Life After Combat & Starting a Business with BJJ Blackbelt & Marine Vet Anthony Ferro #bjj #veteran

Warriors, Fall in!

It’s time for formation…

Today, I’m joined with a fellow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, who also served in the United States Marines Corps and like me, today’s guest spent some combat time in Iraq.

Today’s guest now owns his own gym just outside of Chicago in Elmhurst, Illinois. Over the time he’s been involved with BJJ, our guest today has also secured MMA (Mixed Martial Art) victories with a record of 7-0.

I had the opportunity to know and train with our guest when I also trained BJJ in Chicago at The Uflacker Academy, when he was just a purple belt, climbing the ranks and making a name for himself.

I am very proud to have Professor Anthony Ferro on today’s podcast to talk about his time in the Marines, his Combat experiences, his career transition out of the military which involved some PTSD and how the martial arts industry helped him discover more to life.

Connect with Anthony on IG:
https://www.instagram.com/sickness81/

Connect with Ferro Academy BJJ:
https://www.instagram.com/ferroacademybjj6612/

Ferro Academy BJJ Main Website:
https://ferroacademybjj.com

Transcript

KP: 0:00

This episode is powered by ACT NOW Education, go to www.actnoweducation.com for free comprehensive educational resources and opportunities for active duty, veterans, military spouses and children.

Anthony Ferro: 0:19

Transition was rough it was rough. Just you didn't think. I blanked I, I had a new job. I was going in customers homes, getting disrespected. I'm like What the hell's going on like, this isn't the world I'm used to.

KP: 0:42

Warriors fall in, it's time for formation. Today I'm joined with a fellow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, who also served in the United States Marine Corps. And just like me, today's guests spent some time in combat while in Iraq. Today's guest now owns his own gym, outside of Chicago, in Elmhurst, Illinois. Over time, he's been involved with BJJ, also known as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, our guest today also secured mixed martial art victories with a record of 7-0. I had the opportunity to know and train with our guest when I also trained Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Chicago at the UFlacker Academy, when he was just a purple belt, looking to climb the ranks and make a name for himself. So I'm very proud to have Professor Anthony Ferro on today's podcast to talk about his time in the Marine Corps, his combat experiences and his career transition out of the military, which involves some PTSD. And he also learned how the mixed martial arts community could help them better discover more to life. Professor Ferro, it is an absolute honor to have you on the Morning Formation podcast.

Anthony Ferro: 1:50

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

KP: 1:53

Dude, it's hard to believe that it's been over 10 years since I trained there in Chicago. Brazilian Ju Jitsu. Time just flies so fast. And I want to give a shout out to Professor Christian Uflacker because I know he's kind of brought you along right and helped you.

Anthony Ferro: 2:11

I've been there ever since. I've been there since Oh, good lord. Oh, nine. Yeah. That's a long time. Yeah, it's a long time. I try to stay. You know, he's a good guy. Stay loyal. And yeah, it's been a long year since we trained together. Wow, that's loud. I know. Right? He has a purple belt. That was awful. Just scrappy. I didn't know anything.

KP: 2:41

I tell you what man, I was very impressed with that school. Very impressed with the Academy. The folks that train there. I know. There was a lot of law enforcement that train there as well. A lot of military folks that train there. So it was a very, it still is a very impressive Academy. And it's great to see that you had grown your own school as well out there in Elmhurst, Illinois and understand you're starting your second school. Is that right?

Anthony Ferro: 3:02

Yeah, well, I still my first school, but we moved I've moved into my third location. I've been open for years, but this is a third location already. Just three bigger. We've outgrown every gym, and that's a good problem to have. But it's also stress, and you gotta move into new places.

KP: 3:21

Hey man. Yeah, it's, it's growing. It's growing. And you're actually changing a lot of lives. I think that's incredible, man. So let's get into it. Man. Let's talk about, you know, where are you? Where are you from Anthony. And why did you decide to join the Marine Corps all over all other branches?

Anthony Ferro: 3:37

So I'm from Elsa, Palos Heights, south suburbs of Chicago. Why I went in the Marines instead was because I was going. I wasn't headed in the best direction after I did like a year of college gave up. And just, you know, I didn't really have any hobbies. Jujitsu wasn't around at the time. I loved martial arts. I was taking Hapkido, but it's not nearly the same type of workout and stuff like that. I chose the Marines because I wanted the toughest one. I wanted the hardest one I wanted to change my whole life around. And I did it I did. But I wanted the challenge. I wanted to I needed to change.

