Alex Reid - Beyond the Spotlight

Full transcript: Alex Reid on London Real

8:48 This is London Real. I am Brian Rose. My guest today is Alex Reid, the mixed martial artist, celebrity and actor. You’ve been fighting professionally since the year 2000 for organisations like Cage Rage, BAMMA, and a brief appearance on the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter in 2010. You won Celebrity Big Brother and also became famous for dating model Katie Price, AKA Jordan, and later Chantelle Houghton, with whom you have a daughter.

9:16 These days you’re focused on acting, business and your new MMA school in North London. Alex, welcome to London Real. That was a very awesome introduction. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

9:26 Thanks for being here. Listen, I’m really happy to be here. I’ve seen you done some great stuff with some fantastic people who I really admire, so I appreciate that. Let me take you back 10 years. ’98, I started profession.

9:38 Let me take you back 10 years to 2006. Manchester. I go to the MEN Arena to watch a fight because one of my martial arts instructors, Marilla Bustaman of the Brazilian top team, he fought in Pride. He’s up there cornering someone. I drive to Manchester and I’m in the stands and correct me if I’m wrong, if this happened, but apparently a fighter pulled out, and they said a fighter pulled out of a fight, right?

10:03 And apparently there was some guy there supporting one of his friends, drinking champagne, and they said will someone fight? And somebody stepped up who had been drinking champagne and said I’ll fight, and that guy was you. Yeah, am I wrong? I don’t know if that take, if that’s big balls or stupidity, but well, I don’t know what it is, but you did it and you fought a three-round decision with, um, I forget the guy’s name, and that was a very silly move. Yeah, and that was a silly move, but I think that it says a lot about who you are, right?

10:34 Take the opportunity. It to me, uh, you’ve said this, you. I know you’re a budding martial artist. I’m a martial artist and fighting, or I don’t even call it fighting. I’m a competitor and I like to challenge myself, and I, we, we all love Conor McGregor and how he just took the challenge against Nick Diaz, stepping up for several weights.

10:55 That’s what I want. That makes me alive. You get a lot of fighters, competitors, people, they want to protect their careers, so they take it careful. I was like, that wasn’t a really good business move for me to fight having had a bottle and a half of champagne, but another part of me wanted to test myself. I can do this.

11:15 I’m, you know, I’m test. I’m a man, prove myself, and that’s a pretty unheard-of move for people that don’t follow MMA are fighting rarely. Does someone, the audience, step up? I think, you know, one of the, like the, um, you know, Holland Tie boxers did it one time in the front row, but this never happens, cuz people, they fight, eight-week camps, ten-week camps, they cut weight, they’re ready, they’re sure as hell not dressed to the nines drinking champagne in the front row, but you did that, and I remember hearing you, I watched you fight and I trained a little bit at London Shootfighters, and so I knew about you over there.

11:45 But anyway, I think that says a lot about you as a person. So I wanted to bring that up. And, uh, I don’t know if that’s, is that, if that says about, what’s that say about me, that I’m a little bit crazy? I go for the challenge. Yeah, because, and like you said, we mentioned Conor McGregor and I think the reason that he inspires so much kind of wonder and awe is cuz he just, he keeps risking it, and keeps risking it, and keeps risking it, and to go from 145 to 155, to take on someone at 170 when he’s got so much to lose.

12:13 You know, you as a fighter know, like, these are big moves to do. Most fighters would never do that. I’ve lived my life being an ex-paratrooper. You’re sort of bred in the army, which is an elite fighting force. You’re bred to be, to win, to go out there and achieve and conquer and attack, and that sort of ethos has carried through everything I do, and like, let’s, let’s go and attack at life, you know, attack life and go for the opportunity.

12:41 Sometimes, though, that’s got me in a lot of trouble, because that brazen you know, doesn’t matter, let’s have, let’s have some fun, let’s enjoy, let’s, let’s have the challenge, let’s enjoy the ride. When you become a little bit older, as I am now, I have a child and I have a mortgage to pay and business ventures and family to think about. I think, oh, maybe I should have been a bit more careful. So there’s a, there’s a tiny bit, I don’t know if it’s regret, but you look back and, hm, did I make the right choice then?

13:10 But then at the same time, that Peter Pan, that kid who was so excited to go and that vibrancy, the guy in the gym, wooing, woo, come on guys, and everyone else is looking at him, the loud mouth, that’s also what’s made me who I am, so it’s a, it’s, I’m not quite sure where to sit with that. Yeah, and I knew you before you became famous, you know, for dating people and for going on Celebrity Big Brother. I knew you as a fighter, and like I said, I knew from London Shootfighters, I knew you were one of the OG fighters there.

13:40 Let’s talk about fighting first. How did you get into it? Talk to me about MMA when you started back in the day. I mean, MMA in the UK, vale tudo, it was called. Exactly.

13:50 You could argue it was five or ten years behind the US. Oh yeah, you know, there was like London Shootfighters, like an 02, 03, 04 was like the only gym in a 100-mile radius that I knew about in this city, and you were one of their. In 1996 I was a kickboxer back then, and I loved martial arts. I started doing Lau Gar Kung Fu, watching Bruce Lee films at the age of 14, 15. I was, it wasn’t about being, uh, a professional fighter.

14:21 It was about learning how to protect myself against school bullies and to emulate my childhood superheroes, Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme, you know, Captain America, the superheroes I’d read about. Um, it was just a natural progression, being the youngest of six, older brother, being a super athlete, super sportsman. I wanted to, I was the runt of the litter, so to speak, so I wanted to prove myself, and to do that I thought martial arts was a brilliant outlet.

14:48 And how did that get into you fighting for a living? The competitive nature, trying to compete against my brother the whole time. Um, it taught me to have that warrior spirit, and just, he wasn’t, he used to beat me up all the time. It was play fights, and you know, a five-year-old, someone who’s five years older than you beating you up, you’re going to learn how to fight quite good continually, but he wasn’t really hitting me. So with that, with that, with that background, going to the gym, just natural progression, that I want to be better, I want to fight and compete.

15:26 What was MMA like back in 2005, 2006? I mean, can you make up a living fighting an MMA? No. Do you know what, I went, I was going to say, I digressed. So I was fighting in competitions every weekend, every, well, maybe twice a month.

15:39 I’d go travel up to Manchester from London, um, travel around the country to fight in these semi-contact or like continuous tournaments, and I’d have fight up to five times in a weekend. This is how serious I didn’t take it. I’m a young lad, I go out drinking the night before, going partying, pulling girls, and go wake up in the morning with a hangover and go and fight. It was crazy. That was my life.

16:04 It was, and win, and win, because you had talent at the time, which then, as I got a bit older, I start to take it a little bit more serious. Hang on, these guys are getting a bit better. And I moved from like semi-contact, for those of you who don’t know what semi-contact is, it’s like tag. Yeah. And then this next step up is like contact, so you can’t hit fully, you just like a little bit.

16:27 There you go. And then it’s knockout, full contact, and the natural progression from that is low-kick, Thai boxing, and I moved to MMA. So in ’96 I was a kickboxer who got selected just from my raw talent by the British Kickjitsu Squad to go and fight in West Virginia against the world. And I remember in the final I got through. I had five fights.

16:57 I beat Argentina and then I had Canada. I can’t remember who beat me in the semi-final, but I got armbarred. I didn’t even know what an armbar was, so what was that? Crazy, and that became one of my best moves. Right, so you then started training mixed martial arts at London Shootfighters.

17:14 At London, when did you start training with those guys? ’98. Wow, ’98. Wow, I’m nearly, that’s nearly 20 years. I go in, I go in.

17:23 I, I talk, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I’m the anchor man for a lot of shows. And often, um, so where do you come from? I come from London Shootfighters. Do you, I’ve never seen you? Well, you’re never there, Alex.

17:37 I mean, I’m older, so it’s, I still go. I mean, for me, I used to train twice a day, every day, all day. What’s a reputation of London Shootfighters back in the day? It’s a tough gym. It’s a tough gym, and I’ve knocked some years of my life from some of the, not the fights, some of the preparation.

17:57 We were, it was, you have to prove yourself in there, and I managed to prove myself, and I built up a really great relationship with my trainers and buddies Alexi and Paul, they almost made me the gatekeeper. So if someone came, some young lad used to come in right. Reid, get ready, you’re fighting tonight. This lad wants to go. They’d throw you in the ring with a few rounds and you’d have to give him a beating and see if he could hang with you guys, right?

18:26 And uh, makes you tough. Yeah, Paul and Alexi, amazing job, but it’s always been a gym that’s known as a very serious hardcore work ethic, train hard, spar super hard. I mean, there was no way. It’s changed now, it’s changed now, it’s changed. They looked after me.

18:41 I mean, Alexi, is you still fight to kill and spar to kill? But he will at a heartbeat stop it if it’s danger. We need to protect ourselves, and this is a lot. We had this argument a lot. Fighters saying, guys, we’re getting beaten up, you know, we want to be prepared for the fight, not the, we don’t want to go into the fight all bashed up.

19:03 So they’ve changed over the years. We’re nicer, we’re kinder, and we’re all young guys, and we’ve been going for 20 years, so you can imagine we’re learning. But now it’s very refined. You look at the skill level of the fighters today. I actually asked Alexi, um, you’ve had Michael Venom Page, my mate in here, he’s, yeah, Michael, train, fight, he’s amazing.

19:24 My best man was John Hathaway, um, excellent fighter, yeah excellent UFC fighter. Now they, they were sparring and I’m just watching them. Wow, it’s exquisite. I said, Alexi, so 10 years ago, who’s better? They, more the new, I’m the old dog, the old, the old guard, they’re the new guard.

19:42 Says, well I think you guys were tougher cuz you’re getting hit more. You had to be. These guys, the skill level, the moves they’re pulling out, they’re just, they’re not getting hit, they’re moving. Yeah, the game has evolved in such a big way so much. Yeah.

19:57 Tell me about Lee Murray. Did you train with him, because he was infamous fighter at Shootfighters? He was around when I trained a little bit there. Lee got, he had a fight in the UFC and then he got into some fantastic adventures himself. Were you there with him?

20:11 Yeah, that’s, I said about Lee, I’m very, listen, there was a he, he came back in the day. It wasn’t MMA, it was cage fighting, vale tudo, no holds barred. MMA, I mean I had fights under these rules. Rings, there was, you, you go for one competition, I’m talking 20, 20, yeah, 20 years ago, you go from one competition to another and the rules kept changing. No elbows, no p… no knees to the head.

20:37 Here you know, you could actually do a rope escape, touch the rope and you have to stop there. It was continually changing until the UFC. Everyone started using unified UFC rules. So I met Lee on one of these events and, um, he was doing pretty well and we were friendly, and then I was at acting school. I decided to go back to becoming a thespian in 2000, and I told acting school that I was going to give up fighting, cuz I said, look, if you’re really focused on being an actor, you got to focus on acting, not martial arts.

