was never gonna be able to do that. But, yeah, wrestled in Northwest high school, was never, never a state champ.

And truth be told, nobody really wanted me at the division one level. I had some scholarship offers from some local schools, Lindenwood Central, Missouri State, Missouri Baptist. But for some reason, something in me said, hey, if I'm gonna wrestle, I'm gonna try to wrestle at the highest level. And I took a chance, and I walked on to Mizzou, and coach didn't know my name. Coach Brian Smith is still there.

You know, he didn't really look at me there for the first year. Ended up, after my first year, I got a starting starting spot, but I went to. I went to the University of Missouri completely okay with riding the bench for five years if I had to, going through all the workouts, never reaching the pinnacle, which would be becoming an all american, division one level. But. So I took that chance on myself, walked on, and ended up becoming an all american captain of the team.

Four year old, four year starter, four year national qualifier for Mizzou, and then friends of our Tyron Woodley, Ben Askren. Wrestled with both of those guys. They were kind of like my big brothers. I'm the oldest of three boys, so I didn't have older guys to look up to a lot. Those were the kind of the first big brothers I had, and they started fighting and ended up graduating in May of 2009.

Fought my first fight at Lake of the Ozarks at some Holiday Inn ballroom. Got a lake of the Ozarks. I got paid $500, and after we paid. That's a win. After we paid for hotels, that we paid for travel and gas and food, I think I lost, like $38.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. So I was negative for the, you know, but that's how you kind of get going. And then, man, then through Bellator and now in the UFC and now fighting the biggest combat sports athlete of all time. Conor, that's crazy. 75 days.

Michael Chandler
So. So how many fights did it take you to go from, like, fighting in the. In the bars? Cause, dude, we all know what that's like. Cause that's, like, a big thing around here, man.

Andy Frisella
We all love to go watch the. Local tickets, and they're fun. You watch. They're. They're fun.

Michael Chandler
And you're seeing people fighting at kind of that. That level where it's like, dude, I just want to get somewhere, and I got to fight my tail off to. Fight more than just the opponent. Yeah, yeah, dude, for sure. I mean, I love the local level fighter.

Yeah, no, they're always fun, man. Fun and character filled, and the crowd, and it's just. Dude, it's. It's like. It's the epitome of, you know, kind of just at beer drink, beer drinking parties, buddies, and then a fight breaks out.

You're like, let's go, man. Yeah. So, dude, how long did it take you to go from that to bellator? Man? I got.

I got to say, I have a very, very fortunate path when it came to that. I had that first. I only had one local show, really? One local show. Lake of the ozarks, missouri.

It's still on YouTube. I fought a guy named kyle swadley who wrestled at lindenwood. I think he was 10 at the time. It was first blood promotion, and then they, you know, as you know, you, because you've probably seen some of the strike force fights that come to town, or bellator. They partner with a local promoter, and the local promoter finds local talent, because how do you sell tickets?

You get a guy like me who's got 200 something people from high ridge, missouri, I can sell tickets to them. And that's how you put butts in seats and sell out the arenas. So I fought strike force undercard. Strike force undercard, one in kansas city, one in st. Louis.

And then I had a moment where they said I had a strike force offer and I had a bellator offer. But to me, strike Force was kind of just a. A big, wide open net of, hey, you're signing with the organization, and then you're going to get some fights, and then eventually, maybe fight for the title if you get good enough or you are good enough. But Bellator had a clear path because back then, they used to do a tournament. So I fought two fights in two or three months, and then I got the go ahead to say, if you win these first two fights, you'll be in the tournament.

Then I got in the tournament. I fought March, April, May, so I fought three fights in three months, and then I fought Eddie Alvarez, who was the number three guy in the world at the time. So I somehow go from May of 2009 to November 20, eleven, and I'm fighting for a world title against the number three guy in the world. So it was just a crazy, crazy meteoric rise, really. And I had finished most of my opponents.

I think I'd finished nine of my, or, sorry, eight of my nine fights, and, like, seven of those in the first round. And then I had a knockdown, drag out war with Eddie, ended up beating him. And so it was very, very quick, honestly, which was awesome, is a huge blessing. But there was some growing pains that I had to go through because I hadn't. Sometimes it's the right path, but it's a little bit too quick, right.

Sometimes you're the right guy. You're just not the right guy yet. And I think I use the training that I had all those years through fighting, and I looked across the cage against Eddie Alvarez, who had, like, 30 fights at the time, or 20 something fights, and I'm like, dude, I'm going to beat this guy. I know I'm going to beat him, and I go out there and I beat him. And then, you know, later on, I had a couple losses, and it's been little ups and downs here, but it's.

It's constantly continued to grow, and it's so it was a very cool path. And, uh, you know, being outside the UFC for so long, coming over to the UFC and then getting a title shot, my second fight, and, you know, fight in the promotion, um, was part of kind of that build up that led me to where we are today. Did you have to handle the crowd pressure during that time? Like, that fast track? Did you ever have any, like, self doubt of, like, do I belong here?

Andy Frisella
Or was it. Did you kind of just. Were you able to block out the noise? I'll tell you what it was, and. Cause I can.

Michael Chandler
I stand firm on knowing that I live a champion lifestyle more than anybody else I have ever met in the sport of mixed martial arts. And that's nothing against anybody else. There's other guys who do it right. I just truly believe I do it better and I do it different in more attention to detail. But I was building up this body.

I was doing all the physical things, but I wasn't really taking care of the mindset part of things. I wasn't really. I wasn't really winning the battle between the ears. And you do. You do start to feel the pressure.

You do start to hear the doubt, or you do start to drink your own Kool aid of, hey, he's the next big thing. Cause, right? I beat Eddie Alvarez, and then immediately, they're like, well, that's cool. He beat Eddie Alvarez. He's a top five guy in the world.

But we want to see him fight Anthony Pettis in the UFC. We want to see him fight Benson Henderson, who were the champions at the time. And you start to feel this pressure, and I started to get this. I started to get this. So much pressure put on myself to be perfect.

Right? Cause you win the world title, you're you. In your mind, you know, you earned it, but you don't really know if you deserved it. Maybe it was too quick. So then I had my first loss to Eddie, coincidentally lost the rematch.

And then I lost three fights in a row. 688 days I went without winning a fight, so. And for those that do follow the sport or don't follow the sport, that's kind of like a career death sentence for a fighter losing three fights in a row. So I did. I started to feel that pressure.

I started to. Because once you win a world title and everyone's looking at you now, it's not just, hey, I'm going, I'm gonna have fun today, right? If you and me, me and you are going, I could beat you for four minutes and 50 seconds of a round. But if I lose 10 seconds of a round, to me, that was a failure. So I failed every single day.

And when you feel like you're failing every single day, when you're really not, it's all about perspective. I felt like I was failing every single day. Every single day wasn't a day to get better and have fun and enjoy this beautiful life that I get to live, it was either, hey, I'm perfect, or I'm a loser, I'm gonna perfect, I'm gonna dominate everybody, or I'm a failure. And so I kind of fell into that trapping. And right now, back then, I was sad, I was depressed, I was upset, I was mad.

I was all the emotions. But now I look back at that and think, man, I had to go through that. I had to be forged in major. Yeah. Yeah, I had to, man.

And now it's made me a better fighter. It's propelled me to where I am. I'm a better husband because of it, a better father because of a better businessman, just a better man because of it. Yeah. People don't stop to think, you know, when you're pushing to be great or pushing to be the best at what you do, you're going to.

Andy Frisella
It's always. It feels like you're losing. It feels like you're struggling, right. Cause you're pushing the boundaries and the boundary to push it. You have all these setbacks and all these doubts.

Like, when you lose three fights in a row, bro, that's a mental. That's a mental battle. You know what I'm saying? And people sometimes think that, like, winning and moving forward feels good, but it doesn't ever feel good. It always feels like a major struggle.

I think of the times when I've elevated in my life, dude, and they've been the hardest times of my life. No doubt. Like, no doubt. But like you said, dude, it's what teaches you everything you need to know. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. And when you. And when you have a setback or a loss, you know, I talk about these three big mistakes that I made, too, you know, right away. And it was partly because, you know, you kind of.

Michael Chandler
You start to hear. Hear all the chatter and hear all the noise, but. But until something bad happens and you're like, oh, I knew it. What they said, there it is. They were all right when really they weren't.

Yeah, right. But it was my perception of it. Right. So I immediately. I wanted to hide from everybody.

I got. I got offered to come out and present the or present an award at the world MMA awards for fight of the year and all the different stuff. Wasn't answering my phone. I wanted to hide from it right now, man, I wear my losses on. I wear my losses on my sleeve.

I'm almost proud of them. I'm almost. I'm almost just proud to be in. To be the man in the arena, right? And not almost, I am proud to be that man in the arena, because it doesn't matter if I fall flat on my face, my next ten fights, I'm gonna pick myself up and you're still gonna see the blueprint for how a man continues to operate through the series of vicissitudes and the ups and the downs of what we call life.

Mine is just in a cage, right? And then I forgot how good I was. You know, you had that first loss, you're like, well, I just. I'm just not good anymore, right? You're like, no, dude, I was just as fast, just as strong, just as powerful.

When I walked into that cage is when I walked out of that cage, it was just my perception in my mind, you know, and then you kind of fall into that comfort jail cell of self pity. You start pointing the fingers, you know, all these different mistakes that I needed to make that really were immature. And I'm glad we all have to go through those immature moments. We all have those immature moments, but they make you into the mature man that you are today, you know? And even thinking about, you know, the old story about the man pushing the rock, right?

God comes to him in a vision, says he's pushed the rock right by the hill, and he's pushing the rock, and he's pushing the rock, and he can't move it. He can't budge it. Maybe it moves an inch and it comes back two inches, right? His shoulders are jacked up, his hands are bleeding, and then finally, he's just like, God, why would you. Why would you send me on this journey if you knew I wasn't gonna be able to push this rock up the hill?

And he's like, dude, I didn't tell you to push the rock up the hill. I just told you to push the rock. Just push the rock. And so it's the obedience in moving forward. And like you said, that visual of thinking about the hardest.

Some of the hardest times in your life is when you are winning, right? Because you're always pushing and you're always forgetting about what people are saying. And continuing to move forward doesn't always feel good. That's why people follow you and watch you, and we don't follow you because of the virtual certainty of your success, but because of your failures. That's what we love as human beings.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Because we can all relate. Yeah. Right. We fail eight times out of ten, nine times out of ten.

That's the reality of pursuing anything worthy. Do you ever stop and think how fortunate you are to have had those lessons at such a young age in life? Because a lot of people, they don't. They spend their whole lives, and they never learn what you're talking about. And because of the circumstances of your life, you were able to learn these lessons as a young man, not as an old man.

You think about that? No, I do, because, especially in a sport like mixed martial arts, that obviously, I am so truly blessed to be in the sport, man. It's made me who I am. It's made me a beautiful life, a beautiful fortune, a beautiful living, and the platform that I have. Everything goes back to mixed martial arts.

