Ride Home Rants
Ride Home Rants
Inside the Octagon: Building Champions at Upgraded Industries
When DJ Jacobucci resigned from his firefighting career and dumped his pension into opening Upgraded Industries, it wasn't just a business decision—it was a leap of faith into a lifelong passion. "That's betting on yourself," he explains on the Ride Home Rants podcast. "That's either saying I'm going to be poor or this is going to work."
This all-or-nothing mentality has shaped Upgraded Industries into what DJ lovingly describes as a "dysfunctional family that you can't help but love." Starting as a personal trainer while navigating a difficult divorce, DJ gradually built his business until he could focus on his true passion—combat sports. With a background as a wrestler and fighter himself, he's created a training environment where accountability and self-motivation are non-negotiable. "I don't hold hands," he states plainly, reflecting his belief that fighters must develop discipline alongside technique.
The gym's success speaks for itself, producing fighters like Tony "The Latin Assassin" and attracting talented coaches who share DJ's vision. What began as Sunday wrestling sessions with whoever would show up has evolved into an elite training facility that stays true to old-school toughness while adapting to modern training methods. Between training professional fighters, raising his identical twin sons who wrestle competitively, and managing all aspects of the business, DJ embodies the fighter's mentality in everything he does.
Throughout the conversation, DJ offers candid insights on the state of combat sports, expressing concern that UFC might follow boxing's self-destructive path, while sharing stories of the tight-knit community he's built at Upgraded Industries. Whether you're a fighting enthusiast or simply appreciate stories of entrepreneurs betting on their passion, DJ's journey from firefighter to gym owner demonstrates what's possible when you commit fully to building something meaningful around what you love.
• Betting everything on his dream by resigning from firefighting and investing his pension into the gym
• Balancing fatherhood with running the gym, prioritizing family while maintaining high standards for his fig
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Welcome everybody to another episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. This is, as always, your host, mike Bonham. I have a great guest for us today. He is going to round out everyone that we have talked to up at Upgraded Industries. He is the owner of the gym up there and that is DJ Iacobucci. Joins the show. Dj, thanks for joining, brother.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thanks for having me on my man.
Speaker 1:Hey, not a problem at all. Like I said earlier, we've had all the fighters on, starting with Tony the Latin assassin toward Lisi, went through a lot of your coaches, so it's nice to finally get the man behind everything here. Upgraded industries there the man of many hats, some of which I don't want to wear, I suppose.
Speaker 1:As most business owners would tell you. That's typical for sure, having a bunch of hats to wear that you don't want to wear. But, first and foremost, how do you balance? I believe you have two young boys yourself. How do you balance the dad life with everything else that's going on with the gym?
Speaker 2:I actually have identical twins and they wrestle all over the country. They're very, very, very, very good. You know, in the recent years I've been lucky to have Billy and to have Luke and to have, you know, now, tony, since he's retired, stepping onto the coaching staff, because now I have the availability that all of my sons are a little bit older to be able to go away and do things with them. So those guys are clutch for me. Like I said, you know the man in many hats. It's a role.
Speaker 2:It's hard, you know, but I have to prioritize. Obviously you know my kids come first before anything, even before my business. So you know I try to prioritize that. But if you know, if it's a random tournament my sons are wrestling in and one of my guys got a title fight, I'm going to the title fight and my boys understand you know. So it's a certain days, certain times, that guys just know you, certain days, certain times, that guys just know you know I won't be there, but they know what's expected and obviously you see by the results they listen pretty well.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I was at Tony's title fight there in Mountaineer. It's kind of how we got connected. It was great to see him, you know, win the title, even though he did retire right after that. But you know it was still an awesome fight after that. But you know, it was still an awesome fight and for someone who says he doesn't have that good of hands, I think he's the most modest of the guys that I've talked to from there, cause I believe he got that win by knockout, if I, if my memory serves me correctly, you know, and that whole thing of of him not having hands got started by one of his bitter opponents.
Speaker 2:You know, tony shouldn't even take him the one fight he took, you know, we told him not to. The doctors told him not to. He was like six months off of getting the ACL repair and, dude, he's just a stubborn, tough-ass Mexican. So we gutted it out, you know, and the kid bitched about, you know. Oh, he just wrestled me. He doesn't have hands. I assure you. Tony, when I was fighting, was my number one training partner for a long time and we, yeah, we threw down quite a bit. So he absolutely has hands, but you know, he's never had to really show them and I think his last one.