21:11 And what do you do as a poor student on your time off? Got no money. I went to a fight show and I said, again, a bit like the champagne, but this time I was actually reasonably fit, even though I wasn’t training specifically for a fight. Did you fancy fighting tonight? Yeah, yeah, to fight Lee Murray, two kilos heavier than me.

21:29 That was a big deal, four kilos heavier than me. Oh, he looks scary. I can do it, Reid, you can do it. So I ended up fighting Lee at the Epping Forest Country Club. That turned out a little bit nasty.

21:40 You can see that on, um, on YouTube. Did you get beat? Got severely beat, quite a good boxer. Um, I end up winning, okay, but, um, it’s, it was a, it was a very messy fight that I actually got more hurt jumping out the, the cow jumping out the ropes and running through the chairs as a, as a mob was trying to attack me. A riot started.

22:02 It wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Why did a riot start? Because I won, and it wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Okay, but listen, after that I became really, really p… with Lee, and fully respect to him. I was holding on to ropes like this, and he was trying to pull me off, and he was complaining, and he kept turning his back cuz ref, what’s going on?

22:25 And the ref wasn’t doing the right job, but I wasn’t sure on the rules, cuz there was certain rules where you can hold the rope, so he was getting, he went furious, and the ref called it off. Someone threw CS gas in the ring. That’s incredible. And so Lee was one of the early fighters there, and he was a serious fighter. Again, I think he was one of the first shoot fighters to be in the UFC.

22:46 Went there. Amazing guy. Wow, and he submitted, I thought, J. Rivera, about, I think it was the fight or so before, and unfortunately he stopped me. Um, that was the first time I’d ever cut 8 kilos in a day.

23:01 Bad move. I went turns up to the fight and I was so tired. I didn’t have a single thing in my body. He, I was really aggressive for like 30 seconds and it just blew out. He just stunned me, and then second fight later he’s in the UFC fighting Lee.

23:17 Lee’s triangled him. Well done Lee, amazing. Yeah, incredible. And then Lee came back. I think he had got stabbed, then he was known for going back to the London Shootfighters hitting pads like a week or two after he got out of heart surgery.

23:28 I don’t know how much we can say about that. Yeah, I don’t know, but it was, it was just something I always associate him with London Shootfighters. He was an amazing fighter but also very, very hardcore, very serious, and those guys were known, in my opinion, like the early adopters of MMA here in Britain and in London, and this is back before the UFC was big, before you can make a career as a fighter. And what I talk about this when I do seminars, and I say Lee was a brilliant, he had that factor X, he was kind of dangerous, and that is, this isn’t just fighting.

23:59 It’s entertainment. It’s showmanship, and that’s what I’ve always used. I’ve always said, not necessarily the best fighter is going to get paid the best. It’s this is entertainment. It’s not a real fight.

24:09 A real fight’s in a war, it’s on a street, it’s, you know, it’s not nice business. This is entertainment, and he was great. He had that factor to really sell a fight. The how, we, the whole, the little scuffle he had with, uh, which I happen to be there outside China White. There’s, there’s lots of things I, I could probably say, which I’m not going to say, but it would, it, it brought the whole excitement.

24:31 People want to watch that fight. Yeah, cuz he had that kind of X factor. Like we didn’t know, we were a little scared of Lee, and there was a rumour that, so people don’t know that he had beaten up Tito Ortiz in a street fight at the time. Tito kind of was the UFC. He was like the guy, light heavyweight, the, what was he, the um, Huntington Beach bad boy.

24:49 And so there was this rumour going around. The rumour was apparently true. Um, but you were there, so you’ll know. But yeah, so that was, they make a great film one day. Yeah, that would, there’s lots of stuff there.

24:59 What do you see now when you see where the UFC is today versus where you saw it back in the day? Where Tito is getting beat up next to China White. I mean, like, what’s the big things that you notice about how far that industry has come? It’s unreal, isn’t it? I mean, people, when you speak to them, the, the, free in this country, um, I’m kind of proud in this, in some respect, when I talk about mixed martial arts, the general populist doesn’t really understand what it is.

25:28 They understand these three words in conjunction: UFC, cage fighting, Alex Reid. I, I asked this regularly, and, um, please name another cage fighter in the country other than myself. Of you, if you… they might get Conor McGregor now, because they’re just doing the crossover, especially in America. You see him on prime time TV on talk shows. We’re not there yet here, right?

25:54 But you’re still more famous than Michael Bisping, all day long. And it, it, and I’m not saying that with pride, because to me, I almost feel like I’m doing an injustice, because these guys are really… I don’t consider myself a celebrity. I consider myself, I did consider myself once upon a time a sports personality, but guess what? You’ve got to do the sport to be a sports personality, and I haven’t really fought seriously.

26:22 I haven’t fought MMA in four, five, four years. Is right? Wow, right. Let’s talk about entertainment, cuz you said these fighters, they really are entertainers, and you were always big on the entertainment. Like, you like to make a show.

26:37 You like to show people that you were out for a show. You also fight like a crazy man. I mean, you’re fighting BAMMA against Watson. I mean, I watch you fight. 25 minutes, man, there’s no quitting you.

26:46 So people can’t, I remember seeing that fight. Was 2014, 2013? And it’s like, you know, you are a very serious hardcore fighter to go 25 minutes throwing bombs like that. There’s, in, in 300 plus fights all around the world, world with some of the best people. There’s only twice I’ve wanted to actually kill the people.

27:03 One was Lee Murray, and that’s why it was such a brutal fight, and the, it wasn’t really good when I went back to acting school covered in bruises, and the second one was Tom Watson. Why’d you want to kill him? He said some rude things about me, and um, there was bad blood boiling for like four years, but after that, when you enter a cage or a ring or a contest with someone and you put everything on the line, in a weird way you share something kind of spiritual with them.

27:32 That sounds a bit hippie, but there’s a respect. Right. So you weren’t mad with him afterwards? No. And the most annoying thing is when he comes in, I really want to kill him, and you know what he did?

27:45 He touched gloves, took all your energy. Proper D-power me. You’re not supposed to fight with emotion in the cage. Is that true, or do you disagree? Absolutely.

27:52 Okay. It’s, um, I try not to look at your eyes, because you… I say look at the boobs, nipple line. Okay, it’s good for centre of mass, but you know, you got the whole periphery. Then, you know, but I do occasionally.

28:05 It comes out. I’m a very emotional… I get a little bit crazy in fact, that’s not me. I’m actually this person sitting here now. Alexander, as we…

28:16 I think we, we know. I have a few alter egos. Alexander Reid is sitting here right now. I’m a quite a fun guy. Tiny bit nervous about saying right thing in this interview, but the Renator, when I say the magic words, Prince Adam turns into He-Man.

28:34 The Renator, he’s crazy. I, I fight with emotion. I’m a different character. I take on a different persona, and I’ve, I’ve indoctrinated myself for 20 plus years with hypnotherapy, with NLP, with EFT, mantras, to make myself this crazy character who’s, it’s not real. I’m a scaredy cat, but when, um, when push comes to shove, I can transform into the Renator, and so sometimes crazy stuff goes on.

29:00 I like to say I fight without emotion, but what you do, there’s a lot of emotion. I’m big fan of Rocky, and it was, it was always his heart. Couple things, uh, of note that happened. I think when BAMMA, uh, right, away, you kissed one of the fighters on the lips. That was pretty naughty.

29:17 That happened in Pride one time with Heath Herring, and he punched the guy, and it was like a no contest. That was, that was, yeah. You didn’t do it in the ring. I did. I was like, I play, I, I was trying to raise pay-per-view sales.

29:31 And um, showman, again, the showman. They’re showmen. The difference between me and Lee is I’m I’m acting, you know. Other than, there was two S’s when I fought Lee and when I fought, uh, Tom Watson, right? Everyone else, I’ve been cool.

29:47 I remember looking into Z-Fum, he was a French champion. He’s fought in the UFC a few times, and I gave him a stare-down. I looked in his eyes and he looked back at me. There was a little boy inside, I crying. Oh my God, he’s scary, you know, because until that cage door shuts, so I’m not the Renator at that point.

30:05 I was acting, right? And driving. Wow, he’s scary. Sails up. Uh, let’s talk about The Ultimate Fighter.

30:11 I saw you do that first fight to get into the house, and I knew about you, so I was like, all right, Alex Reid, I’m excited to see you, a fellow Brit. You know, cuz I’m, I’m half British now, to, in the, in the cage. And I was watching you, and you fought, but you were goofing around, as I remember, and I was like, Alex, what are you doing? You’re messing around. You could have easily been in that house.

30:30 We know you could have rolled with those guys, and yet it just seemed like you were messing around. What happened there? What happened there? I lied to the UFC. I lied to uh Joe, what’s this, the matchmaker?

30:41 Uh, yeah, I know who you’re talking about. Come to me anyway. Yeah, so this was my third shot at The Ultimate Fighter. The first time I was due to be on it, I got selected when Michael Bisping, um, went, when I was in my prime. Yeah, was the first season, I think, right?

30:57 Season three. Three, okay. And it’s, um, Michael and I, I thought Dana White came to watch me fight, and I thought Djir Matsui, uh, Pride champ, a Pride fighter, and I got a vicious cut the day before I was supposed to fly out here, and Dana said, look, I don’t think the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s going to pass you with that cut. It’s so vicious. Next time, or do you know what?

31:24 If you fly out and they pass you, I’ll reimburse you. It was so bad. I mean, it was, I had a fight, I had a cut before the fight. I fought Djir Matsui in the changing room. I was super gluing my cut together.

31:37 The first time he hit it, right, so, okay, so was bad. Second time, um, I was due to fight. I was, uh, I got picked for, I can’t remember what season, season six. He wanted me out there. I was contracted.

31:52 I became the biggest seller for Cage Rage, who at the time had just sold to EliteXC. Yeah, EliteXC was bringing all the smaller shows away from the UFC to try and build a big conglomerate so they could attack the UFC. They’re at war. So being the biggest ticket seller for Cage Rage in the UK, they weren’t going to release me to the UFC. Third time right, so this is my opportunity.

32:16 I’ve made the weight, um, middleweight. They want middleweight, brilliant. Right, the last minute, uh, they decide to cut the middleweights and they’re going to do it at welterweight. Reid, can you, uh, can you make two? Of course I can.

32:28 I’ve never done it before in my life. The first time I did it was the day I fought, the day before. Okay, so I had nothing. I remember I was cramping really, so it was stupid. I mean, I remember trying to wipe my ass in the changing room.

32:43 I was cramping that bad, so I was scared. I was scared. So all this provider, all this woo-woo, the time, I look at that and I cringe, but you showed up, right? It protected me. It was, it was the crazy guy, the crazy fool.

