Transcript of #620 - Keith Peterson

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We're here.

Today's guest is a true renaissance man. He's a father, he's a MMA referee, he's a musician, and he's a mechanic, and he absolutely hates nonsense. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. No Nonsense, Keith Peterson.

I love this. I love this.

I'm sitting here with the man No Nonsense, Keith Peterson. Thanks for joining me, man.

No problem.

I got to ask you straight up, dude, is there... How much nonsense is allowed?

In what? In fighting or life?

What are your thoughts on nonsense? Because you got the name No Nonsense, right? Yeah.

I don't know. There's a time and place, I guess, right? But I think I think the No Nonsense thing is just my approach towards things. And John Anick gave me that nickname, and it just stuck. And I think it fits. But there's nonsense.

So you'll allow a little? A little. Okay, it depends. During the holidays.

Yeah, I guess.

Okay. Maybe on your birthday, there's a little bit of nonsense allowed.

Usually, most of the things I do, I do very straightforward and no nonsense, I guess.

Yeah, I've been involved in too much nonsense, and it gets a little hairy, that's for sure. Yeah, John Anick gave you that new name. When was that?

Yeah, a few years ago. Yeah, we had a few conversations, and then I think on air, he said it, and it just seemed to take off and fit. I think it does fit. Yeah. Nicknames are weird, but I've had a few.

Yeah, what are some other ones you had?

When I was little, my nickname was Frogy from the Little Rascals, the voice. Oh, yeah. The little guy with the voice. I've always had this voice. Yeah, that was my nickname pretty much until I got older. Some people still call me that, though. Yeah, there's this girl who moved in across the street, and she came over because she wanted to play.

That fits, man. That It fits. You're from New York?

Long Island, yeah. Long Island, New York. I originally lived in East Meadow, Nassau County area, and now I live in Islet, New York.

Islet? How did you get in a referee, and how did that start for you?

I fought amateurs for a while, for about three years. All different fights, amateur-level MMA fights, multi-fight kickboxing. Then we fought amateurs for a while, for about three years, all different fights, amateur-level MMA fights, Muay Thai fights, kickboxing. And then we had a lot going on. So it was getting harder and harder to put the time in. And someone just... I was like, Oh, why don't you judge or be an inspector at fights, at amateur fights or stuff like that? I was like, Okay, that sounds cool. I'll still be at the fights. Then I took this course. I was in New Jersey, and there was this old referee, Donny Carly. He reffed a bunch of my kickboxing, MMA fights and stuff.

Donny Carolli?

Yeah. He passed away a few years ago. And he was like, You'd be really good at reffing. You'd be really good at reffing. So I got my chance to ref a few amateur fights and it just took off from there. And he was pretty supportive during the amateur part of it.

Were some of those early bouts tough or was it tougher to referee then? Is it something that gets easier over time?

Yeah, I compare it to, and I don't know if it's a good comparison, but it would be like being a brain surgeon. You're not going to be as good as you're going to be 10 years, but no one could die. Pretty simple. So you learn lots and lots of little things.

So you're saying you're not going to be as good as you're going to be later, but as long as you don't let somebody die.

Yeah, you got to stop the fight when it's supposed to be stopped. And then the rules, it all comes in as you go.

Take me on an early experience that was That's a lot for a referee. Yeah.

So for me, my first couple, I remember my first or second time, a referee. The fight was really even. It was amateurs, really even. And then the kid was losing pretty bad. And I was like, wow, this kid's losing pretty bad. This fight should be stopped. And I was like, oh, no, that's me. And I stopped it. And then from there, you're like, yeah, you're the one in there. Because Because you're up close and you have to adapt into a referee. At first, I came out from fighting. So my mentality was like a fighter. As a fighter, I didn't always agree with the referee.

Oh, it's a good point because as a fighter, you're- You're just doing your thing.

Especially at the high level, this It's their health, their lives, their livelihood, and all the dedication in the world that it takes. They're on a different journey that day than I am, for sure.

Are there fighters that will tell you, that will come up to you before about and say, Do not do this or do this?

Yeah, you'll get, Do not. Then I just let them talk, and then I do whatever my criteria is, I don't change it. You can't?

No, you can't. You don't change it. Is there one fighter that's like, Do not for anything? Is there somebody that's just like, Let me go to the end of the road every time? Somebody that stands out?

Because it's- There's been Not to name any, but a lot of times when they say, Don't stop this, they usually end up stopping it. It's weird. Or they'll tap or something. They'll be like, Wow. Especially when they say, I'm willing to die, whatever. But some guys are just quiet and just you know that they're there to get the job done. And as far as it's like, as I said, a criteria. Let's say you've watched a lot of fights. And when I'm reffing, I'll say you have to move. And if they fit that criteria, if they're defending and they can move, it's a fight. My main thing, as I said, they're putting their health on on the line. My main thing is to have them fairly fight and health, like them leaving and being able to fight again or whatever they want to do again. Be a family person. Besides me being a parent myself, it's the most important thing I'll ever do. It's very important. And on the outside, it's just a fight, but a lot can happen.

On You're like a safeguard.

Yeah. And you're in there. And as I said, emotions from everywhere, right? Fighters, corners, people who are there to watch the fight You get a different vibe from the people in the front row, from the people in the back row. So it's a very emotional. So really, I try to keep my emotions aside and just have this set thing of what I each time. Everyone makes mistakes. No, that doesn't make them acceptable either. Everyone makes... And they do, and I do. But make a mistake, omit it, and learn from it and move on.

Is there a fight that you've had? You were like, Yeah, maybe that was a little earlier. I didn't read it correctly. I try not to read it totally into the early ones.

I don't have many where I'm like, Oh, that That was late. I'm lucky that I don't really have one where I'm like, Wow, that's not what I'm here to do. So that I'm lucky. But to know As you get more experience, you know. You'll know when even sometimes someone will be like, I think that was a little early. And you'll know right in your head, it wasn't a little early. Because you're there right next to them. You hear all the sounds.

That's a good point, actually. Everything else. Yeah, you're right there. I mean, you're right there. You're the closest person to it. You can feel a different energy than we can. Yes.

And even cameras, I've done... Because I look at my work when I'm done with it, and I've watched five different angles. And usually the only angle, there's one angle that I'm like, Oh, that's what I saw. And the other angle is maybe a little bit, and then there's one closest to where my eyes are, and they are, where you're like, Oh, that's what I saw.

You ever go back and, like with your lady, make love to a fight to watch one or something like that? You know what I'm saying? Watch your work type of thing. Like a thing people will watch there.

Oh, watch it. Just to say, Wow, I did great. No, I don't look at the ones I think I did good.

Tell me a little bit about your life outside of work. Because I know you're in a band. I remember you telling me about it one time.

Yeah, I was in two bands. It My first band, we started in 1998. And then my other one, we've been around a pretty long time, too.

What's that band called?

The first one was called GFY, and the second one is Loser Sometimes When. And they're like New York hardcore bands.

Hardcore? Yeah. Nice. And what do you model them? What is GFY for?

Go Fuck Yourself.

Oh, yeah.

I was younger than, yeah.

That shit was fun, huh? Dude, where did you guys play? How did you guys get started?

Long Island, guys. We met like a music scene. I was like, Oh, we'll start something. And then we just started it.

Were you singing? Were you playing an instrument? I sing. You did. That voice as part of it, was that one of the reasons you even got into singing? Because your voice was different?

