Vince Murdock: Team Alpha Male MMA fighter on Brain Surgery, The Ultimate Fighter & Building an Inclusive Cycling Community
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Vince Murdock is a professional mixed martial arts fighter who came up from difficult circumstances and worked his entire life to get into the UFC. When he finally got the call, a pre-fight brain scan showed he had Moyamoya disease and a life-threatening arterial blockage.
Following brain surgery that involved removing a quarter of his skull, Vince’s perspective on life radically shifted. He became a father, got into cycling to rehab from surgery and formed an inclusive community, the Enjoy Cycling Club, to counter the elitism and exclusion that’s commonplace in competitive cycling.
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Vince trains at Team Alpha Male under the supervision of multiple former UFC title belt holders and champions including Cody No Love Gabrandt and team founder and owner The California Kid, Urijah Faber. Vince has a unique perspective on life and deep wisdom from the hardships he has persevered through both before and after his surgery. He is a remarkable human and I am deeply grateful for what he shares in this interview. It really moved me.
I’m dedicating this episode to my good friend Aaron Burby and his friends and family. Aaron suddenly died from complications related to undiagnosed Moyamoya disease in 2020. He has been with me every day since then and he always will be. Like Vince, Aaron made the people around him feel loved and special, he was a gifted community builder, went full gas after his goals in life and expected the people he loved to give everything to what they valued.
Special thanks to past Choose the Hard Way guest Derek Teel from Dialed Health for connecting me to Vince. I very much appreciate you and the connection.
This is a special conversation and I’m grateful to be able to share it with you all.
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Vince 0:00
If you've been following MMA you know what it's like to kind of get the call up to the UFC and this was like my second or third call up I've been called up and haven't been able to take the fight so this time I was able to take a short notice fight and and so it's like 10 days notice or something like that very short very short notice and so, you know, just like any fight you have to go through a series of medicals exams physicals your eye test, blood work. And then once you get a lot of these scans are dark, you have to go meet with a doctor so he can examine them in front of you. And I mean, you'd be surprised to see how much goes into it. But anyway, I do the I do the MRI with contrast, which is a newer thing for me I've never done one of these prior to the UFC we've done I've had my my brain scan many times for my fights, but I've never had one where they shoot the dye into your arm. So I think the fights in Minneapolis Vince is that standard
Andrew Vontz 1:11
do they do that all the time by contrast I MRI of your brain and what are they looking for so
Vince 1:16
I was told it was not standard I was told it was it was semi new within free like the last year or so maybe a little longer that they just started implementing that into the UFC as you know medical to check for we were typically would always just get like a CAT scan or some sort of MRI of the brain depending on the commission it just depending on what they would accept every commission is different. Every every one of them asked for something different. But yeah, this they asked for the warmth with contrast and it was the first time they have had that done. Now I get it pretty often but I think it was so rushed that I got the scan on Monday and I'm pretty sure I left for Minneapolis because if I was in Minneapolis on the same day, so I got the scan and I had to meet with a doctor in Minneapolis. So I don't even get to meet with him until like Thursday. Right so I'm like I get to Minneapolis I'm cutting my weights still I'm meeting with my nutritionist and I'm I'm signing I'm signing the posters with you know Francis new get gone who is the is the is the main event you know, and and they're signing the posters and doing all the the pre do pre flight routine. I'm doing my interviews, you know, just taking in the experience that I've been waiting, what feels like a lifetime that I know that I've earned many times over but I'm finally getting to, to soak it all in. And then they're like, just, you know, just simple procedure before I finished my cut, I gotta go see a doctor. He's gonna read you your scan and you're like, check off on it.
Andrew Vontz 3:00
Is this at the stadium? Or where are you when you see the stuff?
