Westin Wilson on His Start in MMA, First UFC Win, and More! - The Couch Warrior Podcast

hey everybody and welcome to another episode of the couch Warrior podcast as always I'm your host Mike and today I am with Weston Wilson how's it going won it is going well good to meet you Mike thanks for having me on uh sorry I was a little late CA I got done with practice a little late it's all good it's all good I'm glad you're over there in Camp man um so I like to start my interviews with uh just from the beginning H how' you get into mixed martial arts um so I was it was back in like early 20002 2001 um I was in like fifth grade sixth grade uh I was going to my dad's office there's a guy named Jim wadell and he was like hey you guys gotta watch this UFC stuff um and so I was like oh that's pretty cool and so I watch it and then in my freshman year of high school they had the Ultimate Fighter um and so at that point I told my friends like I was wrestling a lot and uh like that was the only sport I was doing in high school is wrestling and we're wrestling all year round so I told my friends like I'm gonna do this like I'm gonna I'm gonna transition to MMA uh we moved to Brazil my senior year of high school and that's where I got started in MMA so 17 years ago uh I started doing MMA so you lived in Brazil yep yep I I lived there for two years um I repeated my junior year and then uh uh I lived there uh from 200 2006 to 2008 gotcha did were you doing Jiu-Jitsu there at all yep yep so that's where I started Jiu-Jitsu so I started Muay Thai I did I used to do a Muay Thai tournaments in Brazil um I did jiujitsu tournaments in Brazil um the only thing I didn't do in Brazil was MMA they didn't really have like a commission or any like amateur it was all pro rules and they were like you're like as an American who's only 18 years old like you're going to get crushed like it they will not be fair to you and they they weren't fair to me in the the Muay Thai tournaments um I remember getting uh losing in the semifinals and I beat the kid so bad he couldn't continue and the kid who won the finals didn't even didn't even compete he had a buy injury an injury and he won without even competing and I fought three times that day oh wow so you mentioned the ultimate fighter earlier that was the first season you were talking about yep first season and I watched um I pretty much watched every season of The Ultimate Fighter through like season uh I don't know like 10 and then I stopped watching after that cool yeah I asked because that fight with fars Griffin and boner that was what got me like into MMA yeah that one uh and then Rich Franklin like he was one of my favorite Fighters uh I go to meet Rich a couple years ago and I told him I was like I moved to Brazil you're my favorite fighter and I would tell everybody that you'd beat Anderson Silva and I was training at Anderson Silva's gym one of the gyms that he train at and they all just beat the tar out of me because I was a Rich Franklin fan so what was the the first gym you trained at when you when you got into MMA Paulo um so they were the first team that I I had trained with and then how how did you end funny I was getting one of my oh go ahead no sorry I I think it's lagging a little bit so I thought you were done talking but you still we're talking oh uh yeah so I my very first like teammate getting him ready for a fight he fought in a tournament and it was Charles Olivera's first fight and Charles won the whole entire tournament he like submitted everybody in the first round it was pretty cool oh wow and he fought your teammate yeah uh Viscardi and dragi um and I think he subbed Viscardi gotcha uh how'd you end up at Wonderboy camp uh my work moved me out here um to South Carolina and I was coming out training and uh then I got the opportunity for uh to work out here full time instead of like traveling every two three months and so I was like yeah we'll move out here fulltime and so I left California and I I came out here fulltime and and uh in between like I was training with Coach T A lot uh coach Thompson so Wonder Boy dad and we hit it off um and we had a a great relationship so when I moved down it was just like you know there was no transition time it was I was already a part of the team gotcha uh are you training full-time now or do you still work too no I still work um I make really good money outside of the UFC so there and and like it's not crazy hours and and crazy hard work so I might as well just keep keep doing it you know that way I'm not going into a fight like oh I gotta win because I got to get all this extra money uh it's just more of a hobby and uh it's just a hobby that I get paid doing okay cool yeah I was gonna ask if it kind of makes it a little bit easier like a little less pressure yeah it definitely does uh it it it takes that pressure off um I've never like the the I shouldn't say never like there's a couple times where I was like I'm gonna get a fight so I can like make a little extra money uh and those fights are a little bit more stressful that makes sense so you you had 22 