KP: 4:31

So did was the military, familiar territory for you and your family? Or was you kind of an outlier?

Anthony Ferro: 4:39

Yeah, nobody, nobody that I know of served. I think I had maybe a cousin served long time ago or something. I don't remember but no nobody served. It was. It's very foreign for all of us is very different. Very different.

KP: 4:58

Right. So you, you have a lot lot of courage, first of all, to just walk into the dark and join the military. Having no one else to kind of relate to what you're about to go through. You leave and you go active duty Marines. Where's your first duty station?

Anthony Ferro: 5:15

Lejeune, that was my only duty station. I, I trained on the West Coast, though. And but they they shipped me off to East Coast, Lejeune. The whole time there.

KP: 5:28

All right. And so how many years did you do in the Marine Corps and talk to us about your first deployment into combat.

Anthony Ferro: 5:39

for I did four active, four inactive, so just eight total that we'd have to do. I went to Iraq in 05 and 06. So two years out of the four years I've been in. So I was deployed more than I was on, on base. We, I was in the fleet for about five or six months, before we shipped out. So we spent a lot of that time training. I was motor T. So we you know, we did, learned as much about trucks as we could, how to drive and stuff like that. But then we went to Iraq in February to September, and our station was in Fallujah. And the war of Fallujah was in, I want to say, 05, late, 04 to 05. So we got there right after the grunts and everybody just tore that place up. It was very violent. I mean, you could tell when they were leaving this. They had brand new camis. And they just looked like I mean, they lost. You could tell they lost a lot of people and were tired and just done. But yeah, then we are stuck Fallujah there for seven months. And I somehow became the lead machine gunner of the convoys in front of my lieutenant. And it's a lot of crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. happened that that seven months, but we got I got there somehow. I got out of there somehow. So it was a lot. It was seven months straight of Groundhog Day. You know, you wake up, do the same exact thing. You don't see clouds in the sky. It's just hot. And it's just that's it. You're just hot for 24 hours for about six months. Seven months. That was just hot.

KP: 7:41

Yeah, fill you man. I was I was located up in Mosul, Iraq in 2004-2005. And my cousin was one of the black Blackwater guys that was actually ambushed and was drugged through the streets. His name's Wesley Barthelona. So Fallujah is fairly near and dear to my heart. And some of the things that happened there as well. I was there right around the same time as you. So in convoy, I was a transportation officer. So convoy was something I was very, very familiar with. Now, when you deployed, how old were you? And what rank were you?

Anthony Ferro: 8:16

I was older. I mean, when I deployed I was 23. When I went in the Marines, I was 22. So I was kind of older than a lot of 18 year olds, right after high school. I was 2020. Yeah, 23 23 on my first deployment, so I was a lance. I got out of boot camp as a PFC because of my I got the college credits for because I wanted to, I did not want to be a private after I wanted to. Like if I was going for this, I knew this was gonna be my life or not. It was gonna direct me towards my life. So you can't mess up in the military. You gotta. I wanted as much rank as I can get. I did my research before I went in, and that's all good. But yeah, so I was a lance corporal.

KP: 9:09

It's fairly, it's still fairly young, 23 years old, your first deployment and how many deployments did you do total?

Anthony Ferro: 9:14

To two back to back. We were back home for three months and then we went right back.

KP: 9:23

In a second time, still, Fallujah

Anthony Ferro: 9:26

says this was tq. can't pronounce it but we call the tq. And then it was really roughly that sent to Ramadi for a month for like a mission, a secret mission with the army. That was bad. It was Ramadi was not good at that time. Ramadi was never good, but it was rough at that time. But we you know, we were there ready. That's all we knew. We didn't know anything else. Right? You didn't have time to get used to being home in a civilian world again, we were just right back in the desert, in the sand. Doing what we did three months prior for seven months. All right, attitudes were completely different to the second time we were just, you know, we knew it already. A lot of our lieutenants and stuff that was their first time over there, and we're like, hey, we know what combat is, like, easy to write. So we were like, you know, we're belligerent we were is, it's more, or whatever your time. Right.

KP: 10:40

And so did you get an opportunity to talk to anyone that was actually in Iraq in that area before they went in and, and cleaned out Fallujah?

Anthony Ferro: 10:51

No.

