Episode Summary – BOOM-BOOM FOR SUICIDE PREVENTIONS, AWARENESS AND EDUCATION! In Episode 75 of the Shining Brightly Podcast Show (links in the comments), titled “HEART OF A CHAMPION – RISING ABOVE” with five-time world champion Randy Blake Jr. He takes us back to his childhood as a laid-back kid that got bullied and even spit on. His parents enrolled him in a karate class to build his confidence and it worked. Then David “Master Kick” Vogtman his instructor saw the huge potential Randy and motivated him to put in the work. MASTER KICK DIED OF A SUICIDAL DRUG OVERDOSE. On the Chuck Norris World Combat Tour, Randy got his big break and then defeated reigning world champion Mike Shephard. A twenty-five-fight winning streak brought him to five championship belts. Modern day he is a coach, speaker, best selling author of “BOOM” and a national advocate by starting with Buddy Thornton a non-profit for suicide prevention. COME LISTEN, DOWNLOAD, SHARE AND REVIEW THIS POWERFUL SHOW!
Mentioned Resources – Randy Blake Jr. is a 5-Time ISKA World Champion / 4-Time Martial Arts Hall Of Fame Inductee / Award-Winning & Best-Selling Author / Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree
Website: randyblakejr.com - Order a autographed copy of the book here
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/randy.blake.165
Instagram: @rb3boom
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-blake-jr-353738238/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/NbCcHfiRtIE?si=9hWGXHRLrlo0zovP
About the guest –
I am Randy "Boom Boom" Blake Jr., and my journey in the world of martial arts has been nothing short of incredible. With 31 years of experience, I've earned the prestigious title of 5-Time ISKA Heavyweight World Champion and hold a 5th-degree black belt in karate. My dedication to the sport has led to multiple inductions into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame. In the world of kickboxing, I boast a remarkable record of 52-7 with an impressive 35 knockouts. I've had the privilege to compete in the top kickboxing leagues, including Chuck Norris' World Combat League, K-1, and GLORY. My passion extends beyond the ring. I'm a Goal Success Life Coach, dedicated to helping individuals reach their full potential and achieve their goals. As a Motivational Speaker, I've had the privilege of sharing my story and inspiring others in diverse settings, from churches and prisons to colleges, schools, and corporate events. One of my proudest moments was being honored with the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing my lifetime of achievements and contributions to society. I'm driven by a deep desire to make a positive impact on the world, whether it's through my athletic achievements or my work as a coach and speaker. My skills extend beyond martial arts to include kickboxing, karate, goal setting, motivation, public speaking, and leadership. Join me on my journey to success, motivation, and personal growth. Together, we can overcome challenges and reach new heights. Book : BOOM: A True Story Of Perseverance, Mental Toughness, And Overcoming Adversity. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life." Muhammad Ali. As I share my story of world titles and the kickboxing life, I want to lead you on a journey of five principles that made me the man I am today. They are taken from the practice of martial arts. They are Courage, Discipline, Perseverance, Respect and Integrity.
About the Host:
Howard Brown is a best-selling author, award-winning international speaker, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, interfaith peacemaker, and a two-time stage IV cancer survivor. He is also a sought-after speaker and consultant for corporate businesses, nonprofits, congregations, and community groups. Howard has co-founded two social networks that were the first to connect religious communities around the world. He is a nationally known patient advocate and “cancer whisperer” to many families. Howard, his wife Lisa, and daughter Emily currently reside in Michigan, and his happy place is on the basketball court.
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Hello, it's Howard brown. It's the Shining Brightly
Show. We are here to motivate, educate and inspire. Oh my
goodness, I am so happy. The Champ is in the house. Randy
boom, boom Blake. Welcome. How you doing, man?
Randy Blake Jr.: Hey, that's good to be here. I'm excited.
Oh, happy to see you, man. So this is an
incredible story. And we're all about shining brightly here. But
this is incredible. So let me tell you a little bit about
Randy because I recently over the last couple of months got
introduced to Randy. We're doing an author journey show I will
set out to send eat van breeder. And we're part of the art of
connection crew with Robert W. Jones and Natalie McQueen. So
lots of shout outs there. But let me tell you, Randy is the
coolest cat man. I mean, it's so Randy BoomBoom Blake Jr. Okay.
He basically journeyed into martial arts. We're going to
tell you that story, we're going to tell you some childhood
piece, but he's been doing this for 31 years, and he's a five
time a ska heavyweight world champion, fifth degree black
belt in karate. And his dedication to the sport has had
him introduced the martial arts Hall of Fame's multiple times.