32:58 Crazy fool. I didn’t actually get hurt. I could, I had him in a triangle for like four and a half minutes. Yeah, didn’t have any energy. Every time I didn’t have any anything, did it, um, devastate you not to make The Ultimate Fighter TV show?

33:12 Yeah, it did. Oh, you just brought something back there. I was with a girl who I love dearly, um, no one famous, you know, childhood sweetheart, and we weren’t getting on, but she just, after that, I was low. We split up, and I was that, that I was not in a good place, miserable, right? And it was literally just after that, then I pulled myself pulled my socks up, and um, I went back to kickboxing.

33:41 Rob MMA had three wins, and all of a sudden I bump into, I’m feeling alpha male again, the Renator is back. Yeah, you know, and I bumped into some lady called Katie Price. Yeah, yeah. And she was instrumental in you becoming, see, also with her, and with you you became the most famous MMA fighter in Britain, which is crazy, because you were more famous than Bisping and Hardy and all these other people at the time. Yes.

34:11 And I remember, I remember having a little bit of a row with Hardy. I was a Aid supporter. I’m a big fan of everyone, everything UK MMA, and I was getting all this grief, and people weren’t liking me, especially in the MMA scene, because why all this, all of this craziness, all the being salacious, all this rubbish in the media. Everyone thought, they started comparing that, if they were a cage fighter, they obviously like crossdressing, right? Yeah, all the silly sort of jokes.

34:37 And I’m like, we’ll talk about the crossdressing a little bit later. We’ll get to that one at a time here, but uh, I can see I’m bringing negative attention to the sport, right? So, but I’m bringing attention, and people say, I get this all the time, all press is good press. I don’t believe so. I’m not a fan of that.

34:56 I mean, I’ve kept very quiet for the last few years, and I could make lots of money selling stories. I don’t want to do that anymore. I’ve sold myself. I’ve done my deal with the devil. I don’t want that anymore.

35:07 That was 2010, right? Pretty much. So I had a row with uh Dan Hardy, and he actually apologised, so I’m cool with him now. Okay, cuz he wasn’t impressed how you were representing MMA. Yeah, and so you had it out with him.

35:20 Cuz let’s remember in 2010 it was really called cage fighting here in the UK. There are no rules. Yeah, it was really hard to explain to someone that it was mixed martial arts. There was Brazilian jiu-jitsu, there was wrestling, there was boxing. It was just like, they all threw it in with, and with organisations like Cage Rage and Cage Warriors, it didn’t help the fact.

35:36 Now you come along, you’re dating Katie Price, who is a very, very famous model celebrity. I’m not exactly sure, um, you, you are, you know, you both love attention. I would argue, say, you’re both attention whores in a way, and so you probably fed on each other. Yeah, and I’m sure you also had a great time in the same. Yeah, listen, I mean, people, I mean, she used to say to me, don’t, it’s not, I’m not trying to degrade her.

36:00 I mean, that’s all in the past, but she used to try and put me down by saying, you, um, one sh… people would say you’re fame-hungry. Yeah, too right. I’m fame-hungry. I love this. I love, well done, mate.

36:12 I love that, and why, what got me to go to acting school, to train all to, I love the cheer of a crowd. Well, you know how to manipulate to make an audience laugh, or the cheer of a crowd. I, me, I don’t get up in the morning and train like a badass, or get in the cage for thousands of rounds of sparring against people where I’m scared shitless for no, for you know, for no reward at all. My reward, my biggest reward. Yeah, get a few pennies, but is this great?

36:40 Did you ever see yourself being launched into that celebrity that fast? Could you handle it at the time, but you could handle it to a certain extent, cuz you’re okay in front of the camera. You’re like, I’m me, I’m going to be that guy. You’re obviously all fighters are performers. So you had some went, I’ve been to acting school and I’ve done soaps.

36:56 I was in a major soap, Hollyoaks, 15 years ago, before you met her. Sorry, before you met her. Yeah, and I’ve done dramas, I’ve done films, and I had a little bit of um fame, but minuscule now, and I like that, you know. So I thought this was great. Um, all of a sudden I’m everywhere.

37:17 I could never, when, mean, before I got with her, I could never understand why she was on the front cover of these magazines all the time. Roll on a couple of months, I’m like, I am, I’m like, what’s, wow. And the manipulation, it’s, I don’t, I, I still don’t quite understand it. The enigma of why. I, I remember saying I did the front cover of um okay once, and I said there was uh speculation about my sexuality.

37:40 I said yeah, I’m really gay. I’m, I’m gay, and I said I might not be homosexual, you know. But I mean, I’m very happy, you know, play on words. And I shouldn’t say things like that, because then the media would turn that, and like, it doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, but my, my point was like, there’s people dying in wars, famine. There’s real serious issues in the world.

38:01 What does it matter what I do? And I could never still do this day. I can’t understand it, but we live in a very fickle… as I was a soldier once to fight for freedom and democracy, because I believe the strong should defend the weak. Um, a warrior caste in society. I believe in that, but what we fight for now is, it’s silly, and there’s still so much stigmatisation in society about how you should be, how should behave, but you also embraced that celebrity piece, and you kind of, en, enjoyed that.

38:33 Yeah, yeah. I’ll call it, it’s a, it’s a double-edged sword. When it’s great, it’s lovely. Wow, it’s just um, it’s a bit like I replaced um fighting. It’s the highest high, the lowest low, with celebrity.

38:46 I call it celebrity D. It’s wow, it’s amazing. This is like um, I can imagine doing, I’ve never ever, no yeah, I don’t, how do I put this, imagine you’re a drug addict, like crack cocaine. I’ve never ever touched crack. I can imagine it’s pretty intense, and it’s pretty good for a bit, but then it’s a real steep drop, and it’s pretty horrific.

39:10 That’s how I saw fame. And um, same with Katie Price. I mean, it was at one point I was actually, my my popularity was getting more than her. I, I actually got my first biggest TV show a week before I ever met her, but unfortunately, due to being with her, it was all overshadowed by all of the craziness, all the silly stories. Um, and as my popularity started to rise while I was with her, it didn’t like it, and so I had to go.

39:37 You there’s, there’s interview footage of like you at the UFC, and Ariel Helwani’s interviewing you, and you know, she seems like she’s trying to jump into the camera. You guys seem to have a little competitive streak. That works for some couples, some couples that works for, didn’t work. Yeah, we did, we did. Alan Carr, and she, she would always make fun of me.

39:53 Um, I’m not trying to slay her, cuz it, we were just being jovial, and I would make fun, B didn’t like it, and so I’m like, so we after that we never, we, together again. And then um, so I, I, I didn’t, I split up with Kate. We split up, and then that was a year. You were married. Was that ever going to last, or was it always going to be so, so intense and so crazy that it would have been really hard?

40:16 My dad’s not here now. He just passed away, unfortunately, but my mom and dad, well, he is here. Thanks, Dad. My mom and Dad have been married for more than 55 years. I’m the youngest of six.

40:27 Family unit is my default set mechanism. I I love that, and that’s what I crave. I’ve got lots of nieces and nephews, lots of kids around, so for me that was, I was very upset. I, I truly did love her, and I’ve asked, to ask, have to ask myself that question many times. You know, why she was so horrible to you?

40:45 I see interviews now and I’m like, what, you fool, Alex Reid, why are you, why you putting up with that s***? It’s, but I really did love her. I L. Is it the lifestyle? Was it just, was it the money?

40:58 Well, there wasn’t much money. I lost more money than I made money. Was it the, the, obviously that was appealing. I love the fame, that was appealing to me, being a centre of attention. But no, I remember saying to her, I wish you weren’t famous.

41:13 I wish you didn’t have any money, then we could actually just be normal. And there’s part of me that craves, part of me craves, the, the Limelight, the, the glory, the adulation, and part of me wants to conform and shy away. And I think a lot of artistic people are like that. Yeah, no, no, definitely. All right, I just, we’ll finish up with that.

41:33 I still don’t understand why the world is fascinated with Katie Price. I just don’t get it. I never got it. I still don’t get it. I just went into a garage yesterday, and I, and it, I was at the um, I’ve often been there, and my pictures on the front of one of these magazines, and I saw Kate and Peter Andre, her other ex-husband, they’re having a reunion.

41:52 I was like, oh God, and I, I couldn’t understand it, and it, it bothered me a little bit, only for the fact that I feel like I’ve been the pantomime villain in that scenario, and was I just abused and abused? I mean, only lasted for like two seconds. So like, but yeah, you were kind of a character in that trilogy, love triangle, whatever it was, played, and it’s been played out, and then afterwards, and you guys still exchange words back and forth between interviews.

42:18 So, uh, not any. Well, I am now, right? I am now. But I mean, I, I try not to to talk about it. I mean, it’s, I don’t, I can’t not avoid the fact that I was with her, but that’s, and it was part of my life.

42:30 I don’t wish her any ill harm, you know, just hope, just good luck, right? It’s a shame it didn’t work out, but hey. So now we see you, and then you move on to another model celebrity. Don’t do it, don’t do it, I know, don’t do it. And I like, I thanks to you, and cursed to you.

42:47 I had to watch all this footage, Alex, so you know, unlike any other guest I’ve had, to watch more vacuous TV full of airhead models, but that’s okay, and I feel for you. But you went on to, you know, Chantelle Houghton, which I know is the mother of your child, and so, you know, with complete respect, but it just, I see you on these media things and I’m like, I knew Alex Reid, the fighter. I knew the guy that got up in 2006 and took a fight with champagne in his system, and I knew you were the real deal.

43:12 And then I see you up there, obviously you like the Limelight, but I know there’s more to you than that. Do you know, just going back on one. I put Dean Singa in The Ultimate Fighter house, and he, he’s gone on. He had a couple of fights in UFC. Okay, he’s a good fighter, and he, he did an interview for the son launching his new MMA gym, um, a year or so ago, and he was talking about, yeah, I had a fight with Alex Reid, and it’s a shame, because I knew him when he was a good guy.

43:34 Now he’s become a bit of a joke. That hurt me. Okay, I thought so. When you say that, I mean, you knew Alex Reid, the, the crazy guy who I’ve always been a little bit crazy, but now, right now it’s about being serious. But going back, I met Chantelle, and you going to say, uh, just, you know, you, you kind of went from one really high-profile relationship to another.

43:56 Um, was that tough? Was that always going to be a potential disaster? Was it time that you just kind of took a step out of the spotlight after that? Like I said, we call if we call fame crack, and I don’t like to use that word, but it is. It’s, it’s an addiction.

44:09 It was, um, more addictive than anything I can think, and you got a huge dose right away. Wow, I’m like, I got off it. Oh, I’m clean. Katie Price, I’m clean. Ah, how long were you clean for?