Vince 3:04
Yeah, so I'm in Minneapolis and leaving the hotel just taking a quick Uber to whatever doctor like a neurologist or something of that sort. And it comes out his even looked at my scans, we you know, it's me and my corner man. For some reason I didn't go it alone. I just brought one of my corner man with me, maybe something so I could talk to somebody I don't know. His name is Mike Melotte. He's had a lot of success in the last two years. He's really on the come up and super happy for him. But we get there in Italy healing each one of us. So Mike waited in the in the waiting area. And I just remember this so vividly. And this might have been the first time I've ever really spoken about but I get in there and he you know, shake hands. He's like super excited to be working with the UFC. And he's like, you know, I've been doing jujitsu and I was like, Cool, man. I'm just trying to, you know, roll. No, I was just like, let's just get this over with so I'd cut weight, you know, I'm already pretty either not irritable, but you know, I got a big fight in two days. And it's like, really, it's kind of all in my mind. And I've never failed or even could imagine something with my brain. So we're like shooting the shit. We're talking, you know, and he's got a couple of screens on the wall and he like pops it in and he like looks at it. He looks does a double take and he's like not saying anything for a second. And he's like, I don't I don't know. Do you feel okay, like, at some point, I was like, Can I get my cornerman because this is getting kind of uncomfortable. And it just got to the point where he's like Vince, you know, your brain scan. This doesn't look good. And I like was just looking at it. Obviously your bodies found a way to compensate but I don't know for how much longer and you know, just looking at the scan, if basically, if someone were to, you know, put you in a choke or something, you're more than likely wouldn't wake back up like you, you know, basically was trying to tell me that he didn't know, he doesn't know how my body's compensating. And then, if I were to lose blood flow from that side of my brain, he doesn't think it would turn back on. Because it was so polluted. When he saw when he had found it, it was 100% occluded, meaning it was completely closed, meaning it was getting this the left side of my brain was getting blood from somewhere else. And he wasn't sure how or why or where it was coming from, according to this, what was what was closed
Andrew Vontz 5:39
vents like, what was it a carotid artery? Or what?
Vince 5:43
Yep, yep. So what are the occur the arteries? I mean, I'm not super familiar with them, because I know they twist at some point. But yeah, it was one of the chronic arteries. It's on the left side of my brain. And I wait, it's hard to say that it's closed, because I mean, there's not something in there. So the way Moy works is means the walls, they get so thick, think of like stepping on a hose almost. They just grow so thick until they grow closed. And it's something that you know, is potentially going to find its way through my whole brain. I mean, I still have the disease. I think that's often overlooked. Is that just because I had this operation means it's all good. Right now, I'm all good. Yes. You know, I'm grateful for it. But the nature of the diseases continues to spread until, you know, there's only so many operations you can get. But, yeah, so at the time, I bring Mike in here, and I'm just like, trying, I'm like, Look, dude, I've been fighting for 10 years, I have never had a problem. And he's like, I don't know what to tell you is like looking at the scan. I can't, I'm like, well, that's not my fucking scan. Man. I'll tell you right now, I went to some janky Hospital in Sacramento, not my scan. And I'm just like yelling at him. I'm like, Look, dude, this is my biggest opportunity. You're not taking this away from me, not my scan. And he's just like, okay, sends me to the ER, we get back into the car, I'm going to the emergency fund some doctor to do an emergency scan. I'm sitting there, you know, irritable, hungry, and and we do the scan. And then then I come back, sit in the same chair, throw the disc in. And he goes, Yeah, this is your scan man. And so, at the time, I thought that it was just I didn't grasp the idea of I didn't really know what a closed artery meant, or any of these things met. So I just assumed that it was like an abnormality that I like, that was normal to live with, you know, people have just things that they're different, or, you know, that make them unique. So at the time, I was like, oh, you know, I'll just go you know, home. And we'll get this figured out, I'll prove it like this, you know, nothing, you know, because obviously, look, I'm functioning and I am then I was like, well prove that this is nothing. And you know, and I'll be on the next card. You'll just move this fight, you know, week up or whatever. And that didn't happen. And every doctor I saw going forward was like, Yo, this is really, really bad. I don't know how to say that without, you know. sounding too. Yeah, it was just very intense. Every every doctor's visit was very intense going forward, until I got the surgery.
Andrew Vontz 8:38
When What day was it that you got that news? And what year was it?
Vince 8:43
The fight was like July, July, June or July 24. Or one of those. I'm not very good. You know, I had brain surgery, so I don't remember. But yeah, it was 2019 2019 Yeah. And, you know, I had to by the time I, you know, I had have shopped around for doctors that I thought felt were qualified to do a craniotomy. That's what was required was a removal of my school. So they removed the, you know, the left side, yeah, they remove a part of the school, they do what's called the indirect or indirect and direct bypass, there's a name for the surgery, I can't remember at the moment, but basically, the take a blood vessel from the outside of your head. I think it's like one of these ones, or they'll find whatever one's a healthy candidate. Luckily, you know, I am very lucky to be an athlete, and I was lucky enough to be young enough to where I was a very good candidate, and I had lots of healthy blood vessels. So this is not something I take, you know, lightly. The more I've gotten involved, I've seen a lot of really sad cases. But anyway, they take the artery, they lay one of the blood vessels Over the brain. And that would be the indirect meaning that over time, it kind of grows into the brain from that way. And then the other one, they would, they would connect it to maybe the broken artery or an artery in there, I'm not entirely sure. But they would connect that to the blood vessel to an artery in the brain. And then it would get blood through their back to school back on, there's probably two little holes to super tiny from what I'm aware of, that would allow the blood vessels to travel from outside to inside. So yeah, that was definitely a concern, coming back to fighting. They were like, you know, it took a lot of convincing and, you know, proof to show that I was fit to compete and that this wouldn't be a problem. But yeah,
Andrew Vontz 10:49
how did you how did you feel when I mean, it sounds like initially, you were you were fighting the diagnosis when the doctor was like, hey, look, man, this is not good. I mean, did he even did he just say there's a blockage? Or do you say specifically, this is my my error? What did he tell you?
