Episode

you And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the handful in attendance and the millions listening on the web on skidroad.la, this is Madtime Radio. All right, everybody. Welcome back to Madtime Radio. I'm Rich. I'm Krell. And we're coming to you again, as always, from beautiful downtown Los Angeles. Yes, sir. And we are actually very honored to be sitting in today with two Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts. Two legit BJJ black belts. Oh, yeah. John Owano and Chris Wolfert. Yeah. Say hi. Hi, guys. Well, thanks for having us here. Yeah, thanks, guys. Right on. Look at Wolfert busy on the phone over there. Yeah, get to your peeps. Get to your peeps. Doing what I do best. So, more fights, as always, over the weekend. UFC, really good card, I think. Yeah, it was a pretty good card. Wolfert and I were, I'm sorry, Chris Wolfert and I were out there talking about it earlier today. So, pretty good card. Yeah. Jail Sonnen. He's my new hero. I like jail, man. Yeah. Smack talking extreme. Oh, man. And a beautiful head and arm choke. Yeah. You see any fights, Owano? I think I saw the prelims. Oh. They were on Facebook, right? No, it was, I think it was Spike TV. Oh, they were? Yeah. I saw the Damien Mayer. Was that Damien Mayer? Yeah, Damien Mayer. You know who didn't watch them? Me. Oh, yeah. A little on-the-mat accident, you know? No, I just, you know, I was busy. Yeah. Got a busy life. Yeah, I know. And everybody, you can reach us on Facebook. And you can also reach us on Twitter, at Mattown Radio. And we do want to hear from you. You can call us in at 1-800-893-9562. You want to hear from me, guys. If you got any questions for two black belts. And we're going to be going into some other stuff that they have going on a little bit later on in the show, too, as well. Excellent. Yeah. So, what do you want to talk about, man? You want to talk about these fights real quick? Well, yeah. Besides Chael, just with an impressive head and arm choke, what did you think about Nan Pham? I think that was a great fight, wasn't it? It was all right. I mean... Okay. Just throw a bucket of water on that fire. Yeah, I just, it was all right. I just feel bad. Like, I just see that Lennon Garcia just, man, that guy, he can barely talk now. In another year or two, he's going to have a real hard time talking because he gets hit in the head too many times. Yeah, he reminds me of, like, you know, one of those old Mexican boxers who's just kind of been, you know, through the mill. But, yeah, he was throwing pretty wild, you know. Yeah, I thought it was funny that after the fight, Joe Rogan was saying, Hey, do you guys want to do number three? And then Nan Pham was like, nah. And then Lennon Garcia was like, yeah, I'll do number three. Yeah, we do it in Houston. We'll do it again. Yeah, he's totally playing for the crowd. Yeah, but both of those guys, they have a lot of experience. Yeah, so, I mean, that was a good fight, though. I mean, it was three rounds of good action. You think that could have been a fight of the night? Maybe, probably not. I don't know. I just don't know how they scored that, you know. I mean, that's all. That was a good fight, though, because they were both going at it. Yeah, that third round when, you know, when Leonard really let it go in that third round and, you know, he gave it all he had. Well, he had no option, right? I mean, he was already knocked out. Yeah, he knew he had to knock him out. Yeah, those are two different styles, though. Yeah, MFM in grappling and fighting, he's very, very technical. Yeah, I mean, he was... Garcia just goes for it. Yeah, well, even his... All emotion. His boxing was good, though. I mean, he was throwing two, three punches and then getting out, and then Garcia was just swinging. Yeah. That's his style, though. Yeah. Yeah. And Joe Lozon, that was just an impressive, you know, rear naked choke right off the bat. That was a really good... That was a pretty, I mean, pretty quick fight for him, so... Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. and he does really, really well, it seems, you know. And he just, he got that fight done really quick. That was a great, that was a great win for him. You see an opening, took advantage of it, and went from there. This is the nature of the fight game, I think, though. Yeah, definitely. I mean, he just, he used his grappling experience, and, you know, he took it to him. Yeah. You know, I know we talk about the UFC, but I know back in the day, Owano had some UFC dealing. Oh, yeah. Oh, you mean the glove deal? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was a long time ago. That's pretty, well, you know, it was when it first started out, which is kind of cool, you know. When I see the UFC, that's what I think about, was all those gloves you made. Well, I guess I was fortunate enough when the time came, you know, I was there at the right time, you know, right place, and the rest is pretty much history, and I had a good run with the UFC for, what, about 2001 to about 2007? Yeah. So it was pretty good. I mean, it was a great time. Yeah. I mean, that was back when we had all those guys coming up to all the big names that are out there now. Oh, yeah, I heard stories about, you know, Big John stopping by the academy to pick up gloves and Larry Landless and all these guys that are still around and, you know, they're still out in the scene. Well, we go back a long way. So Big John was, you know, he was given the task to look for the best UFC gloves or gloves to be used for the UFC, and he was shopping. He was shopping. He was shopping around, and