Real Estate Talk Podcast with Jesus Castanon | RETalkPodcast
The Ultimate Real Estate Unveiling! Raw, Real & Revealing insights from industry experts
Dive headfirst into real estate's most electrifying depths with industry legends - Jesus Castanon, Josh Cadillac, and Richard L. Barbara. Why legends? With billion-dollar deals, groundbreaking innovations, and wisdom that's transformed the landscape, they've not just witnessed the game; they've been the game-changers. And if that's not enough, they're joined by a parade of industry-expert guests, spilling secrets and dishing advice that you won't hear anywhere else.
Expect RAW, REAL strategies that shook the market, REVEALING insights, and timely takes on today's market, coupled with actionable advice.
This isn't your typical real estate chitchat. This is RETalkPodcast - where the titans and top minds of the industry unite. Dive in, and prepare to have your real estate perceptions rocked!
Real Estate Talk Podcast with Jesus Castanon | RETalkPodcast
Episode 39: The Fighter's Spirit in Entrepreneurship and Life
Stepping into the ring of life with the tenacity of a seasoned fighter and founder of BKFC (Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship) our guest, David Feldman takes us through a gripping journey from the wrestling mats of Marple Newtown to the challenging world of combat sports business. With each anecdote, Feldman punches through the conventional, revealing how a blend of street smarts and hard knocks equips one with an authentic edge in business and personal relationships. He doesn't pull any punches when discussing the profound effects of personal tragedy on his life's trajectory, offering a raw look at how adversity can shape not just a person, but an entrepreneur.
As the discussion shifts to the spectacle of Mike Tyson potentially squaring off with Jake Paul, we navigate the psychological ballet of boxing—a dance where age, experience, and the ability to sell a fight are as crucial as the punches thrown. Feldman breaks down the intricacies of promoting in the fight industry, illuminating the path to success amidst the shadows of giants like UFC. It's a conversation that's as much about the sweet science of boxing as it is about the strategic sparring needed to build a thriving company in the competitive arena of combat sports.
Our conversation rounds off with soul-baring reflections on the essence of perseverance, the lifeblood of any successful entrepreneur. Feldman shares stories of resilience and determination, affirming that the road to success is often unpaved and treacherous. He highlights the value of raw entrepreneurial grit, underlining how each setback, each bruise, can steel one's resolve. We close with a powerful reminder to maintain perspective and gratitude, the significance of community, and the shared triumph in each other's victories—a knockout conclusion to an episode that's as heartening as it is enlightening.
Real Estate Talk Podcast with Jesus Castanon - @retalkpodcast: The Ultimate Real Estate Unveiling! Raw, Real & Revealing insights from industry experts
Dive headfirst into real estate's most electrifying depths with industry legends - Jesus Castanon, Josh Cadillac, and Richard L. Barbara. Why legends? With billion-dollar deals, groundbreaking innovations, and wisdom that's transformed the landscape, they've not just witnessed the game; they've been the game-changers. And if that's not enough, they're joined by a parade of industry-expert guests, spilling secrets and dishing advice that you won't hear anywhere else.
Expect RAW, REAL strategies that shook the market, REVEALING insights, and timely takes on today's market, coupled with actionable advice.
This isn't your typical real estate chitchat. This is RETalkPodcast - where the titans and top minds of the industry unite. Dive in, and prepare to have your real estate perceptions rocked!
Meet The Legends:
Jesus Castanon: Visionary CEO of Real Estate EMPIRE Group, transforming property transactions into success stories.
Josh Cadillac: Renowned real estate coach, national speaker, and author; revolutionizing the art of 'closing for life.'
Richard L. Barbara, Esq.: Florida's legal luminary, pioneering change and setting the gold standard in real estate advocacy.
stress out. Remember, ryan Serge is one of my best friends in the world. So I hear, even though I just met you, like dude I'm, you know I have stories or stories. You lived with me for years. Feldman, first and foremost, thank you. I know you're a busy, busy, busy guy, so I really appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2:My man awesome, Glad to be here, man.
Speaker 1:You're definitely definitely our first big interview, so you know, I appreciate that. So, feldman, I kind of want to start a little bit from the beginning. You're a Pennsylvania guy, right? Yeah, philly, philly, yeah, philly guy, holy shit, yeah, that's, that's a different. I actually go to Pennsylvania a lot for for my, for my kid. I spent last year about a month in Pennsylvania, yeah, and we got a lot of friends over there because of the wrestling thing and you actually, you actually wrestled in your kid, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wrestled in junior high school and high school.
Speaker 1:Junior high school. What school was school over there?
Speaker 2:Marple, newtown. Right, and I was, I was. I was an average wrestler, but you know, I learned. I learned how to throw my hands. If MMA was big back then, I think I would have made a shot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you had the wrestling and then then the boxing.
Speaker 2:Absolutely man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got a buddy of mine that from from Philly, boom, boom Bachman, you know boom, boom Bachman. By any chance, fred Bachman, you know Bachman.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he fought on the. He fought on Oscar Delahoy's reality show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's a really good, really good friend of mine. He's got a brother to Lance. He does have a brother, Lance. Yeah, Lance is killing it man. Yeah, lance is killing it on the marketing company and his yeah, bachman's, bachman's two sons are the top wrestlers in the country Crazy, you know, I think yeah it's it's a price? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's so. That's funny, you know, bachman. Yeah, so so you started off wrestling. How'd you get into the whole boxing thing?