Speaker 1:His way out, he said, all right, well, let's just silence the talk. What a way to go out with a knockout victory, to win the title Right For sure. But like I said in the interview, you are the owner of Upgraded Industries. You know, tell the listeners about you, know that, you know how you got there and how you got started with that business.
Speaker 2:So I started my. I started as a personal training business as I was a young firefighter. Basically, I was kind of getting hosed in my divorce and you can only work so many jobs before you know you're just, you're never getting ahead. So I started a personal training company and then I grew that into the gym. Well, before all that, I had fought. I fought through Strong Style. I fought through Leo Kegelvick, who's my boxing coach. He's, you know, coaches Luke now.
Speaker 2:So I had been fighting for years, I've been wrestling for years and that was my passion. And I couldn't get back to my passion just yet, just yet. So I, you know, I retired from fire service and I concentrated heavily on building the gym. I got the fitness center side going and then that basically started funding all the stuff that was my passion, which was MMA, jujitsu, the wrestling, all that, and that's kind of how it all started coming together. It was, it was a lot. You know, it was kind of one of those sink or swim situations because I resigned from the fire department and I dumped my pension into the gym.
Speaker 1:That's betting on yourself.
Speaker 2:That's either saying I'm going to be poor or this is going to work.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I get it, man, as a comedian myself. There's that whole sink or swim type of mentality that you have to have, like, if I don't have shows, I mean I'm not, you know, signed by an agency or anything. I don't have a manager, I don't have an agent or anything like that. So if I don't have shows and I'm not getting paid for comedy, it's all on me and it's kind of like taking the leap of faith and, you know, leaving the fire service to chase your dream and chase your passion, which is kudos to you.
Speaker 2:I give anybody credit that's willing to chase down something that they're passionate about for sure. Tell everyone it's a terrifying first step, but once you do it, you'll never look back, right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. Have you always been a combat sports fan or did you kind of like wrestle growing up or anything like that? So like, how did you get into into the fight scene?
Speaker 2:So I grew up wrestling and I was. I was little, I used to be a little dude, so I got picked on and I used to just scrap, I get in fights and I did fairly well. I had a little bit of a you know not so great upbringing, but it is what it is. I stayed enough out of trouble that I could still wrestle. I love wrestling, I was obsessed with it. I didn't have the means that my sons have now, so you know my wrestling career was lackluster. So after that I decided well, I want to get into MMA.
Speaker 2:I remember watching like the original UFC tapes from like Blockbuster Video. I remember watching the original UFC tapes from Blockbuster Video. I remember seeing the Canadian Mounties busted in and I was like, oh my god, I love this shit. So I just started training. Ironically enough, I ran into some dudes I knew that were just starting to dabble in Jiu-Jitsu.
Speaker 2:I was a short, stocky, explosive wrestler and they were all tall grapplers. Dude, let's learn this stuff. It was cool. I started wrestler and they're all tall grapplers. So, dude, let's learn this stuff. Um, it was cool. Um, I started getting it after high school. Thought quite a bit and I kind of went semi-retire, when I had my sons came back for a few Um, and then I just that was it. I've always loved it. Um, you know, took karate as a kid, boxing all that stuff. I just was always obsessed with some sort of martial arts and some sort of like structure and schedule, um, along with like the weight lifting and all that stuff. You know, being strong was cool, but being strong and being a total badass was even better.
Speaker 1:100 yeah, I uh, I took uh martial arts when I was, you know, teenager and all that. I talked about it with all the all the fighters. I got a black belt in taekwondo. Probably should have stuck with it, but it was as a 15 year old. You get that one tough loss that I had and it shook me right out of the fight game for sure. But after it was fight number 29 and I was 28-0 at that point in time and ended up finishing out 28-1 and that was the last fight for me because I got knocked out and I did not like that feeling that was at 15, took a shot right to the ego and you know just go.
Speaker 2:death is the best thing that can happen to a man, though you don't really truly find out who you are until your ego can die.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and it helps me today as a a comedian because you know, I I got knocked out at a big uh taekwondo tournament in front of probably a thousand people, and well, you know, we all been there, we all lost in front of our family and friends, shit the bed, you know right and it's now.