It just happens to be that my voice fit the hardcore thing, but I liked hardcore way before that. But I started listening to hardcore punk rock music when I was really young. But yeah, I got into heavy metal and Black Sabbath and all that. And then when I started in my early teens, I wanted to find something that fit more of where I was and more like work as a man, like street music and stuff. So I found hardcore and just fell in love with it from then. That That's what I listen to. I listen to all. Not everything, actually. I don't like people who say they listen to everything, but I listen to a lot of types of music.

Let's take a gander at some of it. Let's take an ear gander here at a little bit of it. Play that second one, actually. I like Till I Die.

Yeah, boy. You like that? Yeah.

Did you come in on this?

Yeah, I think right after the instant show. Who the hell are you? We came to wreck everything and ruin your life. God sent us. Yeah, that's me. There's two singers in this band. Yeah, bro. I like it.

That vibe is a pure vibe, dude. That's one type of culture, that whole energy.

It's silly, too. The intro of that is the Death March, right? It was Halloween, and I pressed this thing, and that's what it was like, so I went to my guy's. I'm like, Yo, play the Death March. Yeah, and there you go.

What are the ladies like that that come to those shows?

What wasThat's how I met my wife.

Really? Yeah. It was a pretty good.

Yeah, that's it. From right before the band started or whatever, I met her.

Where did you meet her at? Take me through that.

At the band Hatebreed. At a Hatebreed show.

Hatebreed? Yeah. Bring them up. They're famous. And are they out of New York?

No, Connecticut. They're famous now. They play huge shows.

Yeah, I think I've heard their name before. Yeah. Were you at the concession? Stand? Or were you guys just... Were you at the concession stand? Were you just in the bounce pit? I don't know if there's a concession stand, but-Yeah. No, yeah. It's just tongue piercings and vodka. Yeah, where'd you meet her at?

At the show. And just whatever, the dance and what do you The Mosh pit, whatever. Yeah. We just met and that was that.

Dude, those pits are fun. If you can coordinate the pits. Do you ever do that when you're on stage? Are you like, All right, everybody to this side and this side, and then you make a merge? I was at a Suicide Boys show not long ago.

There's probably a lot more people at that show than my shows.

Yeah. But they'll do this thing where it's this controlled thing. But Mosh pitch used to be pretty sick. The Wall of Death. Yeah.

When there's a big crowd, those are cool looking.

Yeah, it's just dope, dude.

Yeah. Hunker Man that does that really good with Seth is sick of it all. They do a good wall of death.

Sick of it all? Yeah. Yeah, I'm not familiar with them. I think I'm not familiar with as much of that genre of music. When I was growing up, we had a brother's friend. My brother's friends, they had a band that was like that. Being the younger brother, we'd go just try to get involved and stuff. But there was always this... I think in our area, it was fringe a little bit just because we didn't have as many people that listened to that type of music.

Yeah, in New York, it's... Even though they had its ups and downs, but at one point, you had CBGBs was the home, and stuff like that. You had a Lots of clubs.

Would you go there when you were growing up, CBGB?

Yeah. Really? That's where I went, mostly. Then I ended up playing there in both bands a few times.

Bring it up, CBGB. Cbgb was a legendary New York City music club in the Bowery district, founded by Hilly Cristal. In 1973, that became a crucial incubator for the American punk and new wave rock movements, though it was initially intended for country bluegrass and blues music, which the CBGB, oh, I didn't even realize that. Name stands for Country Bluegrass Blues. The unglamorous, gritty venue hosted influential bands like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Patty Smith Group before closing in 2006. Wow. So do you remember who did you go see there?

Oh, yeah. It was like New York bands, like sick of it all, Nostic Front. Pretty much once you get into that, then it's all friends' bands. They play there. You go. We played there a few times. It was like Sundays. That's where you go. Take the train and go to a show. At the time, there's a bunch of clubs and great clubs there. Being young, you could just go. At one point, you can go three or four shows a week. Yeah. So that became main focus for a pretty long time.

Did you have a routine before you got on stage with your band? Did you have any?

Yeah. I would just stand. We were selling shirts, so stand behind the distro and get ready and just get on and go. I think it's good, but anyone could do it. Well, what I was doing, just get on. If you love it, you just start screaming, I guess. The raw energy of it all is really what I still love. I don't get to go to shows as much anymore, but my son's in three bands right now. Oh, wow. So he's really involved in that. But I still love the whole culture.

Yeah, it almost seems like there's some correlation there between the intensity of that and MMA. Yeah, there is.

Definitely.

Yeah, it's almost like when the pedal is pressed all the way down in a car and you're going at that. Yeah. There's that.

I was actually really surprised when I started reference events that were on TV, the how many guys at the hardcore scene were into MMA and knew the events and stuff. There is a connection with jiu-jitsu and hardcore teams. A lot of guys roll, but But with the UFC, with all that stuff, they knew everything about it. I was pretty surprised. But it makes sense.

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I think we went to the diner. Something like that. Cheese fries or something.

That's what I'm talking. I don't think about it. I'm on this fancy date. I'm about to cheese fry a woman and see what happens. I need a wife. With the brown gravy.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Was she in a band or was she like-No, she wasn't in a band.

She liked Ska music. Oh, yeah. Back then, Long Island, bands would play. Hardcore bands and Ska bands would play on the same bill. Then she just ended up being a big fan of hardcore music, too.

What differentiates Ska?

Ska has got the definition, but it's got saxophones and stuff in the horn section, usually.

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It's pretty cool.

How long have you guys been married now?

Is it your-23 years.

What's been the key to a long marriage do you feel like? How's that been? How's that road been?

Awesome. The whole That part is amazing. Marriage kids, that's my number one thing, and it's been good. I would lie and say easy, but good, good, real good.

You think you chose a good partner? Yeah.

No, definitely.

What makes her pretty great, do you feel like?

I don't know. I guess a smart answer would be everything.

But-but is she?

She's Italian? She's an Algerian and Italian.

Oh, yeah, boy. Keep you on your toes.

Yeah, she definitely is. As far as us parenting together and stuff like that, it's just perfect. Very good. Works out really good. Certain things I'm good at help her. Certain things she's good at helps me. Mostly what she's good at helps me. She keeps it definitely going.

She's the one that keeps it going, yeah.

By a lot. Yeah.

For sure, man. What was it like when you guys decided to have kids? Was that a scary choice or was it something you guys were just both excited about? Was it scary for you to become a dad? What was your relationship with your dad like?

I'm good. Both of my parents Good. But I don't think I was nervous. I do know when our first son was born, I looked and it was like, real deal now. You're holding him. This guy depends on for everything. Everything. So you're like, I got to get it together. I got to make sure. I had it together, but I got to make sure that I do this right. Obviously, just like we said before, you make mistakes with things. But My goal is to raise... I have three kids, and raise them to be good people without having to try, if that makes any sense. You know how guys like us, we're like, Oh, we're trying to do the right thing? How do I want my kids to just be able to do the right thing without having to try, which is probably impossible. But if you shoot for that goal, it's good. It's a good thing. Yeah.

I don't have any experience parenting, but I think it's something that I start to look forward to more and more. And I do think it's something that gets you into a new phase of life, right?

Oh, yeah, definitely.

I feel like I've been in this same phase of life, sometimes for a while, but I don't have another phase yet. It's like, I don't have a wife or family yet. Sometimes people will be like, Dude, you got to grow up. And I'm like, To do what? What do you want me to go sit in a rock and dress? What do you want me to do? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, definitely not. I want to enjoy my life.