Speaker 2:I mean, my dad was a professional boxer. He trained seven world champions. My mom got beat up real bad and got it became a quadriplegic. She was left in a wheelchair and my dad kind of turned my house into a training camp. My mom had to go somewhere else to live because she couldn't be taken care of, so had fighters in my house.
Speaker 2:since I was I don't know seven years old all the way up through my whole entire childhood into my adulthood. You know it was raised by like 10 different men, two guys on death row, like crazy, crazy stuff.
Speaker 1:No shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I've seen everything in my life growing up and into into adulthood, so you know I'm pretty well rounded now.
Speaker 1:I've seen it all, man, it's funny. It's funny when you get a guy like you that you know. Do you think that your, your, your street edge, helps you in the business world?
Speaker 2:I'd fail without it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I couldn't, I wouldn't be here. Yeah because I think, I think I'm well rounded. Where I'm like, I use the street, I use the box and stuff. You know, like you, what do you want to do? You go into the red and, and you know, very well educated, and I had to talk to the right guys. Yeah, the right way.
Speaker 2:And yeah and all just works out. Because, look man, you know the top guys that are only just college educated and don't have any street cred. They want to be around someone that that's been around it Right. And the other guys you need. You need that because, if not, they're going to walk all over you.
Speaker 1:Well, and I also I also think that that you know, you know growing up on the streets and growing up poor, it gives you you're a little bit more real right, like, like and and, and you recognize who's real and who's not. A little bit. It gives you that radar right A little bit.
Speaker 2:So much man Like I don't. I don't talk fake, I don't do fake, I don't have fake around me and when they are around me. They're not around us for long. I mean, I just want real Like and if I'm messing up, tell me I'm messing up.
Speaker 1:Do we curse on this thing? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So if I'm fucking up, tell me I'm fucking up. Like, tell me, right, don't tell somebody else I'm fucking up. Tell me I'm fucking up. Yeah, you know, be real, I'm all about real, and if you're not real, then fuck off.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah and that and that you know people don't realize in in business. You know it's like the tennis world. I always say it and I've mentioned in a couple of podcasts, like when I go to these, my daughter plays tennis. So when you go to these, these, so I'll get into a lot less issues with people at a wrestling tournament, at a jiu-jitsu tournament, than I will at a tennis tournament, right? So these tennis parents have never been punching the fucking face before. So they talk to you and they approach you just the way they approach you. They don't even get that, that safe distance. They get into your space a little bit because they've never been punching the fucking face. That's I use that line all the time.
Speaker 2:And, like my wife says, why is that guy acting like that? Never been punching the fucking face I'm punching the fucking mouth, because if he did, he wouldn't be talking like that he would there's no way he would, because I've been punching the face by the baddest motherfuckers in the world and I won't ever talk like that, like you, just don't do it. There's a certain people.
Speaker 1:Right you when, when you are, you know when. Again, when you're a guy who's been through it and everything, you learn to respect people because you demand respect Right. So it's it's kind of like you know you wouldn't dare disrespect somebody because in your world you know you, you wouldn't accept even you know anybody disrespect you. So you treat people. I just find that you know people have been through it, you know, like yourself, it's just a different breed of person 100 percent man.
Speaker 2:I mean I was out to dinner like two weeks ago with my wife and this guy was acting like a jerk off, like I mean of jerk off to the waiter. It was unbelievable and I was like my man, I said why are you treating this guy like that? Man don't treat this guy like that and he's just turning around and minding his own business the whole night. But I was like I was getting so mad. I was like yo, I want to punch this guy in his mouth, like why isn't he treating people? All I'm saying is like why is so easy to treat people right and people don't do it? It's better, it's just, it's easier, it's easier, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's easier, nice, be kind, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I live on one thing and I know we're going to talk about a bunch of shit but live on, do the right thing, like do the right thing. Just do the right thing. It's so much easier to do the right thing Because if you do the wrong thing, you got to remember everything that you did to cover up while you did the wrong thing. Just do the right thing, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, I was a perfect example of that too. I was we're in a meeting at a 150 foot yacht. It was a big, big dinner table and when we were having dinner, you know, high level, you know the story started. So you know, I mean it's, it's, you know, all wealthy people, the whole situation. And there was a guy next to me, a yacht broker guy, right, so fucking dressed like a yacht bro, you know, I'm dressed with fucking pastels and shit. You know, I'm like with the, with the sweater wrapped around, that type of guy. And you know we were all talking and everything, and he's sitting right next to him and he threw just I had just met the guy and he threw like like an insult, you know, in my direction and I'm like I look at him like that's, that's interesting, like oh fuck, I don't know, I don't know, you know it's not, I don't know this guy, for him to break that barrier, you know I let it slide.
Speaker 1:He says it again, you know. And uh, right during the meeting I he was running, I grabbed him, I put him to me and I whispered, real in his fucking ear I go, dude, I'll knock you the fuck out. You talk to me one more fucking time in front of everybody. I'm gonna knock you the fuck out. I look at it and I just kept the fucking no, because again that guy could think that he's you know, just go out there and, and, and, and, do whatever and say whatever he wants.