Speaker 1:It's just like okay, if I bomb on stage like who who gives a shit, I've been knocked out in front of thousands of people like who cares, and it just helps me push forward in in the comedy career in martial arts and having that um discipline to stick after it after, uh, 13 years of doing it and still being considered an up-and-comer. Uh, so you know, it's not for the, for the faint of heart for sure, like I'm sure the the fight game is it, because I think people just think like, oh, you get a black belt, you're automatically a pro fighter.
Speaker 2:It's like no, you have to go through the amateur scene, you know, pretty extensively, you have to clear house before you're going to get you know, if you want to be a legitimate pro, you have to beat every top amateur and top everything around. You got to win everything until there's no more to win as an amateur. You know that's the one thing that I tell my guys. You know they're required to have three belts before they go pro. Three different organizations, preferably. Tony. You know it was a different story. We just kept getting you know we weren't going to turn them down. It is what it is. But yeah, you should be cleaning out the amateur ranks Before you decide to go pro. I think a lot of these new age kids they rush to turn pro um, and it's just not.
Speaker 1:They need to not right, yeah, and you know, like I said before, you know we've had, you know, a lot of your coaches and fighters on. How did you find these guys? These guys are phenomenal, how did you find them? And they are.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like it's our own merry band of misfits. Um, it's like dysfunctional family that you can't help but love. So, dude, every one of them ended up being like a training situation. So back in my old gym on Sundays, we used to scrap so we would wrestle. Dude, we had like the lowest ranking kid in our room at that point at that time was Jacob Lagoa, who was like a 16-year-old kid, which I don't know if you're familiar with, jacob, but he's cleaning up the scene right now and grappling at MMA.
Speaker 2:Kid's a beast. He was a beast at like 16. He was a multiple-time state champ. But anyways, we would wrestle on Sundays for like two, three hours. We would just get any dudes who would come in that viewed good and we would scrap. Well, brought Tony in and I was like, oh man, this kid can fucking wrestle, all right. So him and I were scrapping back and forth a couple weeks he just ended up becoming boys. He's probably one of my best friends, on top of being one of my best fighters. He's a good dude. He's a little out there, but you got to be the dude we do you kind of have to be to be a fighter.
Speaker 1:You kind of can't be this even-keeled guy if you're going to be about.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen one yet yeah, most people don't say, hey, this, this guy that's trained to kick my ass, I'm gonna lock myself in a cage with them, you know. You know, it's not a, it's not a normal thought, I suppose. Um, and then, billy, I met um, I was getting ready for fights and I needed someone that actually had good stand-up. Um, we used to do this thing in my old again the old place, but it was around like the COVID era. So we had like a secret fight club, because I defied all that bullshit.
Speaker 2:Um, so guys would come in and we would spar and that's, there was nothing else to do. So we'd have guys there, we'd be sparring for two, three hours. Um, billy came in and him and I could flow really well, he moved good and I was like, oh shit, it's like I like this dude, um. So I had always had him in my mind. And then, when I move into the new place and I realized, well, this place is double the size of the other one, how am I gonna manage? He was the first and the only person I called um to come over and help me with the striking program and then, inevitably, I just gave it to him because he deserves it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean after after talking to to Billy, you know he's definitely I could just, you know, tell what his passion and how he talked about how he trains his fighters and everything like that, and even how he talked about Tony, you know, getting them ready for that last title fight at Mountaineer.
Speaker 2:You know it, you have a good one in your striking coach there and I absolutely do, and sometimes I got to remind the guys that because they give him shit, because he expects a lot and you know what he should yeah, yeah, I mean, every good coach should expect that you know the best out of all their fighters.
Speaker 1:That that's. That's always been a mindset of mine absolutely yeah, like I, I don't understand people that just when they have this, oh well, they're pushing me harder, so they obviously don't like me. No, it means they like you more than you think. It's because they're pushing you to see what you can't see yourself.
Speaker 2:I used to tell the young guys in the fire service I said, hey, you don't got to ever worry about if we like you or not, unless we stop talking to you. Yeah, because then when we stop giving a shit, then you're done. And that goes the same with coaches. You know, I've, you know I've had my, my instances where I want to grab some of these guys and choke them, but they also have to take a step back and realize how I was at some of their ages as well. You know. So I'm persistent, but my persistence only goes so far. I can't make you do everything you know, and I don't hold hands and I refuse. You make you do everything you know and I don't hold hands and I refuse.