44:23 Right, okay, so at the time when I was single, was quite hot property. There was a lot of young celebrity type women who were approaching me, and um, yeah, and you’re also not a bad-looking guy. Yeah, and there’s a lot of crazy stuff that surrounds me, but that kind of seemed to work for them, you know. Um, okay, I’m a good, I am a good guy, you know, and she, she actually, she approached me, and I thought, okay, she’s nice, cool, we got it on, and that was a few months after Katie.

44:54 Yeah, and um, there about, about four or five, about six months, I think, yeah, so don’t do it. She just, like Katie, oh, but you know she’s all right, she’s, she’s sexy, you know, don’t do it, don’t do it, and I fell in love with her. Yeah, yeah. Okay, and how long did that last? And um, it lasted about two years.

45:16 Okay, two years, with, with my daughter, and now you have a daughter as well, which is a very, a big thing for you, an important day, and that changes a man, right? It’s the biggest moment in my life, having my daughter. So yeah, wow, you can see me. It’s just my whole, I’ve been a little bit hyper, but the second I talk about my daughter, I just feel calm. It brings up, are you kids?

45:36 I have a stepdaughter and a son on the way. Wow, but yeah, it changes my life. Is it, you grow up when you have kids, just the feeling of, yeah, you have to. This is why. Now I’m 40 years young.

45:47 Everything’s got to change now. I’ve got to be, not everything’s got to change. I’m still going to keep Peter Pan young. I dance around the house with my current… Alex, you’re 40 years old, stop being like a kid.

46:00 Nope, I’m going to be a kid, singing songs and being silly and pretending to be Bruce Lee. I think that’s important. Yeah, I think it’s important too. All right, I want to still continue with your journey here, but quickly, I want to get your thoughts on, you know, entertainment as a sport. You mentioned Conor McGregor earlier.

46:16 You know, when you see him, first of all, we never had anybody in the UK or Ireland that was ever a star except for you, of course. When you see the rise of him, and again, he has, like you said, about Lee Murray. Lee Murray was by far a very accomplished fighter, but he had this kind of weird X Factor about him, right? It’s a nice way of putting it, right? And uh, yeah, and so now we get McGregor, who comes in and has an amazing amount of talk, just when we thought Chael Sonnen couldn’t take it to the next level.

46:42 McGregor does. McGregor backs it up with his fighting. His movement is everything. What’s your take overall on Conor McGregor? You’ve been in the game for a long time.

46:51 Um, I wasn’t a fan to start with, and then I became a Conor McGregor fan. Um, I’m good for him. He, I like, he, he challenges, I like the challenge. He makes it fun. I mean, uh, not, I was always a fan of Georges St-Pierre.

47:05 I spared him a couple of times. He’s a, he’s a badass, but George would, like, be almost protective. He was like a decorated, for those who don’t know, welterweight champion for like forever. Yeah, until you. He had a great run, but like a lot of these fighters have become quite boring to watch.

47:24 Uh, what was the last, um, they get safe as they get these careers and these titles, right? Yeah, who’s the money, the money man? Uh, Floyd Mayweather. Yeah, it’s boring fights now. Like you want to see, I want to see someone who puts it on the line.

47:39 It’s, bit like, I’m well, we’ll talk about it in a minute. Okay, so all right. So with McGregor, you saw him putting it on the line. Is that what you liked about him? Yeah, and he, and the sal, he’s a salesman.

47:50 Um, Russell Crowe, Gladiator, are you not entertained? That’s what it’s about. Win the crowd, you win Rome. I say this to, to fight, and I’ve said this for many, I, I, I went to acting school. I’m a darling, a thespian, you know.

48:06 I love to perform. This to me is entertainment. I, I love theatre. This is a crowd. This is adulation.

48:12 This is glory, and I love that, and you’re, I’m using, I always thought when I saw the Japanese weighing in at Cage Rage, they have special makeup and fans and have a little rasat Taz show. Wow, now it just, it makes it a bit more exciting. I want to see him now. So I, I started to do the same sort of thing. I used to make my ways crazy.

48:34 I’d come in a different costume, preferably. In fact, you asked me today, um, I brought a suit, but I decided not to wear it, and I, I was wondering, you said about dress up, and you said to me, um, something. I said, well, I’m not wearing a dress. Well, you could have worn a dress. Yes, everyone on London Real has permission to wear a dress, ever since Eddie Izzard came, sat in that chair.

48:56 You know, Eddie, a comedian, actor, he’s an amazing guy, and uh, he likes to wear whatever the hell he wants to wear. You know, and I don’t know, let’s talk about that. I don’t know if we call that crossdressing or transgender, or what, but Eddie wears what he wants to wear. And yeah, let’s go there. I thought he might wear a dress.

49:13 He ended up showing up in a killer pair of heels. Uh, his nails were painted, my nails were painted, you know, in deference to him, out of respect. Oh wow, what colour? Uh, I had like a British flag on one nail and I think a Euro flag on the other. You know, okay, and His picture’s on the wall he’s got a sick pair of heels.

49:31 Um, he’s my inspiration actually. He is. Yeah, well, because he’s an actor as well, I, I’m an actor, and he’s, I, I’ve, I’ve got another alter ego, Roxan. Let’s talk about Roxan. Roxan came out in the presses, I think, when Katie Price was saying, okay, Alex likes to dress up, uh, and then it all started coming out.

49:49 It was a lot of fun for everyone in the beginning, and then it seemed to also later be used as a tool against you. Uh, and then lately, even, come out, Katie said something about he doesn’t know, he needs help. Give me your thoughts on Roxan. Explain to us who that is, about wearing what you want to wear. Tell us, well, as a kid, let’s get for the record straight, I’m not ever want to have that off.

50:14 I like being a man and I identify with being a man. Um, and if I wanted to be a woman, I’m more than happy to shout it from the rooftops. That’s the person I am. The kid who used to run around the house, 5 years old, I just dress up as all sorts of things. I’m never, as a girl, I’m actually saying that when I was, my first battle with cross-dressing would have been as an ugly sister at the age of eight in Cinderella, you know.

50:37 But there was never any fascination. I think I might have tried my sister’s knickers on once for a laugh. Like I think lots of little boys do that sort of thing. That’s healthy. No, no weird sexual upbringing or anything.

50:49 Like nothing weird or ever happened to me. Um, just an exuberant fun guy with very creative, loving parents, powerful artistic, surrounded by lots of books. I mean, Dad was a soldier and Mom’s very artistic, so free to be what you want to be. So um, I went out on a boy night out with the London Shootfighters around 2006. We went out for a school disco, and me and a few of the guys decided to go as schoolgirls.

51:19 So I’m an ex-paratrooper. I mean, any, any, any excuse to dress up as a girl and have a laugh, and I, I liked it a little bit more. I mean, I I enjoyed it. Um, and I remember one of the guys, my Paul, Paul Ivans, he said to me, he’s looking at all the schoolgirls, and he’s like, look at me, Reid, you look a little bit good. I think you’ve done this before.

51:44 No, I’ve never done this before. We took pictures. Okay, that was the end of that. Roll on five, six years later, I’m with Kate. Um, I’ve just won a fight.

51:54 She’s come to watch me at a fight show. We go back to uh, Kate’s house, so, and she’s looking at Facebook, and she sees pictures. She dressed up as a girl. Yeah, it’s quite fun. I’ve got to take you upstairs and dress you up.

52:09 Oh my God. So she gets me upstairs, and it’s like um, this, the size of this studio. Um, wow, she’s dressed me up. We had some fun. Pictures following week, we’re at Simon Cowell’s 50th, and I, I loved her, so I’m, I’m cool.

52:26 It’s, it’s all fun. It’s like, you know, open-minded. Um, babe, don’t leave me. Um, you know, nobody likes me, so yeah, no worries. Um, she, uh, gets drunk and out come the pictures.

52:40 Well, the press there, the following week after that, she’s on Graham Norton in front of, I think, 20 million people. Babe, I’ve got to say something. If I don’t say something, it’s going to BL of all control. I, um, sitting there with my manager, watching live Graham Norton. So, Katie, tell me about Roxan.

53:03 Yeah, it’s great. I’m having the time of my life. Nipple clamps, bondage, whips, chains. I was just about to do a deal as an anchor man for UFC, and um, I was also auditioning for a uh, BBC drama. Four auditions, and they had wanted me, and you know, they say one door closes, another SL shut.

53:27 I, I was like, but I loved her. Did that really kill those deals? Yeah, um, well, you can argue it didn’t. Maybe they weren’t there in the first, but, they, they, I’d had four auditions with the BBC, and they said to me, unfortunately, due to the negative attention you’re getting, um, we can’t have this. It’s salacious for our media, so I’m really sorry, but um, and how did you feel with everyone knowing about those things?

53:53 I had to watch that piece of footage by the way, with Katie on Norton, so thanks for that. I was scared. You were scared. I was like, in some respect it was liberating, because um, cool, she accept you. You know, I love her, doesn’t matter.

54:06 What does it matter? You know, what does it matter? It’s like I’ve got the love of my someone I who supports me. This is great, liberating, and but it became what I was completely defined as. I mean, I just, there was a, I just did a, I, I shaved my body hair for my sport, and um, for MMA, for MMA.

54:28 I find it more hygienic. It’s, when you… it’s better for massages, for wounds, but if, if someone’s trying to grab me, my style, I’m very slippery, you know, so if you try and grab me, yeah, so I like to shave. I’ve just been having lazy hair removal. I literally just did an article for one of the magazines, and I, I talked about that. You know how the, and what’s the tagline?

54:54 Katie Price is X, crossdressing cage fight. I’m, there’s a ring to it, that pisses me off, and that is all because of what happened. Yeah, listen, and I am responsible, because I went along with it. I mean, I have to hold my hand up. I went out for her book launch, dressed as uh, as Katie, and I went out on a Halloween event, um, scary looking, in suspenders.

55:16 And I look, I look terrible, but you know the best thing about that? I went to the gym afterwards, and all the pictures are out there, and Alexi, my trainer, what were you doing? No, what were you doing? Oh no, you’re smoking a cigarette. You’re an athlete.

55:32 Athletes don’t smoke cigarettes. You had cigarettes in your bra. I was like, yeah, I won’t smoke again, boss. So yeah, all right, so you’re added by the press, and then all this other. Now you say there’s nothing salacious about dressing as a woman, but now all the other stuff gets thrown in with it.

55:50 The sex dungeons, the, you know, relationships with other people, throw in and men in the bedroom. All that stuff comes out. How do you feel about that? Well, listen, I, that I want to be famous, but not for my sex life. I don’t want anything to do with that, and it has as much as I’ve played around, and, lean, foolish, is a very serious side to me, and that affects, and is very painful, not only to my pocket, because I’m a less viable commodity, especially to film producers and actors, uh, casting directors, when I’m acting.

