Name: JRE MMA Show #112 with Don Frye
Uploaded: 2021-06-22T00:00:00.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'JRE MMA Show #112 with Don Frye' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-22. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'JRE MMA Show #112 with Don Frye' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2021-06-22. Transcript available.

JRE MMA Show #112 with Don Frye

Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
Don Fry, it's a goddamn honor and a pleasure.
Hey, partner, thank you.
You know, like I said earlier, first time, first and only time we met, I
insulted you.
I don't remember that.
It was down there in Alabama, right?
That was the early days, right?
Yeah, number 12.
Oh, UFC 12.
That was my first one.
Yeah.
What did you say?
Well, we were backstage and, you know, they introduced us and I said, you know,
do you know who this
guy is?
They said, and I said, yeah, he plays that real dumb guy on the news radio show.
But that's not an insult.
You looked so hurt.
Then I find out, you know, your character is really actually part of who you
are.
That's part of the problem.
It's very close to who I am, unfortunately.
I've been watching you.
Van, you're a smart bastard, man.
I'm impressed.
I have a good memory.
I'm not that smart, but I have a good memory.
You know what the hell's going on in a lot of stuff, you know?
I know some things.
Some things.
The Bob Lazar stuff?
Oh.
That's impressive.
Are you interested in UFOs?
Oh, yeah.
A lot of folks in Arizona are interested in UFOs.
There's a lot of that.
They visit there quite a bit.
Yeah.
Seems like.
Yeah.
There's a, the house that I have, it was built, I guess, the guy who built it,
built it so his
wife could watch the UFOs over at the mountain there.
Wow, that's a high-maintenance lady.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, they are, aren't they?
But imagine that.
What kind of house do you want, honey?
I want a house where I watch UFOs.
Yeah.
I need an observation deck.
That's basically it.
It was, it was like a bunker.
Was it?
Yeah.
Half of it's in the ground and then all the block, you know, you got the big 16x8
block and they're
all filled with cement.
There's a lot of weird houses like that.
There's a house for sale in Arizona right now.
It used to be Steven Seagal's house.
It might still be his house.
He's selling it, but it's bulletproof.
It's got bulletproof glass.
It's like a compound.
That guy's a goof.
He's a silly man.
He's a fucking goof.
Beyond silly.
He's a silly man.
I mean, he believes that shit.
I don't know who he is.
I don't know what he believes and what he's just bullshitting.
It's hard to tell, you know?
Oh, you can't bullshit that good.
I mean, he's a lousy actor.
He's a lousy actor.
How the hell can you pretend to be that, you know?
I mean, that's his hustle, right?
His hustle is that he's just like a martial arts guy.
But, you know, he's really good at Aikido.
I'm sure.
You watch those demonstrations.
You know, if I get a couple pro wrestlers to be my ookies, you know?
They make me look like a million dollars.
That's true.
That is what happens, right?
They're all compliant.
Don, how did you...
When did you...
You started out...
Was it like UFC 8?
Was that your first fight?
No, it was first in UFC.
I fought before...
You fought boxing and kickboxing before that, right?
No kickboxing.
I did boxing.
I think I had eight fights.
And I think I was 2-6 or 2-5-1.
I don't know.
Because I fought my first two as 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 a junior.
So J.R.
And that's how I was in, you know, junior high and high school.
And then, you know, when my dad and mom called me.
And then I think I changed my name because of contractual...
You know, things.
Oh, you had some deal with the manager when you had...
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, the two Munos, Mike Munos 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 in...
I mean, he basically funds ASU Wrestling.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Oh, that's nice.
Out of his pocket, yeah.
And he's done so much for amateur wrestling in the U.S.
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 I said, the Munos brothers, or Mike and his dad, took me to Art.
Art said, wait, let's give it a shot.
After he called...
Geez.
The coach at Okie State, Joe Say, to double check on me, you know.
So, did you start it out wrestling?
Did you wrestle as a young boy?
No, sir.
When did you start wrestling?
As a freshman in high school.
And then, when did you box?
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?
I was a fireman, you know.
I did the boxing and then got out and started doing odd jobs for, you know, a
year, year and a half.
And then, my wife at that time, we had a couple of horses, you know.
And being a college wrestler, you got a bit of an ego in you.
So, I look at, well, hell, I could do that.
So, I started going around with a farrier named Stoney Newfang.
And then, Stoney got me interested.
And then, I got tired of that.
I 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, shape the shoe, you know, and all that good stuff.
Well, he did the technical work on the hooves.
And then, I said, you know, somebody told me about being a fireman, about, you
know, working 10 days a month, you know, and had a restaurant.
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.
You just 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 going to run a test.
And so, I went over there and tested and passed the test.
And then, I went to my buddy, Jerry Peckinpah.
He's the guy who got me into wrestling when I was in high school.
Come over here later, please.
There you go.
There you go.
I'll leave that over there for you.
Thank you, sir.
Bring your back.
And so, then I went and stayed at Jerry's house in Santa Fe.
And I went through their, I think it was like a six-month or more academy.
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.
From there, we were there a year, year and a half.