Speaker 2:You know, man, and I think that's another reason why you know, with the fighters I got such a great relationship with him, because they know you're that I've got punched in the face. Yeah, I'm not a promoter. They just asked someone for money to put a fight on. Yeah, but I did bear an uncle fights. I did boxing, I did everything. Yeah, I did it. So I traded one respect yeah, because you know what it feels like to taste a punch and I don't like it.
Speaker 1:Have you had any issues with you, with the fighter? Because I mean, at the end of the day, listen, I grew up, you know, in boxing, james, with a Dita. Dita's been with my kickboxing coach, my, my, my, my since I was what? 16 years old, you know. So I know there's characters. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 2:To to nose to noses and was like my man, don't touch my nose, I'm gonna fuck out. And I did. I said look, you don't understand, I will knock you to fuck out, and I Sometimes forget that I'm 50. Now Last thing to go is your punching power, so I will knock them the fuck out, but that's what I said.
Speaker 1:I don't know, man, can I still take a punch?
Speaker 2:I used to take when I was 30 plus, like you know what. Maybe we should end this in my head, only me.
Speaker 1:Which is it?
Speaker 2:we shouldn't start banging that if one of my fighters knocks me out, it's probably doesn't look really good for me?
Speaker 1:No, it's not a good idea, probably not a good idea. And speaking of that, tyson and, and what's his name? Jake Paul. Yeah, what do you think I mean? I think it's the reflexes situation. I don't think he's, I don't think at 60 years old You're not gonna have the reflexes to get away from a young man's punches. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's so hard. That's why I think a lot of people are gonna tune in this, because it's hard to say like right. You want to say Mike Tyson is gonna walk all over this kid, yeah, but he's 50. He'll be 58 years old, I think, at the time of the fight 58 is.
Speaker 1:Reflexes are going man now look by the way. He didn't have an easy life either. It's not up, it's not like a guy who's been eating fucking vegan and doing yoga his whole life. You know what I mean? I mean it.
Speaker 2:If he crashed Jake Paul, he's probably gonna knock him out. Yeah but he has to get through everything to get there and it's not gonna be easy. And you know a lot of people you know talk shit on Jake Paul. But listen, jake Paul isn't the best fighter in the world certainly not, but I mean he's learning the job. He's learning on the job. He's getting better and better every fight man, yeah, he could crack.
Speaker 1:I mean, talk promoting ones, forget about it there. This kid's, this kid's a figure second to none. Second to none. It's crazy, but um, but yeah, I mean, but if we really think about Tyson even and I get, I'm a huge, I'm a huge Tyson fan and everything but if you think back on Tyson's even, hey, they, I mean when he would get tested, you know he would, you know if he's not the guy funny to get tested.
Speaker 2:Teddy Atlas was one of his old trainers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he has a saying. I forgot what it was.
Speaker 2:No, but he said, he just said the other day. He said Mike Tyson's only really been in four fights and he lost all four of them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he said the ones that he got pressured. He lost everyone. And now I don't necessarily agree with that Because I mean he's been him, not that he folded when he got pressed, but I think he's been in more than four fights. I think he's been in some fights where he looked sensational. He's one of the hardest punchers ever. But he could be that, that big bully that when he got backed up, you know yeah.
Speaker 1:Go back the other way. You know, yeah, it's, it's, it's and and it has it. It has it in every sport, like if you're the bully, you're great bully, but if that bully stands up, you know the other guy stands up to the bully and then all of a sudden he's on his heels. You know that's a whole this, a whole different world. So I don't know, man, that's, that's a tough one. You're right, people are gonna tune it out. I've never tuned into one of them. I'm gonna tune into this one.
Speaker 2:I'll watch it, a hundred percent I might even be there. No, really, I mean, I think it's a spectacle, I think it's something that I would want to say yeah, and usually I'm not into this kind of stuff but, yeah, it's Mike Tyson.
Speaker 1:It is right, it is. He got, he had. I mean, dude, I remember when, back in the days when he would fight, it was like it was like the Super Bowl, it was like shit would stop. Oh, mike tight. And you know, and you knew it was a minute, you know 30 seconds, you know, but you stop to watch it, you know crazy.
Speaker 2:I remember watching him get knocked out by Buster Douglas that night. I remember Jim Lantley's voice go, mike Tyson has been knocked out and I was like oh Holy shit I can't believe this just happened.
Speaker 1:We never thought it was gonna happen.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, it was crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So business wise man, how the fuck did you do this? How the fuck did like, in five, in five years, six years, right yeah?
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 1:You know it takes. What is it? What's that? Well, it takes a whole lifetime to become an overnight success. I mean, I understand that part, so I know it's been more than that. But as far as the company's concerned, man like I mean, what the fuck? It's crazy, I mean you, you paint yourself sometimes like what the hell's going on here?
Speaker 2:You know, I don't, I don't have time to really because? No, because, listen, people don't see the lows, right, the lows, and building this thing, and I don't show them the lows. But there's a lot of lows man and all the time because I'm dealing with the lows to get back to the highs.