I just happened to be one of the guys who answered his calls and, you know, went forward and went out of my way, produced all the samples that he asked for, and I had told him about, hey, I'm coming out with this new gloves that I'm going to be putting out. It's going to be, like, some type of training gloves. So I sent him a picture, and he goes, well, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I said, well, give it a try. He said, you know, I'm a small company. I'll go out of the way and see how it works out. And, uh... And he did tell me that he approached several of the big companies out there, and, um, he didn't hear back from them, and he was really interested in working with me, so I said, hey, I have nothing to lose, a lot to gain. And he went out of his way to, you know, talk to Dana and the Fertitta brothers, and, um, you know, he pushed for my product because he knew that I was passionate about what I did, so... Mm-hmm. And are the gloves still in production for any other organizations? Um, I still produce gloves for different shows, the AFC up in Alaska. Right now I'm producing gloves for Superior Cage Fighting out of Las Vegas. I still produce a lot of gloves for quite a few organizations. But the bottom line is a lot of these companies, they want, you know, pretty much almost free stuff, but I have to make a living, guys. You know how that goes, you know? Yeah, but, you know, kind of, too, in that respect, you get what you pay for. Absolutely, absolutely. So I still have a pretty good following. Not as big as it used to be when the UFC, you know, when the UFC started, or when I started dealing with the UFC. That was pretty much the bulk of my business, but since I lost the contract with the UFC, you know, I'm back to where I started was Brazilian jiu-jitsu geese. Well, what I noticed, too, and it's a funny thing, in searching, you know, for stuff on eBay and things like that, a lot of people, even though your gloves are not, you know, the official UFC glove anymore, I think it's the glove that has the most autographed signatures out there if you look for a signed UFC glove. Oh, yeah, we get calls every week looking for those gloves. And, you know, we don't carry them, but there's some avid collectors out there. Yeah, but if you go, like, you know, looking up, like, a signed, you know, a signed glove, it's usually an Iwano glove for the most part. Yeah, I mean, it was a revolutionary time when those gloves were made. I mean, Nevada Athletic Commission hadn't sanctioned anything at that time. Those were the gloves that got involved in that process. So that's when the UFC was really becoming a professional entity. And, you know, Dana White and Big John and Iwano was involved with that, too. It was a fun time. Yeah, I mean, I remember it because we used to, you also used to make gloves, I think, we used to go out to King of the Cage. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we used to go to King of the Cage. Fun times. Right when they were on Ceboba Casino still in Indian Territory. Yeah, when it was still a tent. Yeah, well, I mean, it was a big tent. Yeah, it was a big deal back then. Yeah, it was a big deal. Fun times. You know what? And for being on Summerland and away, not sanctioned, I mean, they ran a legit show. I thought it was well-produced and well-ran, so. It's packed. And we used to see, like, Joe Stevenson there when he was coming up. And Quinton. Yeah, Quinton. Quinton, yeah. Yeah. Still had his chain back then. Yeah, yeah. And you still couldn't understand him when he talked to you. Not at all. What are you saying? Not at all. He wasn't howling yet. Yeah, so, I mean, that's how I remember. So I think there's a good reason for them to be collector's items because they came up when all the mainstay guys were coming up. Yeah, you can't mess with signature yellow gloves on the King of the Cage. Well, back then when the UFC was just starting to pick up their pieces, they had to get their pieces together. You know, the King of the Cage had been around for a while. And it's pretty cool because many of the guys that fought in the UFC started with King of the Cage. I mean, you look back, you know, several years, a lot of these guys were fighting for King of the Cage. UFC picks them up. You know, before you know it, they're all over the place. But King of the Cage really don't get that much of credit because they're a smaller production. You know, they're not that big. They're not that big. They're not that big. They're not that big. They're not that big. They're not that big. They're not that big. They had their events at an Indian reservation in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, I remember it being freezing cold going out there to watch fights. Yeah, but it was a great experience. It was a lot of families, a lot of supporters. I really enjoyed going out there, you know. Call Terry Treblecock, and he was always nice to me and always welcomed me every time I went to these events with a handful of my guys, and it was fun. You know, we get to hang out around the cage, meet all the fighters, their friends. You know, even though they're from different gyms, they're pretty cool, you know. Yeah, it was a good thing. Seeing all the up-and-comers. Yeah, I was going to say, the promotion had a lot of guys that came up and then ended up going to the big shows, but it was kind of cool to see them when they were... Well, a quick tidbit, too, is that people don't... I remember when Iwana was designing those, and Big John's deal was, it's so that they don't break their hands. That was the only reason the