KP: 10:52

So I did like when I was in Missoula, there was a couple of guys that were from the from from at second. There are a couple of first lieutenant said that were there the year prior to Fallujah getting getting taken over by us and they said it was a completely different world back then they would actually go out into town and soft skin Humvees and make local purchases. And when I was there, you know, same time as you like, there was no way in hell, you would go outside the wire. Without you know, sandbags on the floor, ghetto metal on the side of your vehicles, or eventually we got the level three tar deck stuff. Yeah, the Oshkosh stuff, but it's, it's pretty wild. I felt like every year, every year that went by Iraq would change. It would it wouldn't be the same as it was a year before. Did you experience the same the second time you went to Iraq?

Anthony Ferro: 11:52

And it's hard to even remember, it was just, we were in different areas. Yeah, but still, like, we were still getting more the same. And if not more, the longer we stayed there. You know, they were sick of us being there. You know, so to me, not really, because I think it was just such a quick transition. It was, it was the same. It was three, four months. So it was the same bull shit that it was before. It was, you know, not the best. Not the best times there. It was ugly. A lot of times.

KP: 12:35

So you come back from your second deployment, and you get out of the Marines. Shortly thereafter, that what was that transition? Like? Did you already know what you were going to be doing? Like when you got out of uniform?

Anthony Ferro: 12:47

Yeah, my brother in law. Luckily, he worked for Comcast cable company. And I moved back to Illinois, two months later at a job interview. And I was I was hired on spot. So I had that stress. I was like, Oh, hell yeah, I got a job. What is this an awful job. And I was in the awful state of mind without knowing. And I did that awfulness for close to eight years. And it was having my PTSD really bad. And at the time, I didn't know I had PTSD, for I refuse to believe it. That I had PTSD. The transition was rough. It was rough. Just you didn't think you just blank Saturday, I had a new job. I was going in customers homes get disrespected. And I'm like, What the hell's going on? Like, this isn't the world I'm used to. Like I'm like, Do you know where I just been? Like, if I don't want to be like that, but at the time, I was like, these people are screaming at me because of a cable line. I'm like, I just should I should have been dead 50 times like, you really complaining about a cable line like this or like that. Transition. stuff for me was tough. Yeah.

KP: 14:10

And I can tell you that I don't know if you felt the same way. But when I transitioned out, I just wanted to be left alone. Like I wanted to get out. I wanted to check all the blocks and just not go through any of the any of the out processing stuff at all. And I feel the way that you felt when I came back from Iraq, and I had people who were sitting back here watching TV telling me what was going on and telling me what it was like.

Anthony Ferro: 14:35

That's the best when they say, you know, like, what's in Iraq while you went to Iraq? What's in Iraq? Right? I'm like, all because you read it online. Okay. I mean, I wasn't there anything. So a lot, a lot of ignorance and I wasn't used to it. And times 1000 But what I got out, but I never realized that I had a lot of people hate me because that was in the military. I didn't know people actually thought that upper, like hated people in the military, because they think we're all killers and stuff like, wow, you don't know, you don't know anything about anything.

KP: 15:17

Right. Right. And, you know, that's one of the main reasons I started this podcast was because anytime I ever heard about military veterans, or what, you know, veterans are doing, I always heard about the drug addict or the alcoholic, or it was it's not the guys that are out there, like you that are building businesses, changing lives, it's always about the negative stuff, man. And, and so, you know, I got tired of hearing it, I get tired of hearing it, because I know there's a lot of guys out here that are killing it and are making it and are overcoming all the obstacles between these two different cultures of the civilian world versus the military world. Right. And so, you know, I really appreciate guys like you that are just so courageous, strong, brave, you know, you're out there changing. Anyone that you've trained over the years, Anthony, you know, you've literally positively changed their life and having trained jiu jitsu for the last 11 years or so, man, it's, that's how I have felt about it. And I have a lot of respect for what you do specifically. So at what point though, you know, you took a Akito back in the day, at what point did you find yourself back on the mats again, and what were you doing?

