Sevan Matossian (00:03):
Spam. We’re live. Where’s my guest? Alexis Rap us. Jorge Fernandez. Oh, there he is. Blake Builder. There he is. There he is. What’s up dude?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning. How are you?
Sevan Matossian (00:20):
Good morning. Good to see you.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Good to be seen. How was everything?
Sevan Matossian (00:26):
Sorry. Say that again. You broke up a little bit.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Can you hear me now?
Sevan Matossian (00:30):
Perfect.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Awesome. I said good to be seen.
Sevan Matossian (00:34):
Yeah, totally. How are you? I’m awesome, dude. Living the dream. I’m stoked to have you here. Stoked to meet you. I’m excited to get to know you today. I
Speaker 2 (00:43):
The feeling’s mutual.
Sevan Matossian (00:45):
I was nervous. I thought you were going to be in a car driving around town. I watched a lot of your interviews and the last one I watched yesterday, you were cruising around in a car. I was like, no, please be stationary. Please be
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Stationary. Yeah. Yeah. That’s like my go-to is to be be on the phone and just on the phone while I’m driving.
Sevan Matossian (01:10):
Yeah. Hey, and sometimes you got to do that just with the complex busy lifestyle and schedule.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Oh yeah, that’s for sure. I know for me, even Tuesdays, Thursdays, that’s why Wednesday was just perfect because Tuesdays, Thursdays, I’m on the road literally five 30 in the morning till 10 at night. It’s crazy.
Sevan Matossian (01:37):
Going to certain places to train.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah. So five 30 in the morning I wake up and then I’m out the door by six to get to La Mohai and I train out there with a former four-time world champion, Chris Coley.
Sevan Matossian (01:56):
And when you say la, where are you referencing? You’re not referencing Los Angeles, are you?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:01):
Oh you are? Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
We’re in Montebello area.
Sevan Matossian (02:05):
Okay. You’re in Los Angeles?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I’m in Orange County.
Sevan Matossian (02:10):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:12):
Are you born and raised in California?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
No, no, no. I was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Sevan Matossian (02:20):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yep.
Sevan Matossian (02:24):
I would like to start at the beginning, but I did see something really fun yesterday on the internet. This looks wild. It looks like, I dunno if this was T M Z or who came out to see you, but it says, this is a crazy headline too. It says UFC’s Blake Builder beats up Normies in Wild Stunt. Can you?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (02:52):
So for people who don’t know, Blake’s eight nos, an amateur eight and one as a professional fighter. He’s no joke. A lot of people believe in Blake, a very dangerous man. And yet these guys, this wasn’t one guy. This is a great video, by the way. It’s just a whole slew of dudes taking shots from you.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yeah, it’s funny. So my buddy Adrian Ult, who is at the front right there in the black shirt, he used to do videos for the Nlk Boys and they bought him a car and everything. Well, he wanted to venture off and do his own thing and he invited all these guys who were actually his roommates, which I have no idea how he does that, but these are his roommates. And he was like, Hey, my roommates, they’re like a rendition of Jackass and they want to come and do all the craziest things. He’s like, so he’s, I’m going to say that they’re going out to eat that. We’re going to go grab lunch, but really I’m going to have five of these guys do one three minute round with you and see how long they can last.
Sevan Matossian (04:10):
Three minutes is a long time for just a regular person.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Three minutes is a long time for a regular person. The longest any of those guys lasted was a minute, 47 seconds.
Sevan Matossian (04:20):
Wow, okay.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
It’s funny because all of them got finished within four seconds of each other.
Sevan Matossian (04:28):
So if the longest one was 1 47, it was like 1 42.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah,
Sevan Matossian (04:33):
1 40, 1 43,
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah. 1 43, 1 45, 1 47, and I think it was 1 45. It was all exactly at the same time.
Sevan Matossian (04:46):
There was one guy that only lasts. I mean, I know it’s an edit, but there was one guy that looks like he only lasts like three seconds.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, he lasted, yeah, maybe three seconds. And that was twice. I knocked that guy out twice and then, I mean, this guy was crazy.