gloves were being made, that way. Wow, a little four-ounce glove, huh? Yeah, it was nothing about who you're hitting. It was just like, let's make sure people aren't breaking their hands every single time. And that was pretty funny. It was just at the very beginning of the sport, you know, it's come a long way. Wow. Well, I mean, I started going out to King of the Cage just towards the end when I started training. So, yeah, a lot of those big names that kind of already, you know, moved up, that was already, you know, a few of them. I mean, the biggest standout, I think, at the time in my memory was Diego Sanchez who was fighting the King of the Cage. Yeah. And then he jumped out. He was the 19th Ultimate Fighter and then, you know, that skyrocketed his career. But, you know, myself too, just, you know, going to see our teammates that were training at the Academy, Dave Rivas, Charlie Valencia, when they were out there. Yeah, those were some, you know, fun times that I got to go to. Yeah. I mean, didn't Evan, Evan fought Joe Stevenson at King of the Cage, if I remember correctly. Well, there's, if you just... You have Romy Aram. Yeah, the whole list of back then, it's, you know, they're big names now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. for them. I mean, that was a well-run show. Like I said, you go out there and it was, I mean, most people think that they're just, you know, a tent and a cage and stuff, but it was a well-run production. Yeah, and it was before the UFC really became the gorilla, you know? Yeah. I mean, they were still the largest, but nowhere near like they are now. Well, then, you know, maybe you guys can answer this for me because since, you know, I kind of caught the tail end of the, you know, the real big days of King of the Cage, what was Baz Rooten in that whole equation? Because I know in the beginning it had his name on it. Does anyone remember that? I have no idea. I mean, I know he was there and he was involved. Yeah, I remember Terry too. Well, I know Terry was, I mean, you know, the logo, he was the guy, but actually the first couple were called Baz Rooten's King of the Cage. I think he was probably just lending his name out there to get some production credit or something. I don't know. That'd be my guess. Oh, okay. Because he never talks about it. He was King of Pancrase at that time, so it was probably just to help the, the name. Yeah, I know definitely it was Terry that was, you know, the whole model for the belt logo and everything and it wasn't. I don't know. He don't, he don't look nothing like that guy. It wasn't, I thought it was. No, right? I have no idea. He looks like, he looks like Wolford. I mean, all I know is back then, you know, there were only a few legit MMA shows, so who knows? I mean, a lot of backdoor deals we have no clue about. You know, people just speculate and start rumors and I really don't know. I mean. Well, yeah, the funny thing I see is like a lot of these shows, obviously everybody knows them now because you can go on the internet and see YouTube videos and you can talk to people, but I mean, even going back to just playing, you know, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, when I started, it wasn't as trendy as it is now, so it's, it was definitely a small group of guys that did something that was very different from the mainstream. Yeah, it was a brutal way to make a living. I mean, even guys that we know that were really good barely could pay rent. You know, it was tough. I mean, they weren't making big, not making like, you know, $500 you thought you were really doing well. And you're selling tickets and maybe making a couple bucks off a ticket. Trying to make some shirts and have your buddies buy it. It was a rough living at the beginning. Well, it's bragging rights too, so, you know, it's, the money's good, but it's the bragging rights. No, but I also think you have to have, you've got to love something that much, to do it and get paid a minimal amount for it. Yeah, no one gets into that line of work, you know, unless they truly love it. You know, they don't do it to get paid. Yeah. Well, you guys, you know, you go training at Academy, you know this, that a lot of people come in with those dreams and unfortunately they last a couple months because then they realize it's probably easier just to get a 9 to 5 job. Yeah. You know, that's a lot of work to be a professional. Or they come in and they get beat up by a white belt and then they go, wait a minute. Why? Those guys on TV make it look easy. Yeah, they realize that they got to learn. They look at Nan Pham and they're like, what? He really is that tough. Oh my gosh. A little psych on that guy. Hey, we're going to take a quick break but when we come back, man, maybe we'll get some more questions because it's an interesting topic. All right, we're going to be back with some more Mad Time Radio. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Keep talking. Keep talking. What were you talking about anyway? We were just talking. Shop talk. Shop talk, yeah. Hey, since we got you guys back, I think maybe a good segue is maybe you can just give us a quick intro on your company and how you guys got started. Well, let me see. I got involved in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu back in around 94. I was doing a different job. God, you're old. Yeah, I was doing a different time of martial art back then. And one of my brother-in-laws was training with Hoist Gracie in Torrance. And he just would not stop telling me that it was the greatest thing on earth. And I just kept telling him, you know, whatever. It doesn't matter. So eventually, after a while, I went to his house. Whose house? Hoist? No, my brother-in-law's house. He had a bunch of mats. So we went over and, you know, we started rolling and I kind of got the bug but I didn't want to spend the money on it. So I would spend, you know, Fridays and Saturday nights for a few hours training with him. And after about probably several months, I finally decided, well, I've got to get proper training. So I was working in Van Nuys at that time and John Jock Machado was the only gym in the valley. So it was only about maybe 10 minutes away, less. So I decided to train under John Jock and had a great time. You know, at that time, my training partners were Eddie Bravo. You know, I've known Eddie all these years. Great guy. And a bunch of other, you know, Lou Salceda. He was, I think he was a police officer with the LAPD. He's currently, he's retired now. He's a great guy and I still see him every so often at tournaments. And I figured, well, I really enjoyed it. Trained a lot and Carlson Gracie came along. I was with John Jock. He was my first master. He was a great guy. Great teacher. Great person. Great coach. And Carlson Gracie came along. I had befriended a couple of Brazilians that were training with my brother, well, helping my brother-in-law train. And they had trained under Carlson. They were purple belts back then. And he said, oh, my master's in town. I was like, who? He said, oh, my master's in town. my master's in town. He said, oh, my master's in town. My master, Carlson Gracie. I was like, don't know who he is. Never heard of him. You know, at that time, it was like Hoist Gracie was the main man. So he goes, well, he's opening a school in Westwood. I was like, hey, that's about a mile from my place. So they said, well, come on over. I'll introduce you to my master and you'll like him. He's a great guy. So I said, all right, I'll come by. So I met Carlson. Very limited English, but the greatest guy you would ever meet. I mean, after meeting him the first time, I decided, you know, I'm going to start training with him. So I have been with Carlson Gracie team ever since. So around 95, I think. And then Rodrigo came along in 96 and never left. So I, he, Carlson, you know, God bless his soul when he was, when he was still alive, you know, he would tell people that was his first student. And I'm really proud of that. So. Wow. And when, when Carlson came down, he came, did he come by himself or did he come with? No, he came with Vitor. Vitor was about 17 at that time. So that's how long I've known Vitor. We used to train a lot every day. He's a great guy, great shape. You know, during those days, people would always come by and say, oh, what's Brazilian Jiu Jitsu? I'm going to try it. So Vitor was the one who did all the beating. I kind of heard a little something actually along those lines. That it was, if he was over a certain weight, he'd get Vitor. If he was under a certain weight, he'd get Rodrigo. Yeah, that was, that was, that was when we moved to Hollywood. We were, yeah, Rodrigo came probably around 96, probably about six, seven months after Carlson had established himself in Westwood. So we had to leave Westwood and we were training at a small karate academy in Venice in my neighborhood. And we were there for a little bit. You know, a lot of big names would come by. You know, all the, all the guys that started Brazilian top team would show up. Liborio, Murilo, all those guys. You know, it was great times. Everybody would come and we would train at a, you know, probably like 12 by 12 room. All these big names. It was awesome. What about you, Wilford? Yeah, I mean, I, I, you know, saw the UFCs on TV and stuff. I had wrestled and, and I have a funny story. The first time I ever went into an academy and, you know, I train with Rodrigo Medeiros and I walk in and no one spoke English. It was all these guys just killing each other on the mat. I'm like, oh, I'm sorry. Is this, am I allowed to train here or is this a private place because there's no real signs? He's like, oh, come on in. And then, you know, it turned out it was Murilo Bustamante, Waleed Ishmael, Vitor, the whole team. It was training and, you know, I had no idea who they were and then as you start coming up through the ranks you realize how special those, those days were that all the legends you have a chance to train with and I, I had the opportunity also to train with Master Carlson and limited English but you always knew what he was telling you to do. Yeah. Because he was a big time father figure. So, but we, the, the geese really started, you know, because there wasn't really a, a decent gi out there. Yeah, when, when I, when we were in West Hollywood, the only way to get a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gi during those days were either you knew a Brazilian that came straight from Brazil off the plane selling Atamas, Krugans. Krugans were the biggest thing back then. They'd be selling them for like 150, 200 bucks. You know, back then, back then it was a lot of money. I knew a lot of Brazilians. I knew a lot of friends in Brazil, but I refused to pay that amount of money. I mean, I mean, the first gi I ever had, a Brazilian gi that I ever had was an Atama. And it was brought over by a friend and he was trying to sell it for like 150, a ridiculous amount. And I said, you know what, I'm not paying that much money. So I got it for much less than that and the rest is history and I figured, you know what, I don't want to be spending 150, 200 dollars on a gi. So I started doing research. I spent about two years