Vince 11:03
So the first doctor the guy saw had never heard of Moyamoya. I don't think I've briefly heard the word but like, they're like, you just doesn't seem like you'd have that. But you could have that. Originally, they told me it was occluded. occluded was a word I heard often going forward with occluded was just a word to say that it had been closed. And then when I got on there, like this is, you know, this is Moyamoya. You know, and luckily, I think Luckily, my brain had come compensated in a way that it hadn't begun to grow. The nature of the diseases is when it when it when you get it, your body starts to compensate by growing smaller and tinier blood vessels everywhere else. Very, very weak blood vessels. You almost kind of don't want them because they fail eventually. And so when they're like working, and then suddenly they don't work is when, you know, they rupture or whatever is when they're very weak, and they don't last and that's the sad part, I guess. But that's the that's what Moy actually stands for. It is a Japanese word. That stands for puff of smoke. Because on the MRI, when these smaller blood vessels begin to grow, they look like smoke on the imaging. In my opinion, I think they look like little dots of like Tumbleweed you know, I mean, just growing up like malls and stuff. But yeah, my initial thoughts were you know, what, I had adopted to this mindset and belief at this time where I felt like I everything in my life was meant to be overcome. I had like really taken on this adversity, overcoming adversity thing in my life where previously to a lot of this I did not I did not take that approach to almost anything I was someone that was just kind of went with the flow a little too often and was like, you know, when my time comes, it will come yada yada, yada. And I was sitting and then I got to a point where I was like, You know what, no, I've been doing this way too long. I've been working way too hard. It's time to go the UFC. Got to call the UFC. Doing all my things gave me brain surgery. I you know, I looked at that I was like, fuck you. I'm gonna knock this out. And I'm not gonna let this stop me. So a lot of people and I know it's gonna be different. I'm not going to act like it wasn't like I just just really really hard blown in my life. It was it was it was incredibly hard. It's still hard I still deal with it. I still have the brain disease but I made up a decision when I was going through it that that that I was going to you know, be a leader in this this this this this fight a leader in in showing how people to overcome stuff bigger than them and and I just wasn't willing to back down or like let this tell me how I was gonna live my life tell me that I couldn't compete like no, I've been doing this forever.
Vince 0:00
So the doctor said that a lot of yeah, a lot of the the outcome of fighting my life, everything is gonna come down to like, you know, the recovery process. And I had already made it up in my mind that like that, that I had made it this far, like, there was no way I was gonna let anything else stop me I was like, at this point, I was like, give me a task and watch me completed kind of mentality. And, you know, that really stood out to me, because I just felt like I was the right person for the job, I felt like I could make the comeback I I just felt like I could i It's hard to explain, but he's like six months, you know, you see where you're at, in six months, your blood vessel needs to like triple in size, basically, the size of the for comparison, what and when they use these blood vessels for the bypass, they're super, super thin. So just imagine like a piece of hair, you know, and he's in that's like, how big it is, he's like, in order for this to push the right amount of blood that is necessary to keep your brain afloat, it needs to be, you know, like the size of an extension cord and comparisons, like that's how much bigger it needs to grow, it needs to really, really grow. And so then they put you on all these blood pressure medications, which are very uncomfortable, and I was very did not like, you know, taking any kind of medicine and it made me feel a crap like, you know, that's this is how I got into cycling was that I was looking for a way to push new blood to the brain without taking medicine that was constantly making me feel terrible. So I'm sitting here thinking of like, how can I make a demand for blood to my brain, right exercise? What can I do? Well, I can't go to the gym, I can't get punched in the face. I can't do you know all the things that I enjoy doing? So I'm like, Well, maybe I'll run I tried running. And I ran track in high school, but it just didn't hold up as well as it used to, you know, both my knees are pretty shot. I've had, you know, double knee surgery and multiple ie surgeries, and they just swell up. And I could probably take, I could probably figure out a way to run but at this time, it was very, very difficult. For me there was a lot of jarring it was very hard on, you know, stomping on the brain in the head. But anyway, so I was looking for some sort of exercise I could