Sevan Matossian (05:07):
Were you like, what’s going on? Did you feel bad for a second? Oh
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah. I felt bad after the first guy and then the second guy. But the first guy was swinging on me saying I had just gotten done sparring five, five minute rounds. And I was like, alright, I have four guys. I was like, I have four or five guys that I have to spar in a row. I was like, okay, I better conserve my energy a little bit. So the first guy comes up, he’s like six four, doesn’t know what he is doing, but he is swinging for the hills and I crack him. I try not to go too hard to the face, but go hard shots. So I was touching him up a little bit to the face and boom, hit him with a liver shot and put him down, wrestled him a little bit right there, and yeah, just touch, just moving around with him. And then I hit him to the liver, like, oh, he had liver. So I hit him with that liver shot and he was done after that. And then the second guy, the second guy I started going a little bit harder on, but we’re messing around, throwing spinning punches right there.
(06:36):
I busted his nose a little bit and I started feeling bad. I was like, all right, I’m busting these guys up pretty bad.
Sevan Matossian (06:49):
And you’re basically, at this point, especially after that sparring, you’re seen, you’re seeing everything.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, especially after the sparring. I just went with a guy who fought for a title for Bar Star as an amateur. When Buddy Quest, he came up short, but it was a good fight. It was close and nobody got finished. It was a decision,
Sevan Matossian (07:17):
Hey, you know how you’ll hear professional baseball players shouldn’t swing a Wiffle ball bat or play Wiffle ball. It’ll throw their timing off. Is there anything like that for you? It’s like, Hey, you should not be in the ring with people who are so shitty. It could throw your timing off.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, definitely. My coach Flame was like, yeah, he is like, I don’t think it’s good for us to spar with guys that are not at our level. It’s disrespectful to the sport, but also it’s like,
Sevan Matossian (07:58):
I was just thinking it would throw your timing off. I mean, shit, everyone kind of wants, go ahead.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah. I don’t know. It’s like Jake Paul and Logan Paul doing exhibition matches with Floyd Mayweather and Nate Diaz and people like that. That’s the way I see it. It’s for me, it’s just like, it’s funny games and then if you have newer guys as a professional, you can always work on your defense more. I mean, obviously with these guys, they’re in there. We’re in there to put on a show and kind get crazy with it. So the third guy, they didn’t even really show, I didn’t hit him to the face pretty much at all. I just dropped him with a body shot because I was like, oh yeah, you kill me. I was like, I’m starting to feel bad here. I have a conscious, and the fourth guy, the fourth guy was crazy. Knocked him out. He woke up and he’s like, one more go. He’s like, that was nothing. I was like, are you sure? And everybody in my gym is like, dude, don’t do it. He’s had enough. And I knock him out again. Yeah, this guy’s gangster. I knock him up the second time. Then he wanted to grapple. So we start grappling. I get him in a Von flu choke, put him out cold. Yeah. That’s crazy. Then he gets up and he goes, he goes, I almost had you. And he goes, one more. So that’s why we’re all looking at each other, dude, what is wrong with you? And so
Sevan Matossian (10:02):
I like it how he taps, but still has to be. He has be put to sleep.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And he came back to consciousness like 20 seconds
Sevan Matossian (10:14):
Later. Anyone get ruffled? Anyone get ruffled? Anyone pissed?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
No. No, no. They were all really cool. They were all really cool. And then I think one of the guys at my church actually works for T M Z sports and he knows Adrian. And he’s like, yo, I saw the video that you and Adrian did. He’s like, I work with tmz. He’s like, I’d like to get an article going. He’s like, we’ll, think of something. And that’s the last time I had talked to him. And so maybe they talked him and Adrian and they came up with something and that was it. But yeah, next thing you know, I got a news article and I got my mom and my grandma and a bunch of friends back home sending me the article. And it’s just fun. It’s just funny. I love this stuff. It makes it more exciting.