researching. I bought judo gis and I would have it tailored because, you know, the sleeves of the judo gis were so wide, skirts were so long. So I would have them tailored to fit me. And after that, I did a lot of research, went online, I traveled a lot, I went overseas, saw some factories. But the person I'd like to give props to is Howard Liu. And, you know, I've known Howard for so long, all these years, for over a decade. Great guy. Sat down with Howard at a tournament and, you know, asked him questions and he literally told me, I'm going to tell you everything you want to know. So, you know, he gave me a lot of tips, a lot of ideas, where to go, how to do it, what to look for. But it was affordable. Oh, back then. Basically, it came down to it just cost quite a bit less and the quality was up to the mark. Right. So, you know, it was actually better. It's almost like a, you know, like a business model where you find a niche and you try to... It absolutely was a niche. Because, obviously, the market now is so different where... It's evolved a lot. Yeah, there's a thousand people and there's a thousand stitchings and colors. But essentially, it's pretty amazing. Well, when I first started, there were only about three, four American companies. I mean, you look, I mean, you search online now, I mean, you'll see pages and pages of Brazilian jiu-jitsu gis. I mean, every week, there's one that comes up. That's true. That's true. It's a lot of competition. There's a lot of people off. There's still four or five that are the big boys and they've stood the test of time. But literally, every week, there's a new company trying to come up. And I know, like, if you go back, it's odd because if you go back and look at pictures of like, let's say, Rodrigo, he's wearing an Iwano gi, right? He's got the Iwano gi with, like, a thousand logos on it, which, obviously, it's so different now, right? But, I mean, you look at... The NASCAR look. Yeah, yeah, the NASCAR look. But if you look at, even, you always find a picture of somebody with an Iwano gi. Like, anywhere you go, someone's got an Iwano gi, which says a lot for, I guess, for your brand recognition that, I mean, it's pretty global. I mean, it's out there globally, right? I mean... Well, it all started with our friends. When I was doing the research and development, you know, I've known Rodrigo for a very, long time. I mean, we've been friends since he was a brown belt. I was actually the person who asked him to stay in the U.S. And I introduced him to one of our students, Chris Franco, who helped us start the academy in La Habra. Well, the first one was in Whittier. We were there for a year. Then we moved on to La Habra. But, Rodrigo's always been there for me since the beginning. I would always tell him, hey, put this on. Sure. I mean, he's a great guy. You know, great supporter, great coach. I love the guy to death. I, you know, he's like my little brother. A lot of people always say, why do you guys always scream at each other? It's like, just, that's how we are. I think I'm about the only person out there that can have an argument with him and at the end of the conversation, give him a big hug and, you know, that's pretty much it. So, we've been friends for about 16 years. He has been, you know, very important to my life. He has helped me a lot, given me a lot of ideas. Talking about patches on geese, during those days, it's how many patches can you fit on a geese? Could be the funniest looking patch. It doesn't really matter. Like Chris said, it's a race car look. Oh, I got some geese. I'm like, I wore that and I was proud of that. I was looking at some old pictures. I think people, people were like, what's with all the flair, dude? I'm like, ah, dude, you know, like, oh, the more the better. The more the better. Oh, well, some of us, we get our own, our own logo too. Oh, come on now. You can be cool too if you custom order a gi. We do that. You just need to know someone. I can't wear it as well as you do, man. I don't got a niche at all. just going into that, I know a lot of people don't know, but you can, you can get a custom made gi from Moano. Just for yourself. Yeah, just for, I mean. Well, we've been doing that for a few years now. We, you know, I mean, I decided that it was the best thing to do when people call and say, hey, I'm about six foot six, 260 pounds. Oh, that's not me. You have a gi for me. Well, your body fits an A4, but, you know, you're so damn tall, you're going to need an A6 or A7 length. So, that's how it started. A few phone calls here and there and, you know, we just figured, oh, okay. The customer service part. Yeah. Yeah, it was more, mine was like, I got these 20 inch pythons I can't fit in a suit. Well, definitely, you know, when you're looking for something of quality, look at when, you know, the best way to buy a suit is you go out and you get a custom tailored suit. Custom tailored, that's it. You know, and that's going to fit you the best, of course. Well, and we've also been training for a really long time, so we know what you need. That's true. So, I think that helps a lot with, we're both black belts and we've trained in everything and kind of tailored, you know, a fit for, you know, we have two different styles. One's, one's for a stockier build, one's a little thinner and, you know, I think we're doing pretty good. Right on. On that note, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to be back with some more Madtime Radio. Radio TV and even the press say what's the meaning of V-A-P-O-R-S The meaning of this word without no doubt means nobody want to be that when