do. And my coach mentor and really good friend Uriah had your favor, had a old bike and old Cannondale in his garage. And I was like, Hey, can I take that thing over spin? And he's like, Yeah, sure. So anyway, I bought his bike, nobody really like I couldn't be in the gym. Super often, I went in as much as I could, you know, way sooner than I should. I was probably back in the gym on the mats, you know, shadow boxing and stuff. Well, well, too early, maybe within three weeks of brain surgery. But I was so focused on knocking out this recovery, that it was important to me that I was getting back to a normal routine that was more important to me was like the the normalcy of the routine and, and getting back into a schedule and a routine. And then so like, in my off time when I wasn't at the gym, I was going on these really big rides. And I mean, my first ride on a bike was like 30 miles. And the next day was like 50 miles. And the next day was like 70 miles. I remember that because it was back to back to back and I was with my buddy at the time. His name's Scott Oh, stranor yarns origami. And we kind of had this like thing where we would say to each other, like, we nobody wanted to back down kind of thing, right? He's like, you know, even if we were retired, like where you are, right? Tomorrow, I was like, Yeah, all right, tomorrow. I mean, he's like, you know, like, maybe we'll do more here like maybe we will Yeah, it just turned into this like, massive thing. I think I logged like, well over 10,000 miles. In the first like eight months, it was stupid. But it was also really good for my brain. So fast forward to my six month checkup. My blood vessel had like quadrupled in size and the amount of blood so they they do this scam where they show the amount of blood and that was basically the big one the scan which would they showed like I needed to have an adequate amount of blood on this side of my brain compared to this side of the brain. And making sure that there was like enough there. Long story short, there's plenty. I had the surgery done its job and I had grown the blood vessels to something very strong something I was very proud of something I took it very serious for that six months I had quit drinking, quit, you know, going out. You know I haven't had a drop of alcohol since then. Since the brain surgery and Uh, yeah, so that six months was something that I was very proud of that I took very seriously. And I rode my bike very often, it was something that I dealt with mentally to was very, very difficult for me, because at that time I didn't know if I was gonna fight again, like, deep down inside, like, you ask anyone, they were like, No way this guy's fighting just has had fucking popped up and nobody's fighting, nobody's coming back from that, like, you're you'll see it too in a lot of interviews is the comments are like, can't believe this guy's you know, entertaining the idea of fighting. And it's like, well, that's because you've never went for anything in your fucking life. And, you know, this is what it looks like when someone's going after something they've put their whole life into. And it means more to me to do that than it is to sit on the internet and talk shit about other people. But yeah, so that six months to me was really important. I, I basically logged all those miles, I was dieting to a degree, but what was most important there was I was creating a demand for blood to my brain. And I did that as often as I could, I went in for the checkup. And I was cleared, I think I was cleared to fight, you know, just about six months after, you know, the brain surgery, which was something again, I was really proud of. And that was just one more thing that I was able to check off my bucket list and be like, it just, it just added to the momentum of that mentality that I was creating for myself at the time, like, throw a hurdle at me, and I'll jump over it, you know, give me something to overcome. And I'll do it. Tell me I can't and watch me do it kind of thing. And I was just constantly kind of seeking those things. And that's what like kind of drew me to cycling to begin with, because cycling is very honest, in a sense of your effort, if you will, it will break you off. Like you can't hide from your power, your your distance, or the speed or the effort, you can't hide from it. Either you got it or you don't and you're on the side of the road, your legs are cramping up like all these things. There's all these variables, and it was so pure to me. I think that's what what stuck out to me is it's like I love the adversity and the challenges in life. And Cycling has a lot of that. And then. So like, that's what drove me more and more I was kind of secret seeking that suffering and seeking a way to overcome it. And I still am it is still something that I that I like doing daily, and I search for some sort of suffering. In almost everything I do, I'm going to fight for a living that was, you know, definitely a form of suffering and overcoming it. But, yeah.
Andrew Vontz 7:45
Why is fighting important to you? And what are you fighting when you fight?
