UFC Fighter Drew Dober: The Making of A Warrior!

05/12/20

(Z-61061) CM1017 COACH MIKE PODCAST: DREW DOBER

(START PODCAST)

COACH MIKE BAYER: Welcome back to the Coach Mike podcast, my next guest is actually the first professional fighter that we’ve had on the podcast. He is in the UFC, his name is Drew Dober, he’s in the lightweight division and he has a fight this Wednesday -- yes that’s right, a fight that is going on even in this pandemic. Uh, thank you Drew for coming on the podcast.

DREW DOBER: Oh, thank you for having me, it’s a pride and honor to be the first professional fighter on the show.

MIKE: You know I follow you on Instagram, and I followed you because I watched your fights, I’ve seen you at work and how did you end up in the fighting profession?

DREW: I think martial arts just drew me in. When I was really, really young, you know watching the Jean-Claude Van Damme films, Sylvester Stallone with Rocky. Um, I just fell in love with that -- what people love about fighting films, the human will to overcome obstacles. And I just loved martial arts so I joined it and fell in love with it. To me it’s a dance pretty much. Like it’s like movement, technique, and cardio. And it wasn’t until I saw my first cage fight that I was like, this is what I want to do.

MIKE: When you watched that first cage fight, was it you just had a ton of adrenaline rushing through you?

DREW: Actually, no. It was like oh my gosh, it’s kind of scary, but you know watching the full fight it was like a chess match. These guys were bouncing technical moves off each other just back to back you know, and it was beautiful to watch. And it was like these moves, these fights, it’s not fake. It’s not like WWE or like the kung fu films. This is actual real guys playing this physical chest with each other and one guy you know came out victorious and I thought that’s so amazing and I want to give that a shot.

MIKE: What did your parents think when you decided that you wanted to be a professional fighter?

DREW: I was raised by a single mother and she’s absolutely crazy, so she loved it. I think she saw a glory or great things for me since I was really young, so I was like I wanna be a fighter and she’s like, let’s do it.

MIKE: When you say crazy, what do you mean?

DREW: She’s just outrageous. You know, being a mom and a dad at the same time and she was trying to get me to be like an actor or a musician or a model. I was like, I want to fight, and she’s like all right, we’ll do that then.

MIKE: Did you have a relationship with your dad growing up?

DREW: No I didn’t meet my dad til I was 18.

MIKE: Wow, really? Why was that?

DREW: Um, you know, I think he has his situation. I think he and my mother kind of agreed to kind of like raise me, like he would be out of the picture and she would raise me solo. There was really no ill will um. My mom, she did a fantastic mom being both mother and father and raising me to the best of her abilities, so then I met my dad when I was 18 and it was pretty casual.

MIKE: That’s gotta be a trip, though. Meeting your dad at 18 years old and you had to have grown up wondering, all of my friends have dads and my dad’s not showing up then you finally meet him. Do you feel like that was a helpful experience, meeting him after not knowing him for 18 years?

DREW: In all honesty, in the area that I grew up and the friends that I had, uh, not a lot of us had fathers that stuck around.

MIKE: Wow.

DREW: So it wasn’t unusual you know, in the area that I grew up. But having the ability to meet my dad, I don’t think it really changed much other than I guess just being satisfied with who I am and truly just appreciating what my mom has given me in my life, so you know it was great to meet him and I still kind of have a relationship with him but yeah, I just think, it just really taught me morals and values that I follow.

MIKE: And do you have siblings?

DREW: I have five half siblings.

MIKE: No kid--so, all from your mom or?

DREW: No I have a half-sibling with my mother, that’s the one I grew up with, and four or five half-siblings on my dad’s side.

MIKE: You grew up in Nebraska, right?

DREW: Yup.

MIKE: But you started to become a successful fighter, and at what age did you go, this is going to be my career? Cause you’re 31 now right?