you're down and out Now when you're established and got a lot of money Everybody want to be your buddy and honey Like toll builders they call skyscrapers Kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa, kiffa And you feel it Nothing can save ya But this is the season of catching the vapors And since I got time what I'm going to do Is tell you hardly spread it throughout my crew Well you all know T.J. Swan Who sang on my records Make the music nobody beats the biz Well check it Back in the days before this began He used to try to talk to this girl named Fran The type of female with fly gooch you wear With big truck jewelry and extensions in her hair When Swan tried to kick it She always best talking about Baby, baby, baby, baby Baby, baby, baby, baby What easy work for UPS Since he was an old type of big drug dealer My man T.J. Swan didn't appeal to her But now he trucks gold and wear fly belly boots Bluff leather fashion and tough silk suits Now she stop frontin' and wants to speak And be coming to all the shows every single weekend To get his beeper number she be begging please Dying for the day to get skis She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors She caught the vapors I got another partner that's calm and plain he goes by the name of the big daddy cane The mellow type of fellow that's laid back Back in the days he was nothing like that I remember he used to fight every day he will not will not will not will not will not will not will not will not will not will not will not will not We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We will be right back. and it's a slimmer cut, so a lot of people that do jiu-jitsu are actually like tall, slender people, and it works better for them. They like that cut. It's like the skinny jeans or what? What do you mean? It's borderline. Well, myself not included in that description, but I still love mine. Richard's out. He's only a one-on-99 gi. More like an 88. Yeah, just kidding. And then, you know, we're still in the developments, but we have a really cool entry-level gi about to come out that will be a really fair price point, and I'll be honest. I'll probably be training in that most of the time. Yeah, so for people who are listening, tell them the website they can go if they want to just check out what you guys have to offer. Yeah, I mean, Awano sounds easy to spell. Somehow it becomes guano or some other crazy stuff. I've heard that. We've heard it all. We've heard it. So it's simple. It's O-U-A-N-O dot com. It's O-U-A-N-O dot com. It's not guano dot com. It's not guano dot com. It's not guano dot com. It's been discombobulated quite a few times. So we've been really successful lately. So some of the premium line is sold out on the high-end sizes. Like A2s are very popular. But production is happening as we speak. We have some new variations coming out soon. And then what I'm really excited about, we signed, in fact, he's here in California, tomorrow. We have a meeting with him tomorrow. Yeah, we've launched Awano Europe. The gentleman has become a business partner with us. And he's going to run all of Europe. Yeah. We're really happy. It's huge. So Chris worked very hard to get that contract going. And I don't know what I would, you know, I don't know what to do if it weren't for Chris. Because he drew the contract and they signed it. And, you know, they placed their first order. We're hoping to have their first order. We're hoping to have their order shipped out to them in the coming weeks. And they're very excited. You know, we are releasing the new Awano rash guards that have never been released before. It will exclusively be going to Europe. I've been showing Chris the new designs for our rash guards coming out, hopefully before the end of the year. And it's a little bit different than the ones that we're distributing in Europe. But I'm really happy with it. And Chris is happy with it. I also want to thank my partner over at Newbreed, Johnny Ramirez. Because I've shown him some, you know, some cool ideas. And when I showed him the new rash guards, you know, he was actually pretty good about it. He goes, yeah, pretty good. I like that. So it's rare for Johnny to say that. But I really appreciate it. You know, Johnny and I have been together for a long time. So, you know, I value his opinion. And he's a very person. He's a very picky guy. But, you know, his opinion is very, very important to me. Well, I know now that, you know, since the UFC has just exploded in Europe and doing pay-per-views now, I can imagine that there's going to be a huge audience for the product over there. It's huge. And it hasn't really been tapped very well. Well, that's our goal. So I weeded out a lot of potential business partners. And they're going to do it right. And it's not inked yet. It's really close for Iwano, South America. So we'll be going all the way down to Brazil. Wow. Oh, you will? Okay. Yeah. So some really big things happening. Other things I can't even talk about. But it's really, really exciting. We're going global for sure. It used to be, you know, here and there we'd get orders. Now we will truly be a global company. Yeah. So you guys got Gi's, obviously, lightweight premiums, entry level. You got Rash guards. What else you guys got? We have board shorts. We produce a lot of equipment for many academies out there. You may not see our name on the logos. But if you look hard enough in the tags, you'll see our name on it. We've been producing many products for different gyms for the last probably five, six years. We have developed a good friendship, good relationship with all our