Even with my kids It's been different. My 23-year-old is really into the hardcore scene because when he was born, I was still very into that. Still played shows, went to shows. My friends would come over. That's all we would play in the backyard for barbecues. So he's really into that. And then my daughter, it's wrestling, wrestling, wrestling. Oh, she loves it.

Yeah.

And because by the time she was getting older, she's 19, and she was getting older. That's what my older guy was doing. We were into the wrestling thing. And then my 14-year-old just wrestling, wrestling, and skateboarding. He's into skateboarding. And he's pretty good. Oh, there's your children right there? Yeah, that's them.

Let's go, Keith.

That's That's my son. That's my son with the Rancid shirt on. Then that's his girlfriend. That's my youngest one, and my daughter's at the end.

Dude, congratulations, bro. That's so cool, man. That's cool. That's so cool. Yeah, there's something just special about that, about seeing a man in his family. You look like you've lost weight since then, huh?

Yeah, I've lost a good amount of weight. Have you?

Are you taking the peptides?

No, I just stopped eating horribly, and I'm running every day. I wasn't eating well, I don't think.

What were you eating?

Everything.

Did you have one snack at night? What was that snack that got you at night?

I don't know, like three gallons of ice cream or something? I was eating a lot. Really? I guess it was gradual, so people didn't realize, but I'm not the biggest guy in the world. I weigh 186 pounds. It's a lot. I slowly Even though since I've been losing the weight, people, Oh, he's sick or he lost too much weight, or whatever. But you can never make people happy. You're fat, you're skinny, you're short, which I can't make myself taller, so I don't understand that comment. Yeah, get taller, you're fat, get it, or whatever.

What do you mean? They need me here. I'm closer to the fight.

You have a big head. I didn't choose to have a big head.

Let me get this nail file.

But I feel Good. I love that I've lost the weight. I'm trying to put some muscle on.

Did you have a health scare or anything like that?

I wanted to be healthy. A few things were going, and not so much with me, but around me. I was like, I want to make sure I'm healthier.

What do you mean? A few things were going?

A few people passed away.

You saw people having the effects of not being healthy.

Yeah. Even some of them healthy, but just, I guess, not lucky. So I'm like, got to give yourself the best chance, right?

Yeah. Sometimes you got to meet God halfway.

Yeah. It's never going to be perfect. But I saw this barbecue place, I don't know where I am. I'm eating some fried Later, later, for sure.

Hell, yeah. They got some good stuff around here, man. The food scene has been getting better here in Nashville as the city has been growing, too. What about... Did you struggle over the years with any addiction stuff? Did you drink?

No. Well, I drank, but I wasn't necessarily struggling an addiction.

I couldn't remember if you told me that one time.

I don't drink anymore, really. But I never really even tried drugs. It was never I wrestled all the way through school.

That'll keep you clean.

That wasn't the greatest ever, but I was really into it and kept me whatever. I was wild enough without drugs.

You're a drug.

Yeah, something already in there. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You already got half a grand with something stuck in the back.

Yeah, I was never attracted to it. Wow.

That's wild because I think people would look at you and probably think something like that. Yeah, probably.

I guess.

And people, I mean me, too.

In the music scene that I'm in, a lot of guys just, probably you would think, Oh, that guy's on drugs, but they're just on whatever. It's It's about who they are. But I guess that even these days, the tattoos and stuff, you would think, Oh, that guy's...

Are you fully tattooed? What are you.?

Yeah, I have sleeves. Sleeves and My back's almost done and stuff like that. Wow. Whatever. For some reason, I got my hands and my neck real fast. I was young, though, like 22.

Okay, so these have been there for a while?

Yeah, I don't dislike them.

No, it's Cool. It's definitely an energy. You seem like you're a no-nonsense guy. So it's like, I think you look a little bit like there's not a lot of nonsense allowed here. Yeah, I guess you're supposed to. So it's wild that you almost grew into that. You know what I'm saying? You lived your life and then met that name right there. Yeah.

I mind my own business. I always have. And it's just like, I treat people the way that I want to be treated, which most of the time is left alone. I'm nice to kids, old people and animals. Keep moving on.

What else can you ask out of a citizen? That's it, right? I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I'd love to see you working at a pet and zoo or something like that, dude, being the operator or something. I could have seen you working whenever the carnival would come to town when I was a kid.

Yeah, I would definitely probably be a good carny, Yeah, dude.

But only on the ride, it was the Gravitron where they had the dude in the middle that did the music.

Yes, I love that ride. Something's wrong.

Something's right. They would spin that thing and you were fucking- I have an awesome Gravitron story.

I know the date. It was April 1985. This place, local near me. It's called Eventually land. And they had Gravitron. And the Van Halen album, 5150, just came out and they played that song, Why Can't This be Love? A hundred times. Me and my brother went on it like 80 times in a row, and we just kept going. And then I would find... It was my ninth birthday, I think. It was for my birthday. That's why I remember the date. You'd go and then have the rules of every single thing. Every single one, I'd break one of them. My brother would be like, Stop, stop, stop. I kick off my shoe and it come back at you. I remember that. That's crazy. The Gravachon was my favorite. Fuck, yeah, dude.

And that was where... Because, dude, at that time period, when we would go, I was 11, 12 or something like that, and you get in there, and the dude who ran it would be this rock.

It looked like a guy that shouldn't be running. Yeah.

Like, dude, somebody who dropped this guy in here. Somebody hired him. Yeah, and it almost looked like this thing came from outer space. You get in.

Like they built it around them.

Yes. And the ramp would close up, and it would be this dude who looked like Slash from Guns & Roses. You'd slide up against that wall, and you couldn't even... You could barely even move. But every now and then, you could get your arm out and just put it on your friend.

The more you went on, the more your body got used to it. You go upside down and stuff like that.

Oh, damn. I didn't even know people got used to it.

Yeah, it's sideways.

Oh, shit. Look at this.

Yeah, like stand in there. That's pretty brave there, too.

See, I'm the other one. See the one where the guy's facing the wall? Yeah, like he's skipping me out of here. Yeah, the dude who would try to turn over and he just didn't have enough energy to get back over. That would be me. Just humping the edge of the This is Gravitre.

His body is split.

Dude, that shit was cool, though. There was just something-That guy looks like a normal guy there.

Amazing. The guy running it there.

Yeah, that guy's an op, dude. That guy's not fucking real, dude. That guy's a nart, probably. But But, dude, that shit was so much fun.

The whole idea of they're not spinning and you're spinning always got me. I would always like, explanation. He looks like he's spinning, too. Yeah. He's not.

Dude, who influenced that music in you when you were a kid? Because I remember my brother would listen to Dio, Lock Up The Wolves. He would listen to some like Skinny Puppy, maybe I think was a band as well. Nothing too crazy, but a little bit of mainstream edge.

Yeah, Skinny Puppies. Yeah, good. The metal stuff, I just grabbed it, saw it, and was like, I don't think the guys would like the cut off sleeves and the long hair, even though I've never had long hair. I was like, Oh, yeah. Ever? No. Damn. Some in the front, in the mid '90s, I had that skater hair thing.

Somebody make us a couple of... Put together a few memes of somebody out there who knows how to do it of no nonsense with some long hair, just so we have them for the future. We'll throw a couple of them in. Or we'll put this clip online and put a couple of them in. I'd love to just see that. Yeah, dude, I can't believe we didn't even try it.