Couldn't afford to live there.
You know?
In Santa Fe, you're either real rich or real poor.
You know, this was 30 years ago.
So, I don't know how it is now.
Probably similar.
Probably.
Like the whole country now, right?
It's supposed to be nice, though.
Santa Fe.
A lot of good friends from there.
Beautiful.
Yeah.
You never been?
No, never been.
Oh, you got to go.
I don't even think I've been to New Mexico except driving through once.
Really?
Yeah.
Where'd you drive through at?
I was a kid.
I don't remember it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Obviously, you haven't gotten to see John Jones then, right?
No, no.
Jackson Winklejohn.
I want to go down there and check out the gym, though.
How come you have it?
Just a busy man, Don Frye.
Just a busy man.
There's a lot of places I want to go.
Yeah.
Never been to North Dakota, either.
I have.
I bet you have.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
Yeah.
It's beautiful.
I don't know why I said North Dakota.
I saw the lights, man.
That was cool.
Oh, the Northern Lights?
Yeah.
Ah, I want to see that.
Oh, that is so cool, man.
Yeah, that's pretty wild.
Yeah, I did that.
Shit.
After I had my first neck surgery back in 2000, a buddy, me and a couple
buddies, went and did
the Amsterdam thing, you know?
Mm-hmm.
And that was real cool.
Saw the lights up there.
What did you have done on your neck?
Did you have it fused?
Yeah.
I had broken it doing pro wrestling and worked on it for a year and a half, not
knowing,
you know.
Oh, Jesus.
Yeah.
But I'd lost so much muscle in the right arm, you know?
And so they fixed it and I had a really nice, I can't remember her name, and I'm
talking
a lot.
I never talk this much.
That's what a podcast is all about.
Joe, I don't talk this much in a month, man.
Well, we could take breaks.
You're doing a hell of a...
Must be all the...
Must have got the right combination of pain pills today, in a way.
So, out of all the injuries that you ever got in your fighting career, was the
pro wrestling
injuries the worst?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Pro wrestling is probably one of the hardest things that a guy can do athletically.
Yeah.
Because those guys do it every fucking night.
All the guys that I've had in here, you know, The Undertaker, Diamond Dallas
Page, all
these guys, like, every one of them, when they tell you their stories, you go,
Jesus Christ,
Jake the Snake, those guys are so banged up.
Yeah.
I'm trying to get Ric Flair.
Woo!
Oh, I love Ric.
I love Ric.
He's so funny.
Yeah, he's so funny.
Oh, he's a goddamn legend.
So, when you first heard about the UFC, so you were a firefighter then, or...
Well, back to the...
You know, like I said, we were in Santa Fe for a year.
A year and a half, and then couldn't afford to live there.
And so, I got on the phone and said, well, shit.
You know, we still had horses, and still paying farriers, so, well, shit, I
could do that.
So, I found Oklahoma Horseshoeing School in Okie City, and so I moved my wife
back home
to my parents' house, you know, and I went to Oklahoma Horseshoeing School for
their 12-week
program.
Oh, wow.
And so, I did that, and then when I came back to Arizona, Sierra Vista, hooked
up with
a guy named, oh, jeez, this is going to...
Tyler Basinger.
Tyler's a magician.
He's a farrier.
Just a magician.
And he paid me $5 a horse, you know, and fed me lunch.
And, you know, so I was learning how to shoe horses from him, you know, doing
an apprenticeship,
starting my own business.
I got on as a firefighter reserve, you know, in a place called Fry Fire
Department.
F-R-Y, no relations, the old man had an outpost store outside of Fort Huachuca,
you know, 150
years ago, and also a whorehouse.
This is like old school Western shit.
Yeah.
And so, then I had, sometime I worked at a psych facility, too, you know.
A psych facility?
Psychological.
Oh, psychological facility?
Yeah.
What'd you do there, like, restraining patients?
Yeah.
Yeah.
What's harder, horseshoeing or restraining patients?
Horseshoeing, I broke a kid's arm, so, you know, just a headlock.
You know, they did a breakout where, you know, 20 or 30 of them run off, and
then you got
to herd them back in.
Really?
Well, yeah.
And a couple of them act out, and one of the guys had the kid restrained from,
he
had him from behind, had his arms pinned.
The kid started slamming his head into his face.
So, I just walked up to the headlock, and we landed, snapped his arm.
Oh, no.
Yeah, that kind of, kind of put a damper on things.
Yeah.
Was that the end of your restraining patients?
Yeah, that was in that career.
So, how does it make its way to the UFC?
Do you remember when you found out about the UFC?
Yeah, I think that was still a year or two before.
So, this is like 92, something like that?
Yeah, yeah.
And then I started doing judo, you know, because I needed, you know, I needed
something to do,
you know.
Right.
Because, you know, you're 22, 24 years old.
You know, you used to be a college athlete.
You know, you still walk around with an erection, you know.
Right.
I understand.
And so, I started doing judo, and advanced really quickly in that, and, you
know, so then
we were, I got on the Bisbee Fire Department in 94.
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 sa