By was a completely different story. He never kicked me once. I picked him a couple of times. Took him down and ended up finishing him in the third round. Even go the distance. So it really was a turning point for me technically. I learned a lot facing that adversity facing that. I fight aphid. Sign that contract and fight again right away Was was a big big end. That bite with josh barnett. You mentioned that was a big turning point for me to like. I said i'd been working a lot on my grappling and being on my back and doing all this stuff and the heat of that flight in early on we got into a scramble. And i pulled guard and josh were add on oppa me. I went back and looked at that tape. Like what the hell was i thinking or attend. There's no way that guy could take me down. And i put myself on the bottom. Which cost me the fight. I had to go back and really kind of realize what my mindset was why. I put myself in that bad position Eh go back to wrestling making guys russell me not pulling guard not playing this game. I was never going to catch up with those black belts in jujitsu any more than they were going to catch up with me at our wrestling experience. There's no way so at a really kinda shift my thinking that loss forcing you to do that really analyze what was doing and again. Sometimes those losses are just as important as any win because it forces you to analyze who. You are what you're doing makes you a better athlete and a better human being at the end of the day after josh barnett won you won the fight. He felt a drug test. One to ask you. How bad do you think steroids were in. Mma at this point where they started they started testing in two thousand obviously started fighting in one thousand nine hundred ninety seven. I knew there were guys that were doing it. It was apparent. But i never looked at it as as an advantage for them. I felt like guys that were doing. That were focused on iraq. They were more focused on their beach muscles in how good they look walking out it instead of their endurance durability technique and tactics to win bites so i was looked at it as an advantage. I'm rolling there against the guy that's been doing that for that. I suspect there's been doing that. I knew his head was in the wrong place. And i would have a chance to really make him. Work really make entire l. Push that cardiovascular system to the pump oxygen to all those muscles I just saw that as an advantage. They didn't really start testing with the athletic commissions until two thousand. Obviously that's josh popped because they started testing It was what it was. They tried to give me the title back said. No you're not giving me the tunnel back. In my opinion. I still lost that bite front. You're not a hand the bill back. i'll white belt. But you're not just going to give it back to me and applied. Rico rodriguez in the higginson. I was winning. That fight is a big strong guy taking me down in the in the fifth by around and catching me with an elbow right in the eye and fractured my eye of which absolutely exploded in my brain. I barely tapped instantly. I knew something was seriously wrong. So berry serious. Injury took me about six months to recover from that. That's the first time my mom called me. She she was at that by she saw them put me into the ambulance and the whole thing but she called me you know. I couldn't fly home for a couple of days because of the you know everything that was going on. She called me after. I'd gone and had surgery on the orbit. She's like hey you know maybe it's time to think about doing something to retire like now. I'm i'm fine. Mom gonna be fine. Got more to do and obviously recovered in my back fighting but It was definitely one of those times. Mom's worried about my being by their knows best. Yeah did you ever look at what kurt was doing on. Wwe programming and think well. Maybe there's a way to make a bunch of money. Keep my orbital bones where they belong. Does that never even cross your mind. Well i loosened. That did the job that kurt was doing weekend. Weak out night after night was any easier than meet on in that cage every couple months and getting potentially get punched kicked in the head. The the grinding grueling schedule that those guys in pro wrestling keep is no joke. Burke can attest to that Also i think because of our my collegiate wrestling roots and already being involved in may It never really appealed to me did. I don't know any other way to say why you are. You're heavyweight champion. What made you make the move to light heavyweight champion. What reason for them. Well i lost that. Fight to josh burnett in had lost the fight to riga. Rodriguez wasn't the heavyweight champion. I was a small heavyweight anyway. Walking around twenty I threw it out there that they had already scheduled to fight the last fight on my contract with andrea in the heavyweight division. I had thrown it out there to joe silva and company saying. Hey i you know i can make two five. There's a chance at or you're interested in me coming down at finding a light-heavyweight i can make that pretty easily I was scheduled to fight. Andre andre broke his hand relief before that. Fight the same time. This is going on in the lightheaded division chuck and and tito tito was the champ. Chuck was number one contender. For whatever reason they could make that fight hap and junk was pissed off. He wanted his shot to like friends. I we always agreed. We'd never fight So they were the processes stripping tito of his title and they asked me. If i said i wasn't gonna fight andrei because of the broken hand. Would i find chuck at light weight for the interim championship while they kind of got out of there and gave chuck his shot. I said yeah. I'll do that again. I think they expected my old ass was just gonna get beat by chuck in chuck would be the interim champ that will put more pressure on tito to have to find to unify the belt and the titles. Obviously again i was the monkey ranch. A record plans ready at beat chuck and now. I'm the champs. And so they they said hey. We want you to fight year right away. unified the belts and said okay. That sounds great. And so three months later i ended up fighting a tito to unify the interim championship. The and the championship belt in. And now i'm the light heavy champion so Again kawamata whirlwind. And i was the fly in the ointment.