Sevan Matossian (11:22):
Hey, what do you think about Keith Thurman and Clarissa Shield? Do you think he’s crazy for getting in the ring with her?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Oh yeah. I don’t know about that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Any guys with girls, that’s the big hangup with transgender fighters fighting women. I have a problem with it. It’s like if you’re transgender fighter or whatnot, and there’s actually some people in that community that would get mad, but it’s like, I just don’t see any women stepping up to fight Khabib.
Sevan Matossian (12:06):
Right, right, right, right. Thurman’s no joke. It’s not like he’s okay or he’s average or he’s good. He’s a fucking great fighter.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah. Keith Thurman is world-class and he will run through Clarissa Shields. Right,
Sevan Matossian (12:25):
Right. Run. You ran through those dudes
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Just like that. And that’s the difference. That’s the difference. It’s not close. People have no idea. And I say, if you’re doing sports, I was watching if the first hole in one on a par four from a girl on the L P G A was in 2016 or 2017, can’t remember. But that’s the first one. And it, it’s just different. The power levels, the build is different. I don’t care if you manipulate your testosterone to whatever degree, there’s different skeletal muscle mass, and there’s just a difference. And you wouldn’t have to manipulate it if it wasn’t different. Right.
Sevan Matossian (13:28):
Dude, I couldn’t agree with you more. I even will take it as far as like I’m okay with women and men’s bathrooms. Men should never go into women’s bathrooms. We are different creatures. There’s a reason why prisons are full of men. There’s a reason why we rob all the banks. There’s a reason why we’re always caught jacking off in public. I mean, we’re different. We need different rules. It’s the reason why our insurance is more, we’re different.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Yeah, different. Exactly.
Sevan Matossian (13:58):
We have some different agendas.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, two different agendas. And Clarissa Shields, great. Boxer, my Hat software, she’s excellent. She’s very good at what she does. But I could go in there and be Clarissa Shields.
Sevan Matossian (14:18):
Well, you are a dangerous man, Mr. Builder.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I’m bold enough to that. Oh, well. She’s a boxing World champion. Look, I won the Golden gloves twice. I won the Ringside worlds. I could beat
Sevan Matossian (14:35):
Her. Hey, tell me about what that means. I’ll hear that every once in a while. So-and-so’s a golden gloves boxer. Can you tell me what that means? What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, so there’s levels with the Golden Gloves. I believe they have the junior Golden Glows. They have the silver, silver, silver Gloves is for youth under 18. And then the Golden Gloves is a tournament that’s been around since it is probably like 90 years old right now. I won it in Georgia in 2013. And what you do is you qualify for it with the fight. There wasn’t enough fights for a qualifier or actually, yeah, the qualifier was the first fight, but I got to buy my first fight in Georgia. So you qualify for the golden gloves by fighting in the tournament. And then the first fight that you fight in will be for the regional, and then you’ll, you’ll fight for the regional, and then you fight for the state. And when you win the state, then you go up to the next level. So in Georgia, I didn’t have enough fights and I wasn’t open. I was considered novice. So that’s typically zero to five fights or zero to eight fights. You are a novice. And then once they turn you open, then you can fight guys, zero to novice, you’re fighting guys with less than eight fights open. My first open fight, I fought a 10 time national champion, 360 plus fights, pull both fucking upper weight class at Life heavyweight. That was
Sevan Matossian (16:43):
In 2013 also.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
That was in 2017.
Sevan Matossian (16:51):
That’s the second time you won it.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
That’s the second time I won it. Yep. Yep.
Sevan Matossian (16:58):
And you fought a do do had over 300 fights.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah. Pool both. Yep. African fighter. And he was incredible. 10 time national champion at Light Heavyweight? No, that was in 2016 because I just won the ringside worlds at 2016. He had just won the Sugar Bird Nationals in 2016, but I wanted that middleweight, which is 1 65. He wanted that light heavyweight, which is 1 78. And they turned me open and him, and then they had me do another open fight, and that was only two weeks after I won it. And I had just won an m m a fight. My boxing coach. The reason why I did it was I did an m m A fight. My coach wanted to see me out, wrestle a wrestler, right? So I out wrestle a wrestler. I don’t finish him on purpose. I just wanted to just destroy this guy, the whole fight so I could go pro. I was was, how old was I?