Michael Chandler
And I've seen so many guys who maybe had more talent than me or maybe were even bigger than me at one point, and I've continued to gain ground and continue to pass them up and continue to grow bigger, and it's just. But it was only because of the lessons that I had to go through, you know, and doing it with as much humility as I possibly could. And it really does have so much to do with how I was raised. Right. My mom and dad went through things their entire life.

They went. They were working two and three jobs nonstop. My dad was up every single morning, putting his carpenter work boots on every single day at five in the morning, and watching the way that they operated, watching the way that they live their lives, watching the way that they always just tried their best and tried to be a better person today than they were yesterday.

It's kept me so grounded, and I'm so fortunate to have that. And there was times where I would look back and be mad at the way that I was raised or the way that things that happened in my young man brain as I was growing, but it's all kept me so. It's kept my perspective so crystal clear and knowing that I was created for great things, but I ain't greater than anybody else, you know? And it's. And it's such a beautiful thing.

And I really do feel for people who have somehow fallen victim to the entitlements and the, oh, holier than thou's and the bigger than thou. And I deserve this, and I deserve that. When I'm like, man, I don't deserve anything, man. I know I work hard enough to deserve it more than this guy, but I'm gonna work harder than him in order to force my deservedness and continue to force more and more accomplishment through the deservedness, through the work that I do. There's nobody working harder than you, bro.

No, I try not to. I know you may not say that, but it's the truth. There's nobody working harder than you. Yeah. My biggest thing is taking pride in the small, little hard work, the things that nobody ever sees, the little disciplines where it's just me and my supplements, or it's just me and my shopping cart and at the grocery store, or it's just me and that piece of litter right there, or that's me.

And this little decision I can make to be like, okay, this is how 90% of people would do it, but I'm gonna go ahead and go the extra mile to do this right now, because we act as though are these little acts and these little thoughts that they happen in a vacuum and they happen in private. And maybe they do happen in private and people, they don't see them, but they do eventually manifest themselves into your circumstances, right? So I've just. That's the way I was raised and that's the way I operate, and it doesn't matter. It didn't matter.

Here's one thing, too, you know, being trusted in the small things. If you can be trusted in the small things, then, and only then, can you be trusted in the big things, right? So this training camp that I'm about to put, put on, starting today and moving forward to fight the biggest combat sports superstar on the planet will be no more disciplined, no more hard, no more extra than when I was fighting Kyle Swadley, my first fight ever, or fighting David Rickles, a guy who maybe you guys have never heard about, or, or Derek Campos, one of these guys. I was training and doing the small things, right? Whether I was fighting the number 150 guy in the world or I'm fighting the biggest name on the entire planet in the history of mixed martial arts.

So if I could be trusted with those small things, that's how you end up in this spot, you know, and it even feels uncomfortable to say because it's not really me. It's just things you're doing. It's a product. I'm a product of my environment and how I was raised. And what if it were watching?

Andy Frisella
It is you. It is you. Because it's a choice that we all get to make. We all get to make a choice about how disciplined we're going to be, and we all get to make a choice about how serious we're going to take our lives. And we don't always start at the same spot, but we do have a choice with what we make of that.

And when I look at you, I look at a regular guy who comes from what I know very well, just a very regular place. You know, St. Louis is St. Louis. I love it.

Everybody here loves it. But, you know, it's a, it's a different place, man. It's very blue collar, it's very hard working. It's not la, it's not Miami. And I'm thankful for that.

People are often like, why do you still live there? I'm like, bro, because it's not that. Yeah, you know, but when I look at you, dude, I see someone who represents those midwestern values, who represents, and not just in your work ethic, in your life as a man, as a family man. And when I, I had a very cool experience that I think you'll enjoy this weekend. I was working out in the gym, and this guy comes walking into the gym, holding the football, and I'm like, I can't see him all the way across the gym.

Like, who is that? Why has he got a football? And he's walking right towards me. And he gets closer. I'm like, who is that?

Who. Who's here? And then he gets, like, from me to you away. And I'm like, holy shit, dude. That's Jerry Rice.

That's Jerry Rice. And he's got a football in his hand. What's. What's that football for? And he hands it to me.

I'm working out. He hands it to me, and he. And it says, to Andy, hold the standard. And like this. A little message and sign, jerry Rice.

And he says, hey, I'm here with ben newman. Thank you so much for allowing me to come out. This place is amazing. And I'm like. And I don't get starstruck.

But, dude, it's jerry Rice. You'll get starstruck. That's jerry Rice. Like, very, like, when we talk about the greatest ever at what they did, like, you, you've met a lot of great people. I've met a lot of great people.

People who were at the top of the game. But when you say jerry rice, dude, like, it's undeniable. He is the greatest NFL wide receiver ever in history. And he's standing in front of me. And so I'm like, halfway through my workout, and I'm like, all right, well, I'll skip the workout for this.

You want to play catch? So we started talking, and we hit it off immediately. And I got to talk to him for about 2 hours, just me and him, because they were running an event. So I went to the locker room, and I got to sit down, and we had a conversation, and, dude, this guy, he, dude, you remind me a ton of them. Like, exactly the same kind of thing normal guy comes from.

Normal place, has figured out the very same thing that you're talking about. It's about the disciplined execution on a day by day basis. It's not some big play. It's not get lucky. It's not talented.

It's win the day. And when you win the day, you win tomorrow. And when you win tomorrow, you win the next day. And, dude, it was so cool hearing him tell me this, because I thought, you know, yes, you can win the day, and you can become very good. But when you see someone who ran a 4740 in the NFL.

Cause let's be real. That's not fast for a wide receiver. There's guys that run four sevens on every single high school team in the state. Okay, who became the greatest receiver ever? And you hear him talk about how hard he worked and what he did on a daily basis and how he became who he was.

It just inspired me so much because I thought, yes, you could become very successful winning the day. But in reality, like, when I look at you and I look at him and I look at guys like that, there's actually no upper ceiling when it comes to that. It's not talent, it's not skill. It really is. How long do you want to execute?

And how. At what level do you want to execute? And, dude, it was one of the coolest conversations I've ever had. And, bro, you remind me a lot of them. Well, it's really cool, too, because, I mean, I feel, you know, sometimes things have to get, I don't know, worse before they get better, right?

Michael Chandler
Or you have to. You have to kind of go the sensational route. I mean, I feel like we've become very sensationalized as a society, right? We see all of these crazy successes, and of course, yeah, there's lightning striking in a bottle or whatever you call it, or pans. There's these things that happen, dude.

But as a whole, the people that are at the top, the people that get to those lofty places, it really is just normal, everyday people doing normal, everyday things as disciplined as possible and not being afraid to take the long road. Take the hard road, brick by boring brick. We do it every single day. And then eventually you look around, you're. Like, I did something.

How did I get here, right? I mean, and you knew you were on your way, right? But it was enjoying the journey and enjoying and taking pride in the small things, right? Because once again, he who can be trusted with the small things, then you can be trusted in the big things, right? When he ends up in the hall of fame, he wanted to get there, but he's not going to get to the hall of fame unless you can be trusted in the small things.

Whether. Whether you believe in God, the universe, serendipity, whatever it is, it's going to work out like that. It's the small. It's. How do you eat an elephant?

You eat a big old elephant one tiny little bite at a time, you know, but taking pride in every single one of those little bitty bites, every single one of those boring bricks. Doing it perfectly. And doing it perfectly. Yeah. That's what Nick Saban talks about, you know, he talks about, we're not going to run the play until we get it right.

Andy Frisella
We're going to run the play until we can't get it wrong. And that's what it comes down to. And I think what's important to point out about what we're talking about is that most people who have big dreams, who have big goals, who have aspirations, and you young guys who listen, you need to really listen to this, okay? You guys have to understand, you may not be LeBron James, you may not run a 4240, you might not have this exceptional talent, but what Michael's done and what guys like Jerry Rice have done is they've taken very average upbringings and skill sets. I mean, you were 103.

Is that fair to say? 103 pounds? Yeah. I mean, is it fair to say average, right? Yeah, very average.

Well, most people would deem average, yes. Most people will start. Everybody out here starts at a place like that. And they say, because they're not that gifted guy on the wrestling team, or they're not that gifted guy on the football field, or they're not that gifted guy with business who happened to start something and in two years he was worth, you know, $50 million or whatever, right? Or 10 million or a million, right?

These, we tend to, like, sell ourselves short and we say, well, dude, I don't have that. I don't have those parents that lended me the money to start my business. I wasn't born with 4540 speed. I don't have good genetics. We tell ourselves all these stories and we fail to realize that there is a way.

And the way is what we're talking about with Michael and Jerry Rice, these guys. And by the way, that's been true for me, too. I don't have special talent. I don't have special skillset. But what I do have is I have grit and fortitude, and I'm willing to get up every day and do everything I can do to get there.

Yes. And I appreciate the sentiment that you have thrown my direction right now, but let me. Let me just talk about you for a second now, for, for those guys. Listening. Listening.

Michael Chandler
I'm here at the hq when it. I was. I was gonna ask you if you even have a cleaning crew here, but I did see someone come around. I saw no less than ten people wash their hands, and then they're cleaning down and wiping down the countertops in the, in the. In the gym.

Every single weight is lined up perfectly. Every single dumbbell is. Is lined up perfectly. The place is spic and span and it's a. It's a we mentality.

And you leading from the front, I mean, you don't. You don't even have to. I don't even have to know you to walk into your establishment to see your team and see the way that these people operate. And it is the physical manifestation of the way that you do one thing as the way that you do everything. And it is the little things.

Right. First form is not going to become one of the biggest companies on the world because your weights are perfectly sat. Right. It's really not. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't matter at all, but it's just.

It's a standard that is set right and that's what people can really see. I mean, I wish people could see and really see it because it is inspiring. And this place is a. It's people here, but just the building itself. If I was walking into this building itself, just the bricks and the mortars and the pieces of equipment and the walls and that kind of stuff, this is perfection personified, right?

It's absolutely. But it's a standard that you. That you set and you're leading from the front, too, right? It's not, hey, you guys all do this, but really, whenever you put the weights, you got your butler behind you putting them all. Yeah, no, yeah.

Andy Frisella
It only works if you live it. Yeah, man. And it's. But it's those little bitty things done with enthusiasm and done. Done as if.

Michael Chandler
It's not even a question. There is no question it's going to get done and it's. And it's going to be done well. We're very blessed to have, you know, because of how authentic and open I am about my feelings about the world and my standards on the podcast, we are very blessed to have high drive, high standard individuals want to come to work here. Very rarely do we get someone that's not like that, you know, and I'll tell you a little secret about that, that a lot of you guys, you know, we have a big entrepreneurship listenership here on the show.

Andy Frisella
If you want your team to do that, you all. I get this. This is probably my most asked question. How do you get your team to do that stuff? What do you do?

