Name: How Don Frye Got Started in the UFC
Uploaded: 2021-06-22T18:51:56.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'How Don Frye Got Started in the UFC' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-22. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'How Don Frye Got Started in the UFC' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-22. Transcript available.

the Joe Rogan experience Don how did you when did you you you started out was
like UFC 8 was that your first fight you know the first UFC yeah boxing and
kickboxing before that right no kickboxing I did boxing they had eight
fights and I think I was two and six or two five and one I don't know because I
fought my first two's Don Frye and I won those and then I had an argument with
my
trainer and so we split and then so then I fought under J.R. Frye why'd you
change
your name oh that was my name growing up I was junior so J.R. and that's how I
was
in you know junior high high school and then you know when my dad mom called me
and then I think I changed my name because of contractual you know oh you
had some deal with the manager yeah right there's a lot of those sneaky deals
huh
yeah but that was more with the trainer and you know I don't know if that was
because they were really good guys Art Martori was my money guy who you know
they
the two Munoz Mike Munoz and his father Al brought me to Art Art wrestled at ASU
back in the late 60s and Art he's a billionaire you know and so he was
interested and I mean he basically funds ASU wrestling
oh really yeah oh that's nice half his pocket yeah and he's done so much for
amateur wrestling
in the US I mean he's like the top dog because he used to have what's called
sunkist wrestling team and so that was his baby and he steamrolled that and
then like
then like I said uh the Munoz brothers or Mike and his dad took me to Art Art
so let's give it a shot
after he called um geez the coach at Okie State um Joe say to double double
check on me you know
so did you started out wrestling did you wrestle as a young boy no sir when did
you start wrestling
uh as a freshman in high school and then when did you box
uh when I got out of college oh so most of it was you know that's fairly late
in life to box right
oh yeah oh yeah that's why I was two and six
so when did you hear about the UFC
um I was a fireman you know I guess did the boxing and then got out did started
doing odd jobs for
you know you know a year year and a half and uh then my wife at that time we
had a couple horses
you know and being a college wrestler you get a bit of an ego when you so I
look at well I could do that
so uh still going around with a farrier named Stoney Newfang and then Stoney
got me interested then I um
got tired of that wasn't really making any good money but you know for the time
he's giving me five bucks a
horse you know teach me you know pull the shoes um shape the shoe you know and
all that good stuff
well he he did the technical work on the hooves and then um I said you know
somebody told me about being a fireman
about you know working 10 days uh month you know I had a wrestler so hell that's
a job for me you know
10 days a month I can do that you're doing the 24-hour shifts yeah stay there
at the firehouse yeah
yeah so I got on the phone called up all the cities in the city of Arizona
nobody was hiring
so I called up Santa Fe New Mexico they said yeah we're gonna run a test and so
I went over there and
tested and passed the test and then I went to uh my buddy Jerry Peckinpah he's
got me into wrestling
um when I was in high school come over here later please
there you go I'll leave that over there for you thank you sir bring your man
and um so then I went and stayed at
Jerry's house in Santa Fe and I went through there I think it was like a six
month or more um academy
you know in the fire department yeah really six months yeah wow it was a hell
of an academy it really
was and so from there you thought about fighting no I had already fought no but
I mean in the UFC
oh no um from there we were there a year year and a half couldn't afford to
live there you know
yeah in Santa Fe you're either real rich or real poor you know this is 30 years
ago so I don't know
how it is now but um probably similar probably like the whole country now right
yeah it's supposed
to be nice though Santa Fe a lot of friends from there beautiful yeah you never
been no never been
oh you gotta go I don't even think I've been to New Mexico except driving
through one really yeah
where'd you drive through it I was a kid I don't remember it yeah yeah you
obviously you haven't
gotten to see uh John Jones then no no Jackson Winklejohn I want to go down
there and check
out the gym though how come you haven't just a busy man Don Fry just a busy man
so when you when
you first heard about the UFC so you were a firefighter then or well back to
the back to the yeah you know like I said we were in Santa Fe for a year year