Speaker 2:So I don't have time to really look at that every once in a while. What I do do is I Google BKFC, right, and I just look at all the stuff that people talked about it and the articles and I was like damn, we built something unbelievable here, because if you are sitting inside, like my one buddy said, dave, you gotta step out of the jar sometimes and I'm like what are you talking?
Speaker 2:about he's like you live in this jar. Every once in a while step out of the jar and read the label so you know.
Speaker 1:You see what you built because if you don't, I like that.
Speaker 2:You know you can't really work as hard because you're like you get frustrated too easy, but I'm like we are building something special. I've read some of the things that says can it be the next UFC? We're probably never gonna be the next UFC.
Speaker 1:Why you say that, though I'm just saying you have seen is a juggernaut it's.
Speaker 2:It'll take a lot for us to get to be the next UFC. I think that we can be the different sports. I mean, I'm just saying a different sport, but I think we can be the second biggest combat sport promotion in the world. Hands down, no doubt. Yeah and if I would have said that five years ago, people would have probably put me in a padded room.
Speaker 1:You know why I this. You know why I disagree with you there, and I'm a huge MMA fan and everything but um I, there's still a lot. There's still more boxing fans than there are MMA fans today.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, you agree with that one, though you could be right. Here's the thing forget boxing and forget MMA. Let's talk about why everybody's watching BKFC. Because it's relatable, because, guess what, if I go out and ask and I do it all the time with investors I ask people in the room, I go do you know what Ooma Pilata is? Yeah, yeah, yeah, do you know what a Kamora Choke is. No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what a bare knuckle punch is.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:Every man, woman, little child, old man, old woman, black, white, chinese, hispanic doesn't matter, they all know what a bare knuckle punch is, they all get it.
Speaker 1:You don't need to explain it to anybody, you don't need to be there and go. Oh no, he just took them down and that's the point. You don't need to do any of that.
Speaker 2:But even more than that, the fans relate to it because they kind of say, man, I wonder if I could have done that when I was younger, right like it's a bare knuckle punch, and in a different way, just in life.
Speaker 2:They get up every morning and they get punched in the fucking face by life and they have to say am I gonna lay back down or am I gonna keep going every day? And I think that's why they relate to bare knuckle more than any other combat sport out there. And why do I say that it might not be as big? Only because I don't know the longevity of all the athletes, and once I know that in the next two or three years Got it, then I'll know if it can be that big.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's like, you know, it's the car accident thing too, with fighting in general, right, nobody ever walks by a fighting. Oh, you guys are fighting and just keeps on going. Everybody stops. I mean, dude, on 72nd Avenue, the Starbucks on 72nd and US1, I was with my son the other day and, dude, two guys just start fucking beating the shit out of each other almost on the middle of the road. I mean I parked my car and I just sat with my son and we just watched the whole thing. I mean it was a lot for Street Fight, it was long because they kept on falling and getting up and then they ended up falling into US1. I mean it was crazy. So nobody walks through a fight, you know, walks by a fight, and again.
Speaker 1:So back to my theory on why I'm gonna respectfully disagree with you on BKFC. You know, being bigger is because there's still a lot more boxing fans out there, a lot more than MMA fans. So in theory, if you capture all of those guys' imagination, now boxing is doing a horrible job at boxing, right? I mean? And the system that works is the UFC system that you're the one running it, you're the one promoting, you're the one that wakes up every day in the morning and worries about the business, right? That's the formula that's working. So you're gonna it just makes sense that you're gonna capture all those eyes, right, I mean?
Speaker 2:boxing got contaminated right. It got contaminated by the bad people and there's a lot of bad people in it and look, there's a lot of bad people everywhere. But we created our own ecosystem.
Speaker 1:We created everything inside of us and it can't be contaminated, and it can't be contaminated, and when it gets contaminated, that's when I'm out.
Speaker 2:It's like it's not gonna get contaminated under my watch and we're gonna always do the right thing.
Speaker 1:So listen, I'm not gonna argue with you tell me I'm gonna be the bigger than the UFC man.
Speaker 2:But I'm just saying I see us comfortably being in the number two position in combat sports in two years, hands down comfortably. I really I don't see anything else out there like it. And I tell you why it's because of what I said to relatability, but it's cause of the sound too, just that, whoa, yeah, everybody does it. So talk about what you said about the car act. I mean when you saw someone banging on the street right Fighting each other on the street.
Speaker 2:When you go to a basketball game and there's a fight in the stands, what do you look at? The game or to fight.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Forget that when you go to a World Heavyweight Boxing Championship and a fight breaks out in the stands, what do you watch?
Speaker 1:That's a good point. You watch the fight in the stands. You watch the fist fight. Did you hear the other day Dana White talking about the fight and the brawl in the stands in Mexico? Did?
Speaker 2:you hear his commentary on it.
Speaker 1:There was a huge brawl in the.
Speaker 2:I heard that.
Speaker 1:So what he says was he goes dude. It's the fucking craziest thing I ever seen. Security never stopped it, nobody. The fight ended. When the fight ended Like people just got exhausted, went back to their seats, got their beers and just kept on drinking. That's crazy. Like they didn't even fuck with it. Like he's like hey, it's Mexican.
Speaker 2:You know what, sometimes I think that that might be the way to do it, cause it seems like sometimes the security just makes people get more hype. Listen, I don't suggest it. I'm going to be over secure. You know, I have more security than we need, but I'm saying maybe that's the way to do it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, have you seen that video on Instagram that there's two dogs barking at each other like fucking, and then the gate opens and then both dogs just stop barking. It's pretty much. How many times have you?