Do you find them? No, dude. Look, it's very simple, and I think you'll agree with this. You already said it. Those little things that we do, they add up into the big things, how we do the big things.

So when you're a leader and you're trying to get your team to execute at a high level, what you have, it's not, hey, do this. It's. This is how it is. Hey, man, look, when we straighten those weights, you're making an investment in your discipline and your attention to detail, in your ability to recognize something that needs to be fixed and fixing it. And every time you do that, you're making a deposit into your own skillset, which will translate into how you execute in your career, in your life.

And here, your goal is to make money and build a career. So if you can build that skillset better, you're gonna do better as a career. And so when we teach our team that, you know, they're already exceptional human beings, they're already high drive. They're hungry to get better. They buy into that immediately.

Cause they're like, yeah, dude, I'm looking to get better. Yeah. Like you said, it's not the actual weight itself, the act of the weight, but it's what it does to our deservedness. That one little penny in the bank, the deservedness to be like we were all created with greatness inside of us. But not everyone deserves to get to that if they don't make the requisite sacrifices or have the requisite discipline.

Michael Chandler
Right. Even. And obviously, my life has been fitness and fighting and wrestling and all these different things. And every business now and now business. Yeah, but every single little practice, I mean, you don't see the results.

You know, I'm putting dollars in the bank, in the discipline bank today that I won't see until June 29, right? I'll start to get a little bit more shredded or start to get a little bit more faster, start to get a little bit more x, y, and z. But it's. It's doing things today and maybe not seeing results for two months, but that is exactly what you're talking about, too. These little things that add up to the thing.

When you stand at your greatest moment of opportunity or your darkest hour, you have to be able to answer that question, did I do enough? Am I enough? And you are enough if you've done the little things leading up to it. And that's the thing, dude, the path does not get easier. No.

Andy Frisella
So we have to build ourselves into these people that can endure the path, because you just said that hour of darkness that's coming for all of us. And it looks different in different ways. And by the way, it doesn't just come for us once. It comes over and over and over again. It comes in the form of losing a job or it comes in the form of getting a divorce, or it comes in the form of getting an illness or a death in the family.

And there's all these things that come at us for our whole lives. And if we don't build ourselves into someone of determination, grit, resilience, discipline, we're in a situation where we can't handle these things. And, dude, our families, our friends, our significant others, they look up to us for these things. And if we're not there to handle it, that's a life failure. That is a life failure.

And people don't realize how much these little things actually create the character skillset. Because I call it a skillset, right. Because we're developing it. It's not a trait. People aren't naturally highly disciplined.

I mean, maybe some people are, but really, it's something that we build, and we can all build it. And you mentioned the litter thing, right? That's a big deal for me. Like, I will walk freaking half a mile out of my way if I see a bag going. Cause I'm like, dude, I can't let it go.

I can't let it go. I'll remember that. You know? And when we little things like that, people just don't think about. And then you think about, if everybody did think about those things, how much different would the world be?

How much different would the world look if everybody said, hey, I cannot let that go. I've got to fix that. You know what I mean? Yeah. And, dude, we live in a completely different society in general.

Society of excellence, high standards, treating people with respect. That's one of the things I love about you most, bro, is as good of a fighter as you are. You're a better dude, you're a better man and a better husband and a better father. And it's very, very admirable, dude. And I really appreciate the standard that you set as a man, not just as a fighter.

Thank you. It's really special, bro. Thank you. Yeah, I know. It was actually funny.

Michael Chandler
Cause I was just with my wife, and we've kind of been having these conversations because you also. Well, one thing going back to what you just said, too, you can be a absolute optimist and love life and full of joy and all those things and still admit that you're going to suffer hardship. You're going to get kicked in the mouth. There's going to be bad things that happen. You're going to get things that you don't deserve to happen to you, but they're going to happen.

So you have to be built up and ready for those things. And even right now, having the foresight to realize what's about to happen in my life, right? And it's what, I asked for this. I prayed for this moment. I asked for this moment.

And even talking to my wife this past weekend, and we're just like, you know, pray for, continue to pray for humility, pray for wisdom, man, because the enemy is going to attack and this is going to be big and this is going to be an out of body experience. And my eye, my, the temptation for my eye to be taken off of the ball is going to be so immense. Right? So you, you have to know that you got a big battle ahead of you and you got some things that are going to happen to you, but you can still be optimistic and know that you're the man for the job. Know that you have earned it.

Know that you're right where you're supposed to be. Because the next season for me is going to be, you know, it's going to be, I can't even really put into words what, what's going to happen. I can't. All I can do is ask for wisdom and know, and know and hope and pray that I'm able to operate right. And that's what you got to do every single day because life is going to continue to get thrown at you.

Andy Frisella
Let me ask you this. What? So, you know, you mentioned your mom, your dad, your upbringing. What was the support like when you decided to get into fighting? Was mom like.

No, my baby. Like, I mean, did you have any of that? No. My mom's pretty rough around the edges, man. Like, she's a, she's a sweetheart.

Michael Chandler
Sweet little Betty, little bitty italian lady. And she's an amazing soul, but she's a little rough around the edges, right? When it comes to, like, she loved wrestling, man. Like, she was getting in arguments and fights in the stands. Like, you know, the wrestling, wrestling community.

Andy Frisella
Is like, bro, that's Midwest moms, bro. You know, but it, you know, but obviously for me, too, I had my, my big brothers, right, tyron and Ben, who we looked up to, and my mom idolized them as well. She's like, well, Tyrone and Ben, think you'll be all right, so I think you'll be good. I mean, and it wasn't the way that I wrestled anyway. It wasn't real slick and fast and whatever.

Michael Chandler
It was just, it was basically a fight every single time I stepped on the wrestling mat anyway, you know, except I wasn't allowed to punch legally. Or kick and that kind of stuff. It was aggressive, but it was aggressive, man. Cause it really was, you know. Hey.

Cause I started wrestling as a freshman in high school. Like, I didn't really have. I wrestled a couple years when I was younger, but, like, five years old, when you're basically running around the mats and just playing games, playing tag. And I started really taking it serious and dedicated my life to the sport when I was 14 years old. And I've been doing hand to hand combat since.

So I wasn't gonna be able to out slick you, out technique you, out wrestle you, but I could freaking out fight you. I could out cardio you. I could push you off the mat, run back to the center and headbutt you, and get my hands make it very uncomfortable. Listen, you might beat me, you might be better than me, but you don't. You don't want to wrestle me again.

That was kind of the mentality I had. And then as I got more and more skilled, I've been able to dial that back a little bit. You see it a lot in my fight style. You know, it's kind of. It's kind of the way I.

Bro. You fucking bulldog, man. 14. Yeah, dude, I told you that. That.

Andy Frisella
Remember after the Poirier fight? Remember me texting you? And I said. I said, bro, that was. Even though you lost, I said, that was the greatest fucking fight I'd ever seen in my life.

And it was because of how tough you fought that fight, bro. Yeah. Like, that was. I don't know how you feel about. No, I do know.

Michael Chandler
It's one of those. That was a loss. Yeah. That was a win. Yeah.

You know, like. And that's. And that's what you realize, too, man. It was a loss on paper. Yeah, absolutely.

You're gonna. You're gonna retire. You're gonna look at it. No, that was a loss on his record. But, dude, I won.

Look at the fight I have now. Every single time I've lost, it's been another win. It's another. It feels like a demotion, but it's a promotion. If you've done the right things, you get rewarded.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Fuck, dude. Does anything change? Cuz you're. Cuz you typically.

You fight at lightweight, right? But this is a welterweight fight. Yeah. So. So that's 170, I think.

Michael Chandler
No, nothing's really gonna change, except I'll be able to. I'll be able to eat a little bit more and eat a little bit more carbs. This. This. You know, a lot of people love carbs.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Yeah. Well, they bring up Michael Phelps, right. Because everyone's heard the stories. Like, dude, are you just pounding the calories with how much you're training?

Michael Chandler
And you'd be flabbergasted to know, like, I'm usually eating between, like, 1215 hundred calories per day and training twice a day, five days a week, or five days a week. Once on Saturday, and then two of those. Two of those five days in between, I'm hitting a third cardio session, a third workout on 1200 to 1500 calories a day, shrinking my body down, losing a little bit of muscle, getting rid of all the fat, and then dehydrating myself at the end. But so for 170, you know, I'm, like, 185 ish right now. Cause I've already been training for the last four weeks.

Um, so I'll probably eat enough to keep myself. Get, like, shred down a little bit, lose a little bit of body fat, get myself right where I need to be, which is going to be like that 177 mark, and then just a nice little easy water cut at the end. It's going to be the best camp of my life, man. I can't wait to fight 170. That's awesome.

Andy Frisella
Do you. What's the difference between your. What's your normal fight weight? 155. Okay.

Unfortunately, do you think that there's a. A difference in the. The cardio aspect, that those two weights, um, like, fighting at 155 versus fighting at 170? Yeah, it. Like, in general, the two weight classes?

Michael Chandler
Yeah, I think there's. I mean, there's a generally. Well, I don't. Listen, man, I don't know a ton about MMA. I'm a fan, but I'm a casual fan.

Yeah, but generally, the low lower, the. The more you get up in weight class, the hot, the lower the pace. Right. The slower the pace. So, yeah, 155, there's.

There's better cardio than at 170, you know, but for me, I feel like I'm. I'm going to be just weighing in at 170 instead of dehydrating myself to 155. And once again, I'm gonna do the exact same training camp. Just eat a little bit more, maybe. Thank God.

You know, take. Drink a couple more protein shakes. What kind of diet do you follow, man? So, since I have to get. I basically have to shrink my body down.

I'm eating basically no carbs, like, starchy carbs at all. I'm basically doing protein and veggies two meals a day with a snack in between and a protein shake once a day, mainly. Um, so it's really just meat and veggies. Low carbs. Eight.

Eight weeks. So this time I'll be able to have a. Yeah, this. This way. This time I'll have a little bit of sweet potato.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Daily. Yeah. Thank God. Yeah.

Well, dude, listen, man, I think it's really cool to hear you talk about, you know, the work ethic aspect. You know, out of all the guys that you fought and trained with, who. Who do you respect the most for their work ethic? Who's a guy that, like, you look at and you're like, damn, dude, he gets it. I think Eddie Alvarez.

Michael Chandler
And I say that, too, because I have inside scoop, because I now I train with. I train with my coaches. You know, Henry Hooft, who was. Who was Eddie's coach, I think, for like, four or five years, he. Henry, who's my head coach right now, cornered against me whenever.

When he coached Eddie against me when I lost my first fight. Yeah. So it's, you know, it's kind of funny how it all came. Came full circle, but it's numerous times he's been like, you know, you remind me of Eddie. Cause I'm always, like, 30 minutes early to practice.

I'll already be rolling out by the time coach comes in or other guys are coming in. Cause I wanna get there a little bit early. I wanna be stretched. I wanna be warmed up. I wanna be ready.