DREW: I am, I am. I think at the age of 13 or 14, I was like I want to make this into a career and it was at the time, there was really no money and these fights were in like local bars and stuff like that, so yeah, it was, this is, this is what I want to pursue and I wanted to do it to the best of my ability and after I graduated high school I turned professional. You know, I had to carry a lot of odd jobs to kind of maintain this glorified hobby but I always had my eyes set on this is what I want to do for a living and I was going to make it work no matter what the obstacle is.

MIKE: And then how quickly did you enter into the UFC?

DREW: I turned pro when I was 20 and I entered the UFC when I was 25. So it took me 5 years to get into the UFC and I’ve been in the UFC for five or six years now.

MIKE: Going back to mom and dad, you get into the UFC -- do they start coming to your fights? Both of them? One of them?

DREW: Yeah. Uh, my dad’s been to one. I have the privilege of fighting in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is 30 minutes from my hometown, so he got to go to that one and I try and make it a habit to bring my mom to as many fights as possible cause um, yeah, she loves it, she adores it. And somehow she always ends up case-side. I don’t know what security’s doing. I exit the cage after a win and there’s my mom right outside.

MIKE: Got it. And are you currently in a relationship now?

DREW: I am. I am.

MIKE: Do you want to build out a family?

DREW: Oh, absolutely. Kind of like a lot of goals outside of fighting is creating that life of having a family, children.

MIKE: I gotta understand. So when you get ready for a fight in terms of a day of, or let’s say the 20 minutes before. What do you do that you feel gets you the most prepared to not have some sort of enormous adrenaline dump at the beginning but also not be too passive either. What do you do to prepare?

DREW: Man, I’ve been working on this for a very long time. But uh, for me, uh, it’s being in the moment and then enjoying the process. And that’s kind of how I’ve considered fighting. Fighting for me is a performance and it’s fun and twenty minutes before a fight it’s always drawing my thoughts into the current moment and trying to enjoy every second of it.

MIKE: And do you enjoy every second of it?

DREW: Oh absolutely. I mean it’s hard work and of course I’m getting punched in the face, which I feel I’m a little callous or desensitized to that. Cause we’re just kind of scoring points on each other, but what I originally fell in love with, that physical chess match, is still what I’m very passionate about which is just that the entire vibe in the arena, the energy between the fans, the music, the lights, the cage, competing against my opponent. Every moment I truly enjoy.

MIKE: How much do you actually, when you do a face-off, and somebody gives you attitude or talks about you ahead of time -- have you looked at any of your previous fights and you went like, God that person really made me angry ahead of the fight?

DREW: I have zeo animosity to any person I fight, whether they talk negatively to me or we’re still cool with each other. It doesn’t affect how I feel whatsoever. Um, to me in my opinion, the person who wants to degrade me and hurt my self-esteem is really just trying to pump his self esteem up. The more you talk, the less you feel confident.

MIKE: How are you able to emotionally, you just literally emotionally check out from all that? None of it is personal.

DREW: No, yeah, none of it’s personal. Growing up I feel like guys, you know little boys fight each other like friends more than they fight other people. Roughhousing is just you know, a thing that like guys enjoy doing. So fighting to me is just glorified roughhousing.

MIKE: And which fighters right now do you look at and you go oh my God, I love them overall? Like as a person, as a fighter? Like, in any division?

DREW: I think currently in my division there’s a guy named Donald Cerrone, I really love his mentality, and kind of how he views life, and how he views fighting. And then there’s a ton of fighters that like I draw inspiration of, but I think cowboy as far as the mindset mentality goes I really enjoy it.

MIKE: Do you remember the first time that you got punched so hard or hit so hard in a fight when you went holy shit, this just got real?

DREW: Yeah I remember significantly, it was my fight MMA fight, or first cage fight when I was 17 years old and it was actually my first actual fight altogether, and man this guy hit hard, hit me right out the gate and in that moment I had to decide, am I a fighter or am I not and that’s kind of how I -- it made that switch where I was like, dude I refuse to quit.

MIKE: Did that guy end up winning the fight, or?