Ooh, this is incredible. In the world of kickboxing, kickboxing,
he had a 52 and seven record with 35 knockouts. So that's
where the boom boom comes from, I imagine and including, he was
in the top league with Chuck Norris, in the world combat
League of kg one and glory. This is incredible stuff. So he
basically transformed that discipline and dedication of
karate in his life, okay, into being a coach beyond the ring.
He's dedicated to serving individuals, and helping them
achieve their goals. He's a motivational speaker. He's a
book author, and he talks in churches, and he talks at
prisons and colleges and schools. I know you love talking
to the kids, and give them inspiration to, you know, for a
good life. You are honoured with the presidential Lifetime
Achievement Award. That's a big honour. Wow, congrats on that.
And you just have a deep, deep desire to take your athletic
achievements and basically help lift up others, which is all
about shining brightly is lift up yourself what you did, and
then you lift up others. And I'm just so so privileged about
that. We're going to talk about your book, which is, boom, a
true story of perseverance, mental toughness, and overcoming
adversity. So I want to welcome you ready. I'm really honoured
to be here. And I just love being around you. And I want my
audience to hear from you today. So I'm excited. All right, with
that grand introduction. Tell me how you're shining brightly
today.
Randy Blake Jr.: Well, today, I'm just happy to be on the
show. I'm always with a smile on my face. And I'm always looking
to inspire others using my martial arts principles and
trying to help make the world a better place.
We are aligned, we are aligned. Okay. And we are
fine. All right. Well, I want you to take me through as a
little kid, because it wasn't always this way a little bit
through your childhood and what happened and sign of your mom's
aha moment there. Give me some of the childhood background. So
Randy Blake Jr.: Well, my first aha moment was I was getting
bullied, picked on. I didn't realise it at the time. But you
know, I would get my head raked up against the fence every day.
And I was kind of let it be. Pretty much one day, my aunt
picked me up. And I get into the backseat. And she looks back to
ask how my day was, but she saw a big wad of spit just kind of
rolling down my face and she just flipped out. She's lost her
cool, like, whoa, what's going on. But um, the parallel to that
was I was always watching a guy named John Claude Van Damme, I
was very inspired by this guy. There was a movie called
Bloodsport for you guys who don't know what that is, is the
guy doing splits and kicks and fighting in this cool arena and
at all the cool chicks? And I thought it was cool. So my mom
decided, well, let's get him into martial arts. My dad
decided, well, yeah, let's do that. But I couldn't get him a
box back to so he could practice his punches and kicks. And so
that was really my aha moment. Because when I jumped into
martial arts, I instilled confidence or I was instilled
confidence in me and I had maybe four or five lessons. This bully
tried to put me in a headlock and spit on me and do whatever
he was going to try to do to me. And I don't really remember what
I did. I swung at him, I did something. The whole point was I
had enough confidence to stand up to this bully, and he left me
alone. So that was my aha moment. And that was my journey
into the martial arts world.
I love that story. Not that fact that you were
bullied. Okay. The fact is that you actually took action on it.
Um, bullying still exists, okay? There's all formats of bullying
right now online bullying and in person bullying, and it still
happens. But the fact that you know, Auntie saw the spit coming
off you and I'm such a sickening to me, you know, spit on a
little kid you're 11 or 12, right? And the fact that your
parents supported you in this and that bullying went away and
there's a real lesson to learn from that. So Alright, so now
you're you're you're you're taking some some lessons, you're
learning the sport, you're learning the discipline, take
take me through your martial arts journey. Because one of the
things I will tell you, Randy, everyone has to find their happy
place and you found yours on the basketball court guy, I find
that happy. And I say this in my book, find your happy place and
go there often schedule it, and I don't care if it's cooking,
travel, yoga, meditation, hiking, fishing, go there, and
you found it take me to your happy place. Now take me to the
martial arts.
Randy Blake Jr.: So I was always a good kid, I was always pretty
laid back just kind of easygoing, my grades are pretty
decent. But I noticed when I jumped into martial arts, the
confidence really rose. But one of the biggest things that stuck
out to me was my competence, to talk to people became better my
grades, talking to people, just martial arts brought a lot of
those aspects out of me that I didn't realise that I had. But I
will say on the downfall of things, I had students in class
who would challenge me to the point to where it made me almost
want to quit. So I always tell people, like, you have to have
the good, but you have to have the bad too. And so luckily, I
had two good parents who they said, I'm paying all this money,
you're not quitting, buddy. So you're gonna take a little
behind the class, I don't care if you get your butt handed to
you, you're gonna go because I pay for it, you're gonna get
your black belt. So I'm very thankful for those moments,
because I wouldn't be here on this podcast with you today
talking. So yeah, martial arts has been a huge part of my life.