Cause when it's time to go, I don't wanna take me 30 minutes to get my. Get the juices. You wanna get good work in? Yeah, I wanna get the good work in. I already wanna be ready.

He's like, you know, he's always said that. And I'm like, yeah. And the funny thing between me and Eddie is like, dude, you cannot try to kill somebody for 25. Well, almost 50 minutes. He and I had two of the best fights in MMA history.

You cannot do that with somebody for that many minutes inside of a cage and not have a ton of respect for each other. So we have a ton of respect for each other. Those were fun fights. And it's always good when, you know, a guy lives that life, too, right? You know, he's.

Andy Frisella
He. He lives the champion lifestyle. He does things right. He's a good dude. He's a family man.

Michael Chandler
It's. It's the kind of guys that you're like, dude, this is you. You deserve it. I deserve it. I believe I deserve it a little bit more.

I want to beat you, but, dude, this is about to be a good one, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. Man. Yeah, dude, I was over thinking, too, man, because when you had mentioned even, like, you know, that you went three fights, losses back to back, it was like, how many days? You said like 600, 8688 to go that long.

Andy Frisella
You know, work all that time for this big climax of an event, to have that even just that, and then to deal with that one time. How did you bounce back off of that? Well, so there, there is a little bit of a lesson in there, and there's. And it was, it was the way that I was conditioned, right. Because the sport of wrestling, the great, the greatest thing about it is you're going to get 30 or 40 opportunities to wrestle per year, right?

Michael Chandler
If I lost a tough match on Wednesday, I'm down on myself. Wednesday night, I get back to practice Thursday, Saturday, I get the opportunity to right that wrong, to go from the loss column to the win column very quick, you get another opportunity. But in mixed martial arts, it's like, dude, I mean, I haven't fought since November 2022. And most of the time we're fighting. When you get to the upper echelon and the higher levels, you're fighting twice a year, maybe three times a year, but probably usually twice a year.

So you got to sit on that loss for five months, six months. Right. So the biggest thing for me was getting back, and the mistake that I made was right away. I wanted to hide from it. I kind of, I didn't want to.

You kind of lose that motivation to train a little bit. You're like, was it like an embarrassment? Big time embarrassment, man. You know? And it's.

But now not anymore. No, no, no. I get it. I'm glad I had to go through that to realize it. And anybody who is listening right now, and if you have that, it really is ego, right?

People don't care that much. We think people care more about us. So much more about us than we do. Right? Yeah.

And when you. And almost, like I said, sometimes it's. It's supposed to be a part of the journey. It's supposed to be a part of your journey. It's.

I was supposed to lose those fights or I was supposed to have this shortcoming because if a bad thing happens but a good thing comes from it, was it really a bad thing? And how many times have you had that play out in your life, right? And you'd ask, you're like, well, a good thing came from it. So I, that thing that I thought was a bad thing, I can't really call it a bad thing anymore because it turned into a really good thing. And God had me in the palm of his hand the entire time.

And then it led to this and it led to that. But yeah, the problem was losing that fight and then going in like dealing with uncharted territory. Cause I hadn't lost a competition since two or three years prior in wrestling. And at that point it didn't really matter. Cause I had just become an all American.

I kinda got to where I wanted to go anyway. So I dealt with it and not in a great way, not in a very mature way. And then I didn't get the opportunity to right that wrong for months and months and months. It was probably six months that I had to sit out and go through a training camp, figure out who's next, who am I fighting next. And yeah, it's just I deal with losses so much better now and so much.

And maybe it's just you kind of just. Isn't it awesome though too? I was thinking about that today. The older you get, you just don't care as much anymore when it comes to like, dude, I used to care so much about what people thought and used to care. So I'm like, I'm so solidly standing on my own 2ft now.

And if you thought 15 year old Michael saw the 38 year old Michael he would be like how did you get there, dude? Cause I don't see how we get from here to there. Cause we are, we're on like another planet, you know? But it was just the constant. Every single day, great things in my life and some of the tough things getting kicked right in the teeth.

And this sport wants to keep you down as long as it, as long as you will let it. And it's up to you to pick yourself back up. I've been able to do it now for 1617 years. That's the key, dude. You know, a lot of people, they will, they will get in those dark times and, and they don't understand that that time is meant to build a new skill set to give you a new perspective.

Andy Frisella
And the only way that you can discover that is by continuing down the path. There's so many people that have the hardship happen and then they stop, right? They get embarrassed. They get, they get. Cause dude, I'm gonna tell you this.

As much as you guys think it's embarrassing to start and be bad at something, it's a million times more embarrassing to be great at something and have everybody in the world see you fucking fall on your face, that's way worse. And it is ego. And I do agree with you. As you get older, you start to realize it's not as big of a deal. But I also think that that comes from us firmly understanding the work that needs to be done to get past that.

Right. I think when you're, when I, at least when I was younger and I felt, I felt setbacks, I didn't have enough confidence in the work, the work that needed to be done to understand that I could pull myself out of it and ignorantly. But also, thankfully, I just got up the next day and kept going, dude. Like, I didn't know what else to do. So I would get up and I would go and, you know, think, dude, I can't.

I mean, most of my business life I live within weeks of being out of business. People don't think that about entrepreneurs, dude. Like you're, you're living on the edge all the time, you know, until you get to a, you know, where we're at now, it's not like that anymore. But, you know, most of your life as an entrepreneur, the first 1010 plus years, it's, it's scary and you're going to take hits and sometimes those hits are nearly ending of your journey. But like when you don't know what else to do, you wake up the next day and you just keep doing what you've been doing.

And because people don't do that and they get embarrassed and they get humiliated in their own mind. I can relate to that, bro. I can relate to the hiding and the shame and the embarrassment and the feeling of letting people down. And if you guys just push through those times and you continue down the path, what you'll figure out is what Michael's talking about, which is, dude, this is here to serve you. This is here to build you.

This is here to give you a new perspective and a new skill set which will eventually lead to a place, like you were saying, where you're standing on your own 2ft and you have total real confidence in yourself. Not fake confidence, not bravado, beating my chest, not running my mouth, but knowing that if something negative comes around or I get a setback, that it's not a total devastating loss. It's exactly that. It's a bump in the road. It's a setback.

Michael Chandler
Yeah, I mean, and what I did, what I started doing, too, and I forced myself to do this, you know, when I take a loss, I'm making sure I get on as big of a platform as I possibly can ASAP and talk about it. Right. Because right. Ego would say, well, let's just hide. Because if you get on the microphone, all those people who doubted you, and they're gonna point the fingers, now you're on a microphone.

You're talking about this loss. You're reliving this loss in real time on a microphone. And I have forced myself to do that, you know, busting with the boys. I don't know if you know those guys. Yeah, yeah, dude, will Compton is my first guy.

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. He's saying St. Louis guy. Yeah.

So, yeah, so those guys are in Nashville, too, so I like to make it a habit. Yeah. Win, lose, or draw, man, I'm going. I'm gonna try to go on the bus on Monday, and I've done it with black eyes and still stitches and my nose, you know, my nose is all jacked up from the fight, the 48 hours prior. Cause I want to do that because.

And it's not for the will and Taylor. It's not for you. It's not. And honestly, love my fans and supporters, but it's not for anybody. It's for me.

So I can get on there and I can sit right here and say, yeah, you know what? Look at me. Look at my scars. But this reminds you that I'm still here. Look at the black eyes.

Look what I've gone through. And if I can get on here and talk right now, after I just had the whole world laughing at me in my mind, and I can brave that and hop on this microphone, you know, it. It. Well, something up inside of you, and then once you've done it a couple times, you're like, man, I got so much positive feedback from that because people want to see that. They don't.

Because they don't expect. They expect you to. Not drifting, not going to hiding, necessarily. But, hey, let's let him take some time off. It's like, no, I'm doing this for me, and I want to get on here, and I'm going to.

It's kind of like writing the wrong that we just talked about. It's like I'm writing the wrong. I'm taking the power away from it. Until you talk about it, until you. Until you wear it like a badge of honor, you own it.

Yeah. You're giving it all the power until you take that power back and say, here it is. It's right here. You want to talk about it, and it's okay. And it's okay.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. Because this is what. This is what it is. This is what it is. And this is how it is supposed to happen.

Michael Chandler
Those areas of us. Right, will be broken. The weakest areas of us where we need to get better, where we're falling short, where we've got some ego, where we've got all these shortcomings, those little areas will break, and then scar tissue will be laid over top of it, and then you will be stronger in those areas where we were weak. And that's. It's.

It's life. It's like it's life revealing to you where you need to get better. Let's talk about the technical aspect of improving from your losses. Do you watch film? I was just about to ask that.

Andy Frisella
Film study. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't watch a ton of film. I obviously got to go back and watch my fights back, win, lose, or draw. Obviously, I love to watch the wins better than I love to watch the losses, but that's another part of the healing process, too.

Michael Chandler
It's like, hey, sit down here right now and watch it. You know, don't watch it too many times. You don't want to sit there and have a negative mental highlight reel in my head. No. Just to learn, I could have done this better.

Andy Frisella
Is that what you. Yeah. And even just watching, you know, watching yourself, whether it be technical, whether it be spiritual, because you can see those moments where you had a momentary lapse of judgment or where you lost a little bit of focus or maybe you got a little bit tired or maybe you made a silly decision. You see that on the film? Yeah.

Michael Chandler
And you can kind of see it. Cause it. Cause. Cause you start to have flashbacks a little bit. And it's not necessarily because it's a fight and you're getting punched in the head that you don't really remember a lot of stuff.

You're just. You're really in that kind of fight or flight mode. You're tied onto a tornado, so you're. You don't remember a ton of it, so you need to go back, and then as you're watching it, you're kind of starting to feel and see mental glimpses of what you remember in your mind and. Yeah, just going back and seeing different areas.

And then it's also a place of gratitude. Win, lose or draw, you just go back, and then you can hear the announcers talking. You hear John Anick and Joe Rogan, Daniel Cormier, whoever it might be. And you're watching it and you're like, man, I'm watching this movie happen, and I'm the main character, whether I win or lose, it's another. It's another cool way to remind yourself, man, you're doing what you were called to do.

Win, lose, or draw. You're not defined by your wins and losses. You're defined about by how you carry yourself. And, yeah, take some notes, talk to the coaches, take a little bit of time off, stay in shape and stay built up, and start kind of the recovery process of the mind and the heart after a loss, especially, and continuing to be out in the public and not be afraid to wear it like a badge of honor. Let me ask you this, because you obviously did.

Andy Frisella
I mean, the people love you, right? You have a shit ton of support. The people absolutely love you. The NFL has armchair quarterbacks. What's the UFC guy?

Michael Chandler
What do you. What do you guys call. Yeah, no, how do you address those. Those. Those people?

Andy Frisella
You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, no, for sure. Um, I see red, brother. I'll show you what I know. I mean.