Yeah, I know. And then just that whole whatever. Then my brother, as he was going, he started listening to the different metal, Van Halen and stuff like that. So we got Mötley Crü. My first ever concert was I went with my brother. He was a few years older. Then my second one was Mötley Crü.

Fuck, dude. That's so sick, bro.

On Dr. Feel Good tour. He's like, Oh my God, what a man.

We've had Tommy Lee on here. Awesome.

Yeah, that's crazy. That's great, dude. That tour, he played up on the ceiling, and he just did, I think it was like ACD cover songs and just went across the ceiling.

It was pretty cool. And your brother took you to that? Yeah. So you guys were pretty close. Yeah, Yeah. Nice. Does he play music?

No, he actually passed away a year and a half ago. Oh, man. Yeah. Young, at 50.

Was he suffering from something? No.

He had tumors, but he didn't know or didn't take care of. I'm not sure which one. But he went to the hospital on a Tuesday. He died on a Friday. It was real Real fast.

Did you get to see him in between those days?

I was there the whole time.

You were? Yeah. Oh, man. What was that like? I hate to ask you that. Not good. Yeah, sorry. No, it's all right. Fuck. It's not the most thoughtful question. I'm sorry that happened. Man.

Yeah, but so...

I bet he was super proud of you, huh?

Yeah. So how things work is this stuff is going to happen to all of us, unfortunately. Bad stuff, right? So the The way I feel is how you're going to handle those moments. So I believe at that moment, it was handled as perfect as it possibly could.

What makes you say that?

Well, in a room of people, the room was full of people he loved, and they loved him. He wasn't married. He didn't have kids. So my kids were like his kids. And so they're surrounded by his parents and just as good as that could You know what I mean? My brother was the nervous guy. He didn't seem nervous at that point. So I don't know. You know what I mean? Much as weird.

That's interesting.

I'll probably be crying like a baby.

The world is nerve-wracking. It is. When you think about it.

Yeah. So that's how he was always nervous, and I never was nervous about anything when we were kids. He'd even cross in the street. I'd run and he'd be screaming. We were really, really close. It was like me and him. My mom worked most of the time, two jobs and stuff. It was me and him and we were total opposite. Even growing up, I got into the metal music first. He would listen to like Cultural Club and like Tears for Fears. It was just different. Then he got into rock and roll stuff. But he He was a comedian. In school, he was in a drama club and stuff, and I was in sports. So we were totally different, but the same, I guess.

Did you feel like his protector sometimes in some ways?

Well, he was older than me, but yeah, I was definitely Then, you know.

Sometimes you got that gritty brother who's the fucking, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, it was definitely that. But it was weird how he balanced it. As I said, he was nervous and had major anxiety, but It was so different, but it fit perfect. Our relationship was good, really good.

What was his name? Rob. Rob. Yeah. Nice, man. Rob Peterson? Yes, sir. Well, hello, Rob. Nice to meet you through your brother. Hope you guys are having a good time out there wherever you are.

Yeah, whenever you're doing. Yeah, for sure.

Did he get to come see you Referee?

He never saw me referee. What? Actually, yeah.

But I guess a lot of times you don't go watch somebody work.

Yeah, but he came to see me fight. I actually have a pretty funny... I was fighting for a amateur title in Atlantic City, and him and his buddy-Was this one of your biggest fights? Yeah, I think it was my first amateur title fight, so it was a big deal. No, I was actually defending I took a fight on short notice. I bumped up a weight and I lost. So now I was fighting the same kid, but at our weight for the title. He was going to take my title, whatever. So my brother and his buddies come, and I guess they're doing their thing pretty early and they're going Atlantic City and having fun. And then I come, and as I said, he's a really nervous guy. And he's standing in the the hall, but the cage is right there. And he's staring at the cage and he looks like he's sweating. I said to him, I'm like, what's up, Robbie? I'm right behind him. And he's like, oh, my God, fighting. You're getting older, you have kids and whatever. And the Ring Girls walk by and I go, Hey, Robbie, you see the Ring Girls?

He goes, I'm not that nervous. Of course, I've seen the Ring Girls. That was pretty funny. I'm like, I'm not buying. It was pretty funny. And then I won the fight. We went out. It was a really good, great night, too. I remember it being really, really awesome.

So you had an amateur belt?

Yeah, a few. I won that one.

Did you have a nickname when you were a fighter then?

Shortly, the Spartan. Yeah. So we were watching 300 or something, and someone said something like... Because he was just fighting, hanging out with his wife and playing with his kids. And they're like, Oh, that's like you. I was like, Oh, go with that, Spartan. But yeah.

I saw where you fought one guy three times? Yeah. Jose Villanueva? Yeah. What was that? Because that was like a trilogy, I guess. What did that feel like? Was that part of that same thing?

Yeah, that was part of it.

Oh, it was. So you guys were one-one?

He ended up winning two. He ended up winning two. We went back up, and he won two.

Did you feel like you could go back up? You're like, I got him here. I can go back up there and get him? Or what was that like, dude? I don't know.

I can't remember. I'm trying to think. I think back then-Did you have something against the guy? No. But I think back then, it was still the amateur scene was just growing.

With MMA?

Yeah. He was good, and I was good, and he was competitive. Probably, I was trying to fight some other guys in between, so I was kickboxing, fighting Muay Thai fights, too. But no, nothing against them. I actually reffed them a bunch of times after.

Oh, that's pretty cool, man. Yeah. Oh, this is part of that battle?

Yeah, I think this is the one. This is the one I bumped up and I fought on three days' notice. So this is the first one? I lose this one, yeah.

Keith, that's dope, bro. You're in there.

It's weird that the ones I went on, on here. And that's the guy, Donny Carly. That's him. The referee? Yeah, that's the guy who got me into reffing.

Wow, that's cool.

My first...

That's good defense right there, man.

Yeah, I know how to wrestle a little bit, but my I think he does take me down, but I pop up. Basically, what happens is-Look at that, bro.

Go back. Let's see a little bit of that freaking, yeah. You were loving that shit, huh?

What happens is I miss a back fist, but I think if I hit it, he'd probably still be I'm not going to sleep, but I miss it and get poked on my head and move on from there. That's good. He submits me.

That's cool, man. Yeah.

Those fights were good. They were fun. And he was a good guy. And as I said, I reffed him after, even in his pro career.

That's pretty cool. Well, it's cool that you reffed him after and that the referee is the guy that got you.

Yeah, there's a lot of connections.

It's so amazing, man, about life. If you're able to stay, as you're saying, healthy enough, right? If you're able to take care of yourself mentally enough to stay. You don't even have to stay in the center lane. You can veer off a little bit. But if you're able to stay, so many of the pieces of our past really connect and make the future make sense. For sure.

Definitely. I In the last couple of years, I've had so many moments like that. It's crazy. Yeah? Yeah.

Anyone that stands out?

Well, so my first couple of years in high school, I didn't do so well, and I ended up doing pretty well.

What do you mean didn't do so well? In school? In school, yeah. Did you not like it?

Yeah, I guess. In ninth grade, I didn't really do very good.

Were you fighting with other kids?

No, not so much. Back then, kids fought more often than they do now, for sure. But I just didn't... I guess that whole punk rock feel like not listening to authority, whatever. Something like that. So I didn't do so well. And I went to Eastmatter high school, didn't do so well there. And then I ended up going to a few different high schools. We moved a bunch of times. So it didn't end well. Did you graduate? No, I graduated high school. I went to college for a year. I'm a diesel mechanic for the town I live in. I've been there 28 years.