Speaker 1:You're expected to get the workload done, and if you don't, that's on you, man, right? Yeah, I mean that that's how it should be. I think you, you should have your training regimen in place. These guys should be, you know, mature enough and disciplined enough to be able to do it on their own, without having somebody standing over their shoulders and watching every move that they make. I love that attitude.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, the new age, a lot of these. They do need their hands held and that's just. You know, maybe there's people that can do that. I just I don't. That's just not how I do things, not even with my youth wrestlers. You know, I don't. There's no level of which I baby people. That just doesn't do that. There's people of disservice in the real world.
Speaker 1:It really does. Absolutely, I think that. But being the fighter and watching all the fights, you know that you have, and growing up in the fight game. What are your thoughts on some of the all-time old greats?
Speaker 2:of the UFC, like Ken Shamrock, dan the Beast around, and Roy Gracie I'm going to catch a lot of shit for this because of his current metal mental state. Bj Penn was my dog Dude. Baby J was the man Like. That was my favorite fighter. That was a dude that I was like I want to be like that guy, you know. Now not so much, but no, that he was. That was the guy that I thought was a true pioneer.
Speaker 2:Matt Hughes I actually got, um, the pleasure of training with Hughes out at the military camp. I went out there many, many, many years ago. Um, that was awesome. Hughes, bj St Pierre those were the dudes. Um, you know, gracie was an innovator. Yes, I, just, I have my own thoughts on on all of them. Um, he was the innovator. Yes, I, just, I have my own thoughts on all of them. He was an innovator. He was the only one that was doing jiu-jitsu and per se jiu-jitsu versus the catch wrestling which the Shamrock Brothers were doing. They were great. It wasn't really intriguing to me. I liked Tank Abbott because he was nuts and just wanted to throw down.
Speaker 1:But BJ Penn was the first true mixed martial artist that I was like this dude's the shit. Yeah, I think GSP is what did it for me. George St Pierre, watching him fight and coming up and just the way he went about the fight game was a little bit different than most guys. They just wanted to stand and bang in the middle of the octagon. Well, that's entertaining.
Speaker 2:It is entertaining, but you know what? The longevity of your career is not such. You know you can't, you can't be getting punched in the head time and time and time again and expect a solid quality of life. You know, right.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I think he had a you know a different approach to it. And what blew my mind too, as well as the learn that Joe Rogan actually taught him his spinning back kick- yes.
Speaker 2:On a punching bag in a gym yes.
Speaker 1:Just fucking around too, that's what's awesome it blows my mind and people don't give Joe Rogan the credit that he deserves for being the martial artist that he actually is.
Speaker 2:I would not want to fight Joe Rogan. I've seen videos of him just murdering a tie bag and you know you watch him roll. He's good, you know. I just think that's someone that also. You know, there's people that can be a complete badass but they don't want to fight and that's fine. You know, fighting is not for everybody. There's a mental side of it that some people just don't want to endure themselves in and then that's and that's okay. You know, and that's where I think a lot of the young fighters they need to figure that out. Some guys think they want to fight and then they learn oh, I don't want to really fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think everyone thinks they want to because of the popularity of the UFC and mixed martial arts now and then they get hit in the face once and it kind of deters them from what, correct?
Speaker 2:like the old, the old tyson line. Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the face. But that's, that's very true. I mean, you know, I, I always tell my guys you guys have no idea how nice you have it back in the day. Um, uh, I trained a strong style. I was trained with stipe and joe highland and forest pets, jeff cox, like all all the Cleveland OGs that were just absolute murderers. The way that Marcus had us train sometimes wasn't the most conventional, but it made you tough as hell, my guys. Now obviously we do some smarter things, but there's a time and a place for the toughness. Yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's a different game, but I gotta ask you guys ever settle any like little uh debates in the octagon in the training gym? Like if you're having a debate with tony or anything like, all right, let's wrestle for it. You know what I mean? Like that's just this, let's get on the mat.