Speaker 2:seen that, though A security guy holding back that A guy goes this and they pull away and they go like whoa. But it's about to get real. I'm out of here.
Speaker 1:That's it. So what do you see in like what short-term goals? What are you looking at? Long-term goals I mean long-term goals is worldwide, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean listen, we're like I said, we started June 2nd 2018. We did our first show in a hockey rink, a little hockey rink in Cheyenne, Wyoming, about 1500 people in attendance. We're doing shows now eight to 10,000 people consistently. We've tomorrow in Miami will be our fifth straight sellout this year, so we're selling out all the time which. We're getting bigger and better sponsors on board.
Speaker 2:We're getting bigger and better TV networks that want to talk to us now Bigger athletes, bigger names, better names, better sponsors, better venues, better everything. So where are we gonna end up, I mean, I think, in two years, where there's nothing else that can touch us? Like I said, the UFC I don't see anything else out there that can really touch us in two years. I know the other guys are gonna do their things, but it doesn't have that like oh shit moment, like we have right, it just doesn't have it. And you hear that sound and you're like whoa and people continuously get engaged. And the biggest thing about baronuckle fighting is once you watch it once it's hard to watch something else you become a fan for life. It's gotta get in the watch that first time and it's over.
Speaker 1:When you talk about Lowe's, because I mean, look, I have a company 2008 was my Lowe. I mean they was just as low as Lowe can get. When you talk about Lowe's, was there a point where you're like, fuck dude, this is like either I get this done or I'm done?
Speaker 2:I mean, look so my mom, as I mentioned, was a quadriplegic. She got beat up really bad.
Speaker 1:Was it a jacking or was it a go? What do you mean? Beat up really bad.
Speaker 2:She was dating some guy. He beat her up really bad throughout her car ran her over Jesus and I left her as a quadriplegic for the rest of her life.
Speaker 2:And she like did everything like as a quadriplegic, went to college, wrote poems, but the big thing that gets me is she had a paintbrush in her mouth and she painted these beautiful flowers with her mouth and I have them hanging in my office and every time like it gets rough, I'm like man. Look at what my mom did. But back in 2016, november 2016,. You know, I was at my lowest of lows.
Speaker 1:I got so 60, we're talking about almost, yeah, eight years ago.
Speaker 2:Eight years ago I was at my lowest point. I've really ever been out in my life. I got diagnosed with cancer. I got turned down by another state. I got turned down by 28 states total in Barranaco. But I got turned down by another one. I was dead fucking broke. I had $262 in my name, Like I was dead fucking broke and I was shit at home.
Speaker 1:And you weren't no spring chicken at that time either.
Speaker 2:Shit at home wasn't going good. It just wasn't.
Speaker 1:You know, I wasn't a depressed person Nights crying because I'm fucking tell you right now, I spent a lot of nights crying, fucking during you know, crying like crying and crying and crying I had.
Speaker 2:It was a bad day. I drove to the Comerbery Bridge, which is about half hour from my house, got out of my car, I grabbed it, man, it was freezing cold. Man. I remember the steel was freezing cold and I lifted the leg up and I was just gonna jump, man.
Speaker 1:What's up, so I saw.
Speaker 2:I saw my mom's picture.
Speaker 1:Man, I saw my mom's picture and I was like you're like, just push the way and she could do it and I'm back in the car and I said man, I said I'm never gonna be here again, I'm gonna be the biggest fucking thing I can ever be.
Speaker 2:No one ever stopped me. Blah, blah, blah this whole fucking thing crying my eyes out, man. And I got that video. I watched it like once a month and what video I never took. I took a video of myself in the car. Holy shit, when I got back to the car, because I was like man, like I was crying, like I was like I got home and you know, I talked to my wife and she was like I didn't know, you know you were going through that stuff and actually I didn't tell her for like two days. I didn't tell her for like two days and she's like what, I had no idea. It was just, you know, you don't know everybody's story right, and it was just, it was a bad day. It was a really bad fucking day.
Speaker 1:And was it something in business that it was? It was at that day or like fuck, you got just got hit with and got kicked with balls, just everything. Just kind of woke up in the morning.
Speaker 2:Cancer dead broke, thinking the business I'm working on is just gonna be shit. Arguing with my wife going and just being like fuck this man?
Speaker 1:What were you doing at that time? What'd you do before this?
Speaker 2:I was promoting fights also.
Speaker 1:But your whole life. That's what you'd done.
Speaker 2:No, I owned two bars. Two bars. I did a lot of shit. I did everything. Entrepreneur, entrepreneur, every fucking thing, but I it was. You know, I lost my second bar because I kind of got fucked by the township. I was redoing something and they wouldn't approve the zoning and I shut it down and I got screwed and I was, I was just dead broke, man, I was dead broke.