DREW: No, actually I ended up winning that fight and you know I was an amateur, I ended up being undefeated, but it was at that moment that I decided I would not give up on myself.

MIKE: I’ve always thought the fight sport is such a trip because, unlike -- so much of what you make is contingent on literally having a victory, I mean depending on someone’s contract, so you can move up or down. But also it’s antics outside of fighting, suddenly you do get more facetime but they can just be playing a character. Do you ever look at what’s going on and get frustrated by it? I know you obviously, you’re in the moment where you’re in the moment but do you ever go should I have ever made myself supervillain Drew?

DREW: Oh, God, yeah that’s painful. I mean you had the Connor McGregors and those guys that just kind of run their mouth and make a show out of it but unfortunately those fighters that attempt to do that, it doesn’t work because it’s not authentic.

MIKE: Who’s tried to do that, that you’ve seen?

DREW: Oh man, the Colby Covington. Yeah it’s just not authentic and it looks rehearsed and it doesn't look good. So in my opinion, a lot of this relies on the antics and the victories. I don’t think that that’s solely it. I think even if you lose a fight, if you put on a fifteen minute three round war out there, people will really enjoy that and you know, I don’t think you need to have negative antics. And I think if you know who you are, are very comfortable with who you are, then you just turn the volume up, then people really enjoy watching you fight so for me I just carry myself with a lot of energy, talk to as many people and fans as possible, and when I fight, the outcome doesn’t matter. It’s how much I give into that 15 minutes so win or lose, people are going to be entertained.

MIKE: And right now these are the first fights, this is the first like athletic event. This’ll be the second UFC event, I know that there’s one before yours, but um, how have you gotten a sense from other fighters what this has been like? Just not knowing, I mean getting fights canceled and --

DREW: Oh yeah, this entire situation has been extremely hard for everyone. Fighter or not. But as far as like my teams go, gyms had to close down and you can’t have group practices more than ten and you know, the amateur fighters, the ones who aren’t going to fight in the UFC, they don’t know when their next competition is. So it’s very uniquely difficult for every single one and you know I’m very privileged to be part of the UFC and part of these first couple promotions. Um, but I’m also trying to be mindful, trying to help out the other fighters that don’t know where their next paycheck will be.

MIKE: I mean, that’s literally what it is -- you get paid as -- I mean sure there’s endorsements here and there but I mean literally, you need that phone call to happen in order to make a living. Unless you own a gym or clothing brand or whatever, right?

DREW: Mhm. Which is -- I mean I feel like it’s a good time for fighters to kind of check in with themselves and be, you know, fighting isn’t a good career to make money. If you make it big, you make a grand (UNINTELLIGIBLE) amount of money but the majority of fighters like this is just a hobby, so you gotta set other things in motion as far as things outside of fighting.

MIKE: Because this fight that’s coming up you’re not gonna have an audience.

DREW: No.

MIKE: Meaning stuff is gonna be quite quiet, you’re just gonna hear coaches yelling.

DREW: Yes coaches yelling and probably the little two by fours, the mat underneath your feet. It’s gonna be, it’s gonna be unique.

MIKE: So what do you do to mentally prepare for that?

DREW: We’ve been keeping the music off during my training sessions. And keeping yeah, just all my sparring sessions have been in silence, just me and the coaches. Honestly I think when you’re there I think it all just falls into place, when you’re finally there. Cause when the audience is there, like I hear ‘em, I enjoy ‘em, and it’s exciting getting in the cage but once that cage door closes it’s just me and my opponent. Then everything else is diminished, like I can only focus on my opponent, so I feel like this isn’t gonna be too far from that.

MIKE: And what would you say in terms of your fighting style you’re most known for?

DREW: Uh, striking. I’m known for my kickboxing or my boxing.

MIKE: Yeah like you knocked out, I don’t know who you fought the last fight but you knocked them out on the first round really quickly. And then he, he actually seemed very confident in his abilities, you know before the fight. It’s so hard to tell what’s authentic when somebody is getting for a fight or in the ring.

