UFC Veteran Kenny Florian: The Fighter's Mindset That Beats Bitcoin Volatility | Bitcoin Backstage

**Kenny Florian** (0:00)
You know, whether I was learning Jiu-Jitsu or fighting, you know, you experience these highs and you experience these lows, and it's super important to like, remember what you're doing it for, having purpose, having meaning, also understanding that Bitcoin is still like a new asset. It's like a teenager, right? And like, you know, we all went through a lot of crazy changes going through our teens, and, you know, I think there's still a lot of room for growth. So delayed gratification can be a superpower.

**Isabella Santos** (0:29)
We're here with Kenny Florian. How are you? I'm well.

**Kenny Florian** (0:32)
How are you?

**Isabella Santos** (0:33)
I'm good. It's good to see you here.

**Kenny Florian** (0:36)
Yeah, it's good to be here.

**Isabella Santos** (0:37)
You have like a very interesting story because you fought in four weight classes in the UFC.

**Kenny Florian** (0:43)
Yeah.

**Isabella Santos** (0:44)
First of all, hook it up with like the diet tips. How do you like fluctuate your weight that much?

**Kenny Florian** (0:49)
See that saying I fought in four weight classes is a kind way of saying I was very dumb. I don't know.
I fought in four different weight classes, but some of it was like fours because they didn't have certain weight class at the time. But yeah, I fought all the way at 185 pounds that I had to go all the way down to 145 pounds. So not the healthiest way. I can give you tips of how to lose weight, but not the healthiest way. I had to dehydrate a bunch of water and crazy times.

**Isabella Santos** (1:16)
Yeah, crazy times. Which is super interesting because you're one of the only two fighters who's ever done that. And somewhere along the way, you fell down the Bitcoin rabbit hole. So we gotta know like who did that to you? Like who pushed you down the rabbit hole? How was that process for you? Like what was that moment that it clicked?

**Kenny Florian** (1:36)
I wish I invested in Bitcoin when I was still fighting. So I retired in 2011 So just a couple of years, you know, after Bitcoin was out in the wild. So I didn't start until after I retired. But I knew about it a couple of years before, like maybe 2015, maybe something like that. I remember specifically the conversation. It was a friend of mine in Los Angeles. He's like, dude, you have to hear, you know, there's this thing called Bitcoin. You gotta learn about it.
It just went down to like $70. You should buy it. And I was like, okay, like I'll do it. And I dragged my feet, of course, like in my head, I was like, well, the government's going to shut this down. You know, it's not going to be a real thing. And so it wasn't until a couple of years later that I bought some. And then like, I went to check the price, like maybe like a few weeks later, a month later, I was like, wait a sec, I didn't buy that much Bitcoin. Like, well, does it make sense like that? That's how much that I was like, oh, it went up. It went up a lot. Like, well, that's crazy. And then I bought a little more and then started educating myself more about it. And like, I tend to like dive headfirst into things, you know, instead of like... But it's been an amazing journey of like, you know, the ups and downs, of course, similar to fighting.
And it's been awesome, you know, learning about it, being more educated about it, and like seeing it as a really powerful tool in a lot of different ways.

**Isabella Santos** (2:57)
Well, I think in a way you were lucky, though, that you got into it after you, like you left your career in the UFC, because most athletes, they get told by like financial advisors like don't buy Bitcoin, it's bad.

**Kenny Florian** (3:08)
Yeah, totally.

**Isabella Santos** (3:10)
Did they ever tell you that? Like how is that in the in the athletic space?

**Kenny Florian** (3:15)
Yeah, no, great question. So I've always kind of been like the black sheep of my family. Like, you know, they all expected me, I went to college, they expected me to like go to law school. My dad is a doctor and he was like, yeah, you're going to go be like a normal person. I was like, I don't know about that. So I ended up like going to martial arts and they're like, you're not going to make any money. What are you doing? Are you crazy? So I always kind of did things a little differently. So anytime someone told me I was like crazy or dumb, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to go that much harder.