Vince 7:50
You know, that's changed a lot over the years. I think you know, I think originally fighting started for me, because I came from small towns. I did have my, my dad was in and out of prison. He's in prison, you know, right now, again, not that that matters. But I think that I was I think that I know, I started I started because I wanted I had a chip on my shoulder. And I wanted to prove to the people around me that I could be somebody or something. And I felt like I had something to prove. I just felt like I had, it was something that I needed to do to prove to them to myself that I belonged and that I could, you know, be something and you know, for a long time, I think that was my why? Or what it meant to me. It's transition now to where I feel like I want to lead by example for you know, my son, I want to show him what it's like to kind of knock out some of these goals, what it means to have a goal, what it means to fail at it often and continue to do keep going after it and that's what part of what life is whether it's fighting or, you know, something else, it's important to fail and come back from it. And overcoming the hardships that come with it. You know, fighting is a very tough lifestyle between dieting, the the training, the the end of the surgeries, the broken bones, the all the things that go with it. So now I kind of feel like I do it means to me more in a sense of you know, I have a lot to prove to myself still, you know, I'm still proving to myself that I belong, but I also want to do it to you know, show my son and show others you know that they can do just about anything and that and I believe that Drew, you know, unfortunately, it took me a very long time to buy into that. And I wish it hadn't. Because if I had believed, like, the only thing that I have all the skill, and I think that you could possibly get in an athlete, for in a lot of things, what I didn't have was the mindset in the belief in myself that I could be those things or do those things. And then it's like I do now. And here I am 30 years old, and I don't, you know, like, I only have maybe six more years left. And that's if the brain doesn't kick off and do its own thing. You know what I mean? So it's, it's, if I would have had that when I was 20, you know, which I was still fighting professionally. You know, I might be in a different spot, you know, I had a hard time believing in myself and in these battles early on in my career. But again, all the things that we've spoken about, I've adapted that kind of mindset. And I've come to realize that you can do just about anything that you put your mind to you just, it's one day at a time. 1% better one day better than yesterday. And it adds up. Your mental and your mindset has a lot to do with that. And I think if people bought into that more, they'd get a lot more done. And I think failing is some of the best things that can happen to you. I think the more you fail, the more you learn, the more you fail, the more you're one step closer to getting there, you know, and without failing and you don't grow, you know, you think you just achieve everything you set out to do you know, you're meant to fail, and double down and do it again. And I think, for me, by failing, as often as I am, even with the brain and my brain brain failing. I am it's important to keep going after those goals and showing people how to go after those goals. Be kind of like a light in in that area. Show people that they can do things. I mean, if I can get a craniotomy and come back to fighting like, surely you can, whatever your goal is, I mean, you could do that, too. So yeah, man, that's, that's what I feel like I do it for now is to show people that they are capable of more than they think and don't give up on themselves. Like always, always see, for more, my life was almost taken for me. And I live everyday like going forward, like looking to get more out of the day, most out of my efforts, more out of everything that I put my mind to, because life is that fragile. And you really is a gift, whether it be cycling, or fighting or whatever it is, don't take for granted your ability to step on the mats pedaled the bike like so not only take it for granted, but like, Do it harder, do it, give it give it your best foot forward. And, you know, don't count yourself out. And I see it too often. I think that's kind of why I got involved because I see too many people just not like believing in themselves or not going after the things they really want in life, and they can't do those things.
Andrew Vontz 12:53
You know, that's obviously I haven't gone through what you've gone through. But one of my best friends, Aaron birbee, died three years ago, he had Moyamoya. And he didn't know that he had, he had completed 18 Iron Man's. He had a stroke the day after completing an eight mile open water swim in the bay, San Francisco. Unfortunately, I had moved to to main when this happened, so I didn't see him before he died. And you know, one of the things that Aaron's death did for me was it reminded me of all the things that you're talking about. And it gave me a new perspective on what it meant to see my kids or see my wife or my friends, or to be able to get on my bike and go out and do some of the things that you're talking about. So once you had this diagnosis, and you made the shift for you. What changed for you in terms of what felt important in life? And were there things that you had worried about before that felt like they didn't mean anything anymore? Was there a big change?
Vince 14:09
There's a massive change, man. For starters, I started to hear about your your friend. Just just from the outside looking in. How old was he?
Andrew Vontz 14:22
He's he was my son. He was probably 44 or 45. At the time.