Speaker 2:You think it's. No one ever gave me shit so I wasn't going to ask. I had pride the size of fucking you know the Atlantic Ocean. I couldn't ask anybody for anything. I couldn't because my wife had money. I couldn't ask her for it because I'm like who the fuck kind of fucking guy asks his wife for money.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Like I couldn't do it. So I was like fuck it, let me just jump off this fucking bridge and I ain't got to worry about shit anymore. And I didn't. And I'm so thankful that I didn't, so thankful that I saw that picture on my head, because if I didn't, you know, I wouldn't have been there, I wouldn't have built this, I wouldn't have Like literally the picture of your mom popped up in your head, like that's picture of her flowers Of the flowers of the flowers.
Speaker 2:These roses and I was like Like literally that, just like if it was a cartoon, it would have just popped up in a little bubble and I was like she painted this with her mouth.
Speaker 1:Because she couldn't even walk.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I said what I'm quitting, right, I'm fucking quitting and I remember I just pushed away and I was, like you know, crying. I got in the car and I'm crying and I'm like all right, so retake. And I did it again because I was like crying and I got the video, you know.
Speaker 1:And that video is what you talking to yourself, or you're talking to your mom Not to myself Talking to yourself, to myself. Have you posted that video anywhere.
Speaker 2:No, I won't, you won't. No, I never posted. That's personal to me now.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I mean look Don't lose it though Shit If I sell it for Safe part of that thing.
Speaker 2:If I sell it for nine zeros, you know, and I'm happy and content, right, not with money, but I'm happy and content as a human being and I feel like I accomplished what I need to accomplish in life and that was, you know, going past all my obstacles.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And if I do that, maybe I will, because I really think that video changed a lot of people's life. Yeah, I'm not ready to show it yet? Yeah, just not ready to yeah.
Speaker 1:Now do you think also that the, the, the, the let's call it the failure and the, the, the, the bar business? Because the way I look, I didn't go to school for business, right, every kick in the nuts I like I haven't, I haven't come around to it, but I want to put like a diploma on my. It says school of hard knocks Fucking right, because I fucking learned everything just by making them. It's like Edison, he said I just ran out of wrong ways to do the light bulb. You know what I mean? I didn't figure out the right way. I fucking ran out of wrong ways to do the light bulb. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, you think that those failures are would you be here, right now if it wasn't for those failures Not a chance in the world.
Speaker 2:But I mean, it's funny because a lot of people say can you tell me you know what's the path to success? How'd you succeed? How'd you succeed? I said I'm not. I can't tell you how I succeeded. I'm going to tell you how, just don't quit Great how I learned from every single failure.
Speaker 2:Well, here's the two things. I say the, the two major things, and when I explained the whole thing, you'll really understand Patience and don't quit. Now, of course you're going to say yeah, I get it, but really I'm going to explain it to you?
Speaker 1:No, I'm going to explain it to you.
Speaker 2:You're driving down this long ass road and you know that the destination is down that road, but you can't see it and you go fuck this man. I'm turning around, you turn around, you quit. It was five minutes down the road. You never made it. Yeah, you didn't have the patience not to quit. I mean.
Speaker 2:So you, you quit If you have the patience enough to go after your dream, but if you do, you got the patience enough to go after your dream and go after what you want in life and you don't quit. You have to make it. I mean I'm not saying you have to be what, what I'm doing, what you're doing, what Serge is doing, but I mean, if you're, if your goal is just let me pay off my house in 10 years, well, if you have that patience to do it and you have a plan to do it, you're going to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, yeah, but like so, if, if, somebody takes a snapshot of you, like right after, like the bars failed and everything like that, it's felt them in. A good business man? Probably not. I mean he failed that. You know a pretty solid business, right. But that's the thing that what people don't realize is that you know a lot of people go to school for this shit, like they go to Harvard and this, and that, like you know, like you, we, us guys, that started from scratch. You, you, you, you learn. That's the only way you're learned. There's no, there's no professor to call me. Like who the fuck are you going to call and say, hey, how do I? What book are you going to read to Billy?
Speaker 1:How do I start up bare knuckle and make it into a billion dollar company.
Speaker 2:I started this big food festival business when shit wasn't going that good, I started. I was always resourceful, I always figured something out. So I started this food festival business, going into a story about this. So I started this food festival business and I got my son involved with me and he's like an ace. He's unbelievable, right. Never gave my son a dime ever. Like literally might've gave him $20 or $100. I never gave him any real money. I gave him opportunity. The kid fucked me, fuck me, like we joke about it now. He fucked me for two semesters pretending he went to college and went to work every day right here. We went to college. He wasn't going to college. He's now the top 1% earners in Pennsylvania. Wow, never, ever, ever went to college.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so College is overrated, I mean, unless you're gonna be a doctor and engineer, you maybe have to. But it is Like in my world, like both of my kids are athletes, I wanted to go to school. I wanted to go just because I want them to compete, you know. But yeah, I don't, I don't, I just don't, I don't see it. I mean, like you know it's, you know, man, I graduated with a 1.5 GPA and I'm, you know, I'm doing all right, and I'm You're doing good in graduate.
Speaker 1:Actually, I graduated the year before they switched to a 2.0, so I would probably still fucking been there trying to figure out how to get to 2.0.
Speaker 2:I'm not discouraging people from going to college. You want to go to college?
Speaker 1:That's okay, you can say it no, but I mean that.
Speaker 2:Look, if you go to college, you want to be a doctor, you want to be a lawyer. You want to be an accountant, you have to have that to create a. Do that, do it. But I mean nothing substitute hard work. Nothing in the world can substitute hard work.