Are you still a diesel mechanic? Yeah. Are you in the union? Yeah. Oh, wow. What union are you in?

Now, we're USP. We change a lot. But when I first started there, we were Teamsters. That was pretty cool. I thought the idea of being a Teamster was cool.

Yeah, we had shown O'Brien in. He worked with the Teamsters. He was Teamster's President. I'm not sure if he still is. But so we've learned a little bit about unions over the years. I didn't know anything about him until we had him in.

Yeah, that's the whole union job is awesome. I'm able to do what I do and stuff that I want to do and branch out.

Wow. So you've been a decent mechanic this whole time? Yeah. How did you get into that?

I decided college wasn't for me. My dad's like, Well, working is get a good job. So Got a job like back then when you left college, you off your parents benefits right after that. It wasn't like now where it's to 26. So I needed a job. I was roofing and I think I broke a rib or something. And My dad was like, You need a job with insurance. And if you get hurt, you get paid. I found this town job, and I started a highway for a little while, nine months, and then I got into the mechanic shop, and that was that.

You started working on the highway? Yeah.

So like, mowing the lawns and stuff on the highway.

Oh, wow. You ever find anything cool out there? No.

Damn. Garbage that you have to pick up. That's it.

I always want to find a body out there.

Like a dead body? Long Island has a bunch of them on this highway. At least. Yeah.

Or semi-living. You know what I'm saying? I hope they're alive.

I could totally be fine with not finding a dead body. Yeah. Definitely. I'm good.

Yeah. Tomato, tomato.

A body part or something, maybe. Yeah. Foot.

Just a thumbs up.

Thumbs up.

That'd be cool. That's cool. It's almost like you're finding an emoji.

Just like that. That'd be cool.

Sean O'Brien is still the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters as of October 2025. Did you Did you have a mentor that taught you how to be a diesel mechanic?

No, on the job learning. I did have the older guys there that were really good. If I can't fix it, I could break it even more. Just keep going. And then from there.

And did you teach your kids any of those skills?

Yeah, a little bit. Like the normal skills. Actually, there's kids that don't know how to change a flat tire these days. I've had a few of that. My kids know how to change flat tires, and my daughter knows how to change flat tires, stuff like that. And my younger guy is the one that seems to be the one that's going to be working with his hands. My older guy is a chef, so he works with his hands just differently. But I hope his hands aren't dirty when he's working. But my younger guy seems to maybe do some mechanic program moving forward.

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I started raffing. Each one is commissions. I started raffing first in New Jersey, and then Pennsylvania got sanctioned, and it's a really big state. So I got a lot of work there. I was working, putting in a lot of time there. And I think a few months into being sanctioned, they had a show, UFC 101 in Philadelphia. And you went to the fight? No, I worked. I reffed that one. That's my first one was 101.

Bring that up. Bring that card up.

I reffed the first two fights. Wow.

What was that like that first day? I mean, did you have your own green room? Was it a little bit different? What was that like?

Just normal.

But you had to be so excited.

But how did you get it? I was actually so excited. I didn't even know how to get in. I've never gone to a venue without a ticket. I didn't ask them. I didn't ask what I needed. I got there and realized, how do I get in? Now I know. You have to have your credential Obviously. And I ended up getting it. But now I know how that works.

But you just try to come and do the ticket?

No, I just got there and I was in a parking lot and was like, How am I getting in? I don't have a ticket. That was 2009.

Who were the other referees? Do you remember on the card? Maybe the same guys as now?

There's some, I think. Some were still now.

Maybe Mark Goddard?

Yes, actually. I believe that was Mark Goddard's first time reffing in I believe. Or UFC in the States or something like that. So yes, he was on that card.

B. J. Penn. Wow, that's amazing, dude. That's Forrest Griffin?

Yeah. It was Anderson Silver versus Forrest Griffin. It was a while now, I guess, right? Yeah.

Was there a fighter that you reffed for early before he got to the UFC that you saw in Amateurs and stuff?

Yeah, a bunch of them, like Paul Felder.

Paul's the best, huh?

Yeah. He's fearless. He's awesome.

Could you tell them when you were seeing Paul then?

Yeah, he was different level. Aloquinta, different level, tough. I'm trying to think. There's been a good amount over the years that you see the local stuff and you ref, and then you ref them in the UFC, which is pretty cool.

That's pretty cool, man.

For them and for me.

Yeah, for sure.

For them that they're there, not that I'm there. I don't think they really care about that. But Yeah. For me, it's like, wow.

Yeah, I'm a part of something. Yeah. We're all on this journey. We're all on the same journey in a way.

As I said, it's like, besides my family stuff, it's the most important thing that I'm going to end up doing. And to see, you think about it, you wrap them in the local scene, and they're healthy enough to get there. You think you have something to do with that. That's a good That's the point.

Was there ever a fighter that you remember that stood out, that something happened in Amateurs, and they didn't make it like someone that really stood out over the years?

There's a lot of ones that you would say, Oh, this guy is going to be in. It's a tough sport.

Anyone that comes to mind that you-Not particularly name-wise, but there's been guys where you go, Wow, sky's the limit.

And then just for whatever, injury, or it's hard. We were saying, you talk about having kids and stuff. I think once you start having kids and stuff, the guys that have these families and they train like that, you know how it's dedication that takes and sacrifice? A lot. And women who do the same. The men and women who do that, it takes a lot to do. So at that level.

When you see a guy going away, like to a camp for six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks to get ready. And a lot of times, they're going to be away from their family. Maybe their family will come and visit on the weekends and stuff because there's only a few places in America where it's premier training. And then you could go into the bout and lose in the first round. It could end in 30 seconds.

That's like training for the Olympics, taking last, right? You cannot train at all, take last. Training for your whole life. That's what makes it cool on the way, too.

That's why when I go to the fights and I like to go early, because I'm like, this is their life, right? Yeah, I noticed that. You're getting to witness a piece of somebody's life. They mean this. If they're at that level, they mean this so much that to even be in the presence of something like that, I think, gives me energy. It's like I'm showing up to watch an eclipse, almost something so rare. Are there fighters when they come in the ring? Alex Pereira has that energy. When you're in there, when he comes in, when I'm in there as a fan, there is a unique energy, that pentameter of the-I would say, yeah, there's definitely fighters that you feel the energy. What are some that you would even name? Are there some that-Dustin Poirier. Yeah, Poirier. People are excited.

Yeah. The people energy, his own energy. You just can feel it.

That's interesting.

Clay Gleda, win or lose. The energy is just so good.

You see him, you just get excited.

Yeah, just the energy. It's coming off of him. You could feel it, and that he wants to be there. Wow. But Yeah, there's a lot of fighters that you just get that energy from. Then when you get it from both at the same time, that's where you really are just firing off.

Is it tougher to referee some of the the bigger fighters? Is it because of their body shape? Is there a weight class that's a little bit tougher or different that you have to adjust how you do or where you place yourself?

I don't know about tougher or different. The small guys are faster, the bigger guys are stronger, right? It's just physics, I guess. So you just make sure you're fast enough for the faster guys and you're in the right position for the bigger guys. I I don't have a preference. I can refer whatever. You want to be in the right position and they'll listen to your commands because people do ask, Oh, how would you stop them? And the same way you'd stop a small guy.

And they always all honor the referee for the most part.