friends. And like I said, that's where it started. Our friends are cool. Our core friends have been there for us from the very beginning. And I can't thank them enough. All my old teammates. Pretty much everyone has been in the industry long enough to remember Awano when we first started. And is there any, like, special custom product that really stood out, you know, something off the wall that you can remember, you know, coming up with? You know, I think the UFC gloves. That was probably the highlight of Awano. When we first started, you know, the UFC just blew up. How about like an A-10 gi? I've actually... For Shaquille. No, I have produced a custom gi for an actor. You know, over at... He trained over at Horyun's. Okay. Horyun's Academy. And actually Horyun called me about it. And Michael... Was it Michael Duncan Clark from the Green Mile? Yeah. I produced a custom gi for him when he first started training. They couldn't find a gi for him. So Horyun Gracie called me. And I said, no big deal. I'll make one for him. And sure enough, he's lost a lot of weight since then. And that was a good experience. And it was really nice to, you know, to attach a name to, you know, to that individual. And also my... Before I forget, my wife just sent me a text earlier. And I know I have to bring this up. She told me that I need to bring up that Mr. and Mrs. Smith movie when Brad Pitt was wearing the Awano UFC gloves during a scene. It was probably about two, three seconds worth. And he was training in a ring. And I noticed it first when I went to go see the movie. And I was really happy to see it. I did try to talk to a lawyer to find out if it was worth something. You know, I was told that I better stick to that fame. So that's a claim to fame. And not just myself, but many people have brought it up. Oh, wow. And currently, I think the premium gi is definitely, if you go on our website, awano.com, I think that it's been by far on the numbers end, the highest seller. And actually, a lot of people have looked at that cut and tried to copy it because it is so successful. Yeah. Yeah. And so definitely, I got to go back to Netflix, Mr. and Mrs. Smith now. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. It puts a smile on my face every time I see that. What, for two seconds? Oh, heck yeah. Then I got to put a big smile on your face because you seem to love it. No, really, thank you. Thank you for having us over. Right on. But we're going to take a really quick break. And we'll be back with some more Madtime Radio in just a moment. We want to close out and just get the last words from Chris and John. We'll be back. You got it. . . Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. Take your time. It's kind of hard just to get along today. Our subject isn't cool, but he fakes it anyway. He may not have a clue, and he may not have style. But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial. So don't debate, play us straight. You know he really doesn't get it anyway. Gotta find a feel, and keep it real. For you no way, for you no way. So if you don't rate, just overcompensate. At least you know you can always go on rickety lane The world needs one of these Hey, hey, do that brand new thing Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh And all the girls say I'm pretty fly For a white guy He needs them cool tunes, not just any will suffice But they didn't have ice cubes So he bought vanilla ice Now cruising in his Pinto He sees homies as he pass But if he looks twice, they're gonna kick his lily ass So don't debate The player's great You know it really doesn't get in any way Gotta find a feel And keep it real For you, no way For you, no way So if you're not afraid Just overcompensate At least you know you can always go on rickety lane The world needs one of these The world loves wannabes So hey, hey, do that brand new thing Now he's getting a tattoo, yeah He's getting inked done He asked for a 13 But they drew a 31 Friends say he's trying too hard And he's not quite hip But in his own mind He's the, he's the dumbest trap Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby Uh-huh, uh-huh Give it to me, baby So don't debate The player's great You know he really doesn't get it anyway So don't debate The player's great You know he really doesn't get it anyway So he will not wake So he will not wake So he will not wake You know you can always go on and get laid. The world needs one of these. The world loves one of these. Let's get some more one of these. Hey, hey, do that brand new thing. Give it to me, baby. Uh-huh. Time flies. Yeah, time flies when you're having fun. Another hour? We can keep going. Just like Chris and I were talking about outside earlier, who we really want to tune into the show and meeting people and stuff is people that are involved in our sport. You meet someone that trains and you found a friend. People are just so passionate about the sport and we're real happy to bring this to our listeners and get them involved in supporting the people that support our show. So everyone, we really want you guys to go out there and check out the website and check out the Facebook. Guys, tell us where we can find you. Well, you can find us on Facebook at Awana International. We are encouraging people to like our page. The goal is to have as many people as we can, you know, thousands if possible. We will be posting on a regular basis on our Facebook fan page pretty much everything that we're doing. Any promos, any up and coming, any type of news that we have, any future plans, anything coming up. You know, Chris and I will be on it. We have two