56:20 They don’t want someone who’s doing crazy stuff in the media, but my family, my friends, and you know, I have to worry about how it’s going to affect them, and it’s, it’s really not nice. That’s very painful. Okay, and, and to be tired with a brush. I mean, I, I don’t get it so much now. I might get the occasional comment, but they’re actually quite pleasant.

56:40 I walked past a building site two, three months ago, and I’ve got Roxy, Roxan, where’s your dress? and I went, that’s right mate, you’re cool now. I’m like, it, it used to, why should that both me, right? It’s kind of strange, because like you said, you would just want to fight. When you met Katie, then the crossdressing thing comes out.

57:02 It’s almost like, since you’re such an alpha male, that people let you get away with it. They’re like, well, he’s a fighter, he beats people up, so let’s let him do that. It’s a weird type of, you get more leeway in that sense. Yes and no. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.

57:16 I mean, I’m accepted. I had uh, I fought this guy recently, um, Tony the Rhino Giles, and he was trying to badmouth me at a press conference about Roxan. What’s that all about? And I had 100% support from the whole of the MMA community. We like, shut up, Tony.

57:34 What’s the big deal? It’s, you know, so what. That was wonderful. Okay, talk to me about, you know, Caitlyn Jenner. You know, she comes out, she does the pose on the front of the magazine.

57:43 I think you did a similar pose. I, I copied Kate. You copied Kate. You had a pose with there. The word transgender gets thrown around a lot right now.

57:50 I did an interview, and I I said, I said about, you know, I’m trans. Are you trans? What does that mean, to be trans, as opposed to a crossdressing? What’s the difference? Well, what’s, I mean, technically, if you wear women’s clothes and you’re a man, you’re a transvestite, well, or, or if you enjoy that, and like, hands up, I enjoy it.

58:11 I’ve had some fun. It’s not been much fun lately, because it’s every time I do it, I seem to get in trouble. The, the, the paratrooper wore it and went out, and yeah. So what I’ll do, what I want. It’s, I’ve learned, the crazy guy who would drink champagne, go and have a fight.

58:27 It’s, I’m not that person. I’ve, you can’t be involved in this industry and not evolve, uh, or get a thicker skin. Okay, I’m protecting myself now. Okay, but you’re, you, you call yourself transgender, then I’m not transgendered, but trans. I have, yeah, I’ve crossdressed.

58:45 Okay, if, if listen, let me explain it, if anyone’s interested, if, because we’re talking about if this is sexuality, this is red hot blooded male alpha. Yeah, and this character in my finger now, of sexuality, is a character of critical Roxan. This is the crazy stuff. I don’t, I mean, I’ve experimented. I’ve done all sorts of stuff, you know.

59:06 I’ve tried pretty much everything, um, except for crack, except for crack, um, yeah, um, but this is so fascinating to the media. I’m like, so for a while, I, I, I, I said I’ve been a prostitute to the media. I I played on it. I’m like, well, yeah, just have some fun. But now I mean, and I just did that shoot as Caitlyn Jenner, cuz I was trying to, like, prove a point, and I’m like, why am I trying to prove against the people who are just trying to, and only did that six months ago?

59:36 Why am I trying to prove a point against the people who are trying to bring me down all the time? Maybe you want the attention. Maybe I do, but what I want is acceptance more than the attention. I want to see, I’m, I’m offered, I’ve been offered a lot of money over the last several years to talk crap about my exes, and all salacious stuff. I don’t want to do that.

59:58 I’ve been boxing very carefully, metaphorically speaking, to, to make my family proud, to make money, proud, and to have a have longevity. The whole Roxan thing, I, I know I can make quite a bit of money straight away. I’ve been offered to open a club in the West End, um, a cabaret bar, and I’m like, maybe, but listen, if I was going to make massive money dressing up as a girl, then I could possibly do that, but is that going to really make me happy? What’s going to make me really happy?

1:00:28 I love my martial arts. I haven’t told you about it. I, I’ve got martial arts. I’ve just started a new school. I love teaching kids, and look, in a shopping centre, you’ve got a…

1:00:39 Summers next to Mothercare sometimes, but I can’t, I’m as two conflicting brands you know, and teaching kids martial arts, martial arts, let me ask you quickly about martial arts and transgender and even homosexuality, because we haven’t really seen the gay fighter come out. I don’t know if there’s a UFC fighter out of the closet, and with 4,500 fighters on the roster, obviously there is. And it’s such a weird thing, because you know, MMA is such close contact.

1:01:08 Like you’re literally, you shave your body hair so you can slip off of people, and people that don’t know what Brazilian jiu-jitsu is, you know, it, there’s two guys in high close contact with each other. When is this? There is a bit of, in the gym, for instance, I, I mean, I used to get jokes like, oh, I don’t want to shower with you or anything, and I’m like, I play up to it, though. Point right? Okay, there was that point for a while, but they know, um, sexuality wise, I don’t want to see some smelly arse float in the shower with a smelly balls out.

1:01:40 Does the sport of MMA, are they going to have to start accepting people out of the closet? Just how, say, football is a bit reluctant to, I think it’s, is happening as we speak. I think I, well, you’re the, you’re a pioneer. I see it happening, time, time, and I asked this question a lot, and it’s a very interesting question. I mean, you look at ancient Sparta.

1:01:59 I mean, they were all, you weren’t allowed to, lovers would fight side by side. Men, you weren’t allowed a woman until you’d served in the army. I know some of the most awesome fighting. I mean, that was like a couple of thousand years ago, but I see the way of the world, everything’s cy… what’s the word?

1:02:17 Cy, cy, cyclical, cyclical, right? Okay, so we’re going to come back. We’re going to come back to it. There will be openly gay fighters. It will just be accepted.

1:02:26 We’ll look back at this as kind of, and I’m not an advocate for that. I mean, you be what you want to be, but I just see that. I’m not not trying to say this is the way, it’s good. I’m not a gay activist. I don’t consider myself gay, you know.

1:02:37 Okay, future of Alex Reid, you’re acting now. You have a new excitement for mixed martial arts. You’re 40 years old, you’ve been banged up you know, for so many years. You probably, your body feels like 50 some days, and to go in there and try to spar with like a Michael Venom Page, you know, Jesus, that’s hard, right? Right, but you’re still doing it.

1:02:57 Yes, you’re getting after it. I, I, um, I’m, yeah, 300 plus fights, I heard. I went to the UFC to watch uh at the O2 just recently to watch uh Anderson versus, yeah, Bisping. Yeah, it really upset me. I, I walked in with some friends, and I was uh, I paid £150 for some seats.

1:03:20 I was about 100 feet away from the cage, and I was like, a bit upset. I should be cage side. Why am I not? C, what happened to my my celebrity them. Yeah, I mean it was, it was wonderful.

1:03:32 I got a lot of adoration. That was nice for my ego, and I hobbled in, and Reid, why are you hobbling? I’m not hobbling. This is my normal walk. No, you are, you’re hobbling.

1:03:40 So I hobble. I’ve got this normal, and I’ve got, I felt old, so I went home really depressed. I mean, I was due to fight Anderson 10 years ago. I turned it down. Okay, at Cage Rage or something, cage, and Murr, F*** him.

1:03:55 Yeah, yeah. And I was also selected to, to do what Michael Bisping did at the Ultimate Fighting in my prime, and for whatever reason, you know, didn’t happen. So a week later I got a call from another promoter. How old are you, Reid? 40.

1:04:12 When was the last time you fought? Two years ago. He’s fancying a fight. You joking? I’m in pain, man.

1:04:20 Agony. Can’t do that. Thank, I’d rather be the presenter. You got a presenting job? Wicked.

1:04:25 Yeah, yeah, okay, we’ll talk about it. Can’t stop thinking about it. Trained for like a couple of days, and hey Paul, I want to do it. I’ve, I’ve just been uh, we’re in talks to me to come back in the summer, something quite big, come back, where um, let’s just say it’s one of the biggest shows in the world, in the world, okay, and it’s uh, the biggest arena in the world, okay, and they’re very excited about me, and I am so excited. I can’t stop thinking about it.

1:05:03 I’m hurting. I got smashed at the gym, uh, the other day by a young buck. I was the man. I would go through everyone. I was the gatekeeper.

1:05:10 Now I’m getting beaten up by kids, but I’m loving it. Part of my reason for doing this is to get fit and healthy again. I’m, there’s nothing like adversity to force you to find the answers. Yeah, I’m scared s***less. I am actually going, but I’m loving it.

1:05:28 It’s wow, I, I mean, it’s the most focused look at my energy just now. I’m like, wow, I can’t wait to get in there. Yeah, and all the different things, it’s going to help promote, and there’s all this craziness, um, about the Roxan stuff, and yeah, let’s roll that away. I’m a fighter, and more than a fighter. I’m a martial artist, and win, lose or draw, it’s about having excitement now, and being healthy.

1:05:57 I’m not, I have no illusions that I’m going to be the next champion for so long. My whole ethos was to be either James Bond in the movies or the next middleweight champion of the world. So yeah, I’m now, it’s about having fun, have some fun, and get healthy and fit, fit. I’m actually excited to see you fight again, as I can see how excited you are. I’m the kid in the gym.

1:06:20 We go, woo, and they’re like, really, shut up, but they love, they absolutely love it, cuz I’m back, and it’s that zany character who could get away with it. But we’ve also just seen uh Frank Shamrock and Royce Gracie both fight. They’re in their late 40s, uh, 50 now. What’s that, are they 40? I thought they were 49.

1:06:36 I thought, uh, maybe Shamrock’s 50. They just fought in Bellator. You know, it was some people didn’t like to see the fight, because it’s like rolling out these two old guys. Some people did like to see the fight. It sold tickets.

1:06:47 Yeah, um, what do they say about the guy that doesn’t know when to stop fighting? And are you going to be that guy? No, no, listen, I, I, they, they want me to sign a free fight deal, and I haven’t, I’m in negotiation. I say, look, I can’t walk properly. I literally can’t.

1:07:07 I’m, but I tell you what, I’m so excited about this. I can’t stop, and they can see that and the, the, the energy and the buzz I’m bringing. Let’s see what happens in this one, and then let’s go on. Maybe I’ll, I’ll sign. Who knows?

1:07:20 I think that’d be exciting. Three fights, you know, when it comes to martial arts, I think the reason you were drawn to that, that is, because martial arts has a way of, of centring a man, and I bet back when you were gatekeeping for London Shootfighters, you were at top fitness. You were probably mentally in an amazing place, and you probably now are feeling yourself getting back there, and you’re like, I really like being this guy, martial artist, fit, pushing himself every day.