Anthony Ferro: 16:24

So I know exactly where I was at. I was getting into I loved watching UFC, I loved watching pride. That's when pride was getting huge I love favorite fighter was Chuck Liddell, that I remember watching him in Iraq knockout, Bob blue, I think twice. Just getting it was so involved in I'm like, Man, I would love to like try something like this. I always wanted to do jujitsu, because I'm always crazy, though. I just was before. This was like being the beginning of the military where I was studying jujitsu, like reading books, on the Gracies. But I couldn't afford jujitsu. That's when I just started coming around right before I joined the military. Only school was in like the city. And it was like, I couldn't do that. I was so young, I didn't have the money. So after my first deployment, again, we didn't have much time to transition. But after the second deployment, I knew my mental health was getting kind of weird. And you know, we would lift it didn't matter if we got no sleep. We went to the gym right away to get that anger out. I was lifting a ton of weight. And that's why I'm probably hurt. Because I lifted so much heavy weight for being so small. But you know, that's what we did. You know, that's about all we had to do is fun and recreational. So with about when we went to Ramady, like I brought up earlier, when they got stationed out there, they had a gym with Mats. And I rebirth reservists at the time. And we had about 10 reservist and my platoon was on trips. But we had a blue belt, which was like the almighty blue belt. So to have like blue belts, he was like God, I'm like, Oh my God, you're a blue belt, like how? So we went to the gym, we just he started showing us a few arm bars and triangles. And he's like, I go grapple with this marine. And I remember I didn't know what the hell it was and that instantly I get a triangle on the guy and I just after that I freaked out like I love that I choke somebody out my legs after learning jujitsu for like 15 minutes, because I think reading all the books, helps having long legs. And the guy that I triangle actually lives in Illinois. And he there's a Marine, he lives in Illinois, and he's one of my buddies. It's funny, but he was the first guy got strangled by me. Yeah, that was in Ramadi and after that, I was at my meet when I got back home, signed up at the closest to more of a animais school. And that was a time and Brian Stan was coming up in the WEC. The cap cap was Captain like I read his book, Marine Captain, he's into a lot, a lot of shit. Yeah. You know,

KP: 19:19

he's a Silver Star recipient isn't he

Anthony Ferro: 19:22

he's been through a lot.But I saw how he trained. And he would talk to me, you know, as a person because he was officer so it's weird to see them outside of work. But he had no one to train with. So you would just see all these big Marines come in there and try to beat this guy up and he would just knock their heads off as though he that's how he was training and getting the WEC and then he got out and then he went in the UFC after that, but that's where I started. And I was good at kids. I started doing some stand up and it just took a while. I've been through so much of getting my butt kicked in the beginning, like in tears because I would just get my ass beat sparring because I never did it something like that before. I got collar choke because the guy was laughing at me as I was getting collar choke at a girl choke the shit out of me unconscious. Oh, yeah. Like clapping, shouting that made it awesome. So yeah, that was my beginning of my jujitsu journey. And I, I remember going every day, I just had to show up once. And that was it. I went every day. And the longest time from that day that I've taken off to jitsu was probably from my knee surgery. Last year, I took off probably, like six weeks straight. Possibly. I've had blood clots where I cant train for three months, but I still did kind of, and Christian did drag me off the mats. Because he's like, Stop, you're trying too hard. If you get hit in the head, you know, blah, blah, blah. I love that I'm obsessed with it. Because it's so good for mental health. And it's never ending in self defense is always the biggest thing, right? I mean, we all should know that. But is my mental health. Right? Now I just like helping people, like I love. There's a lot a lot of people that could go far in this floor and they could do far in their lives. It's just, you have to get through it. This sport can take you there, I really can. It's just not easy. takes dedication.

KP: 21:42

Yeah, and it's a it's very family oriented man, I remember when I was training there, and most gyms that I've been to, has had that that format, and that overall environment where you develop a family and I know at the Aflac Academy, and I'm sure it's the same thing at your academy as well, where you you literally become a family, you guys trained together and you fight together, you compete together. You know. So I think that that there's a lot to be said about that as well. And I can tell you that personally, I'm the same boat as you man, whenever I was in a dark place, I would just find the gym and train. Because you have to you have two choices, right, you can go to the bar and go to the pubs or go to the clubs and drink or you can go find some exercise somewhere and find some camaraderie, which is what we're used to in the military. And you can find that on the mats, man. And so you know, I've been meaning to get you on the show for a while. And I'm really happy that I got you on the show. Because a lot of things you're saying I resonate with, I totally understand where you're coming from with that. And I just want to back it up real quick. And talk about some of the failures that you had while you're in uniform. And I think it's important because a lot of folks think that you have to be perfect that you have to be perfect. To be a success, you have to be perfect. And in my opinion, I've had a lot of failures myself and had to overcome obstacles and pick myself back up again and dust myself off and and keep going. So would you mind talking about some of those failures that you had, and how you found the strength to overcome and was was Brazilian Jiu Jitsu part of that.