For the most part, yeah.

Because that's part of the code of...

Yeah, you give respect, you get respect, right?

Yeah, the level of respect that's in that ring is pretty amazing, too, I feel like.

Yeah, I think people would be surprised. Definitely how respectful fighters are to me. I can't really speak for anyone, but to me. Obviously, you're not going to always agree, but for the most part, for the very, very most part, they're very respectful.

Have you ever been at a fight where someone passed away in the ring or there was something that tragic that happened? No. Wow. That's amazing, Dan. That's a blessing. It's a lot of fights. Yeah. Because you've referred thousands of fights. Yeah, probably.

Definitely a lot of them.

Is there anything different about refereeing a male fight to a female fight?

No. I've been lucky to get some of the best female fights ever. There's really no difference. It's pretty amazing the level that they've grown so quickly. For sure. And female sports in general, we talk about women's wrestling. Last year, I went to the NAI, women's nationals. When your daughter was in it? Yeah.

Oh, she was?

Yeah. She'd won the regional last year.

Let's go.

The level of competition was insane. Really? She fell short at her first year, last year. We'll see how this year goes. But the level and the They're not girls. They're 26-year-old women in college.

That's a good point.

Here's some real tough women out there. It was amazing. Although I wish she had won a few matches, me and her sitting there watching that level together. It was two days. It was in Kansas. I was at the end, I'm happy she didn't do that well because we were able to go out for lunch and dinner and hang out. Yeah. But that's nice. This year is a new year, and we'll see how she does.

And she really loves it, huh? Yeah.

All my kids really love wrestling.

There's such a great value in that. There's such a great sense of you can take care of yourself, that you can handle yourself, I bet.

There's more. Like, wrestling is the best sport that you could do in high school level, well, youth level to college level.

Oh, wrestlers will always be the craziest, too. You'd just be driving one day and you'd I see your buddy wrapped in trash bags. It's like 90 degrees out in Louisiana. My buddy Paul Corso would be like, and I think it's his birthday, actually, today or tomorrow, but wrapped in trash bags just running down the highways. I got to fight in two hours. You're like, who are you fighting? You're fighting off Satan, brother. That's wild.

Yeah, but same as what we were talking about with the dedication. But that commitment, too. That commitment. Then it carries on to almost anything. Also, When you're wrestling and you feel defeat, you're learning life lessons on a wrestling mat instead of having to learn it outside world where the cost sometimes is a little more. You're learning it just by Training and stepping on a wrestling mat. It's none better than that.

When I was going to MMA classes, I remember there would be days where even after I'd sit there at the end of the day, and sometimes I was just like, ball. Emotions would come out of me. But it was The stuff that got unlocked that had been in my muscles or in my fasher in me. It was the ability to be able to be beaten by somebody that also cares that you're going to be okay at the same time There's something really fascinating about that. I don't think you can find it in any other place. You know your competitor also, they want to beat you, but they also, some of them want to teach you, especially if you're new. It's unprecedented, the different levels of well-being and competition and ferociousness and defeat that are all wrapped up in there.

Yeah, and bonds can be made that way. You learn who all the cops are because all them are off-duty.

They're all in there.

I saw a few guys that I used to train with, and mostly in the stand-up stuff and buckets of blood. We would really go hard. A lot of people would come and be like, What the hell? It was my early training, and I just got bonds with those guys forever. Seeing them is great. We laugh about that because, I don't know, you spar pretty hard. It was good. That's good.

Do you ever think that a fighter threw a fight or had given up but kept fighting? What is that energy like? How do you manage something like that? How do you decide if it's just you interjecting some of your own thoughts into what's going on? Can you take me on even just some journeys about some of that?

If a guy is giving up or-Yeah.

Do you ever Do you think a guy doesn't want to be in there, but he's staying in there? Do you ever get some of that energy?

It's the sport where if you don't want to be in there, most likely you're not going to be for very long. I have seen guys that it's not going very well, and you could tell they definitely want to be there. That's a little easier to see, I think. Definitely.

Yeah, I guess it's a good point, huh?

Yeah. Usually, if you don't want to be there at some point, you're not going to be there pretty quick. You could see guys get surprised or overwhelmed. For that moment, live to fight another day and whatever. But usually, if a guy, you're stopping them, they're not stopping themselves for the most part.

Have you ever had a guy stop himself or their corner stop him? What's some of that?

I have amateur stuff. I had a kid walk out of the cage and leave the other day.

Wasn't for him. Good choice.

Yeah, it wasn't for him. He was amateur, so good decision. Yeah.

Fuck, yeah. Go get a smoothie, homie.

Yeah, see you later. I was like, All right. I waved it off and they're like, What? I'm like, Yeah, once you leave, it's over.

Yeah, that'd be crazy. He comes back in. His mom's walking back in with him or something or his buddies.

One time, it was my buddy, and he knocked this guy out, and somehow his mom got in. You thought she was going to kneel down and tend to her son, but the doctors were there. He was being taken care of. She stepped over and gave him the finger. Gave my buddy the finger. It was crazy. I remember it was many years ago, but I remember because AC/DC Thunderstruck was being played, and the mom's given the kid the finger. It was pretty awesome. Oh, it's epic, dude. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Have there been some other incidents that have happened at the end of the match? What's that like? Because that's a lot of energy. People are coming into the ring. You still have fighters that are down sometimes.

Obviously, that was years and years ago. And so now it's only the right personnel coming in. Actually, I fought on that card, that woman. So that was a long time ago. But it could be pretty crazy, especially the event and loud and stuff. And then when the fight ends, sometimes it's just like that. It is. Yeah. It's just like, you know. So that's crazy. And the more over the years, the more you work, the more the sounds, some you hear, some you don't. I can pinpoint someone's voice, and then there's thousands of people screaming.

Yeah, it's crazy that it can be dead quiet in there with so many people in there sometimes. And sometimes there'll be certain cheers going on, but it's still there's this real silence that's right up there by the cage. It's almost eerie in a way. It can be. Or mysterious or unique. It's powerful because there can be this insane moment, 20,000 people are watching. It's quiet. Yeah.

Then other times it's loud, and they're cheering, and you're like, What are they saying? Sometimes you can't understand what they're saying and stuff like that. So it's like up and down. It's pretty crazy.

Yeah, it's like life, man.

Yeah, up and down.

Did you ever suspect that a fighter threw a fight?

No. Some guys aren't... Obviously, I ref all different levels. So some guys are coming in, they get punched and they're done. But that's just... They're not throwing it. They just don't have the talent. But I've never suspected anything like that.

What was it like when Connor would come in the ring? Did you do any of his fights?

No, I didn't do any of his fights, but it was crazy. I've worked cards where he was on. Madison Square Garden, the first Madison Square Garden, it was crazy. Then even after, you went outside and there was Irish people cheering everywhere.

Oh, yeah. They show up. Yeah. They really do. So could you even tell us who you thought the best fighter is that you've seen?

I don't know if I... I stopped looking at fights like a fan a pretty long time ago. Oh, you did? Yeah, I see him that way. I wouldn't even be able to pick a favorite fighter or say who's the best fighter or anything like that. But obviously, there's fights where you're like, wow, that was really exciting or something like that. But I just look at it at the referee standpoint these days, mostly.

Is there a fighter that you feel like plays by the rules the most?

There's a bunch of polite guys who are just polite. But for the most part, everyone really plays by the rules. That's a good point. I think a lot of the fouls are accidental.

You do?