1:07:43 I mean, that’s a, that’s a good place to be, right? It’s the mo, it’s the, the most ecstatic, wonderful feeling in the world, being that’s fit and healthy, and that confidence it brings, and I what I see is, you see people who say they’re cage fighters, and they got the tattoos and the gold teeth and the bald head, and like, and I’m being, that’s not nice for anyone out there who’s a nice bald-headed, tattooed, gold-toothed cage f***er. I apologise, but we don’t talk about it unless we’re together, but you get the bado of people want to be tough and want to be cage fighters.

1:08:19 We’re just the most relaxed, wonderful, nice people, cuz we’re every day we’re trying to kill each other. We were so calm in the rest of our life, you know? Yeah, I can always tell if you’re a fighter by how gentle your handshake is, and like, the more gentle it is, the more nasty you probably are in the ring, in the cage. Uh, oh, here we go. That’s pretty, that’s pretty gentle, and most people think it’s the opposite, but you know, really, the serious fighters are the nicest, most respectful, you know, guys in the world.

1:08:47 Nothing to prove. Yeah, nothing to prove. Exactly, because they prove all, an, a lot of confidence, right? I have to ask you a question, uh, and a lot of guys, you know, they’re like, Alex Reid, okay, well you know he seems to pull some pretty amazing birds, you know, let’s be honest. Okay, and you know your fiancee now, beautiful as well.

1:09:04 Thank you. How does Alex pick up women? Give us some tips. Um, I ask this a lot. People say it’s about being confident.

1:09:15 Um, KN, I think the most attractive thing, in equality, and it’s not looks. I know that helps. I’m not bad, I’m not bad-looking, although some days I look at myself, oh God, I would. Other days, yeah, I definitely would. We can all, we can all, you know, you go to the gym, you shave, you got a nice swagger on you, you feel good, but the most attractive quality is that drive, that passion in here, and in here, that aura, something more than this, some something, that energy inside, that I’ve got bundles of energy, and that I’m a little bit naughty.

1:09:53 I don’t mean I’m not talking sexy naughty. I’m talking cheeky, bit of a cheeky chappy, you know. And I try to look at things. There’s not just, I was a kid at school that got laughed at, because I’d asked questions, so everybody else probably wanted to ask, but it was too cool to ask. I, why is the stars, why, why do you have to die?

1:10:17 Why, why, why, why, why? So that ever never-ending inquisitive, childlike nature. That to some people I’m totally unattractive, but some people, that’s, I’m so, I know what I want, and that’s, that’s an attractive quality. So if you know what you want and you’re passionate about it, you’re going to find someone, right? You’re in the moment, you’re not apologising for who you are.

1:10:38 No, and you’re treating everybody probably the same. I’m guessing you didn’t treat Katie any differently than the girl before. Oh, this is, I’ve wor, and I’ve done a lot of psychoanalysing on this. I go and see all sorts of people. I think therapy’s great.

1:10:48 I go. I just, this morning, I was going to see my hypnotherapist. Like you go and see someone in the gym to make your muscle stronger, to technique better. I go and see, and I’ve done a lot of psychoanalysing on Katie now. I was the alpha male.

1:11:01 I was the man. I just literally knocked out someone who said he was going to knock me out. I knocked him out in less than a minute with a knee to the head. I was like, yeah, woo, party time. Right, and she transformed me from alpha male to the, to, I went into a world I have no idea.

1:11:19 I mean, I knew a little bit about it, but you can’t, nothing can prepare you. Everywhere I mean, being disinated continually by the whole of the media and the press, and at one point when I won Celebrity Big Brother, I was the most famous man in the country for a few days, and then I got to marry Katie Price. Then what? Then I go to marry Katie Price, marry Price, right? Yeah, well, I mean, look, I can’t deny that that relationship boosted my profile, but maybe in a negative way.

1:11:47 We didn’t talk about Celebrity Big Brother. You went in that house to booze, because what of your association with Katie? You came out the winner. I went to, um, I went to, I try not to talk about it too much, cuz I know my fiancee will get angry. I love you, Nicola, but you can’t deny that it’s part of my part of my history, um, and it wasn’t for Katie just being nice.

1:12:10 I wouldn’t have met Chantelle. I would have my daughter, but um, so I thank them both for that. I, I went out to Katie. She was just in uh, the jungle, and I’d gone out to come, and as she was going to come out, to say congratulations and all that stuff, as you go walk across the bridge, but there was a story in News of the World that I was going up to propose, propose. And um, she split me live on, a, sorry, I was just about, she split up.

1:12:36 It’s been voted the best way to split up with someone out of a hundred different reasons. I’ve got a couple of things like that, when these, one of these Channel 5 programmes where they do 100 best ways to do something, also I was voted number one most outrageous celebrity wedding. So she split up with me live on, live on a, I became Public Enemy Number One, because I’m this bad guy. Yeah, pantomime villain, bo, bo, bo. And um, I went in literally to the Big Brother house, which was about a month or so later.

1:13:10 Rotten to, my, see all this, who was it? Deina McCoy? I want to turn these boos to cheers, and this is something I am proud of. There’s three moments I’m proud of: my Tom Watson fight, Celebrity Big Brother, and my daughter being born. But I, I came out, I couldn’t believe it.

1:13:28 I had the biggest throw in the history of Big Brother, and I’ve researched this. 69% of the, of 20 million people, of the you know, every social demographic of the UK, old, young, gay, straight, every religion. Wow, I couldn’t believe it. It was, I call it, um, if you’ve seen the film The Matrix, it was like it wasn’t real. It was like a computer game.

1:13:54 How did that happen? I trained, and I, I had a mind man, and I wasn’t going to go in because I never wanted to go in to the Big Brother house. Famous, being famous. And he said to me, look, you got to go in, because you’re hated at the moment. All they got to do is see the real you.

1:14:11 It’s not about winning. It’s just about people seeing the real you. You win, not necessarily the show, but you just win by people getting to say, you see the real you. If you, so that was my game plan. And obviously I’m an athlete, I’m an ex-soldier.

1:14:22 I prepared, like you know, one to try and win, but it wasn’t the be all and end all. It was just to be myself. So I went in there. I was myself, and I’m focused. I’ve got things I want to do.

1:14:33 I was also training to fight Tom Watson, this big, well, title fight, um, on his TV show. I just got Alex Reid, the fight of his life, where I go around the world. So I was, that was a bit of a problem, cuz I was supposed to be training. I’m in a Celebrity Big Brother house for a week, for a month, and were you using mind games in there, and things you learned during hypnotherapy, or were you just being you, or was it all me being me? And basically I’ve done it.

1:14:58 It’s not games anymore, because it becomes me. Um, it’s hard to play games for a month, right? You got to be you. You just got to be yourself, and that’s what, one through, you know, says a lot about you. It’s a little bit like London Real.

1:15:15 You can’t fake it over an hour, an hour and a half. Like your personality is going to come out. I’m guessing Big Brother’s like that. Yeah, okay, and it was in favour of you. People like you.

1:15:25 Yeah, it was nice. I did, I did other one, um, what was it, uh, Celebrity Come Dine With Me. I did. It was Sally Morgan, Freddy Krueger, what’s his name, Alec Robert England, and another glamour model, and they were all really horrible to me over four days, but at the end I had to, it was all nice. They’re all lovely, and I managed to transform them, because this is the problem.

1:15:48 There’s such a, a misunderstood and have been, m, represented by negative media, and by, I call it the pantomime world, Celebrity, them, which is what they assign you to a role. Yeah, I’m the bad guy. And even my fiancee, uh, who I love dearly, to start off with, she just thought we were just a bit of fun, and like she didn’t think I was a serious, um, we’re going to get married or anything and have children. But now we know she could, she thought I was a bit of a bad guy.

1:16:25 Why’d you get with me then? Well, you know, thought you’re fit, well that helps. Um, but she, she had my own, my own fiancee, you know, growing up on the Jeremy Kyle TV, that, that, that mindset, you know, and I’m the bad guy. So yeah, and we all live with a media bias. So even though I know a lot about you, like those things come out in people’s minds when they meet you for the first time.

1:16:50 Part of them is probably thinking oh, he’s the bad guy, he’s the Sex Dungeon guy, he’s the rock guy, he’s the this, this, this. I’m a bit weird. I’m a bit, yeah, but that’s not bad. I, but at the same time, you know, my problem is when I was a kid, I never wanted to be normal. I never wanted to be normal.

1:17:05 I always want it to be different. Oh boy, Joe, I’ve got that, didn’t I? Yeah, you took that to the next level. Let me just, uh, uh, act. You ask you about acting.

1:17:12 You’re 40 now. You know, looking forward to movies, to television, how hard is it to break into good acting roles? To be an actor, you know, Eddie Izzard was here. You know, he plays with acting. He’s also a comedian, but you know, look, it’s hard at any level of the game to stay employed doing great acting.

1:17:30 You know, even Eddie would say that, and a lot of other people that have been here. How are you finding it? Absolutely, especially with my negative association to my ex, because you bring like a bad baggage character that could taint the movie, and I I look at, um, uh, two actors, very, uh, Tom Hardy and Matt Damon. Uh, Matt Damon just said, you know, Tom, I don’t know him, though. He’s pretty incredible.

1:17:55 He, I, I believe, I’m, I’m, I’m not, I believe he has had some sexual relationships with men, but he’s sort of denounced that. But you have to look at that. Let’s look at Hollywood. It’s run by pretty much by gay dudes. Um, the pink pound, and you know, the pink pound, the pink power, oh, power pound, pink power.

1:18:16 Okay, um, and as much as they’re openly gay, they don’t want their Hollywood movie star to be, you got to be an alpha male. And I could be doing Tom a complete disservice. I don’t know his sexuality, but it’s, it’s irrelevant really, but whether there’s all this, whoa, in the gay media here, and I wouldn’t know about this, but because of all the TR stuff I’ve been brought into it. I mean, I don’t, I don’t really associate with all this stuff, but I, I have become accustomed to it because of my association with it.

1:18:49 Um, so he’s saying, like, he’s denouncing any of anything he’s done, because let’s face it, if you’re Mad Max, the most alpha male movie star in the world, you want to be, you want, you want your guy to be the alpha male. Same thing, and Matt Damon said, look, I think actors should not really talk about their sexuality, because you want to believe them, and I, I agree with that, but the, the problem is, if you are, I look at Rupert Everett, for instance. I happen to be friendly with him.

1:19:15 Um, he, um, I, you could argue that has affected his, his, his Hollywood appeal, being openly gay. Okay, um, it’s, Matt Damon got a lot of criticism, interested for Liberace. Matt Damon did for doing the Liberace role, or just for having questionable sexuality. What, Matt Damon? You said Matt D.

1:19:38 Yeah, Matt Damon was saying you don’t want to be, not anyone talk about your sexuality. You want to be as ambiguous about that as possible. Right, even though you’re saying Hollywood is run by a group of gay directors, but they don’t want to cast their leading stars as being openly gay, even though you, hard, might have had some gay experiences, but doesn’t. Yeah, yeah. It’s, I mean, to me it’s irrelevant whether he has or not, but it’s, it, you have to be personally, it’s irrelevant to me, but publicly, if you’re, if you’re the, if you’re a big business conglomerate trying to make the most money.