Anthony Ferro: 23:17

I at the end, I don't know if I looked at it as Or I could stop and just quit. But the military doesn't want to that doing jujitsu about failure, because at that time, I had maybe eight months left. And I was I wasn't thinking of that at the time. But I felt like the whole my whole military career. I failed so many times just from the beginning. Because I didn't have that experience of knowing anyone that was in the military. I never, Ilost my dad or I had nobody is showing me all this manly stuff. I get thrown in the Marine Corps. And I'm failing at making a ton so I'm failing at shooting properly. You know, I found a lot of shit. But all I could do and I kind of tell do that. I mean, you can just you're not going to get far people listen jujitsu, your all I could do is just keep going and try to get better. after that keeps you out. You're just a turd. You know what I mean? But I failed a lot in my attitude. I would say I always had something to say I always spoke up which was a good thing but it was also a bad thing. So I had to work on how I would say stuff especially coming from the civilian world and how I talk to people it just so yeah, it was just a lot of failure. A lot of the stuff that I just couldn't do that a lot of these these kids were doing. I was like why can't I do that? I can't even put that in properly. I just changed his tire wrong like I'm sure people know were to change tires 20 times better than I did when they went in, you know, so I felt like I failed a lot. Until I hit like Corporal as when I was like, Okay, it's time to, I have to take a more of a leadership role. Anyway, I tried to his lance corporal too, but So yeah, that's, uh, I failed at adapting at first, you know, but all you can do is keep going. And that's it. And that's what I did. I just kept working on it. And I guess all that failure to end it good was doing you did too. So I didn't feel like such a failure. And going through two deployments, I don't know, I don't even know how I felt like if you're supposed to feel anything. I'm trying to, like, if I felt like I was ending, I was a failure at that point. But you know, that's all we kind of knew, I didn't really know anything else at that point. But we'll just keep doing them. Yeah,

KP: 26:06

so you lost your dad at a young age. So you grew up, sort of having to figure out on your own how to become a man. And then you join the Marines. And that's diving into the deep end in itself, I'm sure boot camp was a complete slap in the face for you. And, and, yet, it takes a lot of courage, man, it takes a lot of courage to do, what you did, and the things you're talking about right now, are, are things that have to do with, you know, cutting your teeth in life. And I really believe that there's no better place than the military to do that, to cut your teeth and, and learn, get mentored by others. Fail, get back up again. And it's funny, because today, I was working with a 26 year old, young man, and we were doing push ups. And you know, even at my age of 42 years old, I can still do you know, 55 push ups in like a minute, right? And, you know, that's just how we are, I think, because, and this kid I was working with didn't quite understand, like, the idea of clearing the bar. And like, everyday, get up, like, knock out as many pushups as you can before you go to the restroom. Like, that's what I do. And that's what most of us in the military do. Right? And I really feel like people who serve people who serve get it, you know, overcome the odds, pushing yourself beyond your boundaries, and things like that. And that's something that it sounds like, definitely, you learned how to do and that's why it was sort of an easy transition for you to get onto the mats and start training and pushing yourself. And you sort of found a family there. And I know you were training with Professor Krishna Flocker for years, but at what point Anthony did you decide that it was time to open your own gym.