Yeah, I do. Some of it couldn't even if you wanted to do it the way... It's such a fast thing.

That's a good point. It'd be hard to strategize something like, yeah, I'm going to do it.

But then you have some guys that are real grindy, and when they're in the cage, they're going to do what they have to do. It is a fight, and you got to try to control it.

Did you get to rep any of Khabib's fights? No.

Him and Connor, but mostly everyone else.

Is there a reason why, you think?

No, I don't believe there's a reason why.

How do you guys determine what fight your referee? Do you draw it off a hat? No.

The commission just gives you, you'll go and you'll get your assignments. I never really asked exactly what they used.

So you and Herb Dean aren't back there like this then? No.

Okay. How does that hook? No. So you come and they give you a sheet and you already have your assignments there.

And is it almost like opening up a Christmas wishlist? In some ways, are there some you're excited about? Are there some, actually, you're happy, you don't have to, so you can sit and watch it? Or do you You don't think of it like that? No. That's like a fan thinking of it.

Yeah, I do sometimes, and this sounds maybe crazy, but if I'm like, Oh, wow, that fight would be hard, I hope I get it to see if I could do it.

And what would determine if a fight would be hard. What even in your head makes you think of that? Or what makes some fights harder than others?

Yeah, well, some matchups and things are like, Oh, this guy has one knockout power, and this guy's really great on the ground, but it's not very good at taking them down. So you don't know what you're going to get. I think that's what would make it harder or not complicated, but interesting. So let's get rid of the word harder, but interesting. For sure. Yeah.

I think it's so interesting how so many fighters have different reasons why they fight. Some is to test themselves, some don't even know. Some is to get rid of anger, to challenge. Some just love the violence. I just think it's pretty fascinating to see how many why guys do it.

Yeah, from different roads, right? Yeah.

You coach, and we can wrap up in a few minutes. Thank you so So much, man. This has been cool. I appreciate it. I get to go sometimes to the fights and get to see you guys there. It's almost like you guys are like celebrities in that fighting world. That world is built so big that the referees are celebrities.

Sometimes it's like, oh, definitely.

But you don't have to have people that are excited to see you.

There is. It's crazy. Yeah, it is because it's definitely not about me.

Of course, but there's not a lot of other sports. I don't What's that been like? What's it like being a part of something that's changed? Have you noticed the changes over time? Have you noticed a different energy in the space? Have you noticed that fighters change? What have you How did you notice?

Well, obviously, it's still a young sport, right? And it's growing and growing. I think it was 2009 was my first year. So not Not only has that all changed, but people have changed since 2009. So yeah, fighters are different because people are different. And we have the internet is even bigger and all that stuff. And So, yeah, a lot of things have changed, but the concept is there, right? Put two people in there and they fight. And so that's the same. Fight is End up the same. Even though, times are different. Eventually, even me talking on, they're there for one goal and to be competitive.

And that's always stayed the same? Yeah. Was there ever a fighter that retired in the ring? Because a lot of times, they'll lay their gloves down. Was there any moment, one of those that stood out to you? I'm trying to think. Or just one that even caught your own feelings?

I believe I believe I might be wrong, but I believe Quake Guida retired the last time I reffed him, I think. So that would be pretty significant because I've reffed him up a few times. And and he's awesome. So I believe, and there's probably been others, too, that have retired after I've reffed them. But those are always like, I know some of them you can feel coming, right? And then some you can. It happens in wrestling, too. They'll take off their shoes and they leave it in the center. And sometimes you're like, Oh, yeah, makes sense. And a lot of times, you got more to give and more to go. But as you said, the amount of time that stuff takes.

You spend time now coaching your daughter's? Yeah.

Is that true? Is that true? Yeah. My daughter and I- Is this her school? This was her high school. I coach for the... Well, this is the team she wrestled for. In our area, we have one school, which is Bayshore, that has the girls wrestling team. Then the other schools, which she went to Islet, all go there. I coach the Bayshore. I'm the assistant coach at the Bayshore Girls team. Then me and my daughter run a club together called Empire Girls wrestling together. Right now, that's growing. The whole sport is growing. It's amazing. It's great that girls get the opportunity to be in what I believe is the best sport. It's awesome. Then coaching with my daughter right now is really... She's very good. She actually coached, which is a big thing for us, the New York National Team at Fargo this year. It was her first year coaching there. She did really well. She's going to be an awesome coach.

He's Dynamite, huh? What's her name?

Maura.

Maura. It's a pretty name, man. Wow. That's cool, man. There you go. Look at that. This was really cool. How much nonsense does Maura allow?

Not Not much either. Yeah, there's not much going on. Not much nonsense. This was August, the end of August. On the end of August, it was the New York State Fair, and they invited us, and we brought a girls' team and a boys' team. The boys and the girls stay in the 4-H storms, so they get to stay fair for free. The kids get to walk around and do all that. It was really cool.

Then they wrestled us for the people to watch it?

Yeah. All those people are just walking by the State Fairwatching the dual meets.

Dude, that's great entertainment. Why not put something like that in a place where people are already at and looking for entertainment? It was pretty cool. Because so often, sometimes you'll put it in a gym or something, and people don't even know, especially a lot of times in high school or even outside, in college. You just don't know. But if you're at a fair, you're looking for entertainment.

There it is. It was really cool. It was our first year doing it. My wife planned it, and we got invited, and it was really cool. We'll do it again for sure. It was really cool.

Wow. Mora.

Mora. Mora. M-o-r-a.

M-o-r-a. Beautiful young lady. That's awesome, dude. Congratulations. Thanks.

I didn't do anything.

Well, you showed up.

Yeah, that's for sure.

I mean, that's a lot of it. And you kept going. We're talking about it today, it's like, yeah, life has a lot of little off-ramps that you can get on.

Yeah. We were just talking earlier about things that you don't think are ever going to happen. It happens. You just got to keep going forward. And then, eye on the prize, I guess. So I'm lucky. I got all these good things going.

It seems like you stay really busy. What is your daily routine like?

I start work at the town at 7: 30 to 4: 00.

At the diesel mechanic? Yeah.

That's unbelievable. And then our practices, right now, our practice is just empire practices. They're from 7: 00 to nine o'clock on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and Sundays. And then now we're starting high school season, so we have open mats for that, too. Wow.

Keeping busy. Yeah, that keeps you busy. You like staying busy, huh?

Yeah, very. I like to stay busy. I like to keep moving. Yeah. That's me. I don't sit around much. I've never been much of a sit-around type of guy.

Too much nonsense can Yeah, but you can still have fun.

Yes, true. But you can have like, I'm a pretty serious guy, but I'm like things I'm good at making fun of myself. I'm good at laughing. I came to see your show. That was funny. Yeah. My cousins were there. They're huge fans. They had a good time? Yeah. When they told me they were going to be out, I was like, Oh, I'm going. So they're huge fans. It was good. It was good. Thanks, man. It was funny. Yeah.

I'll accept that. I appreciate that. Hey, you're a referee. You would know, man.

I don't know about If I had no comedy, but-I'll take it, though. Yeah, it's good enough. Fair enough. I've laughed a few times.

Hey, that's fair. That's all we can ask from a guy who doesn't accept nonsense, that's the most we can ask. Is there any other Are referees are allowed to... Is there an alcohol rule with referees? I know with pilots, can you look it up for me? How soon before a flight can a pilot have alcohol? Is there a rule with referees that you can or can't drink before a fight?