and a half and then couldn't afford to live there and uh so I got on the phone
and said well shit you know we still had horses and still paying farrier so
well shit I could do that so I found Oklahoma horseshoe in school in Okie City
and so I moved my
wife back home to my wife back home to my wife back home to my parents house
you know and I went to Oklahoma horseshoe in school for their 12 week program
oh wow and so I did that and then when I came back to uh Arizona Sierra Vista
um hooked up with a guy named um
Tyler Basinger Tyler's a magician is a farrier just a magician and he paid me
five dollars a horse you know and fed me lunch and uh and you know so I was
learning how to shoe horses from him you know doing apprenticeship starting my
own business I got on as a firefighter
firefighter reserve you know the place called fry fire department you know f-r-y
no relations the old man uh had a outpost store outside of Fort Huachuca you
know 150 years ago and also a whorehouse you know this is like old school
western shit yeah wow and so then I then I had sometime I worked at a um
psych facility and psych facility too you know psych facility psychological oh
psychological facility yeah
what'd you do there like restrain patients yeah yeah and what's harder horseshoeing
or restraining patients
well horseshoeing I broke a kid's arm so you know just a headlock you know they
they did a breakout where you know
20 or 20 or 30 of them run off and then you got to hurt them back in and really
well yeah a couple of them act out and one of the
guys had the kid restrained for you heading from behind had his arms pinned kid
started slamming his head into his face
oh jesus so I just walked up to the headlock and we landed snapped his arm oh
no yeah that kind of
kind of kind of put a damper on things yeah was that the end of your restraining
patience
yeah that was in the end of that career
so how does it make its way to the UFC do you remember when you found out about
the UFC
yeah then um I think that was still a year or two before
so this is like 92 something like that yeah yeah and then um I started doing
judo you know because
I needed you know I needed something to do you know right uh you know you're 22
24 years old you're
you know you used to be a college athlete yeah you know you still walk around
with an erection you know
right I understand and um so I started doing judo and advanced really quickly
in that
and um you know so then then we're I got on the Bisbee fire department in 94
or 92
Bisbee Arizona?
yeah yeah
shout out to Doug Stanhope
92
he's the king of Bisbee
yeah
that's what I hear
I met him one time
did you?
yeah at the airport
oh yeah
yeah he says
you're a firefighter
I used to be
yeah shit this was probably 15-18 years ago
oh wow
and um
yeah we're the hell in the arena
so you were talking about when you first heard about the UFC
yeah 92 I got on with the Bisbee fire
alright
and then we were sitting there watching something on TV and saw Dan clip of Dan
Dan Severn
uh huh
and uh then he was doing some kind of bodyguard work for Robin from um
who's a radio guy in New York City
Robin Quivers?
yeah
Howard Stern?
right
oh really?
no shit
yeah
in his gray t-shirt
yeah
wow
everybody's in suits and Dan's in his gray t-shirt
and so uh they you know then we saw Dan fight and I called him up and I said
fuck
you know I said Dan this is Don Fry remember me?
oh yeah what are you doing Don?
playing fireman, playing horseshoer you know
I said this UFC stuff can you get me in on it?
and he says yeah
so he ended up getting me some fights
probably about five or six fights you know around the country
and uh you know the check's still in the mail you know
um
was this pre-UFC?
yeah
yeah
oh so you fought MMA before the UFC?
oh it was it was warehouse fighting
yeah
it was MMA
right right
so right
NHP is what they called it back then
yeah no holds barred
right
so you wear shoes you do whatever you want
yeah you do whatever you want
yeah you do whatever you want
yeah
in your day and even in the UFC 8 you were still allowed to fight bare knuckle
yeah
yeah
but I wore gloves
because I hit hard
yeah
you know
yeah
smart
and gloves aren't made to protect your face
right
they're made to protect my hands
so I hit harder
who was the first guy to wear gloves in the UFC?
Tank
was it Tank?
yeah smart
smart move
he hits hard
he hits hard
yeah
yeah
mmm
holy shit I remember your fight with Tank
what a fucking fight that was
my god
you know and it didn't make top 10 of the one round fights
oh I have no idea why it doesn't
well it's because there's so many great fights
it's arbitrary who makes top 10 but I think it should have been in there
that was a classic
nobody knows
nobody knows anything about UFC 100 and be a war
oh I do
I remember all that shit
well you do Joe you're a student
I remember all that shit
and you were there
I was there
but the new fans
yeah they should go back
because that's
that's the history of the sport
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