Pro fights before you got the UFC call up did you expect it at all or was it just a surprise for you um so we knew like we're making a really strong campaign a really strong push um but I knew going into it that I was going to fight like one of the toughest guys in the division so uh we knew that was my only opportunity was I had to fight a guy that they didn't want to like burn a prospect to have him fight uh and so you know when they when they called it was an obvious yes like we're we're ready to go gotcha did does the training change at all once you're in the UFC or is it kind of the same as it was I think the focus changes um before the UFC you know you're watching fights a lot you're you're you're watching you know everybody else you're like in into like the regional scene and who's moving up who's not um now that I'm in the UFC like I don't watch fights as much I don't watch the UFC as much um and it's a little bit easier in like coming up with a game plan uh be because there's more footage on guys and they're more established and so I think like just the amount of training hasn't changed at all it's just the focus of training has changed and and the ability to game plan around a certain opponent that uh that part has changed and and so that's where you know especially like that last fight against Jaa Seri like that was a fight that I actually got to train full-time and and have a solid game plan uh Jean Silva like I didn't get a have a solid game plan I didn't have any footage on him and they they switched him out um like on a four-week three week notice um um and so we had no clue like we just kind of went in like not knowing what to do um but Jaa was like the first guy in the UFC that I gotta actually like have a solid eight weeks of game planning and and Drilling and doing fight specific scenarios yeah I mean you you did you know that his grappling was kind of not the best because it seemed like you targeted that pretty quickly yep yep we knew it wasn't very good and we knew that I was very good at grappling so uh we went with that um it's like why stand with a guy whose only chance of winning is standing and striking uh when he lost to that Indian kid Jubilee like I knew that my grappling was better than jubilees so I was like Jubilee beat him by grappling like I'll definitely beat him from grappling yeah that that makes sense so going into that fight did you did you feel any pressure like any more than usual coming off of two losses no actually that was was the best I felt going into a fight um I work with a sports psychologist and that was like the best I had ever felt um like I didn't care about the result I just wanted to enjoy it uh I was ready for it to be my potentially my last fight I I was ready for it to be you know the start of a of you know career in the UFC so like I was just ready to enjoy the experience of being in the UFC like I feel like the Jean Sil fight like it was Christmas time Wonder Boy just lost his shop CAU so like the morale wasn't super high and I was splitting time like between you know his Camp my Camp things like that and and this time like it got to be all about me it got to be like we we got to have a very good approach we had the same opponent the whole time like I was able to game plan specifically for him every training session was like targeted to exactly what we were going to do um and I got to like really just enjoy it like and it was the first time that I got to have my parents and my wife in the attendance at at the Apex because before that they weren't allowing a family to come uh now we get four tickets uh and I think having that like made all the difference too like before the fight started I got to see my mom I got to see my dad I got to see my wife I got to see my brother you know and and seeing them and and feeling their energy like it it definitely helped and it it put me at at ease so would you say having them there did it like make you nervous at all or just made you feel better no it just made me feel better like it it was definitely like uh it was a better experience having him having him there gotcha so in that fight when when it started you know he kind of did the fake glove touch thing did did that annoy you at all or did you just like not care I didn't care um um the only reason I did it was because everybody like commented on my last two fights of me not touching gloves so I was like all right fine I'll just I'll touch gloves and uh it just proves why I don't touch gloves the one time you try to do it the guy doesn't do it yeah so I don't I I've got a rule I'm not touching gloves anymore going forward y gotcha so I I do have to ask were were you planning to jump into bisping's arms after after the fight was over I've told bisbing for two fights now I was going to do it um I told Bisping uh after the Jean Sila fight like I was teasing and I was like yeah all the girls do it I'm gonna do it and he's like all right I'll catch you and then in between like on the commercial break I was like all right I'm gonna jump in your arms like okay and then he like he just dropped the