Speaker 2:We endlessly talk shit to each other. That's like we have a group chat where literally we'll just all talk shit to each other. That's like we have a group chat where literally, we'll just all talk shit to each other all day long. So it's on at site anytime. All the time you could be in mid-conversation with somebody else. The next thing, you know, your feet are going over your head and you're getting slammed. So or you're talking, you just get a leg kicked. You know it's. You know, but it's good, it's. We bust balls. Like I say, it's a dysfunctional frat house full of dudes that are pretty tough with a lot of tattoos that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's that's phenomenal. That's that's a phenomenal workplace.
Speaker 2:I mean, for the most part we don't really have. I mean, there's never been too many beefs. You know we've had a couple where we've had to settle um, but you know neither party was right, they were both wrong. But for the most part these guys do get along pretty well. You know there's always a competition edge.
Speaker 2:You know, tony and I just wrestled the other day for like six minutes straight and neither of us could get a takedown, wow, and we both afterwards were just exhausted and everyone's like oh, my God, I'm like dude, there's a difference between wrestling pace and jiu-jitsu pace. Like a hard wrestling pace for that long is tough as shit, you know. But I mean the competitive edge is always there. I mean this is what we do, you know, and I always tell people so just because I don't fight anymore doesn't mean I don't train. I still love to train. Still love to train. Like that's just part of my life.
Speaker 2:And I guess that comes back to like the gsp thing. Gsp was a complete and total mixed martial artist. Whether he was ever going to fight again or not, other than him stepping into the atka, nothing in his life was changing. No, he was still going to stick on those paths, he was still going to maintain the healthy lifestyle. He's still going to do what he's gonna do just longer in the, in the cage, you know getting paid, you know hundreds of thousands of dollars for it Right and he knew how to get that longevity.
Speaker 1:He knew what to do and I think that's why his career lasted as long as it did, because everybody else wanted to be that tough brute and get the fans excited by standing and just throwing cautions of the wind in the middle of the octagon.
Speaker 2:I can't back Chandler anymore after that last one. I just can't, yeah.
Speaker 1:I missed the fight and I'm kind of glad I did.
Speaker 2:A part of me died with Michael Chandler that night, I feel, Because I was just like no way, no way. That guy's physical attributes and skill set that he possesses and then just never uses blows my mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I saw the highlights of it on SportsCenter the next day, but it was just like really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a pretty solid, clear-ass whooping, for sure yeah.
Speaker 1:Just from the short little couple-second clips that I got on SportsCenter. It was just like, yeah, he got his ass beat the whole time, didn't he? Yeah, it was pretty wild to watch, yeah. So you know, we've had a lot of other people on this show, athlete-wise from college football players to track athletes, soccer, baseball, basketball, you name it. We've had all these former athletes on here. Have you ever seen any other types of former athletes wanting to get into?
Speaker 2:MMA at your gym after their college careers are done? Yes, so, ironically enough, with Chris, we basically have like a Lake Erie Wrestling Feeder League. All those wrestlers usually end up coming. If they stay in Ohio, they usually come and they train jujitsu with us and some get an MMA. Um, uh, we actually have two DPTs inside my gym and they train semi-pro as well as pro and then upcoming high school basketball players and a couple of those guys joke, but none of them have ever been really serious. Um, we have people come in and out. Usually they don't stay, but you know ex football players that are coming in big, solid heavyweights. They'll roll for a couple of months and then they'll move away. But majority right now it's just been the wrestlers. We get a lot of college wrestlers that after that like what do we do?
Speaker 1:No, fuck MMA and jujitsu. Yeah, I mean, I I don't know how that would be as a collegiate wrestler, what to do after that career is over, because you still have that instinct to want to fight in you. Oh, it's compete, you still want to compete. Yeah, hell, I was a swimmer from the time I was eight, all the way through college, and even at 36 years old, with a bum shoulder, I still have the itch to get in the pool. I can't anymore because literally my body won't allow me to have the itch to get in the pool. I can't anymore because literally my body won't allow me to do what I need to do in the pool. I still have that now. I can only imagine at that age Okay, well, shit.
Speaker 2:You've done something your whole life, all right, hey, well, you're done. Now, what do you mean? I'm done? I've practiced every day of my life for seven days a week, two times a day, yep, and. And now I do what?
Speaker 1:yeah, that. Uh, mine was to get on stage and make people laugh. Apparently it was the next step for me, just a pull to each his own.
Speaker 2:Whatever works, got it got it.