(18:09):
I was 26 at the time, and I’m like, all right, time to go pro. I turned to my coach after the fight. I go, Hey, what do you think? I was like, that guy wrestled his whole entire life. I was like, I just annihilated him. What do you think? Time to go pro? He’s like, could have knocked the guy out. And I was like, what? And he’s like, yeah, you could have knocked the guy out. And that was for R F A. That was before they merged with Legacy to become L F A. And I was like, okay. So the next morning I got up early and I started at this boxing gym called Sir Boxing in St. Paul, and I did a class with him, and he was like, Hey. He’s like, Hey, champ. He’s like, you trying to find the Ring Style World Tournament? I was like, I was like, yeah, it was one of my boys back from Rice Street. He had his own gym.
(19:12):
And I was like, yeah, I’m down. I was like, when is it? And he’s like, it’s a Tuesday. I’m like, I just fought yesterday. He’s like, yeah, it’s fine. You ain’t got a mark on you. He’s like, you trying to do it? I was like, could I get my, because you get a u s a boxing book that has all your wins, losses and draws in it. And I was like, could I get my book and get registered at the time? He’s like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He’s like, we’ll get all that handled. I was like, all right. So I fight Friday for R F A. I start up with him. Saturday, we train Sunday, Monday. I get all my stuff registered and dialed in on Monday, Tuesday, we’re heading out there with the team. Wednesday, we’re getting settled in and training a little bit, and I weigh in and fight Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and win the tournament.
(20:12):
Sunday. You fight four days in a row. You have to make weight every morning. And so I just fought at 55 because the guy couldn’t make weight for the fight. So I fought at 1 55. So I was already at weight already in good shape. And so I fought at M M A fight four, four or five days later. I fought four days in a row to win the Ringside Worlds in 2016. And then two weeks later, I turned open and fought 10 time National Champion. I didn’t even hear that when they were naming off all his, they were naming off this accolade and that accolade. I was like, Jesus, who they got me fighting against Sky had leopard print trunks, gladiator trunks, and he was, to this day, one of the toughest fights I’ve ever had in my life.
Sevan Matossian (21:14):
So you had six fights in four weeks?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah. Yeah. Five. Yeah. Yeah. Six fights. Yeah. Including that one.
Sevan Matossian (21:24):
Yeah. That’s crazy. Hey, when that happens to you in your career, does that change your confidence too? You’re like, well, shit, I guess I’m capable. It raises the ceiling for you of what you think you’re capable of.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah. I went from three and L and boxing to 16 to 2017. When I moved down here to turn Pro for M M A, I got 18 fights, or I’m sorry, not 18. I got 17 fights in a year for boxing. Wow. Yeah, because my first loss, I was 33 and oh, with all my combined records, which I was super flexing on everybody about, because I was just like, because all these guys in Minnesota would talk shit. All these pros would talk shit to me. They’re like, oh, you’re this and that. You say that you’re this, but you don’t even have that many fights. I’m like, look, I’m just starting off. And I was kickboxing at first, so every time I’d win, especially out of state, we just sent Nebraska home from the Nationals, like, alright, we just sent Little Rock, Arkansas home. We just sent Vegas home.
(22:46):
We just sent whatever state or country that they were from because it saw my boy, Manny do it back in the day. And so many people talked shit to me, man. And I just, because I guess I didn’t have the accolades yet. I didn’t have the fights yet, but I believed in myself and I said that I was going to be in the U F C. I said that I was going to be an undefeated fighter. I said that I would take on whoever, just give me time. And my first loss actually ever was at Nationals, and it was a split decision loss. I guess. The guy who went to the finals, I think he lost in the finals by Split Decision.