DREW: Right. What I draw from, I was actually just talking to my barber yesterday about it, I think the people that express more energy, really they’re not comfortable inside. So the people that I am most intimated by are the ones that look calm. Or look bored. Or aren’t really saying much, right? Because they’re at peace, they can cause damage. Where the guys that are trying to pump themselves out, showing a lot of energy , um, they’re really doing it for themselves.

MIKE: This fight that you have coming up, how important is it that you win this fight?

DREW: Every fight’s important. Every fight is as important as the last. But I’m, I don’t put too much thought in the importance of a fight. I think that uh, this is just another step on the ladder, another chapter in my life, and I’m just trying to make it the best I possibly can and that’s all I can control.

MIKE: And when you say every fight’s equally important, explain, give the breakdown in terms of what you’ve seen in terms of fighting and cards and monies and how the game works.

DREW: Uh, so I mean there’s a long internship in the fight game. When you decide you want to be a fighter you’re not making much and so you’re doing everything you can to just keep that hobby afloat, and what -- entering the UFC I mean, you get a pay raise but you’re not getting paid as much as other professional athletes, so some guys you know still need to maintain their jobs. And the reason why every fight is significant is you’re trying to get noticed by the UFC first and then you’re trying to make a name for yourself or stay in the UFC. Every single fight is like the next opportunity to like move up in that ladder and this game is chutes and ladders. You know, you take a loss, and you plummet. Then you get a win and you soar and that’s why every single fight is equally important.

MIKE: I started speaking, right, public speaking. I was gonna get some agencies repping me for speaking, and you know, you travel around the country and it’s one of those things where they start paying you more money the more you do, or the bigger corporation, and it’s a really odd thing because there’s money attached to you but it’s kind of, unless you can look at the amount of people who are buying because of that person it’s really just up in the air now, it’s an event. And some of the agencies were telling me, they're like you need a bigger social media following, then you’ll be more sought after. And I’ll be like wait so it doesn't matter how great of a talk I give, it really depends on my following? Like what does that have to do with anything? But it’s similar in the UFC where they look at people’s followings?

DREW: Oh yeah, no, incredibly. Your name is a brand. And you have to build that brand, and I consider it like stock. And I’ve had fantastic performances that have kind of like floated under the radar just because I didn’t carry that brand, and after my last, my last flesh fight, my social media kind of blew up. And so now this next fight, I mean there’s so much buzz around it. You got to be the best fighter you can be but at the end of the day you’re also an entertainer and you’re also trying to attract as many eyes as possible and we do that through social media.

MIKE: Is that annoying at times?

DREW: You know, I can’t say that is is because you know, like any other human I like the attention and I’m working super hard on my craft, so when I’m getting more people vocalizing that they appreciate or don’t appreciate my craft, I really enjoy that attention.

MIKE: I mean, on that point, though, like I find right on my social media, it’s ridiculous. I could put the most thought and heart into something where I’m like I’m going to put everything into it, like this is going to be great, I have this fantasy that this post is just, this, I mean this may go viral watch out. And not all of the time, just some of the time and literally it will do nothing. And then I’ll post something that means absolutely nothing to me and all of a sudden it increases my following. And it’s this weird thing on social media where you’re like what actually works? Like what do you find on your social media actually increases it? Because you post, you post really sexy photos.

DREW: (LAUGHS) Well edited and have great lighting.

MIKE: As a brand, do you feel that’s part of the brand?

DREW: Yeah, I think uh (LAUGHS) I feel like I’m better looking when it comes to more fighters, plus I’m young and youthful and in this game I’m like let’s just take advantage of that. My career has me constantly shirtless with a six pack, so I don’t know how long I’m going to maintain this in my older age so let’s take a picture of that. But no man, you’re right, I’ll post a picture and be like man, that looks great, it’s awesome and I’ll post it and it’s all right. And I’ll throw something casual up just like a post-training something or another and people just love it. People also love the pictures of me covered in blood. So I think it’s just that glory pictures that people love too.