Anthony Ferro: 27:58

So after the whole Comcast thing, it was like seven, eight years in and I was going through a divorce at the time, I was in school full time, I was working full time, and I was still fighting MMA. So I was doing I juggle, and my life was chaotic. I had no time. But that's I kept myself so busy. I had to I just had to keep myself busy. Because once I stopped being busy, you have all those thoughts coming in and all of that stuff. So at the end of that, I was starting to get out of contact. I couldn't take the contagion anymore, just and then the PTSD started like overflowing and I started actually seeing like therapists and stuff like that. So I just was like I'm done with Comcast. So I got called a someone I used to know a long time ago that would run gyms and they're like, do you want to be a trainer at like a UFC gym? I was like, hell yeah, it's awesome UFC gym. And you know, you think of the money and how sad it is how much money you made, but But you have to start you have to start somewhere holy cow and I had to do something. And I'm like, I try this and see how I go. I mean, I was a brown belt at the time. So I didn't even teach jujitsu there I was just a kickboxing guy and and I ran it like boot camp and I killed so many people in good ways. They loved me there. Because I related so much with all you want to lose weight. I got to Oh, you want to get in shape. I got to trust me. I know how to get your asses in shape. And I was very intense and I still am Thursday. And a lot of it has to do with the military. A lot of the kids don't not have the drive that we had. Not Not at all. So, once I started days to finally started I asked to teach jujitsu is like six, seven months and I was like, I should probably teach jujitsu. I'm problem though. So we just started doing knoji And all of a sudden I just started getting like a few people that started really liking it and they stopped doing kickboxing a little bit. A lot of jujitsu. Like a month later the classes are growing and growing. I'm like, What the hell so now we're getting regulars. Like in my jujitsu classes, we started like twice a week, and three times a week. So I think we're doing jujitsu for almost six seven months and me I wanted to start a GI program everyone's like not we're not going to do be relaxed gonna do you know, this is UFC gym. We're, we're on MMA fighters here. You you have a fighters you're not supposed to train them McGee, which is such horseshit, by the way. Because many times you all your world champions, train them up until their fights, but again, you get I don't know what today's generation, what they're watching or what they're thinking, but But yeah, so that's how the jujitsu guys were, we were changing the damn knees still. We would do all of that stuff. So when I started the GI program there, everyone was talking like, okay, it's not gonna work. And like the first class, we had, like, 789 10 people or something. And I was like, Holy shit, people bought these belts. Because I'm thinking Promotions. I'm thinking future. Like the belt. Yes, it goes around your waist. But that belt shows it's a degree. It's like a college degree, right? Because they're there forever. Like, if you're not doing D, sorry, I don't buy the whole belt things. That's what jujitsu is Brazilian jujitsu for a reason you put in 1012 years, you're gonna be you're gonna know a lot of knowledge that you don't have to be a world champion. You don't have any of that. You just have to know how to be a good teacher, if that's what you want to do. And I started with loving teaching and seeing my students compete from a UFC gym and beating people from legit schools. I'm like, maybe I do know what I'm talking about. And, and I didn't at the time, compared to what I know now. I mean, I'm, I'm gonna say this and three years from now. But I grew to about 20,30 people will come into my classes. I had a student be like, hey, I'll give you this much money. Open your school. I believe in you. Let's do it. And I had no money we jumped. And that was it. You know, it sucked that I had to take people away from that gym. But you know, they I still have most of them that came with me four years ago with me to this day. Wow. They're still with my Oh, geez. I call them.

KP: 32:58

That's some dedication, for sure, man. And, you know, over the years, who are some of the folks that you've had the opportunities to train with? And the reason I asked that is because I remember being a brand new blue belt. Professor Uflacker gave me my blue belt. And I remember watching you guys, and it was kind of mesmerizing to see you guys just spar each other because you guys are preparing for fights and everything. Man, you guys were killing each other. Who are some of the folks that you've had the liberty to train with man over the years?

Anthony Ferro: 33:30

Oh, man, I you know, to this day, I wish some of my I wish some of the MMA fighters would change the way we train. You don't see that a lot anymore. We would do you would see us you saw us beat the living daylights out of each other 6, 5 minute rounds. It didn't matter if you were pro or amateur. You're doing six five minute rounds. So me. I got to train with Krishna and slacker which was awful when he was training for fights. To be trained with a few of the BBS Carson BB back in the day, who was a decent pro fighter Rob Malagasy. He was he made it in the pro ranks. He doesn't fight anymore. Gideon Ray Who is man, he got me ready for my fights was amazing. Very talented.

KP: 34:23

What what makes the Ferro Academy different than other schools in the Greater Chicago area? In your opinion?

Anthony Ferro: 34:33

If you give me 100% You're gonna I'm giving you 100% So that's my, my job anyway, is to make you good at jujitsu to make you happy. I just talked to a class today I might have think about it as is I want you guys to love it as I wish I could get you guys to love it as much as I do. Like I'm obsessed with. Obviously, that's not going to happen. But that is my goal. My goal is to make Everyone know what to do on the streets, to keep my police officers safe on the streets and know what to do keep the veterans safe mentally. But I could only do it if you put in the work. You know, but that's, that's kind of how I'm different in the Academy because I push, I push, but it's good for competitors. And it's good for we have an 87 year old man that comes to class twice a week. Well, yeah, it doesn't matter, you know? So that's what's different. Now, I don't sugarcoat stuff.