Vince 14:28
I would say, you know, endurance sports probably helped. Yeah, in a lot of ways, you know, without saying too much. That's just my opinion. I feel like it's obviously helped me if I lived a sedentary lifestyle, where I wasn't creating a demand for blood to my brain. There would be no blood to go there. So it's very tragic. And I guess that's stories like that are one of the reasons why I advocate for people to live their life a little harder, and by harder I just mean live a little more and The shift really did change because you spoke about your kids and your wife and I didn't have any kids at the time, wasn't married. And those were two things that I didn't really care to do. Prior to all this and I really didn't want kids let me tell you, I just did not like them. Let me just start, I love my kid. I'm obsessed. But for a long time, I was very I mean, MMA in this sport, professional fighting is a very selfish, selfish sport. And it requires a lot of your time. And then even when it's over, you know, you're tired, you're beat down, it's hard to give yourself to a lot of other things. So it's very selfish in that sense. And then when the reality of his like you have a brain disease, and you've just spoken on how dangerous it can be, you start to think, well, of course, I've always wanted to care but I never thought about it. Right? So I'm sitting here thinking like, I don't know what the next six months of my life was looking like. And so I had been with my girlfriend at the time for two years or so. Definitely felt like she was the one I mean, I had already you know, I was very in love with her and you know, actually had already proposed before I found out so it was always my intention. But we got married shortly after the the diagnosis and I had my our wedding the day two days before the brain surgery and kind of jam that out just because I didn't know how I was going to wake up. And yeah, the kid talk, I guess
Vince 0:00
All right, so the kid talk. Again, it was something that I, you know, I really we hadn't really spoken too much about, I knew she wanted kids, I didn't know if I wanted kids. Actually, I knew I wanted a kid, I just wasn't ready to be a parent. And, you know, growing up with, with the lifestyle I had, you know, I was scared of being a father, my father was an interesting one. And it was difficult, I had a difficult upbringing in a lot of ways and, and stuff like that, and a lot of it having to do with my father, so not today. You know, one thing it taught me was how to not be a father, I guess, in a lot of ways. And so part of me didn't believe that I could be the father that I wanted to be at the time, and I was worried that I wouldn't, you know, so selfish, that I was worried that I wouldn't love them. And long story short, we can cheat convince me to try for a kid, you know, especially is a disease can be very unpredictable. So we made an effort. And then, you know, I had a, we had a kid in again, it was probably the most amazing experience of my life. And I can't imagine, like, I wish I'd done it sooner. Having kids is incredible, it is the coolest thing. And it outweighs anything I've ever done in my life. And if it means that I needed this brain surgery, to even convince me to have kids, and it was so worth it, because I can't, I don't know how to explain it. People that don't have kids and say like, I don't want a kid. You're You're wrong. You are so wrong. It is so cool. And I feel so silly forever thinking the way that I thought prior that bringing life into this world, and moving it in and teaching it is by far outweighs anything I've done. It is truly an incredible experience. I look forward to it every day. So yeah, I think that's my mind has shifted very much into like enjoying figuring out ways to get the most out of life and enjoying the daily things in everything. Whereas before, I felt like I was always looking to dates and times, and like preparing for things, you know, not live in very present. And you know, I got to fight coming up and doing all these tedious things to get there. And then then that moment mattered versus right now I feel like every moment matters. And yeah, so that's that's kind of how I mindset has definitely changed into more of a, you know, more or less about myself and more about, you know, my experience on Earth.
Andrew Vontz 2:57
Yeah, and I know, like you mentioned that you kind of indirectly talked about how being a Team Alpha, male, Uriah, how those things have kind of shaped who you are in your trajectory here. And I know that you will also have built this community around cycling, where you are in Sacramento, could you talk a little bit about how you think about the people who you spend time with? And I'm also curious if that change before the brain surgery and after?
Vince 3:29
Yeah. Yeah, so I'll just start with like, what cycling was in the community, the more involved I got into it, the more I felt like something was missing. Being from Team Alpha Male is probably one of the largest top five largest teams in the sport. You know, we have a long history of high level guys making a lot of accomplishments, title fights, UFC world champions, kickboxing, Jujitsu, you name it, we we are at the top of all those things. And when I started cycling, I felt like it was the opposite. You know, a lot of people that were fit in that space or at a high level in that space. Didn't seem they seem to be very like what lone wolf they didn't connect, there was a lot of ego. To be honest, there's a lot of ego in the cycling scene. And you just don't have that in MMA. Like, in fact, it's kind of like, check your ego at the door mentality at a lot of these gyms because if you have one, somebody in that gym is gonna put you in your place eventually, and you just don't you just don't survive very long feeling that way. Like there's one thing to like, be confident, sure, but like having like it's it's a very much you know, Co Op, you have to be a team player in a sense, like