Michael Chandler
Oh, we got a lot of them, man. And, you know, have a special name for. No, I don't really think so. I'm sure. I'm sure the chat might have them later on what they call them, but, yeah, dude, I mean, I actually just was talking to some guy today, and I sent him a message and just said, hey, I hate to see.

I hate to hear about the passing of your. Of your thread of videos that you. That you made, like, ten videos talking about how I'm an idiot and I'm waiting for Connor, and it's never encounters, never gonna come back and fight me and blah, blah, fights, never gonna get booked and all this kind of stuff. So we kind of had a little banter back and forth, and it's all fun and games because I heard it from a million people. But, yeah, I mean, you hear those people and it is just really funny.

And some of it, sometimes you agree with them. You're like, yeah, dude, you go back and watch this in slow motion. You reverse it and watch it five times. You're like, yeah, that was a dumb decision. Why did I do that?

Or why didn't I do that? But what they don't realize is they are. They are criticizing and critiquing something that was happening in real time, making split second decisions with the information that you have, part muscle memory, part instinct, part training, and you just hope that you zig when you should have zagged or vice versa or whatever. And you're just in there. You're in there responding and reacting.

So it is really funny because, yeah, I mean, especially mixed martial arts, right? Because there's so many dudes who talk trash who would never in a million years say anything to me, to my face or. And that's what I've realized moving over to the UFC. I mean, I went from Bellator. I was.

I was the biggest name in Bellator, had the largest social media following in Bellator, kind of the. The biggest name there. And everybody saw the writing on the wall that I was going to test free agency. The day that I signed with the UFC, I got, like, 600,000 followers in, like, 24 hours right, on. Just on Instagram.

And that's not in. That doesn't mean I'm any cooler than anybody else. But it was just pretty cool. It was pretty cool how quickly it happened, right? And then I was like, oh, shoot, man.

Most of the time, people were just talking to me because they liked me. Now it's like people just want to talk to me because they want to hate on me. And it went to a way different level, which was so good for me because I needed it. I really am. I got into this sport wanting everybody to love me, and I'm like, man, if I just do the right things and I fight hard and I entertain them and I say what I believe and I do it, people are gonna love me, man.

Everyone's gonna love me. Nobody's gonna dislike me. Oh.

It's like, you know, so I had to get over that. And it was really good. It was a very immature thing. I mean, you. You know, like.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. And even hearing you speak and the way that you operate and you've unlocked things in me because it really is a blessing to be in a position where people are hating on you because it means you're doing something right. Yeah, but I was. I wasn't ready for it. And now with the whole Connor thing, now it's about to go to the moon, so I'm gonna have to continue to add layers to my skin.

Yeah, dude, when you're authentic. When you are an authentic human being, you are gonna have. People are gonna hate you, dude. Like, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

What doesn't matter? Just for that, bro. Exactly. They're gonna hate the way that you show up, that you shine, bro. It's not even about being successful.

It's just about being authentic. People do not like people with authentic opinions. They are very used to seeing people pander. They are very used to seeing people go with the flow or tiptoe around. And when you show up, like we do every day.

And we're like, this is what I think. Regardless of what you think, people don't like that. You know what I'm saying? And it doesn't matter if you are curing cancer or if you're solving world hunger or you're creating world peace, people are still going to be pissed off about it, man. And so many people hide behind, trying to avoid that criticism, when in reality, if you are doing something of any significance at all, the fact that people are giving you that sort of attention is.

That is a really good sign. And what's really cool is that, at least in my case, and I know this is your case, too, because I've seen it, a lot of people start off hating. They're like, God, dude, I can't stand that guy. All he ever does is talk shit, beat his ass. And then after six months, they're like, this, man, you know what?

I used to not like you, dude, but I really like you. Yeah, that is my favorite thing because. Because, you know, is a good example of that right now is a guy named Bo Nickel. Bo nickels were first form. There you go.

Michael Chandler
So Bo is exactly like, in a lot of ways, he got booed. You know, he got booed at the weigh ins, or he's got a little bit of boo in the crowd for no reason. Just the fact that he's getting this love from the UFC, and he's getting pushed and he's being promoted. And there was the same thing with me. I came into the UFC, and everybody's like, who's this bellator punk getting this and getting that?

I got a title shot on my second fight, and I'm like, guys, first of all, I didn't choose this. It wasn't like I came in and. And all of a sudden, I'm in charge of Dana, and Dana's making his decisions. Like, this is how they're doing it, and don't be mad at me. Right?

And a year in, and I talked to bo about this, too, man. Cause they're gonna hate on you because. Because they. They see it. And maybe their favorite fighter is this guy, and you're getting more shine than that guy.

Everybody's got their reasons why they don't like you, right? And then. But then eventually, you're just like, man. And I think Bo said that in his post fight press conference or in his post fight speech, he was just like, hey, just give it time. I promise you're gonna like me.

And that's kind of what I said. I'm like, dude, there's no reason why you should dislike me. It time, and my favorite, my favorite interactions are those ones where it's like, dude, I didn't like you when he came into the UFC because of this, because of that or whatever it might have been. But dude, I've come around, I'm like, dude, me winning you over is actually so much better than me. You liken me from the get?

Yes. Liking me from the get go. Because all you can do is just be authentically yourself. Yeah. And I think it is, it is unbecoming to so many people because, because they're living a life of, they're living a life of knowing that they're not being their authentic self and when they see somebody operating in authenticity, it feels weird to them, you know?

And I, and I think I was somewhat like that when I was younger, right? Well, yeah, bro, you know, and then, and I've, as I've grown, we all. Try to be what we think the success part of it looks like. Yeah. You know, and what we don't realize, brother, is that it looks like us.

Andy Frisella
It looks like who we are. Yeah. You know, and we live in social media where it's all marketing and it's all, look at me. And it's all clicks and likes and shares. And when you're an authentic person, especially when you're a person who doesn't buy into the debauchery of society, it makes people feel weird, you know, that makes people feel like you're being too good or you're standing on a pedestal, which, dude, I know this, in your case, that is not the case at all.

Michael Chandler
Yeah, and, yeah, and that's, I think that's the toughest ones for me is where people like ah, I don't know, there's just something about him. I don't think it's, I don't think it's authentic. I don't think that's really who he is. And I'm just like, I don't know. Man, whatever, yeah, those people save everybody.

I think I got some so many skeletons in my closet, I was like, I don't know dude, whatever, I perfect, I'll tell you that. Show me yours first. Sorry if you don't like me, but. Well I think that's where people get in trouble too, is they pretend to be perfect. Yeah.

Andy Frisella
You know, they're like, oh yeah, I'm a perfect guy. Never made any mistakes. Fuck, dude, I fucked it all up. Yeah, all the shit. Well you know what was funny for me too, was going on to the ultimate fighter.

Michael Chandler
And I had this surreal conversation with my wife. I was just like, hey, babe, I'm. I'm. I gotta be honest with you. I'm, like, really nervous because, you know, we're on ESPN and it's like, you're mic'd up and, you know, I'm.

Something's gonna happen. I'm gonna end up mother effing Connor or saying whatever in, like. And it ended up happening, you know, it really ended up happening. And I'm like. And I'm, like, worried about my father in law, who I respect, like, respect them so much.

My parents and my sons, my, like, it lives on the Internet forever. My sons will hear me, you know, say the f word on ESPN, and they bleeped it out to Connor when we got gotten our little, you know, pushing match. But my wife, who I like, obviously, she is my favorite human being on the planet, the one that I confide in, the one that I love the most out of anybody, and she just looked at me. She's like, hey, you're not perfect. Don't try to be perfect.

If you try to be perfect, it's not real. You're not perfect. And I love you that. You're not perfect. I love you through your imperfections, and if you swear or you cuss or you do this or you do that or you come off, any way you come off, it doesn't matter.

I love you, and everybody who really loves you loves you. And I'm like, absolutely. Dang, dude, I'm about to cry. You know, she's like, yeah. And then it gave me that permission because it really is a scary thing because you don't.

I don't want to come off differently than. Than I want to be, right. I just want to be myself and do it. And if something bad happens or I say something I wish I wouldn't have said, I might have to apologize, or maybe I don't need to apologize. Well, bro, I think that the fact that, you know how I see that, I see that from a little bit different perspective, I see that as a testament to how hard you put the effort in to not be that way.

Andy Frisella
Right? Like, if you're just how you are, where you don't really curse and you're. You're very composed and you have a good disposition, and you're polite and respectful. Sometimes when that gets out of whack a little bit, it actually just is a testament to how hard someone works to keep that in check. Yeah.

And so that's how I see those things. Yeah, no, I like that. Yeah, because it. Because it definitely came out, you know, I'm like, whatever. But the fight.

Well, let's be real, dude. In a fight situation, there are no rules. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

Michael Chandler
And the funny thing was, was that my father in law was. Was visiting that day to Vegas whenever that whole fight thing happened, and I just got done. Mother effing Connor. Whatever. Everybody was.

It was funny, too, because now that it's happened, I'm like, that was actually. Wasn't that bad. You know, it's once again. And it's weird how, as a 38 years old, I'm, like, dealing with this, and I'm still learning the uncharted territory of. Of that.

Right. And you're like. And to people who are out there, like, well, Michael Chandler looks like he's got all figured out. I'm like, dude, I'm trying to get this thing figured out every single day. Yeah, bro.

Andy Frisella
Dude, can we talk a little bit about your faith? Yeah. Yeah, man. So. Yeah, dude.

So. So was this something that you grew up with or something that you came around or. So high ridge, Missouri, on high Ridge Boulevard. There was a little catholic church up there. So we.

Michael Chandler
I was raised catholic. We did, you know, our first holy communion, and we did PSR, which is public school religion. On Mondays. We would go there for hour or two on Mondays. First holy communion got confirmation, and then we kind of stopped going to church for a little while.

You know, three boys, baseball, getting, you know, very, very busy family. And then I got invited by another guy from St. Louis who was on my wrestling team to. His name is Kenny Bowen to Twin Rivers church on Lee Mae Ferry. Tessa Ferry, one of the two.

He's like, hey, man, we got this youth group that we got on Wednesday nights. You know, we're going to go after practice. I'm like, sure, dude. I don't have a car, but if you want to pick me up, let's go. So that was the first time that I kind of started going to, like, a spirit filled non denominational church.

And then after I started going, then my brother started going, and then my mom and dad started going. So that was kind of our first introduction to kind of a spirit filled church, if you will. And that's where I really got saved. I was 1415 years old, and it was an invitation. It started with an invitation from a guy who I looked up to.

He was a year older than me. Kenny Bowen. All the girls loved him. He was cute. He was handsome.

He was an athlete, like he was the guy, right. But he was also a really, really great dude. Isn't that always the best? Yeah, dude. Isn't that the best?