Speaker 1:After the uh, the unfortunate shoulder injury, it was just like, yeah, this swimming's just not gonna happen for me and um just became a goofball after that, apparently um laughter is the best form of medicine that's what they say, right, they say that for sure. I I agree wholeheartedly, after doing it for 13 years and hearing uh people coming up at the shows and telling me, you know they, they're having a better day just from being at the show and they feel better after being able to be made laugh for a little bit.
Speaker 2:And that can be life-changing to some individuals.
Speaker 1:It was, and I've told it before I've had. One of the most rewarding shows that I had was at North Central Correctional Institute where we got to perform for the inmates. There was 400 inmates that got to come to the show and for two hours we got to make them laugh and they came up to all of us after the show and said you know what? You just gave me six more months of peace in here, because I got to feel like, uh, I wasn't locked up for two hours and that was more rewarding than the pay I got for that show. Yeah, yeah, and you know I I was 12 years into comedy after I did that hadn't signed like a single autograph, and I signed 400 autographs that day because every single one of them came up and were just that they wanted us to autograph something for them, and that's why I keep doing what I'm doing, because people are like oh well, there's not a lot of money in comedy to start out with. I don't give a shit about the money right now.
Speaker 2:So many people chase money and that's why the world's so sad. You know money is the root of all fucking evil. It really is. Yeah, you know passion should drive things. You know passion doesn't pay the bills I get. I'm a realist, but you know, if you're so focused it's money. Usually it's fucked from the get-go 100% 100%.
Speaker 1:I definitely agree with that wholeheartedly, do I know? If I keep doing what I'm doing, the money will eventually come, yeah, so I'll just take my time and it'll come when it comes. But that being said, you know there's a lot of great promoters out there, in both the fight game and comedy too, as well. But do you think Dana White is one of the best pro sports promoter that you've seen lately?
Speaker 2:well, I used to defend Dana heavily, Um and anymore it seems like the last five years, UFC has done a lot of things that give me boxing vibes. Uh, the reason boxing died is because of so many promoters, um, and executives and just no, you know, legitimacy in the belts and just the money watered it down and I feel like the UFC is headed that way and it kind of sucks. Yeah, I'm a huge UFC fan. Uh, you know, just even as of recently, the whole shit with John Jones, like you know, I don't know man, I asked, but I'll sit on the shelf, they're not paying him for it. You know, whether it's to sell fights or not, Time is our enemy, man, especially if you're an MMA. It's tricky to go awry and your body can only hold out for so long. I don't know. I think.
Speaker 1:Dana White's kind of a piece of shit right now. If I'm being honest, that's what we look for on this show is total honesty.
Speaker 2:Hopefully that doesn't affect any of my guys in the future. I think he's making some questionable choices that I don't necessarily care for, but he's a multi-billionaire, so hey, what the fuck do I know right.
Speaker 1:Right, it is what it is, you know. I mean, everyone's allowed to have their opinion. That's the beauty of the country that we live in. For sure is that, like I said, said I'm a huge ufc fan. Um, I kind of see where you're coming from with that, with, uh, it turning into boxing, because I was a big boxing fan growing up, because that was like the everybody was right, that was the original.
Speaker 2:How old?
Speaker 1:are you?
Speaker 2:I'm 36 okay, so I'm older than you, but I mean we're around close enough age to where, yes, boxing was the only thing people used to pack bars bars for Tyson fights and shit like that and that was a big deal. But then what happened? Turned into a shit show I mean, don King is a fucking scumbag of all scumbags and then it got watered down and now there's you know so many different titles and this and that Are there some tough ass dudes still boxing? Absolutely. But I just think it's gotten pulled in the wrong directions, as you can see. I mean, go to a local boxing event usually subpar anymore, you know it's because no one really cares.
Speaker 1:Mma is taking over, but MMA is kind of going to probably start heading that same direction too, unfortunately, do you think? That's just the nature of what happens with combat sports, like with what happens with boxing now, seeing the mixed martial arts kind of start to head that direction, do you think?