Speaker 1:Nothing, well, and and, and I just think that if you're going to teach your kids anything, it's just to be tough, right, cause you got to be able to survive, you got to be able to survive Resilience grit, right, grit, 100%.
Speaker 1:So that's, that's the stuff, cause people don't realize. Like you know, man, like you know, yeah, you said it right now. Oh, yeah, you know, uh. And then the bar second bar closed, but you got to put if, if we were doing a movie on Feldman, right, there's probably a whole fucking 20 minutes on the day. The bar closed and you're there sitting like what the fuck am I going to do? Like why can't I figure this out? Because I remember thinking like bro, why can that guy do it? And I can't do it. You know what I mean. Like like that, that, that low, that at night, and feeling like a fucking loser and just trying to figure out and what is it.
Speaker 2:I want to tell you this when I tell you like I didn't have enough money to buy a fucking sandwich, Like I really did. Like when the bar closed, then I fast forward to when I was going to jump. But when the bar closed I didn't have shit, Like I wanted to go to my dad and be like you. Okay, I have 20 bucks to buy some 20 bucks. You're a fucking loser, motherfucker. Man how the fuck did you get?
Speaker 1:yourself here. But I tell people all the time, man, you know, I went from flying my own plane, right, I got my, I got my pilot license, flying my own plane to all my offices and shit like that, to like rationing out my food to last you know a week, because I didn't, I wasn't a check coming in. But never once I'm telling you this is this is what I tell people all the time. Never, once, ever, that I said that I, that the quitting come into the picture. It just fucking did it. I'm not trying to act up, it fucking did it. And obviously it didn't with you either. You know what I'm saying. That one, you got one Cause. Look, I had a panic attack at the airport. I had a panic attack at the airport. I mean, if I had a chance to jump out anywhere, I would have jumped that day. I remember crying like, oh, my God, like you know. So listen, whoever hasn't had that in business, that panic, you know it's, it's, it's.
Speaker 2:You haven't been in business long enough to put it that way, and I think that prepped me for what I'm going through now.
Speaker 1:Right, that's the point right.
Speaker 2:The whole world sees BKFC and says, man, it's the biggest thing out there. It's, you know, one of the biggest things out there. But there's struggles there. There's struggles every day funding it and getting this event Right, but none of those obstacles Because we're expanding.
Speaker 1:Right, but none of those obstacles are bigger than the fucking day the bar closed Never, and you're like a fucking zero. Never, ever, right, like there's nothing, never fucking ever.
Speaker 1:There's, there's. There's a saying in Scarface, right, when Scarface said there's nothing that that, uh, nothing you can do to me that Castro hasn't already done. Right, it's like you know, it's a fucking most quarter movie ever. I heard Right Like, but if you think about it like there's nothing anybody can do to me, that you know that there's nothing in business right now, that's going to hurt more than those two days that we mentioned, I'm sure there's others, you know, never there's.
Speaker 1:Oh, you lost an investor or I don't know One of the. You had that. You had that fight. I know you guys were all stressed out. Remember, I served as one of my best friends in the world. So I hear, even though I just met you, like dude I'm, you know, I have stories or stories. You lived with me for years. I have, you know, the, the, the, that that day, that, the, the, the, they canceled that, um, delray Beach, when they canceled the whole fucking right, dude, I'm like, oh my God, I'm stressing for you guys. I'm like what the dude? That those are the things, right, but but again, nothing compares, you know it and it gets better.
Speaker 2:It does because, like two years ago, anything bad that happened three years ago, we'll say it was a knife in me. It was like fuck man, I don't know how I'm going to survive this Now I'm like I got a show on Friday.
Speaker 2:It costs about growth, Not not tomorrow's show, but in general. I got a show on Friday to cost a million bucks and I got a hundred thousand on Wednesday and I'm like I'll find it, I'll find it in two days, and I find it every fucking time I find it. I just figured it out and make it happen and now luckily we're not in that position that we were there. But I mean, there were days like, listen, I did a huge fight at Wembley Arena in London. I flew to England without any, without a dime $780,000 for that car. I didn't have a dime, Didn't have a dime, literally had, I think, about 300 bucks in our business account. And this company came in and bought us and they didn't fund us in time and I'm like, fuck, what we're gonna do. So I'm like, hey, listen, I'll give you all my shares. Give me the money. If I can't pay you back, you keep all my shares. I'll figure something out. I've mortgaged every single share I had of the company.
Speaker 1:So there's another thing that we haven't talked about right Balls, all right, balls, like what, like. So, if you had to, so again, you know, if we're doing anything today, it's kind of figuring out the mind of a businessman, yeah, man, the mind of somebody who started from scratch, and the grit that it takes right, sure, so like the balls, the self-confidence and the balls right, because you gotta just believe in yourself.
Speaker 2:But I don't know if it's self-confidence all the time, because I do doubt myself. It's like I go, man, how do I get in this position again? But I go and then I go. You know, there's that shoulder and this shoulder goes, man fuck him, man you're gonna find a way. You're gonna find a way, but it's balls because they say it's a quote that says an entrepreneur jumps out of a plane and builds a parachute on the way down. Right, you just do.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely stealing that one, but you figure it out, man, I fucking love that one.