And it's just exciting. All
right, so take me through a story that you are
sparring. But then you're actually going to get into real
contact with Master kick. Tell me Tell us who master kick is.
And tell us that transition.
Randy Blake Jr.: Yeah, so now this is after high school. I go
off to college, because I decided I was going to be like
Michael Jordan. That was that was my whole thing. You know,
growing up as a kid, you see these Gatorade commercials, you
see this guy sticking his tongue? You know, slam dunk,
and, you know, I can't I can't tell you our if you haven't done
this before, you probably lie and as a 90s kid, you know, the
three to one buzzer beater. You get the ball of socks, roll it
up and you shouldn't hamper we all wanted that story. So I
decided I was going to go on this journey and be like Michael
Jordan. So I went to multiple colleges to try it out. I was
told no, no, no, no, no. So I come across a small college here
in Oklahoma. It was a junior college, I ended up getting a
walk composition. And I just felt out of place. So I decided
to drop out. I dropped out of college, I moved back home with
my parents. And I found martial arts again. So now I'm 19 years
old. rekindling my craft and love for the the art and I'm in
class with this instructor. And in martial arts, you have semi
contact, sparring is not full blown hitting, you're just going
through the moves technique. You're you're a practitioner,
just, you know, getting a good sweat. Nobody wants to get
bloody nose or bruises. Because you have to go to work in school
the next day, if you're going to school, this instructor at the
time, he says, Randy, you're really good. I would like for
you to come and do the fighters class. So I said, okay, cool.
So, this went on for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. And
after every class he would like put me in a corner and say,
Randy, please just come try it out. Please, please, please,
please. So about a month or so later, he finally like his voice
guide DP got real Stern, Randy, please try the class up. Because
in this karate class, we can't hit hard in his fighters class.
If you'll just come try to one time, you can know what it feels
like to hit somebody fullblown not get in trouble. You're not
going to get push ups. You're not going to lose your belt. But
also they can hit you back and so you can know what it feels
like to get hit. And so I just said okay, fine, you know, I'll
try it out this free. One time. Maybe you leave me alone so I
can go back to my martial arts class.
Childhood got gentleman's name,
Randy Blake Jr.: though. The gentleman's name was David
master kick Bowman. And that name is very monumental to me,
because I just started To do that one kickboxing fighters
class, and I enjoyed it, I got a chance to hang out with seasoned
veterans guys who are preparing for fights guys who have, you
know, multiple fights in the game and I'm just amateur rookie
karate guy. And they're hanging out with, you know, big giants
as a 19 year old. And I never will forget this because after
that class, that one class, he comes up to me, he looks me in
the eyes, because he looks up to me because I'm 6364. So he's
about 510. So he looks up to me. And he goes, Randy, if you stick
with this class, you will become a world champion. Now, back
then, I'm 19 years old, the world the word World Champion is
huge. I'm thinking of guys like Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield.
I'm thinking of Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture. You know, the
list goes on, and I'm going, I don't want anything to do with
those guys. There's no way a little meme can become world
champion. And so that was a big, monumental AHA piece in my life,
because I never saw David Volkman after that moment ever
again. So, you know, he ended up drug overdose and committing
suicide. And I sit here today, and I tell you, you know, I'm
very honoured and privileged to be here, because had I not taken
that journey to go back into the fighters class. There wouldn't
be any world titles, there wouldn't be any success after
that with me. So this
is incredible. Because first of all, you know,
hit or be hit, and you got that feeling. And but here's the
thing, Master kicks, saw something in you that you quite
didn't see in yourself, okay? And I call that mentorship is
leadership. All right, you allowed Him to guide you in the
right direction. Okay. But he saw something in you I had that
same person. Okay. I had a woman named Marilyn Schneider that
helped me transfer it to Babson College, because I was in a
liberal arts school and not an entrepreneurship school. We need
to be open. Okay, that's the lesson be open to that
mentorship and people that guide you, okay, and take you down the
right path. And and really, you know, make a master kicks you
know, name and, and memory be only for a blessing because he
took his own life. And we're going to talk about that after
as well. But so now you're on your way. Let's continue this
because there's a story here. Okay, where you started to get
involved now in serious competition. All right. So take
take us through the next step of your your career here into the
championship, and Chuck Norris and, and champ Shepard and all
this stuff.