(23:38):
It’s this black cat, no, from New Jersey. And yeah, I was 33 and l going into that. I just sent Omaha, Nebraska home to start off the National Golden Globe Tournament. I did a regional qualifier, and so what happened is I did a regional qualifier at Light Heavyweight, so I beat the 10 time National Champion pool. Both I had just turned open. They just turned me open. And that was two, three weeks after I had beat the 10 time National Champion pool. I fought Leo Mod, this Mexican cat, he was a light heavyweight, so 1 78, and he was a three time upper Midwest golden glove champion. He had been in nationals three times and went to the finals. Every really, really good fighter, and I beat him our first fight easily. He didn’t even touch me. It was one of the easiest fights I’ve ever had. The speed difference was out of this world. I was so nervous for that fight, but I beat him easily. He was the qualifier. I had beat another guy before that. They put me against two weeks after the pool fight, and then I fought a month later. It was the wintertime at that time. And so I beat Leo Mede. Leo Mede, that was his name. Leo Mede beat Leo Middel, three time upper Midwest Golden Glove champ at Heavyweight easily. That was the regional qualifier. And then I think in, it must’ve been January or February.
Sevan Matossian (25:37):
So the Golden Gloves isn’t just one event. You don’t just show up and win it. It’s like qualify. There’s some time, then another event, there’s some time, and then there’s a finals.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s how some of them go. Some of ’em take it very serious, but some of ’em, some states, they don’t have enough people. So sometimes you can just go to a Golden Gloves tournament gets signed up and away you go
Sevan Matossian (26:03):
Like a four day event and you get it.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
Exactly, exactly. But they had a qualifier for us because there was quite a few people in the middleweight heavyweight division. So I was fighting people at light heavyweight, but that’s because at middleweight would fight me for boxing.
Sevan Matossian (26:27):
What’s the heavies you
Speaker 2 (26:28):
Fought? M m A fighter.
Sevan Matossian (26:30):
What’s the heaviest you’ve ever fought? Light heavyweight, which is 1 75 light heavyweight.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, 1 75. But
Sevan Matossian (26:35):
Today in U F C, you fight at 1 45, right?
Speaker 2 (26:38):
1 45, yep. Wow. Yeah. But boxing you weigh in the day of.
Sevan Matossian (26:44):
Okay, okay. Hey Blake. You know, was there a point in your life where you had this kind of realization that you were tough? You’re like, oh, I’m tough.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
When I won the Golden Gloves, when I was in Georgia,
Sevan Matossian (27:06):
Really that long into your fighting career, it wasn’t like before your fighting career that you realized there was one day some kid in the fourth grade punched you in the face and you’re like, I can take that.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, it was probably football. Football. The first year of tackle football, they call me the bone crusher, the bone over, because I would literally injure a kid at every practice in every game.
Sevan Matossian (27:33):
Even the guys on your own team, you were that guy. Even the guys on their own team, you were dangerous
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Because they would have us run drills. They had you run drills. There’d be a guy that would have the ball and you’d be right. There’s two things, and he has to try and get through, and there’s two cones right here, two cones right here. He starts off over here and he has to get through, and I just had good form. So as he’s coming through trying to dodge me, I’d wrap him up and just dump him. And I didn’t know. I was always rough. People always got mad at me at recess and whatnot, because I was always going hard When we would play soccer or basketball or anything, and don’t know, I was just always getting in trouble for playing rough. Even to this day, some people don’t like going, I know how to move with people in the gym, but I used to injure a lot of guys in the beginning doing Juujitsu. My coach is like, man, we have to add more onto your membership costing me money. I’m like, I’m so sorry, man.
Sevan Matossian (29:04):
You spoke about a sparring match you had when you showed up at a gym for the first time, and it was with Cheeto and you guys got at it. Can you tell me about that? Marlon?
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah. Yeah, so that’s when I moved down here from Minnesota. I packed all my stuff up and moved out here when I was 27.
Sevan Matossian (29:22):
How old are you now?
Speaker 2 (29:24):
33.
Sevan Matossian (29:25):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yep. Yeah, and we were moving around, we were sparring. I was like, I, I didn’t know who he was, and when I would spar, I’m smiling, I’m having fun. I don’t know the level of seriousness going on, and so I faked, I smiled and did an elevator knee, like, whoa, ooh, mad. Got you.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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