You can't drink before a fight. Or is there a time rule? I would think it would be 24 hours or something like that. I had never...

But it's never like... They're not breathalizing refs or anything like that. No. But it would be hard to do.

To what?

Referee a fight if somebody had been drinking.

Well, it would be impossible. To actually do the actual thing would be impossible. But then you You're in there, you're with doctors, commissions, and whatever. I wouldn't think they'd let you. Yes, somebody would catch on. Yeah, someone would catch on.

Let me see what this says. Many airlines have stricter internal policies, with some requiring pilots to abstain for at least 12 hours before flying to It lost sufficient time for metabolization.

Dude, 12? I don't think 12 hours is long enough, to be honest.

I agree, bro.

12 hours seems...

That's not that much, bro.

You want to hear something crazy. I have a CDL, so it has to be zeros. When When they do a drug test, they do a blow. You're allowed to blow a percentage.

In summary, pilots must avoid alcohol for at least eight hours before a flight. Maintain BAC below 0. 04. Yeah. That's drunk in some states, I think. And not fly while hungover or impaired. Yeah.

So no. Yeah. So I guess...

Oh my God, bro. They should have to blow it in the front of the plane and show the number of the rest of the plane.

That's That's pretty crazy. We don't do breath lives or anything, but you wouldn't-It's never been an issue. No.

You've never heard of anybody having an issue? No, a real one.

No.

What's it like when you get there from when you leave? Take me through a UFC fight as a referee.

So you get there.

How early? How early do you get there?

It could be two hours, hour and a half, I think, usually.

And who's there when you get there? Is there Are you taking Olivia O'Levy in there yet?

I guess. I don't know.

Do you have a meeting with the commission? Yeah, just take me through.

I straight go in and walk in, find the commission room. Obviously, if I've been there before, but if I haven't been Work in a place I've never been. Walk in, find the commission room, get my assignments. When the fighters come, I do my one-on-one rules meeting.

With each fighter? Yeah. Wow. Every fighter on the card?

Every fighter I have on the card. Yeah. Usually, we'll go with the average is three fights on a card. I've had more, less if a cancelation, whatever. But go over the rules, ask them if they have any questions. Then, depending on what state, mostly now you do Also, you do RO, like a review official. What does that mean? It's like the instantly play. We have instantly play now. Then the fight before yours, you usually do the gate when they walk in, the check. You're busy pretty much the whole time.

Do you eat before? Do you have an energy drink?

What do you do? I don't have an energy drink, but some places I eat before. Sometimes I don't eat before. It all depends. When I'm off in New Jersey, there's a few restaurants. I'll have something, Madison Square Garden. I always go to the same place, and I eat there. What is it? It's a Mollet wee pub, and they have Irish beef stew.

Yeah, I get what you like. I like quesadillas with almond flour tortillas. We like what we like. Yeah.

So I get that. And then, you know. And that, like did me an idea. Like MSG, I do the same thing every time. So there's a guy, I wish I could remember the name of his company, but I can't right now. But he sells shirts and stuff outside. I go out and say hello to him every single time. He's always out there, no matter how cold, no matter what, the guy's out there. He's awesome. He's right on eighth Avenue. He's on the corner. And And then I say hello to him, then I go down and get ready to go. And then I go to the, then I eat, usually the beef stew, and then get going.

Yeah, I'm a creature of habit in some ways.

Yeah, I'm very much in the same. I use the word criteria and whatever. But this is how I do it. But almost everything I'm like that, really.

Discipline equals freedom, man. That's what Jocca Willink always says.

Yeah, that's Yeah, it's awesome.

And I think that's true. It's like, if you get up and get the things you don't want to do done out of the day, your day is so different. Yeah. You know?

Yeah, definitely.

Have you ever been unable to do a referee, a fight? And for what reason? Before you go? Yeah.

Well, I have a story. I reffed, but when I was reffing, I had two kidney stones, and and staples in my stomach. It's a crazy story. I had my appendix out when I was 20. And then a few years ago, I had it out again. So they took out the appendix, but they left in a stub. So I actually had my appendix out twice. It's pretty interesting. Or you got scammed. Either way. It was the same hospital. But who forgot a little? I don't know. And it was bad. So they had to help me.

That's nonsense.

Yeah, that's real nonsense. And the fact that when I asked, I'm like, Hey, does this happen? They're like, It does. I'm like, Oh. So I also, at the same time, had kidney stones. So I did the recovery. So everything was miserable. And I had a big show, an event coming up, and it was an important one for me. A fight? Yeah. A fight. It was just a little meeting to me. It was a local and the main event, it was just... I decided in my head I was going to do it. I ended up getting the doctor that I was going to see every two days for the recovery to say, you could do it. And she was like, you can do it. She was like, You can do it. I said, great. But the stables were getting really tight, so I took a few of them out from the top. By yourself? Yeah. And then it was easy, though. They were coming out already.

Yeah, it's a build a bear.

Yeah, just put it together. Boom, boom, boom, boom. But the kidney stone started kicking in really bad. It was just a weird time. The night before, I'm really panic button. I'm about to say, I can't do it, but I'm in there. So the next day, I get there, and then the pain is starting to go away a little bit. I get to the event. I get the fights in the main event like I was hoping. And awesome place that I've always wanted to work. And so the bathroom is attached, the fans and us were using the same bathroom. So I walk by and they're like, Keith, you're the man. So I walk into the bathroom and now I'm feeling The pain, real bad.

From the Kinneestown? Yeah.

So boom, I pass it.

It goes,.

Yeah, it hits the thing. All good for that. Well, the pain was still there, but it felt so much better. And I was walking out You'll shoot your eye out. The kids are like, Oh, you're a legend. All I can think of is, you should have saw what just happened in there, dude. Like, I'm crazy. And then the event went great. And then I passed the other one because I had two on the way to Seattle the next week in the plane.

Oh, yeah. You got to save one for when you travel.

Yeah, it's just miserable. But yeah, it's a funny story. And then the appendix out, where it's pretty funny because even it was actually almost ended up being bad Because I was telling people what was wrong with me because I was in infection.

Oh, and they thought it was already done.

That was already done. So they kept skipping over that. And yeah, so it was a week or so, and I was pretty in infection By then, cat caught in. But it was fine and everything worked out great.

Dude, that's wild. Just to know, if people want to know if some of these referees are tough or not. This guy's passing kidney stones between fights in the bathroom. That's pretty unprecedented. Keith Peterson, man, thank you so much. One, for always making me feel welcome when I'm at the fights. It's such an honor to get to see you guys, man. Will you agree with this? That it's one of the most... The people that make that, that are part of that company that put that event on, it's pretty spectacular.

Yes. It is. Some of the T-Mobile.

It's just all so special. You see the same people over and over again, and it really does feel like a family over there. Yeah, it is. Does it feel like that to you?

Yeah. As we figured out, I keep to myself. But there's some people I see every time that I really great people, and I speak to them briefly, and it's a really tight knit.

Thank you so much for all your efforts, man. Thanks for continuing to just support wrestling. I think that it's just you being out there just inspires other young people to get into it and just having so much history yourself in it. Thank you for letting us talk about your family and stuff today, man. Cheers to many more years of being on the journey, man.

Yeah, for sure. Thank you.

You bet.

Thank you. Now, I'm just floating on the breeze, and I feel I'm falling like these leaves. I must be cornerstone. Oh, but when I reach that ground, I'll share this peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones. But it's going to take.