Andy Frisella
When you meet someone who's got all the skill, all the talent, got all the stuff, and you find out that they're even a better dude. Yeah, dude, that's the best. Like, it's, you know, and that's the guys that I always kind of gravitated towards and then wanted to be, obviously. And then. So, yeah, I mean, that's when I really, really, when I got saved.

Michael Chandler
And then, you know, it's been my guiding light since then. And it definitely ain't all sunshine and rainbows. And just because you got, you know, Jesus in your heart and you've accepted him, that all of a sudden things are going to work out for you. You know, your test is. Your faith is tested every single day.

But it's been the one thing, obviously, that I've been able to look back on and be like, man, once again, looking at this whole big picture, right. The bad things that have happened to me that, that ended up being good and how God's had me in the palm of his hand the entire time, whether it be through the right person, through the wrong person, through the ups, through the downs, through everything. It's just been, you know, and then now to have a platform where I can, you know, I don't talk a ton about my faith, but it's. It's my favorite. It shines through, bro.

It shines through. And my two favorite kind of philosophies about faith for me, and this is how I do it right, is live your life with so much joy and zeal and happiness that uptight christians question your salvation. All right, that's number one. And number two, preach the gospel at all times, but only use words when necessary. Right.

You are a living testimony. The way that you operate, the way that you live your life, the way that you love people, the way that you compete, the way that you just live life, is your testimony and your expression of your faith. I don't have to sit here and talk to you about my favorite scriptures or try to get every single person that I talk to saved because it's not the right time for the right, or it might be the right person, but at the wrong time, and everybody's going through their different things. And if I can be a light in that way, and that's what feels authentic to me, and that's how I share my faith as much as possible. Bro, I'll be honest with you, just knowing you and observing that part of you has inspired me in that way, just so you know.

Thank you, man. Yeah, it's really cool. And I recognize that you live it, and it's just. It's one of the things I admire most about you, bro, because you've been at the top of the world. You're one of the most famous guys in the world and the most famous sport in the world, and you've never let that change who you are, and you've always continued to live that message and be a good dude, and you are that dude.

Andy Frisella
You know what I'm saying? You're that guy that I'm talking about when you say you meet this guy who's got this and this and this and this, and then you find out, dude, this guy is even a better human. And it's my favorite thing about you, bro. Dude, thank you, man. That's cool.

Michael Chandler
Appreciate it, man. Yeah, and I'm. That's. That's, uh. Because I do hear it a lot where people, man, I really think.

Thank you for talking about your faith. And to me, I don't really feel like I talk about it that much in. In a very, uh. I think in a very, uh, formal way, if you will. Right.

Because you think, like, what. What does it. What does it sound like to talk about your faith? Right? Do we have to talk scripture?

Do we have to say, talk about God's perspective on every single. Every single thing? Do we have to, you know, do we have to operate as Jesus would? Do we, you know, how. How do you do it?

I mean, I think the biggest thing is, is if the holy spirit is inside of you and you try to do your best and you were just operating in that way. He doesn't have to. He doesn't necessarily want you to be talking about him all the time. He just wants you to be a shining light to live it. To just live it.

That's really preaching the gospel at all times, but only using words when necessary, only quoting scripture when necessary. I love it. You know, and people can tell. People can tell by how you live your life most of the time where your faith is at. And that's a lot more effective than a lot, like you said, the uptight Christians, you know?

Andy Frisella
I like that one. Yeah. Make me feel uncomfortable. I like that one. Well, we see this.

We see this in society right now, right? Because things have gotten so far out of control that people. Out of morality, people are finding Jesus again, which is awesome. But what we're. What I'm seeing and observing is like people are going so far to where they're standing on their little pedestal and they're preaching at you, trying to say this.

And then really, when you look at them, you're like, well, bro, are you actually living that, or are you just good at quoting the numbers and the passages and this and that? And I personally believe, and by, by no means am I an expert, but I personally believe that leading the way in that and how you live, how you treat people, how kind you are, how graceful you are. And that doesn't mean that sometimes you don't have to stand for yourself or, you know, Jesus flipped some tables over once in a while. You know what I mean? He wasn't a pacifist, but I think that's far more important and far more impactful than someone who just preaches all the time.

Michael Chandler
Yeah, no, 1000%. I think it's damaging a lot of times. I think a lot of people are so preachy, that's people who are kind of on their way to finding it are like, oh, man, we all feel it. We all feel that whenever you're, whenever you're around somebody who you're just like, dude, you are unattainable. Like, nobody wants somebody who's.

Nobody wants to really be around. Nobody wants. Would you really want to be a Christian if it seems like the level at which you need to be to be a good little boy and a good little Christian? It's unbecoming, and it makes me feel uncomfortable. Right.

Andy Frisella
You know, like, you're not good enough. Yeah. Like, and that's the, that is the biggest problem, right? Like, like, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. He is qualifying you every single day.

Michael Chandler
Whether, whether you are, whether you, like you said, know every single chapter and verse or you're absolutely perfect or you have screwed every single thing up, but you've had a change of heart and you're trying to work your way, you know, back into being a man of faith and walking in a certain direction. And a lot of times, man, it's those who have gone through the craziest things, the most embarrassing things, the most. The most painful, sinful, down in the dumps down in the valley things that God uses the most. Man, those are the people who, again, look at him and say, yeah, but look where he came from and look what God did with his life and look at how, look at the testimony that he has. You know, you can't have a testimony without a few scars, man.

You know, because it is. It's on. It's on. It's unattainable, you know, and then there's. There's people who, you know, like a guy like Tim Tebow, you know, he's.

He's very, very. Every single thing that he talks about is faith driven. Right? And that's what feels authentically to him. And that's his calling.

Andy Frisella
Right? Feels authentic from him. From him. Yeah, from him. And he's got a calling on his life, man.

Michael Chandler
He's that guy. But. But if you were like, hey, man, I need you to be a little bit more like Tebow, I'd be like. Hey, dude, it's not you. I don't know if that's my thing.

Yeah. And that's. Does that make him. Does that mean when we stand at the Pearly gates, we're not both walking waltzing right in, you know? No, we both are.

But my testimony is different. And I actually did a podcast with Brian Tome, who's a pastor. And we were talking back and forth, and we were kind of talking about, you know, because I've spoken at churches before. I've spoken at men's conferences. I've spoken on, you know, on the.

At the pulpit. Right. And you'd be so surprised at how many people you would think would be like, well, dude, how can this guy be a fighter and a Christian? It's like, well, fighting is just the shiny object, right? We've all got.

We've all got these talents and these gifts and these shiny objects that get people to look, both the followers and the non followers and the people who have not come to Christ yet. We've all got that shiny thing that we can say, hey, this is going to get you to look. Now peel back the layers. And now let me make you feel something right now through our interaction, mine just happens to be fighting in a cage. And it's no more.

It's no more better or worse than anybody else's calling on their life. Because, you know, and this pastor said this, brian said, he's like, man, you are reaching people that I would never in a million years be able to reach. Right? That's right. Like, if you look at it just straight from a faith standpoint, and you say, well, this guy fights in a cage and he can win this many, or this guy's a preacher and he can win this many, it's not crazy to think that I have a greater crowd of witnesses, and I have.

I have some impact that I can make that leads maybe not that person. To me, to then give their life to Christ, but that person. To the next rung. To the next rung. But I was one of the catalysts that started that, right?

That's the way that I look at it and the way that I operate is just authentically to myself and speaking about it when I want to or me to, or when I'm asked about it or when I feel led to. But that's one of the biggest things. God doesn't call. He doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called and he will. Well, something up inside of you and at different times, different seasons, right?

Once again, the fighter that I am today needed to go through that lost streak or needed to go through this self doubt and needed to go through that, needed to have this upbringing. That's the, that's the faith journey in a nutshell, right? As long as it eventually leads to this one spot, you're going to go through these different seasons and you might. And it might be, it might be the right path, it might. And you might be the right person, but it just might not be time yet.

Might not be the right time. I love that. You know, I love it. I love it. So what's, what's so, so what's after fighting, man?

Andy Frisella
Now, I know this, but, yeah, I want people to hear and support. Yeah, I mean, after fighting, man, you know, so I'm involved in a couple different companies, both through investment and then kind of leadership roles and, you know, I have a fitness app that I work on and we're building a community. I mean, obviously, fitness is always going to be a part of my life and it's, and it's changed my life. If it's made me a living, it's made me a platform, it's made me everything right. If I hadn't found the sport or sport of wrestling and then it turned me into the man that I am today, you know, I just owe a debt of gratitude to fitness and making people find the best versions of themselves, right?

Michael Chandler
So continuing to work on my businesses, build that, I want to speak on stages, I want to write, I want to just impact as many people as possible, both in front of the camera, behind the camera, on the microphone, behind the microphone, and just leave my mark on this planet, you know, when I get done fighting. And it's really great, too, like hearing, you know, we have a lot of the same friends who have, who have kind of always said the same thing and, like, you're the fortune you're going to make and the impact that you're going to make, and the platform that you're going to make is going to be tenfold after you lay the gloves down. I'm like, hold on, dude. I don't know. You know, you kind of.

Andy Frisella
You got, you know, you kind of. Get into that movie. Like, really, dude? Well, okay. Well, if you see.

Michael Chandler
If you see that, man, I want to. I'm going to keep on working, and I'm want I to keep on talking, and I'm going to keep on to getting after it, and you going know, I just see myself in a position to be able to use the lessons that I've learned through the last 23 years of 24 years of hand to hand combat and its similarities to the fights that all of us are going through in every single aspect of our life and turning it into a masterpiece that's going to be able to reach the masses. Yeah. And you're close to some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. I know you're a really good with, with Ed.

Andy Frisella
You're close to Ed. You're close to Dana. Dana's people see Dana on the UFC, but they fail to realize how intelligent and how smart he is as a businessman. So smart, man, bro. And it was really revealed this weekend, and I'm really, really happy that it happened.

Michael Chandler
But you saw there was $300,000 bonuses this weekend. Max Holloway won $600,000 in bonuses. So there's four bonuses. One bonus each for the two guys in the. In the fight of the night, and then one performance of the night and one knockout of the night.

Normally, they're $50,000 bonuses, which isn't a bad night at the office for a bonus. One of the reporters asked, hey, UFC 300, you should up into 300,000. And about 1 second later, he goes, done. And he just. Badass.

It was very badass. And I almost tweeted it. And I talked to Dana a little bit after the fights via kind of voice notes and stuff, but when I was negotiating with Dana, it was he and I, and he made me an offer, and I asked for, I think it was like, 30% more, you know, like, dana, what's holding you back from, you know, 30% more? He's like, you know what, kid? Fuck it.

Done. And I was just like, and that's how Dana talks, right? Yeah. And that. So hearing the word done, it just.

It. It made me remember, if you bring enough to the table, the problem is don't out punt your coverage. The problem is don't. Don't take all the meat off the bone, man. Don't make it.

Andy Frisella
Make it a win for them. And you. Yeah, make it a. Make it a win win, man. Make it.