Speaker 2:that's kind of like the end all be all for for combat sports. So does every empire crash? Is that what you're asking Essentially? Yeah, um, I don't think it has to. I think if you don't learn from your past mistakes. But also, you know, we're in a generation of everyone wants everything now, so everyone wants these demands and you know, if you've done one, you got to do the other. It's kind of it's very self-destructing. I think combat sports are becoming self-destructive. The monopoly's there, it's been there but self-destructive. The monopoly's there, it's been there, but then even the monopoly's going to drop eventually. It sucks. I think a lot of things are wrong with combat sports. I think if you're in the UFC, you should be getting healthcare Now do I know Dana does a lot of nice shit for people? Yes, absolutely. There's a lot that he does do, but there's a lot that he doesn't do. Yeah, it's greed. Greed is the enemy and that's kind of where it's headed. I hope it doesn't. I hope that it changes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I do too.
Speaker 1:The signs are there that it's not right, I see where you come from and I'm with you. I hope I hope it doesn't. My wife and I look forward to Saturday night fight nights with the UFC. I'm the one who got her into combat sports. When we met, I was watching old UFC events and she never really knew what it was. Now she's with me on the couch every Saturday as we look forward to fight nights and getting to watch that. It's something that we enjoy for sure and I hope that doesn't get taken away.
Speaker 2:No, I don't know that it would be in the super near future, but you know, it's on a very, very it's on the up and the money is there and I just think the money could be used to a little bit better to protect the fighters. The fighters do absolutely need paid. You know, if some people realize what some of these fighters were making in the past, you know like, you know here's your $3,000. Like what? So yeah, I mean, I think it. It probably will fail. I hope that it doesn't. I hope that mistakes are corrected from you know things that we've seen in the past.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I hope you're you're right on that. And yeah, I mean, do you see anything coming up for upgraded uh industries up there, uh, any new fighters coming up or any fights that you guys have that are that are coming up that you kind of want to get out there for everybody?
Speaker 2:Um, well, um, both of my guys that had title fights I'm not going to say their names because of the other promoters um, are in, you know, in negotiations, but both of my guys that had scheduled title fights uh now have no opponents, gotcha. So that's neat. Um, for one of them it's been a consistent problem. We're just trying to find them fights, uh, and it's just not happening. Um, yeah, kind of sucks.
Speaker 2:Um, we do get some new talent in and we have some smaller guys that I'm looking forward to with some college wrestling experience. We never had too many like one, 35 years. We've got a new kid and he's really tough. I'm not going to say his name yet, but you'll see him, I like him, I think he's got, I think he's got a hell of a potential. I don't know if he's really mean yet, but we'll find out. He has Zippy, has that main streak in him yet. Yeah, yeah, we get some kids that come in, you know. But again, like the conversation we had earlier, everyone wants to do it until they realize what it entails and at the level of which we expect.
Speaker 1:So I gotcha, absolutely. I definitely understand that. I know the fight game is kind of like you know I don't want to say the comedy game, but I mean it is With shows can be few and far between it could be booked for a show and then the next minute it gets pulled out from underneath you. You're not sure why, but it happens a lot more than people think. I've had to, you know, refund ticket prices for people that went on and pre-bought tickets because uh, got pulled out from underneath me and then you know, then what do you do?
Speaker 2:you're kind of in scramble mode and I think it it builds character for sure yeah, you know, and there's, just like I always try to say, that god has a plan, and you know, and every time that these guys get a fight pulled from them, I just feel like, all right, well, that's more time that we have to work on this Cause. Nobody's perfect and we all have the areas to work on and they all have different areas to work on, right? So then you know, we do focus on those, but there's there's a time and a place to where you need to have that. You need to have that dress rehearsal, right, the amateurs, that's the dress rehearsal. But you need to have that because you need to know what it's like.