MIKE: If you could do anything with your brand right now, the sky’s the limit. What would you want more of?

DREW: Big thing is just being appreciated or having man--people around the world just enjoy my fights and putting it out there. I want to live the Rocky story. I want these legends, these stories to like accumulate and have like so many people like I remember when Drew did this, or Drew that -- when that’s all over. Cause you can’t maintain this, I would love to kind of help people because in this fight game I have learned so much about overcoming obstacles and being in a present mind and all that stuff. So when I can no longer get punched in the face I would like to help other people kind of, you know, learn what I learned from fighting, and it can adapt to any part of life.

MIKE: You’re saying if you could have anything, though, right now, like the brand it wouldn’t be -- because I feel like you’re incredibly underrated overall. Like, I’ve watched fights for years -- all the way back since pride fighting, and I think you’re incredibly underrated. But I also feel like part of it is because you don’t play the game that a lot of people play, which is you’re not grabbing the microphone and being like F this person and like trying to sell a beer and doing whatever else. You’re not trying hard, in that sense, and I feel like -- not that all fighters have to do this, but I feel like I don’t know -- I guess I look at you and think there probably will be a ton of opportunity that’s gonna start coming in for you just by you staying the course of who you are right?

DREW: Right, right. No I agree. I refuse to be anyone that I’m not and so when it comes to behaving like that just to get fans, it’s not gonna work because authenticity is, I think, what draws people’s eyes. Whether you’re a bad guy or a good guy but being yourself is what people are attracted to. That’s why Connon McGregor, that’s who he is. And uh, you know, I refuse to do it and my opportunities, you know I think my opportunities will grow as long as I maintain myself and stay on the path. You know everyone’s path is different. And the metaphor I have is you gotta keep watering the plant and it’s just gonna bloom when it blooms. People have these big things at like twenty-three or twenty-four years old, I didn’t have it at that age. But you’re at thirty-one, you’re going to be at thirty-two...things are now blooming for me and so I think it just goes to show, be authentic to yourself, keep on that path, and things will happen.

MIKE: How much weight do you have to draw? Before your fights?

DREW: Way too much.

MIKE: Your weight class, is it 165? 155?

DREW: 155. And I sit casually at 185.

MIKE: And how do you lose 30 pounds in the course of how long?

DREW: Uh, about an eight week, ten week period. So I usually try to do the first fifteen pounds with diet and exercise. And the last fifteen is just sweating.

MIKE: Is it brutal?

DREW: Um, it’s not fun. No one likes to like bake themselves at a bathtub or a sauna. But it is what it is, you gotta do it.

MIKE: Is it -- do you get like super hangry or no?

DREW: Yeah, hangry, but when you’re trying to lose weight and perform at our best abilities at the same time, so weight cutting is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things about this job.

MIKE: It seems so odd to me there hasn’t been another solution where they’re like -- okay here, there’s just no way, though right, because someone’s always gonna be dropping a ton of weight right?

DREW: Right, right. I mean, to give up weight cutting altogether you have to like live by the honor system. People just come in at the natural walking around weight, that’s not gonna happen. The reason my cuts are so significant is because the next weight class above is 170 and I’m just not big enough for that weight class. Like, guys are cutting a lot of weight -- they’re coming down from 200 pounds to get to 170 and I don’t naturally get to 200 pounds. So I go from 185 to 155 -- because going from 185 to 170 I’m still the smaller guy.

MIKE: Yes. Crazy. And I know for a while like some of the fighters, at least back in the day they’d be on steroids and that stuff still pops up. Do you feel still a lot of fighters are doing it off-season --

DREW: No. I think what you saw, we’re constantly being tested all year round -- surprise testings, that it’s very hard to get by with it. I’m sure there might be some people that um, are able to kind of get by the test but majority, majority of the fighters in UFC are clean.