those people at the gym and you know, your partners and training partners, they're there to make you better and once You understand that you're gonna get more out of that the better partner you are, is the better partner they are. And you just kind of like, that's how the level rises. And I've watched it happen years after years after years. And then I go to cycling. And while I enjoy my time on the bike, my love for the bike is very different from her the love with the community, because the community was very, can be very nasty. And some of these these guys are grumpy. And it's Saturday, and we're out on a group ride, and they're yelling, and it's like, they're yelling at each other. And I'm like, bro, you wouldn't talk to me like that, like at the grocery store. So don't think you can talk to me on my day off on a Saturday riding my bike like that, like not just to me, but to anybody shouldn't fucking, I just noticed that, that there was a lot of bickering and ego and angry people on bikes. And I was like, Dude, this is insane. The bike has been such a therapeutic tool for me, how is this happening? And so the fitter I got, the more I went to these group rides and race rides, and more involved, I got into that. And I was just like, oh, there's something missing? And I'm looking at these teams and like, do you guys even like each other? Or do you guys were the same ship. And so I joined a team. And, you know, and I just saw, wasn't super comfortable with the way people talked about each other in the community. And I saw that it was kind of normal for the community in general to kind of like poke fun at each other. And I was like, This is not what the sport needs. I think that's why it's dying. I think if it were more inviting, you know, like, this is what I said, when I first started cycling, obviously, because of who I am, I could probably get away with a lot of things. You didn't mean, you can't really talk too much shit to me on a bike. Right? But
Andrew Vontz 6:51
nobody tried. Did anybody tried to
Vince 6:53
sure, but I was like, bro, shut the fuck up. Like, what are you gonna do? You don't I mean, like, you really want to get off your bike like we, we It doesn't even have to be like that. But if it had to be like that, some people would be so rude. I never result to like physical violence. But at the same time, I'm not going to let you punk me in or punk other people. It's not, it's not cool. And I just imagine some of my friends that are had started cycling now. Had they'd had such a bad experience. Their first time in the bike, it's probably enough for them to never come back out. And now you got less people in the scene. And it just seems like that seems to be the culture of like, you know, the road scene anyway. graveline crossing to be a little more welcoming, and mountain biking. But so yeah, that was kind of my goal for enjoy was to serve sorry, I invented the team enjoy with a friend of mine out here. And that was kind of my goal was to implement my lifestyle of like fighting in Team Alpha Male. Bring that over to enjoy and show him like what it means to like, like, have fun. You know, when we walk into the gym, you guys got it ingrained into our heads. It's work hard. Dream big. Stay positive and enjoy the journey. I mean, it's something we live by. I don't know why it took so long. Remember, anyway, your brain. I'm all good man. But enjoy the journey. And so that's something I mean, the it's always stuck with us. When I was on the Ultimate Fighter. I turned my jerseys inside out. And I was and I wrote with a Sharpie. Dream big, stay positive, work hard, enjoy the journey. And it stuck with me. And I just looked at it every day. But even then, like enjoy the journey. Enjoy the journey. And it's like, that's what we should be doing every time we get on a bike. Don't get on unless you plan to enjoy. Like it was fucking silly. I see so many people are like, Oh, I didn't get the intervals. I wanted a day. That's like two, why do you even do this? There's so many other things you could do. If you wanted to be fit, like, do CrossFit or something, you get more done in less time. And like it's insane. But yeah, so I kind of brought in like a group of guys. And a lot like from all levels we got, you know, cat ones and twos, very high level racers to the guys at the novice level. They're just breaking into the scene. We got young guys, and it's really cool to mix them and I got these older guys and I'm like, hey, I want you guys to be leaders to these guys and show them and then I want you guys to you know be leaders to the newer generation as well because one day you're gonna be these guys. And they were I'm trying to change this this this kind of how it is right now with the scene in trying to encourage these guys to come P, like there's nothing cooler than competing. For me, that's everything. That's what I want these guys to do the most, I think putting yourself out there, regardless of the result is one of the coolest things you can do. And talk about motivation too. It's like, there's nothing like fucking losing to motivate you to be better. It's like, well, I did that wrong, how can I do that better? Okay, we'll go back Monday, and we'll kind of, we'll figure it out. And, you know, I've just kind of putting all those tools in place took the, the mindset from my team, and kind of brought it over to enjoy. And it's been challenging at times, but it's been really cool. We got a team about 20 to 23 people right now. And it's growing so fast. And it is, I am so proud of it. It is really cool to see we have something very special going on. And, you know, ultimately, no matter what you do, you know, our our message is just enjoy the ride, you know, and that that's kind of like what our message is, and whatever it is, you do, make sure you don't forget it, you know, enjoy the ride. So yeah, that's kind of what I'm doing with the team and switching it from MMA over to cycling.
Andrew Vontz 11:12
was riding bikes fun for you.