other people that will be posting on it as well on a regular basis. And, you know, if you're listening, tell all your friends. Make sure you like our Facebook fan page. It's Awano International. We are going to try to face off the Awano, the regular Awano. We're going to try to get everybody to our Facebook page and hopefully we'll get everybody to our fan page and that way we can just manage the fan page. And I think... Real quick, what about that contest with the photo tagging? Yeah, I was going to... Before you go into that... Chris will be able to answer that. Yeah, I was just going to say that. I think your other page is already maxed out. That's the issue we're having right now. So what we're trying to do is get everyone on our fan page. And all you have to do is tag a photo. And if you're wearing your Awano gear, it could be the MMA gear, it can be the jiu-jitsu gear, whatever. It doesn't matter. You get a 20% discount code from us for your individual use. It's up to a year. And that's just to say thank you. That's it. There you go, 20%. Everybody wants a discount. Absolutely. Yeah, so, you know, it's just to say thanks. And, you know, some people have been really loyal followers to our gear. And we don't want them to think that we... We don't appreciate that. Yeah, well, that was my first gear. That was definitely, you know, my A4. Custom gear that is. Are you serious? A4? Yeah, back then. Rich started off like 260. Yeah. That's a great story, man. It's an awesome story. A4 gear. And I still... Actually, I still have it. I still have... Well, I have the top. I still have the top and... You should get that framed. You know, actually... I'll be more than happy to have it. Actually... I'll be more than happy to sign it. Actually, what I'm doing is... What I'm doing, I'm saving my belts and I'm saving the board shorts you make with the belt on them. Right. So, those are gonna get framed when I start moving up, you know, my levels. I have my white belt shorts and, you know, I have a pair of belted blue belt shorts too that, you know, will go up on the wall eventually. And, you know, so I... You know, I am keeping a record and stuff for that. Yeah, I'm not throwing away that old stuff. That's great. I can't. I got too many geese. Well, I got plenty of geese but that first one that I had, you know, that big black geese, you know, that's something... I still throw it over my pull-up bar and, yeah, I can't... I haven't been able to destroy it. It's been that long. That's crazy. So, yeah, it's... Just find us on the webpage, Iwano.com. You know, we got videos on there, everything. So even if you're not shopping, there's gonna be a lot of stuff in there to browse. And then... You can also sign up for our newsletter. We should have that on like every quarter or so. And you know, just be a part of our family. We pretty much carry everything. Custom geese, board shorts, rash guards, T-shirts. We print shirts for people, a lot of patches. And my son just sent me another text saying that, dad, don't forget me. Remember your assistant and about the skateboards. We do have... We just introduced... We just introduced our old school 10 by 31 skateboards. And my son is really proud of that. I'm very proud of him and hopefully he'll move up. And thanks for the plug. He's always fun to have on the mat with us and stuff. Yeah, he's a great kid. I love him. Yeah, I just like hitting him in the helmet. I just like that we can legally abuse him somehow. That's okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seriously. Yeah. We want to thank everyone for listening and for being a part of this show. Chris and I want to make sure that everyone understands what we do. We are a geek company but we sell our lifestyle. We don't just sell it. We live it. So we skateboard. We surf. Chris has been surfing all his life. I've been surfing for over a decade. Skateboarding. Skateboarding, you know, love skateboarding with my son, you know, training with the guys. It's a lot of fun. And you guys both teach still, which is. And we still teach. Yeah, you know, I mean, we both had corporate jobs. I mean, a real quick thing is we did the normal route. And at least I can say for myself, I felt like I was slowly dying while I was doing it. I really, I did. And I said, you know what? I've learned a lot of skills here. I'm going to use them for stuff I'm passionate about. And I have fun every day. I mean, I'm doing business and stuff. But everyone that calls into, you know, our office, they're part of the family. They do what we do. So it's exciting. And you're going to, when you make the call, you're going to get someone here too. You're not going to get a call to India or, you know. No, no. Yeah. Most likely be talking to me, to be honest with you. So, yeah. There you go. There you go. Well, guys, as always, you know, thank you very much for coming in. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having us. It was a great time. And looking forward to our next visit. Oh, yeah. When the top secret stuff isn't top secret anymore, we want to hear about it. Or actually before it comes out. You know what? We'll make this promise. We'll launch it with you guys. Oh, awesome. Sounds like a good one. Absolutely. We'll launch it. You gave us this platform. Let's do it. Awesome. All right. And thanks again for everything. Yeah, but hey, thanks for taking time out of your Sundays to come down here. It was great to be here. All right, everybody. This is another episode of Madtime Radio. And we'll see you next time. See you next time. Thank you. Until then, go train, everybody. Oos. Crail out.