Randy Blake Jr.: Yeah, so at that time, I was still trying to
find myself because I told you guys before I just dropped out
of college. Well, doing that also led me into the club scene.
So I was, I was partying hanging out, I was a bouncer, I was
making $10 an hour. But going into that fighters class really
pulled me out of that world. So it actually it put me on a path
to start to do good things. And next thing I know with hard
work, dedication, perseverance, self discipline. I'm now
fighting. So maybe nine months into training. And now I've got,
you know, two amateur fights in one professional fight. And so
I'm not even thinking about making it to the big leagues.
I'm just happy to just get to hit people, and I get in trouble
for it. And so next thing I know, I get an invitation to be
on this league. And this is back in 2007. There was a league at
that time called the WC L, the world combat League, and then it
was hosted by Chuck Norris himself. so as to give you a
quick background on what that was. You have to imagine it
being like basketball, football, a team based sport, so you had
multiple weight classes. And it was a team setting. So you had
your starters and you had your alternatives. Okay, and you have
one individualise weight class go out. They fight in the middle
of this rainbow. So it wasn't a rope like a boxing ring. And it
wasn't a cage like the UFC, octagon, it was just a platform
you fought on. So you go in for one three minute round. You
fight. You go back to the locker room at halftime and you come
back out. You do it all over again. And obviously each
starter has a backup just in case something happens. So the
only way that you never actually go out. If you're a starter is
it you get knocked out. Okay, so I'm now invited onto this team.
I've got two amateur fights. I've got one professional fight.
Everyone in the league has at least He's 25 to 30 professional
fights pull us. So I am when I say I'm a baby at that time, I
am a baby. I'm 21 years old, I was brought on this team to
pretty much be a cheerleader to get some experience, and just to
be around some veterans who, you know, could do things that I
couldn't do learn what these guys are doing. Are they eating
properly? are they what are they doing? As far as training? Are
they running 10 miles a day? Are they doing 10,000 Push ups,
whatever they're doing, that's what you're gonna do. We're
gonna put you in for next season. I was okay with that.
Because I got a chance to travel. I got a chance to see
Chuck Norris. It was all good. I'm just living the dream now.
Learning the discipline ready, you were
learning.
Randy Blake Jr.: And I'm learning to discipline. And so
that was my mindset going into this season, you're not going to
fight. Cool, no big deal. So one specific night, the guy who I
was backing up at the time, that was 195 pounds that was
supercruise away. At that time. I'm backing him up. He goes off
for his fight. It was a one three minute round. Him and his
opponent. They're going at it back and forth. Okay, I'm
cheering them on from the sidelines. And it comes to a
draw. So nothing happened. And so I said, okay, cool. No big
deal. He gets 30 minutes to rest. 30 minutes to rest. So I'm
gonna go backstage, I'm gonna pump them up, getting ready,
hold two minutes for them, motivate them do what I can for
a young 21 year old pup, and he'll go back out there. So this
guy decides he sits in a seat to pounce, he throws a tantrum. I'm
not going back out. He's flipping out. He's saying all
kinds of crazy words. And when you have that team setting, we
have multiple coaches. So it wasn't just one coach. We have
like five coaches, you have five coaches, trying to get this guy
to prepare himself to go back out there. Now mind you, we had
30 minutes. His answer was no, no, no. Now my I got a headache.
My jaw hurts. My legs hurt my My shoulder hurts my arm, my right
arm hurts. Darn. And I've been knocking people out with I can't
use it. So I don't want to go out because I'm too afraid to
lose. That was his answer. And so watching this from a from
afar going, and that's just, that's kind of scary, but I'm
also going maybe I might have a chance to go in. So next thing I
know, I get a pat on the back. And these words always resonate
in the back of my head always. Randy, I hate to do this to you.
But I have to throw you in. Now, when I say that it wasn't out of
excitement. It wasn't like, okay, yes, it was out of panic.
It was out of, I'm afraid. You're a baby. You know, imagine
like throwing your kid into the lion's den. You know, that it's
that panicky feeling of, I'm not going to see you again. And
whatever happens to you. I just want you to know I love you. And
I'm in spirits with you. But there's nothing I can do. I
mean, the coaches even call my parents just to let them know.