Speaker 2:You know like, for instance, like my, my sons, before they wrestle their season, I make them wrestle 60 preseason matches at least. Now it was this past year was probably doubled Um, but cause, by the time that they get to where it matters, there's no thinking, it's just reacting. This is what we do, right? So, while I do utilize the time that these guys get fights pulled from them, I also miss that dress rehearsal with them, which they need equally as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's definitely a catch 22 on that one. You know cause you need that, that Matt time, we'll call it in that cage time, uh, fighting. But you also need, you know, the training time to hone in on the skills. So it's definitely a good balance that you need to find, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So we have a lot of our guys. We have them, you know, compete in grappling as well as boxing and MMA and kickboxing. We kind of try to throw them in everything because you know, like for these instances it just again now happened shit gets pulled out from us. Well, all right, well, let's go take this and let's stay active, let's keep doing this. All right, let's work on this area of our game, you know. And then you know, in that sense it's almost like a relief for some of them because it's like all right, well, I'm not doing mma right now, I'm only focusing and competing in this area of mma, so let's just go do this. So you know, we make it work, but it still still sucks.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I definitely get it. It definitely sucks when you get something pulled from me, especially when you're pumped up and you're ready to go for that for sure. But, DJ, we are running down here near the end of the episode. I got to get this last segment in before we round out the show here and that is the Fast Fitty Five. Five random questions from the wonderful manager of the podcast, Johnny Fitty Falcone, and these are kind of rapid fire, but you can elaborate if you need to. And, DJ, these have nothing to do with what we've been talking about for the entirety of this show what you're saying.
Speaker 2:we're about to get a little weird.
Speaker 1:It's going to get really weird. I'll tell you this. And he sent these to me today. Entirety of uh, you're saying we're about to get a little weird. It's gonna get really weird. I'll tell you this. And he sent these to me today. So, uh, this is gonna be. He never sends these to me till the day we record. He does not want me to see him either. So it's it's a shock for all of us and it's a nice fun way that we're gonna end the show.
Speaker 1:So if you are ready, we'll get started I'm ready when you are all righty question number Should you wash your hair first or last in the shower? First, first, 100% on that one? Yeah, definitely first. Question number two Is hot sauce on steak a real thing?
Speaker 2:I mean, yeah, but that's got to be a shitty steak, that's a terrible steak.
Speaker 1:Now I pride myself on my steak. You put hot sauce on my steak. I'll punch you in the throat. Question number three Best day to cut grass is One where it's dry, because, as of lately that's been never. Yeah, I have a jungle in my backyard and there's no dry days to do it, so I definitely understand that for sure. Question number four harder job professional roofer or professional plumber?
Speaker 2:I know both and billy's gonna be pissed at me. But professional roofer, that roofing jobs suck yeah, yeah, we, just we, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1:I know a couple roofers. That's not a fun job, for sure.
Speaker 2:That's a brutal job, man. Those guys are nuts. They deserve to drink two cases of beer a day 100%, 100%.
Speaker 1:And last question here what is the most comfortable pair of shoes?
Speaker 2:Vans, my checkered vans, bro. Everyone will tell you, I always rock those.
Speaker 1:I haven't heard of v bands in a long time. That's so old school. I love it For sure. Oh, but DJ, that was a fast 85. I feel like you took it a little easy on you on those ones, because he definitely comes up with some weird questions for sure.
Speaker 1:With that, and he I mean he asked me, he texts me these questions all the time and it's just literally him asking me these questions like dead serious, and it's just the way his mind works and we love it and it's a fun way for us to kind of round out the episode, for sure. But, dj, I do give every guest this opportunity at the end of every show. If there's anything else you want to get out there, anything you want to promote, whether it's your gym, any of your fighters, anything like that, or if it's even just a good message, I'll give you about a minute and the floor is yours.
Speaker 2:June 7th Cage Grappling at our place. Come check it out. Upgradedindustriescom. June 28th Golf Outing. All the funds go to underprivileged kids that cannot afford to enter wrestling tournaments or get uniforms. I will buy them for them out of that fund. Uh, chris Tragy has a title fight. Ron is supposedly supposed to have a title fight Um June and July made men as well, as I can't remember the other promotion, I apologize. Other than that, come check us out. Thank you for having me on the show, my man.
Speaker 1:Hey, not a problem at all, DJ. Thank you for joining. That was a lot. It's a lot of fun to kind of round out the group there and upgraded industries and get you on here.
Speaker 2:Now the weirdness makes sense, right?
Speaker 1:It does.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:Dude, the guys were awesome. You're awesome. I'm going to definitely be following you guys. I follow everybody that comes on this show, no matter what they are, and I love watching your careers progress and I can't wait to see what you and Upgraded do with all the talent that you have there. But that is going to do it for this week's episode of the Ride Home Rants podcast. Again, I want to thank my guest, dj Yakabuchi, for joining the show. As always, if you enjoyed the show, be a friend, tell a friend. If you didn't tell them anyways, they might like it just because you didn't. That's going to do it for me and I will see y'all next week.