KP: 35:38

Yeah, I think a lot of that goes back to your upbringing as well, you know, you lost your father at a very young age. Think about how many young folks are at your academy, that you're leaving an impression upon teaching them the things that you had to learn. You're by yourself joining the military, you're teaching them I'm sure you have a lot of teenagers that are that are showing up and a lot of parents that are hobbyists, as well been? And I think maybe some of the things that you do, and the reasons why you run it, the way that you do is sort of because of the way you were brought up and how you had to learn things on your own right?

Anthony Ferro: 36:12

Yeah, no, absolutely. No, I. Yeah, a lot of people have been people to learn, and I want them to get something when they're there. They're supporting me, I gotta support, I got to do my job. I've got to work, teaching, I got to work hard.

KP: 36:30

Yeah, I really miss Chicago and having academies like like yours and reflectors. And I tell you what that was the beginning of my training was when I was there in Chicago. And since then, I really haven't experienced another Academy, similar to what Professor Uflacker ran, and I haven't experienced the same type of training family that that he had there as well with folks like you. So I, at some point in time, and I'd like to stop by and drop in. And, you know, bring bring my GI so

Anthony Ferro: 37:08

I love it. I love when people come to visit, and train. I love doing seminars, I just want people to learn, I want to teach, I want to keep getting better, and I have to get better to get you better.

KP: 37:24

Everything. Everything is so exciting for you. And I remember, you know, when I train there in Chicago, it was a very formidable time for me, specifically, and for you and your academy. What do you have coming over the horizon? What what's in store for you competition wise or what's in store for, for your business?

Anthony Ferro: 37:45

I, I'm trying to build the kids classes, which is doing a very good job. My goal is to add more classes to teach like an MMA class just like striking once a week with with the jujitsu, because a lot of us don't know what to do when they're stuck on our backs and streets scenario, How to Block a Punch type stuff. I'm just I'm just trying to grow. I'm just trying to grow me as far as competing. I think I'm gonna do two more this year. I've been competing almost twice a month since January. I'm tired. I just love it. But I think I'm taking a November December off to try to look at some seminars. So I'll still be traveling. Hopefully, I got a seminar set in California, actually, for November, December. It turns SoCal. So I'm just working on the specifics yet. So I'll know more when that comes out. So I have one lined up so far. And then next year, I want to I want to try to get it on Pan Am's I want to get it to nationals in the world. And let's see what I could do. Against the big the big leagues. I mean, you know, same thing, same thing I did this year, but I'm going to add a few more big events in there. And I want some of my students to be on the podiums at these big events, because I believe I can teach any of them to make it up there. Because I believe in my jujitsu and I believe in my teaching at this point, because I nonstop study,

KP: 39:25

even scheduling this this interview man, like you had so much going on. I appreciate you being so flexible and and we're doing this at night, and I just got done teaching your classes, man. So you also mentioned too, that you're planning on writing a book.

Anthony Ferro: 39:41

Yes. So I've been wanting to do this for a while. I'm in the middle of doing like, I'm getting all my thoughts down. I'm getting I'm going from my childhood to where I'm at now. So that's something to look out for. Probably in the next six months. Something should be coming out soon. And I've had an interesting life. But it's more of it's more of just helping people because I don't want people, good people to suffer like I can get. I suffered a lot silent suffered. And I don't want people to silence suffer. I've been where I was living in basements and my car, and stuff like that. So and, you know, to have a strong positive mindset. Don't be weak minded. And like I said, I'm very brutally honest, if someone's being lazy, I'm going to tell them, they're being lazy. And I'm like, if you don't do anything about it, life's not going to be easier. It really isn't. I believe in the hard work. And that's, that's all I tried to throw on the people and don't use your mental health as an excuse me using PTSD is, I can't do that. I can't train. I can't do that if PTSD no using it. Don't take advantage. Use it to fuel you. Right. You know, and that's what I'm trying. I'm trying to tell people because I see a lot of the younger people, they don't understand it yet. You know, I'm not saying they don't struggle. But at the same time, we came up in different times.

KP: 41:23

Yeah, I mean, you, you overcame a lot yourself. You had to figure it out on your own. And now you are sort of a father figure for a lot of the folks, the teens that train with you right now who may not who may have the same situation as what you had growing up. So that's, that's tremendous in itself. Um, what do you think you'd be today? If you didn't have MMA or Brazilian jujitsu in your life?