MIKE: And you’re fighting against Alexander Hernandez.

DREW: Mhm.

MIKE: And what would you say he’s known for in terms of fight style?

DREW: (LAGHS) Youth and energy. I mena, he’s just like an athletic, energetic, youthful -- yeah I just think his biggest attribute is just being an athlete. Not, not any one particular wrestling, jiujitsu, boxing -- not anything spectacular but just keeping that athleticism going. And he’s actually been known to uh, talk trash every once in a while too.

MIKE: Yeah, and because you guys didn’t do an actual weigh-in. Right?

DREW: I still gotta figure out, in Jacksonville, you know what we’re doing as far as weigh-ins, or the the face-off goes. But um yeah, we weigh in on Tuesday.

MIKE: The day before. And have you always made weight?

DREW: Yup, yup I’ve never missed weight.

MIKE: And has anyone missed weight against you?

DREW: Yeah. And usually when that happens you have a choice whether you want to continue fighting or not, if you continue fighting um, despite that, you get like a percentage of the opponent’s fight purse.

MIKE: In terms of studying the fighter in advance, do you watch anything beyond their fights? Do you try to see their character, who they are? Like anything, or do you have to stay away from that?

DREW: Actually, so like yes and no. I feel like when I watch the past, their past fights, to kind of figure out what kind of a fighter they are, I can see who they are as a person in those fights. The cool thing about fighting is uh, you know, as the rounds continue you really see that person for who they truly are like in that third round. And so I’m usually like really good buddies with a lot of past opponents that I’ve had, just because you can’t be anyone you’re not like in that third round so when you watch past fights you don’t see just technically what they do, but the personality and eventually who they are.

MIKE: And when you’re in the training camps, like are you constantly thinking in your training camps, you’re fighting that person or you’re just pushing yourself to being a better version of a fighter?

DREW: Both. I marry my goals to be the best self I can be and constantly growing on myself, because he’s watching film on my past fights, so I got to be better than my last. And yeah, I have a date in mind and this person in my head that I’m thinking about for eight weeks, and I can’t wait to put my hands on ‘em.

MIKE: It’s so wild too, because I think a lot of people, I think what makes a great fighter great, is their ability to get back up, because the stakes are high. When somebody loses a fight, they lose a lot of money or they lose respect, or they lose momentum. It’s such a mental battle for someone to be able to click into no, that was a moment. I learned, I grow, I push forward. Do you think that some fighters just have a problem getting back up, getting that resilient?

DREW: Yeah. I feel that resilience kind of comes from what you truly value. If you’re in this for the money and the fame, the attention, all that stuff -- when you get knocked down they won’t pick you back up. Money won’t pick you back up. It’s what do you truly value? For me, my resilience come from this is what I truly want, this is what I truly love, you know, so no audience, no money, no fame -- this is still what I want to do and that’s what you’ve got to draw from when you’re presented with obstacles or you got to pick yourself back up.

MIKE: Your last loss is, how many fights ago?

DREW: Three or four fights ago.

MIKE: And so when you lost that fight, that was against who?

DREW: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

MIKE: I imagine you went into the fight going I’m gonna win this fight. Right? That’s the mentality of every fight. Right? And then you believe you’re going to win the fight, you lose the fight -- do you feel ashamed at all when you lose?

DREW: Yeah it’s embarrassing to lose. Uh, you know, you show pretty much weakness in front of millions of people. It’s super hard. And some fighters don’t take that well. I had a loss, two losses ago, it just didn’t sit well with me. There was something where, I just didn’t have full control of the situation and that’s why I lost. And so, after that, you just got to reevaluate you know, what you’re doing as a person. In and out of the gym, or the cage, or fighting.

MIKE: And yeah, what’s your process? Because a lot of people even now, they lost a job. Like to me it’s like the same thing. You lose a fight, essentially there’s fear like oh-oh, am I gonna be booked again, or as big a card. All these things? You have right now, I don’t know what it is, twenty million people trying to get unemployment who’ve got to pick themselves back up. What is your process, because in front of millions of people you lose, you’re like that sucks I’m embarrassed, on top of that there may be less opportunities to make money because it’s such a momentum-driven business. Like, what do you do mentally to like shift it?