Michael Chandler
Make it so that if you win, they're like, dang, we got a great investment. If you lose, they're like, dang, man. Well, at least we didn't. At least he didn't come and swing for the fence as it, you know. Yeah.

So it was really cool. And I. What's really funny about Dana and the UFC is I just don't understand. You know, obviously, he gets a ton of. A ton of flack for not paying the fighters enough and fighter pay and this and that, man.

But he's taking care of guys so much better than I think a lot of people even realized. Well, also, too, nobody sees the inner, like, people, dude, people think that you get a bottle of protein here and it costs you fifty cents, and you're selling it for $60. When they look at the UFC, they don't think about, you know, all the expense, all the operating costs, all the things that it takes to run a business. They don't. Nobody thinks about those things.

Andy Frisella
They just think. They do the math. How many people watched, how much was the ticket? How much was the ticket? How much are the.

How much are the ad revenue? They don't even think about the sponsorship because they don't think that far ahead. And then they say, okay, well, everybody should be making $100 million. And it's like, everybody should have $100 million. Now, see, the superpower that I have and why I think why I have such a great relationship with the UFC and why I will always love the UFC is I have the.

Michael Chandler
I have the unique perspective of the other organizations, right? Bellator was the number two organization in the world, and I would watch how the UFC would promote their fights, and I don't think it's crazy to say that the UFC spends more money promoting one fight. Then Bellator spent the entire year on promotion. The UFC was continuing to elevate the game of mixed martial arts, the whole sport of mixed martial arts, and Bellator PFL, one championship. All these other organizations were just rising with the tide that the UFC was raising.

And I. And I said that to Dana, and he actually just. He actually just talked to me yesterday about this, sent me the voice notes. We were kind of told. He's like.

Cause I basically thanked him. Hey. Hey, man. It's been a long journey. Glad we got this thing done.

Can't wait to go out there and put on a crazy show on June 29. And he was kind of reminiscing about my first phone call with Dana. Basically, he was on. He was on the tarmac in Las Vegas, about to head out to somewhere. We're talking for like five minutes.

We're having a great back and forth conversation. And I. And I said this, and it's 100% true. It was just as. Just as true then as it is now.

And even five years prior, I said, dana, number one, I didn't know. I don't know if I would have been the man that you needed me to be a couple of years ago when I had these other opportunities, these other opportunities to come over to the UFC. So I'm really happy. Happy it's happening right now. And you have not paid me $1, you have not signed your name on one of my checks over the last twelve years, but indirectly, your name has been on every single one of my checks because you have built and quarterbacked and championed this entire sport.

And then Dana's like, oh, my God, I love it. He basically hungs up, hangs up on me, calls Hunter, calls me back and he said, hey, dude, I know we got some sticking points, but, dude, I don't know what you've been saying to my people, but they absolutely love you. I love you. I've always known we've loved you. You're awesome.

You're every single thing that we need. And we want you to come over. We're gonna get you whatever we need to get you to come over to the UFC. And that's how the conversation went. That's bad.

But it wasn't a negotiation tactic. It wasn't a ploy. No, it was. It was so genuine. And it is true, man.

It's like. And they get. They take so much flak, but of course they do, because the tallest nail is always going to get hammered, you know? And they're going to continue to get hammered and they're going to continue to keep looking down while everybody else is, you know, trying to grab their ankles and pull them down. Instead of trying to just reach up to the next rung, they're trying.

Instead of them reaching themselves up and trying to get themselves to the next rung, they're trying to reach up and pull the UFC down. And that's just never a recipe for success, man. And the way that he operates, man, it's, it's, uh, it's special, man. And it's. It's a blessing to be a part of it.

Andy Frisella
I think he sets a great example for, for a lot of business owners who are afraid to stand for what they believe in and speak for what they believe in. Now, you don't have to agree. I happen to agree. I love Dana. Yeah.

Michael Chandler
Yeah. Like, I agree in this. I got this little. I got this little note in my phone, you know? Cause, dude, I catch a lot of shit, right?

Andy Frisella
Like, yeah. You don't say what we say and not catch stuff. You get a little something. Hey, listen, the best part about it is I become immune to it. It does not affect me.

I think the best part about it, I had this note. What? The people came back. Came back. Oh, shit.

You were right. Yeah, exactly. No, not me. We. But I had this note in my phone.

This is like, I don't know, five years ago. And it says, like, for when the heat would come, it would always. It's. It just says very simply, what would dana white do? What would he say?

Yeah. Yeah. And you know what? I just follow that blue pit. I'm like, you know what?

Hey, fuck you. This is what I do. If you don't like it, turn a channel. And once again, like, it's. It's very.

Michael Chandler
It's. It's very hard for people to see that because you're like, dude, I don't like that guy because he is so confident in himself. I don't like. Because he really does not care. Like, I don't like him because all the things that I have to deal with, all the things.

All my doubts and fears and insecurities that bother me, all the stuff that bothers me, I don't like him because he doesn't have to deal with what I have to deal with, you know? And it really is tough. Tougher in 2024 than it was in 1924 because of social media and the world that we live in now. And keeping up with the Joneses and all of this stuff, I will admit and I will concede that it is tougher to live in the world that we live in. From that standpoint.

Andy Frisella
Absolutely. From the criticism stand. It's easier to make. Yeah. You didn't have to.

You didn't have to see it back then. Yeah. It's easier to make money. It's easier to be successful. It's easier to do all those things because the Internet and all these different things, but it is very challenging from that perspective.

Michael Chandler
So when we see somebody like that or a guy like yourself, you're like, dang, dude, I don't like him. It's like, well, do you not like them? Why don't you like them? You just don't like them because you wish you were more like that. I mean, I want to be more like that.

Everybody wants to be more like that. That is. That is freedom. Yeah. And that really is, you get this short window of opportunity to live on this earth, right.

And if you can operate the way that he's operating, man, well, you got. To stand in the fire, dude. Like, that's the thing people don't understand. Like, when you don't stand in the fire, right, when you don't let the heat come and you just censor yourself. First of all, you're degrading your own sense of worth.

Andy Frisella
You're saying, I'm not being authentic. I'm not being who I am for fear of judgment, for fear of criticism. And that will drive your self esteem, your self worth, your trust in yourself, into the basement, because, you know, you're not presenting what you truly believe. And if you would just stand out in the heat a little bit, it's like getting out in the sun, bro. The first day you get burnt, you're like, oh, man.

Yeah, I should have put some sunblock on, right? Not really, because I don't. I don't eat it. Yeah, I get darker than you. I actually got burned the other day, actually.

Yeah, but. But, dude, we're. We're in a situation. You get immune to it. Like, you're.

Yeah. That you get conditioned to it. It's like a cold plunge. Yeah. Like you.

The first time you're in the cold plunge, you're like, oh, dude, this is horrible. And then you get in it more and more and more and more. And before you know it, you're in there for eight minutes at 35 degrees and you're like, bro, this is the best part of my day. Yeah. You know, and, dude, so when you get in that situation, if people would just step out and just allow themselves to feel it, eventually you become conditioned to it and it doesn't bother you.

It's just like anything else. It's like when you start to go out and train, the first day it's hard. Second day, it's hard. And then it gets, like, kind of really hard for a minute. And then all of a sudden, you acclimate and it gets easy.

And. And because people can't stand out there and take it the first time or the second time or the third time, they don't realize that, like, if you would just stand there and stand on your own 2ft, this stuff would stop killing you, man. Yeah. And I think. And I think you might have been the first person to ever really here, like, kind of drill it into this.

Michael Chandler
This idea of being able to trust yourself, this, this idea of, like, self image. How do you have a high self image if you can't trust yourself? I mean, we've, we've, we've talked about it 20 different ways about, yeah, doing the small things and setting a certain standard because, you know, when you're. That's another part of it. When you.

When you. When you cut corners or you lazy or you. You leave your shopping cart sitting over there, you do litter, whatever. That's, you know, whether you thought about it or not or you felt entitled enough to leave your hotel room a mess because the cleaning lady is going to take care of it, you're losing a little bit of trust with yourself to get the job done. So whether it's fighting in a cage or whether it's running a business or whether it's running a household or whether it's being a parent, how are you going to be able to trust yourself in those moments if, you know, you can't get small little things done?

And that's something that I think you just spoke about, but people probably just heard it and didn't. They kind of glossed over it. You really are breaking a promise to yourself every single time you don't stand up for what you believe in. That's right. Every single time that you.

Every single time that you water yourself down, every single time that you comp. I actually had a mindset coach named Jim Hensel. He called it moving the truth. Right. It's kind of like omitting the truth, but you're moving the truth like it's not really the truth, but you're moving.

Andy Frisella
The truth to accommodate others. Yeah, you make up. You make up up a story. Or you, or you. You say sorry for this when really you're not sorry because you're doing what you're doing what was authentically yourself.

Michael Chandler
You're breaking the trust and promise that you have with yourself. And you do it long enough before you know it, you're a shell of the man that you were called to be. And you. I owe it to my family. I owe it to my wife.

I owe it to my God, my creator. I owe it to society. And I got 100% honest. We fail. You even.

You seem like you're. And maybe even Dana, every now and then, there might be those moments where, oh, for sure, you're like, okay, I probably should have just said what I wanted to say there, for sure, but that's that unlocks things, too, where you're like, okay, that Dana's imprinted, impenetrable. He always says what's on his mind. I'm sure he's got those moments where. But when they become more and more far and few between, you're not 100,000% trustworthy.

But it's 99.9%, and 99.9% is a heck of a place to be. Yeah, dude, you know, I get criticized a lot for my positions on things in the world, obviously. But, like, first of all, I don't expect everybody to agree with me. That's not the purpose of me sharing them. The purpose of me sharing them is to give my take on it.

Andy Frisella
Right. I feel like I have a skill set, a knowledge base. I have enough life experience to give a reasonable take that should be considered. And people will say to me, they will say, well, why don't you just take it easy on this? Or why don't you just.

Because, dude, if I don't say what I believe to be true, if I do not say exactly what I believe to be true, I am lowering all of the qualities that I need to operate as a human being. And if we would just look at it instead of saying, oh, just let people do whatever they want and let. Dude, there's limits to that. There's limits to this, because eventually, when we're pacifying other people and moving the truth, to your point, we do become. We lose our confidence.

We lose our swagger. We lose our belief in self that we need to be us. Like, you can't walk out in the middle of a ring in front of 100 million people on television or whatever it is, right? And not think you're the man, bro. Like, you have to.

And it has to be real. It has to be real, dude. And that requires being authentic to self as a baseline foundation. And, you know, I think if people would consider what not being authentic does to their character and does to their belief in themselves, they would be a lot more likely to do so. Yeah.

Michael Chandler
And I think it's kind of what I. What I said earlier. Cause I was just thinking about it how the older you get, you just start caring less and less. And is it that you care less and less, or is it that you know what it feels like to move the truth and not be authentically yourself? That eventually you just start to be like, no, wait, why have I done that for so long?