1:20:12 Yeah, it’s an interesting point you make, and it’s a weird double standard. It’s a really twisted one, as you say. Me, we’re changing now, slightly. I mean, I believe in Diesel has just come out. No, maybe I don’t know.

1:20:23 I mean, like, maybe I hope so, in a way. Um, anyway, it’s an interesting point you make. Maybe we’ll have Tom on and talk about it. Eddie Izzard, yeah, I mean he’s playing alpha male roles now, and he’s like, I mean, he’s um, just what’s that, um, I can’t think, he played a gypsy, right, in a sitcom. It was great.

1:20:40 Yeah, no, very interesting point you make. All right, so onwards to the future with you and acting, but it’s a struggle because of those issues in your past. Yes, yes, but I mean, I am, I’m acting. I’ve got lots of different things going on at the moment, so I’m quite happy. I just finished a film last year, uh, about angels.

1:20:55 I play a gangster who’s a down-and-out, that angels aren’t allowed to fall in love with humans, and there’s a bunch of dark angels, and they influence me to be, uh, I’m a down-and-out selling weed, and I become like Al Capone. Okay, it’s great, sounds cool. Look, you’re working. That’s what any actor wants, right? Alex, let me ask you about some of your personal success secrets, just things you do every day that keep you on your A game.

1:21:19 You mentioned this hypnotherapy thing. I kind of want to know a little bit more about it. You also told me that you have some mantras that you kind of repeat to yourself every day, every day. You say, I see myself winning, all that I seek, see, I see, I see myself winning, all that I seek. I see myself reaching the highest of peaks.

1:21:35 For the universe brings prosperity to me, and from this day forward, fortune follows me. Breathe in the power and the energy, and I’m holding two lucky charms. Okay, when did you start doing that? Um, 20 plus, 25 plus years ago. Okay, I was always a kid who believed in magic, and I started to study about a bit, you know, and all magic is, is science unexplained.

1:22:08 I’m actually a druid. I was actually ordained at Stonehenge by it’s a little bit freaking. By a guy called King Ara. Okay, I’m not surprised. Um, and all magic is, I mean we’ve got mobile phones, there’s energy waves going all over the place.

1:22:23 There’s, if you know how to do the right amal rhythms, and there’s, there’s stuff going all around us, and this is um, ions, electrons, neutrons, atoms. If you know how to manipulate that, I’m sounding a bit freaky here. Okay, drugs, drugs. What’s, what drugs? You know, they’re plants, and if you know how to put them together, that’s, that’s what being a druid is about.

1:22:46 Okay, interesting. And this self-talk, is that something you’ve always done? Have you visualised things when you go to your hypnotherapists? What do they do? Do they talk about you analysing your thoughts, or do you have these mantras?

1:22:55 How does that work for you? These success secrets are only available on the the my hypnotherapist now is fantastic. She, I’ve had lots of hypnotherapy over 20 plus years, and when I, when I became a paratrooper, I um, I bust my ankle, and I do this, this really arduous course called P Company, one of the most arduous um courses in the British Army. You have to run around with logs and get beaten up and survival training. And the, the first day of the parade, I sprained my ankle, and the, the medic, medical officer said, I’m afraid, son, you’re going to have to go home.

1:23:57 I said, you can f*** stick that up your ass, sir. I’m afraid I’m not f***ing going home. I’m going to do this. Do you know what, sir? Son, I’d normally get you in big trouble, but I like your spirit.

1:24:08 Good luck. I did it on hypnosis. My ankle was bust, to this day it’s now bust, because I have problems with it. So someone hooks me, and I’m in trouble, so you trained your brain not to engage with the pain, and since then I’ve done that. The, the lady I have now, though, I wouldn’t know what she’s doing to me.

1:24:24 She puts me under, and I’m like, it’s the most wonderful experience. I’m I’m feeling she could be turning me into a chicken. Does this help you with confidence? Has it helped you with fighting over the years? Absolutely.

1:24:36 Yeah, yeah. I have my key words for post-hypnotic, post-hypnotic triggered response. Literally like He-Man, Prince Adam, by the power of Grace, go. And I, you have, um, the ninja, they had the cooi curry, a battle trance, where they do this, they met itate on certain things. They could stop bleeding.

1:24:56 I could stop bleeding. It’s quite, it’s quite an easy one. Um, the, the Maori had the haer com battle trances to build you up, to make you more impervious to pain, to be able to do the Zulu, Zulu. Lots of different people, the beat of the drum, is it, it gives you more energy, more power. Transforms your vibration.

1:25:17 Here I go again. Vibration. Druids, we’re all made up of ions, electrons, neutrons. We’re all vibrant, vi, vibrating at different frequencies. If you know how to manipulate this, is it magic, is it science?

1:25:28 One day we will have, I really believe this, Star Trek, beam me up, Scotty. It’s, it’s just a matter of, I mean, look, um, flying in a big hunk of metal and being able to fly in the air, talking to someone in China. Is that magic? Well, a couple hundred years ago that was pretty, pretty magic, but now it’s, and the Renator, is that a construct that you’ve done with hypnotherapy over the years, where you can switch into a different guy when you go in the ring?

1:25:55 I mean, a lot of people do that. You know, Beyonce has an alter ego. Madonna has an alter ego. A lot of fighters have an alter ego. Yeah, and it works.

1:26:05 Yeah, yeah, he, he sort of comes naturally. I, I’ve, I mean, I’m a tough guy. The Renator was born actually in 2000. I was in a, the Iron Man tournament, a European jiu-jitsu championships, and um, I was getting smashed up, and I kept getting up and carrying on, and wow, he’s like a robot, he’s like a Terminator, and someone said, no, he’s not. He’s like a, he’s like a Red Renator, and it’s stuck, and ever since then that crazy guy will just keep going.

1:26:38 You know, it, it, it stuck, that tenacity, and I started to build things. I have a mantra that I would say religiously before a fight, and I’m just about starting now, because I got a little, little outing in the summer where he’s coming back. So even though I’m a bit scared, I’m also really excited, and I know that fear, and I say, I talk to fighters about this a bit, like the film Rocky. Frankie, fear is your friend, you know. It makes you stronger, faster, more powerful, and I start to learn that uncomfortable feeling in my tummy.

1:27:09 It’s making me go into the toilet. It’s good, that’s getting rid of the poison. It’s going to make me faster, more energetic. My vibration is increasing, and rather than feeling scared, feel excitement, and right now I’m getting excited. What’s that mantra?

1:27:25 What’s the fighter mantra that you say? What is it? Um, um, Alex the Renator Reid. I keep my hands out high, my left and right to my temples. It goes on like this.

1:27:37 I, I’m my my legs are like nunchuck. Um, that’s if I, I’m a grappling whiz, a wrestling master, a jiu-jitsu, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Okay, so get you all connected and centred with your all different things, and I say this like three or four times a day. Okay, right, it’s powerful. I think it’s really, and it’s good.

1:27:55 It’s, it’s the just, and you start to you believe it. What you say comes back. Yeah, again, when you think of the word successful, who comes to mind? could be a fighter, could be a, a, a personality, a business person, someone dead, um, Sylvester to life. I love him, just nominated for an Academy Award.

1:28:19 And when I was first at acting school I remember, um, so who’s your favourite actors? I said Sylvester Stallone and Roger Moore, and everyone laughed at me, and I thought, I show you buggers, how dare you, cuz they didn’t think they could act. Why? Yeah, and I thought, I mean, I grew up on James Bond and Roger Moore. He was a man, a little bit camp, which I like, but he always got all the girls.

1:28:43 Yeah, but he still got the girls, and he was a badass. I love Roger. I grew up with him, classy, sophisticated. That’s, that was my, and Stallone. I was watching Creed.

1:28:51 I know you watched it recently, I was watching it, and before anything I was like, man, this is a different Sly, cuz he was actually acting, and I was like, this is weird, amazing. And then I found out later that actually one of our guests here, Ivana Chubbuck, really famous acting coach, um, she trained him, and then he got the nomination, and it was like, wow, amazing to see a guy at that age go back into acting school. You know, I think that’s brilliant.

1:29:15 I’ve just, I’m, I take acting lessons all the time. I’m always learning, and, and going back to MMA, I’m, I’m take, I’m going in the beginners class. I’m loving it. I’m learning new things. My body doesn’t work quite the same way it used to, but, but it works differently.

1:29:30 It’s a bit like when, um, with my fight, it’s a bit like when I live in the Rocky films when he fights, uh, he decides to have a comeback fight, and he’s like 60. Well, you can’t do this, cuz your back’s gone, you can’t do this, cuz you’re brittle. You, right, but you, you know you’ve got some strength. You got power, strength. You fight smarter.

1:29:49 Fight smarter. Uh, what keeps you awake at night? There’s some things I can’t say here, but um, I’m sure it will come out in, in a, there’s some things that make me very sad. Um, I’m, I sleep pretty good, though, now, because I’m, I’m a good guy. I’ve got good people around me.

1:30:11 Um, I get sad about some of the horrible things that have got, I, I feel responsible, um, that I’ve caused pain on my family, and that, you know, I feel a bit of guilt. and um, it doesn’t. I don’t like that. I don’t like that because of your antics that caused them pain. Yeah, and but I think I’m, I’m, I forgive myself for that, though.

1:30:34 I’m not, I don’t har, go on and on because I was doing the best I could with what I had at the time. I never went to anything with bad intention. I always went to the best thing, but I, I maybe took some of the wrong choices, and I had some of the wrong. I, I think about all the pain I’ve caused my, my parents because of my relationships, uh, public relationships, and I’m like, it makes me sad, but hang on a minute, that’s not necessarily your fault, Reid.

1:30:59 But I just feel like maybe I could have been better. Then I like, well, yeah, understood. What’s your biggest challenge right now? Right now is my health. This is why I have decided to go back in and get back on the horse.

1:31:15 I’m not in the best shape. I’m not bad, fitness wise, but I’m talking structurally. I’ve got my back aches, I’ve got groin problems. I can’t. I used to be a head kicker.

1:31:25 I used to do the splits on two chairs with someone sitting on my leg. Vanam can’t do that anymore. Right, so that’s my challenge, to get healthy and to be able to. I, I want to get my black belt in jiu-jitsu. I’m a purple belt, and I’ve, me too.

1:31:39 Yeah, are you? We’ve got to roll sometime. Yeah, so tell me how old are you? I’m 44. I turned, turned 45 in two months.