Speaker 2:I love that one, you do, you figure it out, man, and I haven't figured it out yet completely, but we're figuring it out every day, every fight, every day, every weigh-in, every press conference, every signing On the table?
Speaker 1:We're doing it. We're doing it. Putting in chips on the table every month, just going all in. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And it's funny. The worst thing that's gonna happen is people are gonna talk bad about me who gives a fuck? But three years ago it was like a knife, like every time someone said he sucks or that business sucks. You're past that stage. Fuck yourself, man. You're past that stage right now.
Speaker 1:The hurt now is nowhere near compared to those. And now it's just about growth and I just made a mistake. It is Right, but then again, how does somebody a street guy who has failed in business pretty much till right now what comes together right Like it's a fascinating thing.
Speaker 2:So all of us dude, you're in high-level business, you're an international high-level business right now, every single person that invested into me and I got a lot of investment into me now, they all said it or invested in you. It was my passion. I just sold my passion.
Speaker 1:And I invested in the company, invested in you.
Speaker 2:Look, I think Paranacal is cool but if it was? This guy over here doing it, I wouldn't invest in it. I'm investing in you. I see your passion and I can't quit. Like I can't quit Because my dad always told me I was gonna be shit in life.
Speaker 1:I can't quit.
Speaker 2:Like that's one of the reasons, like I'm like he ain't fucking right and I'm gonna show him every day he ain't right and I can't quit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's another motivation for you. You got a lot of little things that you dig deep when you're in there and you're like I dig look, I went to therapy, the whole thing.
Speaker 2:I had a fucked up child Dude. I had so much shit going on. You don't even know and I don't wanna go into it now. But I mean fucked up childhood and I just wanna. I wanna be able to make it better for other people that have to go through this kind of journey and are fucked up and give them confidence that they can do it. I mean, that's really we just talked about it when we ate, serge. I said I wanna change people's lives. Right, like I said, why are you doing this to one of the girl fighters? She goes I wanna change people's lives. I wanna tell them that they can do it and I go. Every one of my interviews I go, they go. What's your number one goal? I said I wanna change people's lives.
Speaker 1:Dude, let me tell you something. So we do I'm a board member and Little Abner Foundation, right. So Little Abner Foundation, we do stuff for sports and everything like that, right, which is cool archery, taekwondo, wrestling, the whole thing but every year we take a bunch of terminally ill, a lot of quadriplegic kids to Disney. Last week yeah, this is our seventh year fucking doing it. I get goosebumps just fucking thinking about it, cause, if you really wanna realize, it goes back to your story on that and you know, when you see your mom with a fucking paintbrush and everything, it's like when you see these kids and I'm gonna try to not get emotional through it, because but it's when you see these kids that didn't do anything wrong, right, didn't make a mistake, didn't do anything, and they're in a fucking wheelchair. A lot of them are orphans, quadriplegic and terminally ill. So we had to take and again, all the credit or role.
Speaker 1:You know he's the architect of this and he's the one putting his fucking ambulance company, putting everything right. But we're taking them in a fleet of ambulances, basically, cause they, dude, two of them couldn't even make it Last year. A couple of them died before cause we do it once a year, right. Then two of them died after that. But if you sit there and you see these kids I'm talking about, I'm talking about little kids, bro, you know, and their and their and their wheelchairs, just, and some of them could barely smile, but you can see, as when Disney comes out, mickey comes out, they see that smile. You want to feel like a fucking pussy? Go to one of those go to one of those events and push the wheelchairs and you'll be like.
Speaker 1:You know what dude? Nothing is hard.
Speaker 2:So back when I was promoting boxing, I did a fight for this kid named Paul Kress. He was dying of cystic fibrosis and I brought him to the fight and we did this whole entire foundation around him and the only thing I could not stop noticing is he had the biggest smile in the fucking room, like he was facing death literally in three months, and he couldn't stop smiling. And my kids were complaining about everything and I was like you little motherfuckers, look at this kid, he's facing death and he's smiling. And you're complaining that, that you don't have this or you don't have this. What are you guys doing, man? You know like it puts life into perspective what they're going through, would you? You know what?
Speaker 1:feeding tubes. Feeding tubes, I mean, like what do you call those bags?
Speaker 1:for sure, those bags and that's why I take my kids there to push the wheelchairs. I mean that's our yearly reset. That's awesome, like push a wheelchair of a kid that can't walk, and it's going to really make you appreciate shit, man. And that's part of life is really understanding how lucky we are Because, look, we've had a tough, but you know it's. We have life and every day you know we're just getting better and better and you know, so felt, man, you got to go, man, so you got to get any, not man.
Speaker 2:It was great talking. I love having these real talks, to be honest with you, because it puts things in perspective For me, even today, as I'm going through struggles today and I'm like man, the fuck am I worried about?
Speaker 1:Listen, we're rooting for you. All right, You're one of the guys that you're looking at Like you, just fucking. I don't know. I don't know if it's. Maybe I'm a little closer because you know I'm hearing a little more stuff and everything. We're fucking rooting for you, man, and every time you hit a home run, we're fucking happy for you.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, man. Keep on doing what you're doing, buddy. Appreciate it, man. All right man. Thank you.