And then obviously, there's usually the older you get, there's more success, or the older you get. Now, maybe you've got a wife and kids and you got people or you got. Your company has now tripled, quadrupled, ten x in time, in size, right? So it doesn't matter. You've just got more and more life experience and you care less also, because, you know, you used to care and you used to move the truth and you used to pander and you used to water yourself down and it really was just so inauthentic.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. And it bothered me. Like, any time I've ever done that in my life, I like, dude, I'll remember it forever for, like, years. I'm like, fuck, I can't wait till I see that guy again. Cause I'm gonna tell him the truth this time.

Michael Chandler
That's. I think when I get the maddest man, it's really hard for somebody else to steal my joy and make me mad at them. And it's funny, too. Cause me and my wife are very similar, right. And that's how it is when she gets her most upset.

It's never in anybody else. Cause it's like, dude, someone can't do that. Someone can't do enough to you to make you as mad as you could probably get at yourself when you know you've made a mistake or pandered or. Man, this is not who I am. Why did I do this?

Why didn't I just tell him, this is what I want. This is how I want it to be. This is how it should be, and I deserve it. Not in a cocky, entitled way, but, like, this is what we gotta do. Right.

Andy Frisella
You know? And. And that's when you get really mad at yourself. Right. And it's.

Michael Chandler
And it's. That's when I get. And I will remember it. Right. But it also.

Sometimes you need to go through that also, too, to finally put you back in line. Yeah. Put you back in line. But also, I feel like sometimes that's a little bit of a. An inadvertent.

Like, you probably shouldn't let it happen, but each time it does happen, you're getting closer and closer to that person who just doesn't give a heck. Yeah. Like, I don't give a rip, dude. Yeah. You know, it helps you.

And it doesn't mean you got to be. It doesn't mean you're going to take advantage of people. Be a bad person, not a person of integrity. Do bad things. You're doing really, really good things.

But I'm just not going to sacrifice who I am and how I do things. That's right. You know, I want to actually this man, like. Like, give me a. Give me a straight fucking answer.

Andy Frisella
The first time that Bruce announced you, how was that? Dude, my first experience of fighting in the UFC was I've had some really, really, really great moments in my entire career, but that one was extra, extra special. So, I mean, yeah, I get chills thinking about it because, yeah, when it happened, because it's one of those deals where I've watched the UFC from afar, from so long, and I've got to be honest with you, I've done interviews where I'm like, yeah, I deserve to be in the UFC. But I didn't really, truly believe it, you know, when I was a little bit younger, and then I needed to get to the point where I finally believed it and I deserved it. And I knew I.

Michael Chandler
I almost forced the door to open about four or five years ago because I went through three different contract renewals or four different contract renewals with UFC or with Bellator. Each time, I was going to have the opportunity to become a free agent, take a chance, and go to the UFC, and each time, it just never felt like the right time until it felt like the exact right time, which was, you know, 2020, when it happened and I was taking a chance on myself. I was leaving relative. I was leaving relative security. Bellator loved me.

They were paying me very well. I was going to come over to the UFC. I thought I was going to take a pay cut. Turns out I did not take a pay cut, and I was very pleasantly surprised. But I was still taking a chance.

I still. There's a lot of people who were like, I mean, and even my wife, you know, for. For years, it's like, well, we got a great thing going, but I want you to do what you want to do. And I was like, yeah, babe, but if I go there, if I go to a barbecue, it's over. I'm getting cut.

She's like, is that what you want to do? I'm like, yeah, that's what I want to do. Cause I wasn't gonna be able to lay my. I pictured the 40 year old me, the 42 year old me, retired, laying in bed at night, and I just cannot get comfortable. Cause my head is laying on this 40 pound cinder block of, why did you not go test yourself against the best guys, the biggest and baddest, the best guys in the world?

Why did you not take a chance on yourself? You walked on to mizzou. Nobody knew who you were. Everyone from high ridge, missouri, was like, hey, dude, why don't you just go to Missouri Baptist? Or why don't you just go to CMSU?

They're offering you scholarship. You did it back then. How could. How could 18 year old Michael make that choice? But 34 year old Michael can't make that choice after all of God's faithfulness, after all the things that you've done.

Right? But that moment when I was walking out there to that first fight in the UFC, man, you can just see the joy. Like it was. It was. I knew I was right where I was supposed to be, and I had zero doubts whatsoever, which most of the time, I do.

Luck, luckily, walking into the cage. But that was. It was a special, special night. And Dan Hooker's number five in the world knock him out in the first two and a half minutes. He had just went 25 minutes with Dustin Poirier, the number two guy in the world at that point.

And, yeah, Bruce announcing the name and finally watching the UFC from afar, hearing Bruce Buffer from afar all those years, and now he's saying, Iron Michael Chandler, man, it's. It was pretty crazy. Dude, we're going to wrap it up because I. We got some other stuff to do, too. Yeah, we got some other stuff.

Andy Frisella
Yeah. But s'mores party.

So, dude, let me. Before we go, I like. I like to close with just one thing. What's your message to Connor? I'm just kidding.

Michael Chandler
You know, actually, I would actually like to clear something up. So I actually. I got asked this a little while back, before the fight was announced and whatever, like, what's the message to Conor? Ed and I have been talking about this a lot, and he's like, the thing we're going to hammer home, Michael, is that you have earned this. You really, really have.

And I know there's got to be a tiny little part of you. That little guy from that little town who was taught to do little things that I always talk about, he's still in there. And there's a part of you that's like, hey, man, yeah, you're here, but you haven't earned it. You don't deserve it, right? And I'm like, yeah, no, there's.

There's he that. There's always that little inkling and all of us. Right? He's that like, but we got a hammer home that you earned this, right? You have.

Yeah. And I. And I. And I. And I answered this question a couple weeks ago, and I was getting a little bit of hate for it because it kind of came off like, hey, Conor hasn't earned it.

And I have earned it. We must be very clear. Conor McGregor was the best thing for mixed martial arts ever, ever in the history of the sport. He has built the sport. He I'm making more money because of him.

The next fighter's making more money because of him. More people know us because of him. He's elevated the sport. The UFC has done a lot of that as well. Conor McGregor has earned every single thing that he's ever gotten.

He's probably earned more. He probably could have made more had there not been some other things, decisions that he has made. He has done every single thing that he needs to do to be exactly where he is at. But when it comes to the last couple years, when it comes to who's going to put more work in, who has been putting more work in, who has been more steadfast, more immovable, more disciplined, I'm the guy who has earned it, right? I'm the guy who stepping into that cage when I do finish him and his eyes roll back in the back of his head, I'm not going to feel anything.

But I am very, very blessed, man, and I earned this and I deserve this. And I think I finish him in the second round. Let's go. All right, one thing. This is what I was really going to ask.

Sorry. I love it. I just hijacked. I just hijacked you. No, no, no.

Andy Frisella
I loved it. But what I really want to ask, because I think it's important because we have a lot of young, hungry, ambitious people that listen to the show. If you could go back from where you are now, and you said earlier you couldn't see that 15 year old connecting the dots to be where you are now, what would your message be to the young men and the young women and that 15 year old Michael Chandler, who is filled with uncertainty and uncertain about the path and really can't connect the dots. They know they want to get somewhere, but they're not sure how to do it, what would that message be? Man?

Michael Chandler
I think the message is going to be it's all going to work out and never, ever, ever grow weary and doing good. People are going to try to put you into a box. People are going to tell you that you have to live your life this way. You have to talk like this, you have to walk like this, you have to do this, you have to act like this. These are the things.

This is what society says that you have to do. This is what we say you need to do. This is what your parents say you need to do this. Is what your friends say you need to do. There's going to be all of these conflicting things, and then you're going to get into your path, and then there's going to be even more people talking and.

And the road to where it's everywhere you're going to go. And there's going to be so much uncertainty because you're. You're not quite sure how to build it. If you step on that square right there, is it a foothold? Is it going to fall out underneath you?

Or is it going to take you to the next step? You're not quite sure. All you can do is boil it all the way back down, distill it all the way back down to just operating with integrity and doing the best, becoming the best version of yourself, brick by boring brick, and doing the small little things. Because, yeah, when I was younger, if you would have told me that I was going to be sitting here on the cusp of 75 days away from the pinnacle of what mixed martial arts is, I would have thought you were absolutely crazy. I would have told you right there.

Don't you bring that energy toward me right now, because I feel like you're lying to me. There is no way that that is going to happen. And then eventually, you get to the point where you look back at that 15 year old boy and you think, man, I'm so proud of you for never giving up. And I'm proud of you for making those decisions. I'm proud of you for walking on.

I'm proud of you in the face of adversity. You pulled yourself back up. I'm proud of you for the way that you've operated. And I'm proud of you for never, ever wavering, because it's going to be the things that kept you small, the things that suppressed you. It's going to be the things that held you down, that will eventually springboard you into something that is so much bigger than you ever thought could ever, ever be possible.

You're going to get the opportunities for the big, big things because of the things that kept you small, because of the things that held you down, because of the things that you hated yourself for and the way that you did operate and how you were afraid and the fear and the doubt and all of that. All of that stuff is the reason you're going to get this opportunity. So just stay steadfast in that. And as long as you're doing what you can do, as long as you're doing the best that you can do, it might not be tomorrow, it might not be next week, but eventually the hard work will pay off, but you still have to be standing there to receive it when it does, bro. I love that, man.

Andy Frisella
Dude, thank you so much, man. This has been an awesome conversation. This has been an amazing show. It's one of my favorite conversations we've ever had. Thank you.

And 75 days, bro. 75 days. I give you my word. I'm going to go as hard as I can go for the next 75 days, just. Just to support.

That's going to be my way to support, all right? And I know there's going to be a lot of people listening that will do the same. We're going to get behind you in this fight. So I would say good luck, but I don't think you need it. I know you're going to show up every day and I know you're going to do the work, brother.

I'm proud to be your friend. I'm proud to have you as part of first form. I'm proud of who you are as a man. And you're a great example for everybody listening, including myself. And, bro, I just appreciate you, man.

Michael Chandler
Thank you, bro. It's an honor, honor to be here. Thank you for this. And I'm proud to be part of first form and what you have created here because I am extremely, extremely proud of it. Well, it's day one, bro.

Day one, baby. That's right. Day one. All right, guys. That's the show.

Andy Frisella
I appreciate you guys. I love you guys. And don't be a ho. Share the show went from sleeping on the flow now my jury box froze. Fuck up bowl fuck a stove counted.

Millions in a cold bad bitch booted swole got her own bank row can't fold just a no head shot case cloth clothes.

687. The Power Of Daily Discipline Ft. Michael Chandler

Primary Topic

Episode Summary

Main Takeaways

Episode Chapters

1. Introduction

2. Michael Chandler's Background

3. The Role of Discipline in MMA

4. Overcoming Setbacks

5. Daily Practices for Success

Actionable Advice

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