And why I bring that up is because it wouldn't have
mattered because nobody knew who I was. But my parents and and
arena, we fought in front of like 9000 people. So I get
ready. I'm going down there and I'm about to fight a guy who has
never been knocked out. This guy has 20 Plus flights. Last thing
I hear before I go out there, use your reach, not to whatever
that he could even mean that's just what that's the last thing
I heard going down there they call my name to get this big
Titan Tron. So I'm walking down. I'm seeing all the lights and
then I'm seeing myself on this big site and Tron screen. I'm
just going whoa, this is like a jury, right? It's um, slap
myself in the face trying to wake up and that round goes. The
bell goes ding so we're moving around. I'm throwing punches.
He's throwing punches. I'm throwing kicks. He's throwing
kids. I throw a spinning back thrust kitty. So I spin and I
throw a kick and I hit him and I go, boom, okay, I dropped him to
the ground. Okay, the referee goes over and gives him a
standing eight count. So he's kind of got this gruelling look
on his face. And he stands back up. So that was another aha
moment. I said, Oh, he didn't like that. So this time I said,
Okay, I'm gonna go over there. I'm gonna throw another spinning
back thrust kick. But this time, I'm going to jump into it. I'm
gonna jump in throw all my weight into all 195 pounds into
it. So we know anything about Oh, Newton's law. That's what I
did. And I did just that I go over there I throw a jump
spinning back thrust kick, I put all my weight into it. Boom.
Drop them. This time you did it get up. So, so to me, that was a
great moment. But the most exciting part about that whole
fight was I happen to look over and Chuck Norris is right there
just cheering this clapping like, Oh, bravo. That was so
awesome. That was so amazing. So like, I was fanboy like, Man,
this is Chuck Norris applauding a little kid like me. And so
when I got back into the locker room, the team mates who saw me
as this little kid, like, what is he doing in this team? He's
got two amateur fights and one professional fight out, walk
them hills and valleys to get here and who does he think he
is? They finally saw Wow, this kid is really going to be
something one day. That's where I got my nickname, boom, boom.
Boom, boom, awesome. Alright, so now you've
kind of got you know, you really, you're in the light to
meet Chuck Norris. Okay. And then take me through. Is it
Mike? Sure. What's the champ that you fought to win some
championships? Yeah,
Randy Blake Jr.: so. So that's why I was on cloud nine. We're
all cheering Whoo. Yeah. You know, Randy's awesome. Boom,
boom. So now I've earned my keep. So now I'm a part of the
actual lineup. So the very next fight, which is a month or so
down the road, they throw me in there. This time, I fight a guy
named Mike shepherd. I didn't know that. He was a world
champion. At the time, I just looked at him as another
fighter. And I was able to hang in there with Mike shepper. So
there was a couple of times in the fight where I lost some
points. And he really started scoring more points. And at the
end of the day, he got his hand raised. So I was a little bummed
out, because nobody likes to lose, right? So after the fight,
we have what's called a post fight party. That's just where
all the fighters all the staff, and media and camera crew, we
all get together and just hang out. Mike Shepard, being a very
humble martial artists, a very respectful person, he walks up
to me, it looks me in the eyes. And he says, Hey, that was a
great fight. And I just want you to know, he says, I beat you
based off experience. I knew you were young. But I can tell you,
if you'll stick with this. You'll become a world champion
one day as what Mike told me. So my feelings were still heard.
And I was still kind of down. I go over, I said, about five
minutes after a conversation. I noticed I looked over to my
right. And there was like a big crowd of people. I mean, it
almost looked as if there was a fight going on. So I rushed over
there. And I saw Mike shepherd in the middle. So there's all
these spiders surrounding Mike. And Mike is just simply talking
about his life. He's talking about his discipline. He's
talking about the things that Mike Shepard does to prepare for
fights. before, during, and even after fights, he talked about
what he did to prepare for me. And that was my aha moment.
Because prior to, I was still clubbing, I was still bouncing.
