JRE MMA Show #96 with Justin Gaethje & Trevor Wittman

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Boom, trainer of the year, Trevor Wittman, you might be, you might get it, we'll see.

Trevor Wittman (0:05)

I mean, I don't have any, I got not that many athletes, so that's where, you know, when I won it two years ago, that was unique to me, because I went in there like, man, I don't deserve this. I remember having 40 athletes, and the guys who have all these athletes that's put in so much time, I had three athletes at the time, so that was cool. But again, I think performing and doing good as a coach is one thing, but also putting in that full time. When you're running a gym and having 40 athletes, it's a nonstop 60 hours. You're not doing anything with your children.

But then when I seen the athletes talking on the screen and talking about rows, talking about changing the world, and just being good people, then I was like, oh yeah. And I remember repeating to myself, when I went through a tough time and lost all my athletes, we kind of had to split.

And it all happened through, when Nate Markhort had that issue with the TRT. I had talked about the gray area. If you're gonna allow someone to do that, you have that space. He instantly got shunned for it. And he's got children, he had a new kid on the way, and I was just like, man, he got shunned. We knew about it prior, and I'm just like, they said you could do it, but they don't know how to test the levels.

And that situation turned into a bigger situation, and then I ended up starting over with athletes. And I remember repeating to myself, you're the best coach in the world. No one's better. And I remember just repeating, I had a new gym that was big, 13,000 square feet. I was paid it by myself. Then I just kept saying it over and over and over. And then when I was sitting there that night, I was looking at him, and we won like seven awards that night, which is the three of us.

And I was like, man, that's super cool. That's when it kind of hit. And I was like, oh man.

Joe Rogan (1:43)

There's something to be said for having a small stable of athletes versus like there's some of these super gyms where a lot of guys wind up complaining. A lot of guys wind up saying they don't get the attention they deserve. They feel like they're staggering or they're stagnant there. And it's just, it's not, I don't think it's the right way.

Trevor Wittman (2:02)

It's so different. I'll tell you, it takes it back to my boxing days. I only had three or four athletes at the most and I was running with them and had them at my house and I was feeding them and they were at my house for camp.

And it was one-on-one for everything. For the psyche, I mean, that's such an important part when it comes to fighting outside of Justin Gaethje.

I learned from this guy when it comes to mental. He's just ingrained with the strongest mental and I love that part. That's why I love working with Rose, because the mental part. But one-on-one is key. That is key to be with your athletes and I'll tell you, it's like a hobby again. It ain't like a job. It's like passion. You never really want to do it for the money. You need to pay your bills. But the key is it's the athlete. It's about them.

Joe Rogan (2:49)

Justin, when you came to Trevor, how much striking experience had you had?

Justin Gaethje (2:53)

Zero.

No, I had five amateur fights. I had never been in a street fight, a one-on-one street fight, a couple of big brawls. Never thrown a punch, never been punched. And I got hit hard in my fifth fight, almost got knocked out. I was like, man, I need to find, if I'm gonna do this, I need to find a coach.

Joe Rogan (3:11)

So you had five amateur MMA fights with zero striking training.

Justin Gaethje (3:18)

Zero, I was just, I would just take, so right after wrestling was over, I would just be like, I wanna fight. And then I was in the best shape of my life after wrestling season.

So I was a machine still, but I just had no skills. It was go out there and wrestle, take them down, slams. I was, I got my nickname, the highlight, before I ever knew how to strike. And that was from throwing, tossing people.

Trevor Wittman (3:38)