Vince 11:17
I touched on this a little bit, and I'm we might have got cut off. But I want to say originally, it was very mentally freeing for me, I've spent my whole life punching or getting punched in in rag dolled and stuff like that. And then when it was taken away from me, like I said, like, I didn't know if I would ever come back. I didn't know if it was possible to come back deep down inside. And so I started to have like an identity crisis where I was very scared of who I would be without fighting. Like, you know, and I'm still very scared, to be honest. But I'd like to think that that I have more, you know, I'd sat myself down, wrote down all these things like who is who am I? If I'm not fighting? Who am I? It's like, well, you know, I'm now now a father. So that's pretty cool. So you know, write that down. I'm a father, I'm the son of a friend. And I'm all these things. So it's like, I'm more than just a fighter. But for the longest time, I was just Vince Murdock, the fighter. You from high school, you remember Vince from, you know, like, oh, he fights like that. That's who I who I become. And that's like, all I identified myself. And during that time, where I didn't know if how to compete again. was very, very difficult. I had people asking me I do interviews and stuff, then I was like, I don't want to talk about it. Because I don't know what to say. I don't know how I like my feelings are all over the place and about the subject, I don't know. And I don't have the answers you seek. So yeah, identity was very, very hard for me. So I started psych, when I that's what cycling was was for me, it was my, I hate to say an escape, but like, that's what it was, for me at the time, it was an escape away from all the life that I had known for 10 or 15 years of competing, to be somebody else, to, to wear the lycra, to dress up and just be something somebody else very freeing something about being in nature, the air, the sun. And you just alone sometimes with my thoughts or amongst company, and just some of the coolest things, places you could be going fast, or going slow up a hill, like all those things were just really, really, really helped my mental, my mental attitude and gave me a lot of time to reflect and yeah, I think that that mean cycling, that's what it means to me. It's just my mental escape in a way to mentally be free. Something I also tried to share with others, you know, that have difficult lives just because they don't fight you know, we got ones a restaurant owner and talk about stress, that guy seems always stressed. So it's like, you know, i That's why I like cycling to be for these guys. When you come here. This is your escape where you know, speak up if something's bothering you, you know. That's what I think Cycling has to offer. And I'm trying to cycling has this way of everybody keeping to themselves and what the opposite of that something's bugging you. Like I want to be able to help you whether it's just a normal coffee ride or if it's like you need a coach or you need help with your diet or something that home like, you know, that's what cycling is to me. So it's a it's an escape. It's free. It's your it's your outlet.
Andrew Vontz 14:35
Is that have you always felt that way about getting people to speak up about just things that are on their mind? Or is that something new?
Vince 14:42
Something new before you know it was always kind of like I was the center of attention to degree like it was always just me, me, me, me, me, me. And I've really taken the other option of like, I want to see other people succeed and I want I just like it makes theirs Something about watching other people check off the boxes. And it's just so cool to watch. It's almost like you're doing it too, because it's like you almost given that to him or you help them do something that they maybe they didn't think they could do. And it's just, it's just really cool to help people along the way. And advocate for doing things that they don't think that maybe they wouldn't do like, like, we got, I got this one kid's name is Nick Dennis, super fast kid, I think he has all the potential in the world to be, you know, a professional cyclist, if that's what he wants, you know what I mean? He can do it, but he also needs to believe that he can do it. And sometimes I feel like this is where I come in, where the way he was brought up, it did, it almost seems like he's kind of like a numbers guy where it's like, you know, my FTP or this or that I'm like, bro, fuck all that for just like two seconds, your mind is everything. Like he said, and so, you know, he's got kind of burnt out from cycling. I was like, come to the gym, we're going to, we're gonna get you your first MMA fight. And so we got him in here, he's been in there for about two to three months, and I'm telling you, he's picking up stuff so fast, I think he's better than I was, in the first three years, it took me to even get there, you know, but what we're gonna have to work on the most is, is the mentality, like you're gonna have a guy across the across from you, that doesn't want to lose. And that's what the difference is going to come down to not not like, you know, how bad you not want to like to lose. That's the mentality. That's the most important thing in fighting. And then I think it can be with life, it's the same thing recycling, like, you know, you're not always gonna be motivated to do these things. Right? So yeah, this is where like, I feel like I'm coming in and doing the mentor part or watching someone else chip off those, those, those those boxes in their life and hopefully, like that, he'll take something from this and be able to apply it to other things in his life. And let's just start by saying like, it's not like he did want to join the gym, and it just forced him into change. He's a fan of of MMA and stuff, and really looking forward to watching the progress too. Because, again, if you wanted to turn professional in fighting, I definitely think it's something he could do. But like, I can't do it for him, he has to want to do it, and put in the time and the effort. And that's how these things works. If you do that, you can do anything.
Andrew Vontz 17:27
That's what we all have to do. So Vince, thanks so much for joining me. I love hearing about the community you're building. What you're doing, it's super inspiring, man.
Vince 17:36
I want to talk about you man. I'm way over extended my my talking. I just I just rambled on forever. I apologize. I was gonna ask you a bunch of questions.
Andrew Vontz 17:45
No, no, it's all good. I want to I want to have you back on this. You know, listeners don't know this. But there the the level of technical difficulty to interview happen was off the charts. Someday we'll do. We'll do some kind of diagnosis of that. But I definitely want to have you back man. And the next time I'm in California. I really want to make it out to Sacramento and I would love to ride with you and the enjoy crew. If if that's cool with you. Absolutely. Awesome. Thanks so much, man. Thank you