1:31:47 Yeah, or a month or so. How did you train? So I, I trained jiu-jitsu straight for about 10 years, and then like some guys do, I always hated those guys. I, you know, my, my instructor left, and I was like, I don’t know if I want to roll with these guys. These new guys, I started just kicking Thai pads, and I haven’t rolled jiu-jitsu now in a good year, 18 month.

1:32:06 We should do it. I miss it. I really miss it. Let’s get it on. It’s a beautiful thing, right?

1:32:11 Are you a gi guy or no gi? Yeah, both, both. I haven’t really done much gi. I, me, I’ve decided not to, as I’m going to be jumping back on the horse. I don’t think there’s much point with doing ke just yet, but that’s my whole idea for getting back in the age was to get my health back so I can get my black belt.

1:32:27 I’m, I’ve got a purple belt, but get this, I don’t want to put it on at the moment, cuz I put it on, there you have to defend it. Yeah, I, I don’t want to be putting my belt out there either. There was some famous footage where you roll with Roger Gracie, didn’t you? At his place. Respect to you for going in there first of all.

1:32:42 Roger is considered, well, he probably the best at the time in gi jiu-jitsu in the world, and you went roll with him. I’ve rolled with him before. I didn’t really roll. I just got, I got obliterated by him, capping out. Yeah, respect.

1:32:56 He’s the nicest guy, though, right? Nicest guy. I haven’t talked about this. I’m just started, uh, a new school, uh, MMA school with Don Charles, who is uh, a decorated uh, boxing trainer. He trained Derek Chisora for fight, David Haye, Klitschko and Tyson Fury, and guess who he trains?

1:33:17 Roger Gracie. He trained Roger Gracie to knock out, um, James McWeeny in one. Okay, good stuff. It’s crazy. Yeah, and James M, this is weird.

1:33:30 This is how incestuous is the head MMA coach. Now Tiger Muay Thai, where I was the head coach MMA in Tiger Muay Thai in 2006. Isn’t it a small world? very small. Do you still watch boxing?

1:33:43 State of boxing right now. I’m not, I, I mean, I love boxing, but it’s only the big fight. It’s a bit like MMA. There’s so many fights, and I’m up and down the country. Yeah, couple of times a month, um, you get this, unless it’s a good fight, I’m like, yeah, you have to only pay attention to the big, the big fights these days.

1:34:01 It’s a business, not always. Sometimes the small, the smaller fights, if they’ve got heart and passion. Wow, it’s, it’s very uncommon. Yeah, they have less to lose. That’s what’s nice to see about some of those prelim cards.

1:34:12 Sometimes they’re amazing, cuz they literally have kind of one shot, and uh, you know, they’ve got to make make an impression there. So um, Alex, I always ask everyone here a question at the end. If you can make a phone call, call to the 20-year-old Alex Reid, give that young man a bit of advice. I’m guessing you probably had some kickboxing wins. Yeah, what would you tell him?

1:34:31 Oh my God, that’s very easy. But can I say it? Yeah, say it. Don’t marry Katie Price. Don’t marry Katie Price.

1:34:37 Was it that bad? That year, was it that bad? No, I, I kind of look at, like, like I said, I, some of the pain I have. I mean, I just, I went into, I told you I went into a garage there, and I, I saw her and Peter Andre on the, the magazine shelf, and I’m like, I don’t have any ill feeling to her, but what I don’t, act like, is the, I feel like there’s injustice. I’m the pantomime villain, and I’ve been portrayed to be somebody I’m not, and I feel that hurts my family.

1:35:11 So I, but then on the other side, I, I also, I get messages every day, every day. I got, you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re really helping. You don’t realise what you’re doing. Messages, messages of encouragement from all different people, from every social demographic, from the Comm, from the UK community, saying, you know, you’re a good guy. So I’ll get lots of cheerleading.

1:35:31 What you’re doing is amazing. I’m like, what am I doing? So, but I’m helping people, and I’m like, how am I helping, just by being me, by being open-minded? Cuz there’s a lot of people that aren’t 2.4 children out there, and so, and they kind of like the underdog, or the guy that does it his way, and that’s where people support you. Yes, you do, do it your way.

1:35:51 And I mean, I’ve bumped into some people I haven’t seen recently, had a social gathering, um, are we, and they haven’t seen me for about four or five years since I was with Katie, and they said to me, they’re not friends with Katie anymore. They said to me, um, do you know, it’s really nice to see you. They, I, they went, they were a bit anti me when we split up, and you get that, you know, you’re married with someone, and you got your friends, and they got their friends, and people separate, and they’re not friends, and they said, look, what we like about you is you’ve never changed.

1:36:22 You’ve actually, I mean, doubtly, I’ve grown a bit older and a little bit wiser, but I’ve still got the same social, so same heart, make me feel nice. Yeah, that’s good. Second part of that question. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Could be fighting, could be business relationships.

1:36:38 What was it, and who gave it to you? Okay, this, oh, there’s two bits here. I was going to say, um, I was going to say about when all of this, this, this gay, transgendered, I’m going to say crap, and I was going to say crap. I mean, it’s not crap, but it, I feel like I’ve been dragged into something that wasn’t really aware of. Hang on, because I’ve said some silly things and been open-minded, and Alexi, my trainer, who is a straight-acting guy.

1:37:17 So what? Like, if you’re the guy that, and he’s got a lot of respect, and he’s a serious dude, got money, um, very successful, very respected worldwide on the MMA scene. Yeah, definitely. If you’re the guy who’s going to be the champion for this, then so be it. You know, so be it.

1:37:35 You’re, you know, good guy, you could help people, and I thought, you know what, cool. And but then whatever, I was, my father, love, Dad, be kind, and yeah, I, I was, um, when I was like 14, impressionable, Bruce Lee films, superheroes, Dungeons and Dragons, go up in the loft in our attic, and I find a box full of photographs, and like, we got lots of art around the house, and I didn’t know. I saw Dad in the picture of a uniform. Dad, what, you, I was a soldier?

1:38:08 Really? never talked about it. Never. It was a war hero, you know, an army boxing champ. Wow, forget He-Man, my dad’s a real He-Man.

1:38:16 Forget King Ala, Simbad, my, you know, wow. So that was it. The most powerful man in my hero, ultimate my hero, was his ultimate thing was kindness, compassion, and he left the army after fighting in a war, to, because he was a pacifist, so, and I’m a pacifist, and why did I go and become a paratrooper? It’s weird, but now, now I’m a su, I, I detest fighting and war. Last part of that question, to that 20-year-old that’s watching us right now, who wants to grow up, be an MMA fighter or be a celebrity like you?

1:38:53 What advice do you give to them? Okay, don’t follow the money. Don’t follow the money. I’ve, I’ve taken jobs because I’ve been thinking of that, not having worked hard. I’ve made a lot of money, and I’ve lost a lot of money twice, nearly three times, and it’s, I’ve I’ve, I’ve been a prostitute, uh, not, uh, selling my body for sex, um, but selling my soul.

1:39:26 Don’t do it for the money, man. Oh, and believe, and I, and I see the disharmony and the pain, especially in the society. I’ve been in the magazines, the trashy newspapers, the, the chat shows, and I think the, the salacious crap that goes on, and I see the people, they’re not really happy. They’re doing it for the money, and it, he said, she said, it creates a it’s not a very nice life, because what that happens, it, it has a knock-on effect to everything around you, your family, your friends, and it, it starts to, it’s like a cancer.

1:40:01 So that, doing it just for the money, you make a quick… I made, I remember when I was first started fighting, I, I think I made £25,000 one year. That was a good year from fighting. That was not bad, but get with Katie Price, do an okay interview, an hour is worth £25,000. Woo, this is all right.

1:40:22 Who wants to fight? This is much nicer. Like I said, the crack was good for a while, and then the, the withdrawal, not good, cuz you’re doing it just for the money, and you didn’t really like who you were. Yeah, and who you were becoming, and I became, there was, there was a point where it was lovely, but then no, it’s right. So don’t do it for the money.

1:40:43 What about celebrity? What do you tell them about that? Look, I’m, I always said I’m happy to be celebrated. I love this, well done, mate, but not for, you know, to accomplish something, not for, we live in a society like the, to the, um, there was a, what was it, the big brother just recently, there was a girl from T, and there was a girl from Hollyoaks, and I was on both. No, I wasn’t on both.

1:41:07 I was on, I was on Hollyoaks, and the girl from Hollyoaks said to the girl from T, you’ve got no real skill, you’re just famous for being famous. And I’m like, I, I’ve done both. I’ve been famous being famous, and, and I had a flirtation with that, and it was nice for a while, but really I want to actually accomplish something. It’s like Mr Eiffel. I don’t know who Mr Eiffel is, but he, correct, the Eiffel Tower.

1:41:31 I’m happy I’d be happy to build something, not necessarily a big structure, but a business. Now it’s about armor. What’s armor? You put on your armor, and you feel safe. Armor is AR MMA.

1:41:43 Alex Reid, mixed martial arts. This to me is what I’m about. I love teaching kids. Teaching kids makes me so happy. I’ve got a, a, a school in, in Al, where my mom lives.

1:41:53 I don’t make a penny from it. I give it all to the instructor. I let him have it, and I just go in there sometimes, and I just, when I feel down, I go and teach the kids and play around with them. It’s wow, and to be able to be a positive role model. And this is what getting back to, what I used to, what made me successful: the alpha male who was a little bit crazy, the, but who trained really hard, who attracted Katie Price.

1:42:18 You know, I was a bit crazy, and where’d that guy go? I’m bringing him back. I can’t wait to see him back. Super excited for your, you know, global domination of this big organisation. A three-fight deal, I think, is the perfect thing for you.

1:42:34 Uh, love to see you excited, and uh, I would love to see you, you know, cage fighting again. Um, thanks for coming on and being so honest. No, listen, thank you. It really, I really enjoyed it, and I’m, I’m glad to be on the show, cuz I’m, who you’ve had on here, and but your style. Thank you.

1:42:49 I appreciate you being here. I’m glad we did it. Now, as to, to, 4 years ago, and I appreciate your openness, and I like what you’re saying about all these issues. I’m glad Eddie was on first, because quite honestly, I’m starting to understand transgenderism more, and you know, when I meet guys like you and guys like Eddie, you’re like, look, I just choose to live this way. We don’t have to call it anything.

1:43:08 Let’s just move on and worry about bigger things. You, I, I don’t want to be a girl. I don’t, I like wearing men’s clothes once in a blue moon. Why not? They like to dress up and have a bit of fun, but it’s, it’s not been very much fun lately.

1:43:20 So, but yeah, awesome. Great, thanks for talking about London Shootfighters. Respect to Paul and Alexi. It’s amazing organisation, and Venom Page and all that good stuff. Alex, I wish you all the best on London Real.

1:43:30 We say it’s about the journey. You’ve had an incredible one. You’re going to have an even more incredible one. So thank you, sir. Just starting.

1:43:42 I know. All right.