DREW: Oh, man, there’s stages. Like first and foremost that embarrassment -- it really just comes from, you know, who’s opinion are you holding here right?

MIKE: Yeah.

DREW: Me -- the only opinion that matters, like of myself, is the one that I have of myself. And how do I view myself? And so after a loss, am I still a great fighter? Yeah, I still truly believe it. If I feel like I’m a truly great fighter, then it doesn’t matter what the other people saw, doesn’t matter what other people say -- that’s what I feel. And so what am I going to do with that? And so I’m like, I don’t want that to happen again, so -- analytically, like what did I do wrong, what can I go better, right? But I try to boil things down like, how did that mistake happen? What was my thought process? Why was I thinking that? How was I feeling in the moment type of thing. And so that’s why losses in fighting, or losing your job, or even tough situations, it’s um, reanalyze what you truly value in yourself and then figure out, not everything is permanent, you can’t always win all the time, you know? We go into the gym and we weight-lift and we’re seeking failure, and it’s in that failure that we realize like, I’m capable of this, I’m not capable of that, how can I become capable of that? In life success and failure doesn’t determine your value. It’s pushing forward and constantly growing. That’s where value truly lies.

MIKE: When that happens, do you have certain people around you that you talk to it about? Do you, like is there someone who helps coach you to think like differently? That helps pull you out of it?

DREW: Yeah, yeah. You know I have teammates and coaches that I work to communicate my goals to. Uh, just, I communicate. These are the things that I’m thinking, these are the things that I want, these are the things that I value. As many times as I check in with myself, they check in with me too. Or maybe I’m not feeling too confident about something and so I ask them or tell them, you know, this is how I’m feeling. Yeah, it’s really, really beneficial to kind of have a couple of people around you that kind of know what your goals are and what your values are so that way you can check on yourself but you can also check in with them.

MIKE: Yeah but when do you know you’re getting bad advice? Because you know, we’ve got so many opinions like fired at you in life especially in a fight. Like do this, do that, watch out for this. Am I right?

DREW: (LAUGHS) Yeah I get a ton of advice, and I don’t think it’s ever bad advice. Whether I want to use it or not like that doesn’t mean it’s like bad.

MIKE: How do you determine?

DREW: I’ll see if it fits kind of like how I’m viewing the situation. It’s all perspective. Your outside perspective, you develop that opinion, however inside perspective -- it doesn't quite fall into place. It’s great advice and you know, I appreciate people trying to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do that means they care, but when it comes down to it, I listen, but I only collect the things that actually work.

MIKE: What I’ve noticed with you, even after your fights and with fighting, and even talking to you now, what I love about you is you don’t blame, you don’t blame others, you’re not blaming things around you. I mean at least, I’ll never see that happen where I’ll notice some people, once they start getting into the blame phase, instantly we become a victim and then when we become a victim, it’s impossible to figure out now what, right? Because we’re just putting it onto someone or something else so you’re incredibly inspiring, we are all --

DREW: Thank you.

MIKE: -- going to be rooting for you, the Coach Mike base, I hope you win and I know you hope you win and I just appreciate it. And so Wednesday, Drew Dober will be fighting Alexander Hernandez.

DREW: Yup, and it’ll be on ESPN plus. So it’s the ESPN I guess subscription that they have and Wednesday night I’m the fight right before the Cohen main event, and we call that the feature battle so we’re here to make it that exciting.

MIKE: Awesome, man. Well thanks for coming on the podcast.

DREW: Thank you so much for having me, anytime.

MIKE: You got it, buddy. Hey everyone, don’t forget to tune in to Drew’s fight Wednesday night May 13 on ESPN Plus. If you like the podcast make sure to subscribe and download, tell your friends. Bye for now.

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