Anthony Ferro: 41:47

I don't think I don't know. I always don't think I'd be here. I don't know. I wasn't in a good place. I can't really imagine my life without it. So I don't think anything good would be out of it. I'd probably just be working a dead end job and not be happy. But I just I couldn't do that. I can't even I can't even see. Because my, you know, I was I was in baseball, beginning of my life. And then I had to do I just feel worthless if I don't do something. I wouldn't, I couldn't not do it. Right. So I don't know. I don't know where I'd be. Maybe Id be psychiatrists.

KP: 42:37

You know, man, it's, it's sort of a hook in itself. I mean, I did a session this morning with some folks from work, we got on the mats, and we rolled around and some no Gi. And afterwards, man, I feel so much better. I mean, so much better, I can start my day feel really strong, more awake, more alive, starting out my day like that, and the guys that I trained with and have a tremendous amount of respect for them. So I really wanted to underline your story in your background, because of how important Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts has been for me over the years when I was in my darkest hour, how it saved me from getting into that, that mental potential PTSD, depression stage. It kept me out of there. And I've had friends, friends for life that I've met on the mats, man and with anyone out there, you know, I know that you have started a YouTube channel and you're on some social media platforms, but anyone out there any listeners who might, who might be struggling to find themselves or would need some advice, you know, what, what advice would you like to provide them that we didn't mentioned here on the show so far?

Anthony Ferro: 43:57

You just no matter what you go through, you have got to go through. Like there's always gonna be light at the end of the tunnel. You could have a bad day or you could have a bad week. You could have a bad month. But you can bet you can complain, that's fine. I do it. I'm xiety gets bad all the time. But you know what, eventually you understand why you're going through it. And you just have to do it. Don't say you're gonna do something. Just do it and things fall into place. I guess the biggest thing we get out of it, trust, trust yourself. Believe in yourself a little bit. You're gonna be hard on yourself, but believe in yourself. You have to believe in yourself who's gonna believe in yourself. No one's gonna believe in you. You have to believe in yourself. So that's something that people need to get. No, that's what I did. I started my YouTube to get awareness out for veterans an hour I do weekly videos for jujitsu, but I still know podcasts like this So I like putting up on my YouTube because it's a different change and people need to hear this stuff and if it helps one person out of 100 or helped one person, yeah.

KP: 45:11

Well said well said and speaking of which, if anyone out there is seeking to connect with you, what's the best way for them to find you? Like what social media platforms? Are you on?

Anthony Ferro: 45:22

Instagram I'm on mainly it's sickness81. My YouTube is Sickness Ferro. Oh, and on Facebook, just my name Anthony. S-I-K-N_E-S-S Ferro, on Facebook. But usually Instagram. That's how I built my business. A lot of it as a social media. It's that easy. I'm constantly on my phone. And then people are like, Oh, you're no, I'm constantly posting stuff. I got a shout my sponsors out because they help. You gotta help out everybody that helps you out. And I have so much help that I help try to help help 50 People at night. So my day doesn't even like I know, it's I don't know what time it is. It's 1136 here, I still have a lot of stuff. I gotta, I gotta do tonight. Now a lot of stuff I gotta do I gotta prepare videos I got to do you know, you're constantly you got to respond to emails, you got to respond to texts, you got people, you got to keep it, you got to keep up. You know, social media is huge, if used in a positive way. And I use that platform to get some of my stress out. When I get annoyed by something I see on the news to help get it out. But it's mainly for for jujitsu, and, you know, awareness. Awareness is huge. You know, people don't know certain things until you might read something someone has to say, say, and, like facts, you got to understand the facts. And that's a lot of people don't know facts anymore. It's just like hearsay. I believe in social media was a good thing, too.

KP: 47:12

Yeah, you are, man, you're you're killing it. And I highly appreciate, you know, talking to veterans like you who are out there, overcome the obstacles, no excuses. You're out there and not just making it for yourself, but you're also bringing everyone else up to by having your academy and, you know, being a mentor for so many folks out there. So, thank you for the time. I know it's extremely late for you, but thank you for the time and the flexibility for having this interview. I appreciate it Professor Ferro and then for everyone else out there. Thank you for tuning in. As always, I want you to stay tuned, stay focused, and stay motivated. Warriors Fall Out.