ball but it's all good like I I just uh it made a fun clip you know uh and bisping's a good sport about everything he's a cool dude it would it would have been really good if he actually caught you though I know I know I think he was like worried I was way heavier than all the girls which I am so I don't blame him but I wasn't sweaty or anything so it wasn't like I was gonna get his suit all dirty were you expecting to get ja out of there that early or did you think maybe the fight would get extended a bit I thought that it would get extended I didn't think I overestimated his grappling I thought his grappling was going to be a lot better than that um but he felt super weak and his grappling like he just made super white belt mistakes on the ground um but like watching the juile fight like I was like okay I think it'll take me around to get you know I'll Tire him out grappling wise and it'll take me around um but like I picked him up off the cage super easily I uh you know I was able to squeeze and him not really be able to fight out of it so yeah I like he was just he was not as good on the ground as I thought he was gonna be gotcha so I I do want to Circle back to your first two fights in the UFC I don't know how online you are but you know after those two losses people were like pretty harsh and I wanted to ask you if that bothered you at all how you dealt with it that kind of thing um I think for me the getting signed against Brito uh before I even fought burito I think that messed with me more than anything um that definitely affected my my psyche more than than all of it uh after the brto fight I stopped carrying online I knew that the Jean Sila like everybody was super hard on me but now you look at like the dude's a monster like he went through Drew Dober he went through Char like knocked out Charles jordaine like he didn't like flat out knock me out like he did you know jordane uh which shows like you know and there was some there's some other issues going into that fight that I was dealing with um so yeah like it just shows like I don't know people don't know until they they know you know yeah that makes sense uh you mentioned earlier you use a sports psychologist I think right yep does that help you uh definitely um the the guy use uh he's with the ufcpi um he's fantastic he made all the difference like things start really clicking uh I was I've been using him since the the Britto fight and things finally like really taking off uh and that's what I said like the training hasn't changed it's the focus in the training and that has like been the biggest differences I think um how I train for fights with like more of a mental approach has has helped Goa now that you feel a little bit more prepared do you feel like a little bit more excited getting into the cage again yeah I'm I'm super excited uh you know we got you C 307 coming up that's in my hometown Salt Lake City um or if I were to have a HomeTown I moved around a lot that would kind of be it um and and I got my teammate Wonderboy fighting on the card so that's the card I want to fight on uh we're getting kind of close though it's like six seven weeks out um but yeah like I would be super excited to fight on on that card and there's a couple guys I wouldn't mind um fighting so we'll see what happens who are those guys uh I wouldn't mind fighting Ryan Hall just because he's another Grappler another guy Eric Silva looks like he grapples a little bit more than than not uh so he's somebody uh I think that I would have an exciting fight against um and I don't know really like I I fought like three heavy hitter Strikers I would like to fight a Grappler but we'll see what the UFC offers or if they even offer anybody for that card I see that's interesting because I feel like you know if you have like an advantage in the grappling for example I would think that you'd want to face off against a striker like Jacka for example who doesn't have the best grappling but you you want to Grapple with somebody yeah I do um I think if somebody's a Grappler like I think I have good enough takedown defense that I can really show off my striking and so I'd love to be able to show off my striking against like a non Striker I see that makes sense looking for that first UFC knockout yeah yeah uh it used to be like honestly before I I moved up here and trained with Wonderboy it used to be like all I'd win is is by Knockouts um and then people just started taking me down and so then I just started uh choking people out and winning via choke so uh yeah I would say if you're a Grappler like I'm gonna try to strike with you if you're a striker I'm gonna try to Grapple with you I gotcha but all right Wesson that's all I got for you man uh thanks for coming on thanks for taking the time before we hop out if you have anything you want to plug your socials anything uh go ahead yeah man I appreciate the time um you can find me at Weston Wilson um on Instagram and uh yeah stay tuned hopefully I'll have fight news soon oh yeah I hope we hear about it and uh good luck with everything won all right thanks all right