I was training maybe once, maybe twice a week, I was doing
nothing but using my athleticism. And if you look at
my, clearly I was a more athletic guy, but Mike had the
brains Mike had the technical. And that's what goes into any
sport, you can be as athletic as you want. But if you don't have
any discipline, if you don't have any skill sets, and you
real hardcore mindset. It's hard to win games. It's hard to win
championships. And so that's what I learned listening to
Mike, there was a lot of things he sacrificed the things that he
did weeks and weeks prior to his fight, and how that changed my
whole career. Because after that, I completely cut off the
clubs. I'm training to three times a day. I'm literally
taking the mike Shepherd formula. And I go on a 25
winning streak, with about between I will say 15 1718
knockouts within those 25 wins. And I didn't really do this to
do this, but it put me in a position to now become the
number one contender to now compete for a world title. And
come to find out four years later, Mike Shepard himself has
the world title. And so he finds out that I'm done. number one
contender. And so when, when you're the world champion, you
decide, because you're on the AI side, when you're the world
champion, you decide what type of gloves we're going to wear.
You decide the location and the fight you decide. The ring we're
going to fight in, you decide how many rounds you're going to
fight, you decide all the rules to contender just shows up, and
he has to just abide by the rules and do what the ASI wants.
So Mike decides, oh, it's Randy Blake, great guy, but I'm the
world champion. And oh, by the way, I want to fight Randy in
his hometown, because I want to embarrass him in front of his
home crowd. And I'm going to do him just how I do my kids when
they get out of line. So we ended up fighting we fought here
in Oklahoma. And but the difference was, it wasn't one
three minute round. So this was a five three minute round fight.
So meaning after that three minutes is up, you get one
minute rest in between rounds, and you go back right out you
fight again. And we were doing Muy Thai rules. So that play to
my favourite because I'm alone guy have long reach. So love
through my knees. I have my my sidekicks. And I can continue to
clinch and ragdoll him around. And so we got to near Fight
Night. And that was a totally different animal that was more
mature. And they had some experience under my belt to have
some some mentorship. And this wasn't a three, three minute
round flight where I have to just go, you know, nonstop full
throttle action, I can really hone into my craft and my
confidence. And I actually ended up finishing my Shepherd in the
fourth round with the jump knee. And so I ended up getting my
hand raised. And that was my first world title. And I
happened in 2012.
Wow, oh my God, that's such an incredible story
that you beat the master. Okay, you know, you learn from him.
And but you did tribute him because you changed your life.
You started to get real serious, you made it actually a focus,
you change your diet. And you basically you actually fulfilled
the prediction and prophecy of master kick and of Mike
Shepherd, okay, and became a champ. And that's incredible.
Because that's a very rare thing to be able to rise up and do
that. And it's just incredible. And I like to tell people, okay,
that we all get knocked down in life and you got knocked down.
Okay, if you were a humble kid, but you got knocked down a whole
bunch, you lost some some some fights too. But you won the big
one. I got knocked down twice from cancer, I got knocked down
lots of little times in my life. But I've been able to get back
up again. And we all must get back up in life and in business,
and in careers and in relationships. And you you just
it's such an inspirational story. Now, take me through just
a couple things. What do you think the big lessons because
you got hurt, too. You had some serious injuries. You told me
your concussions. You didn't know if you ever got concussed.
But I mean, you're putting your body on the line. Okay, and
could you scramble your brain up and things like that. But Did
something happen to your bicep?
Randy Blake Jr.: Yeah, yeah. So that happened in 2016. So yeah,
so at that time, I was going from my third world title. So I
had my first world title in 2012. And then I wanted again in
2015, and then 2016. To me, that was probably my greatest fight
ever. Because at that point, I was considered in my peek in my
eyes, I was in the zone. I mean, I'm doing some incredible things
and training. And I just felt like Superman because the
mindset is just completely pure. I was fighting a guy, Great
Britain. And now that I'm the world champion, I decide where
the fights are at. So why not bring the shows to my own
hometown, in front of my own home crowd. So when you're
before you fight, you know, we train, we do all those things,
but the most important part of the training is training your
opponent. So you have to be able to play chess. So it's all about
chess, it's all about thinking, two and three moves ahead. It's
all about taking your strengths and applying them to your
opponent's weaknesses. So one of the things that my coaches and I
decided was, every time my opponent throws a right kick, he
always drops his right hand. So what that means is he's open to
a left hook all day long. So we drilled that for weeks, weeks,
and I'm left handed. So I'm going great. So, fight night
arrives. We're beautiful 12 week training camp. I'm confident I'm
looking this guy in the eyes and I'm saying I'm gonna knock you
out. Now, I didn't say that. It's just the confidence I have
looking into him as far as stare downs. Flight night arrives.
We're moving around. We get into a clinch I shouldn't need to my
opponent's ribs, he calls a foul. So in the fight world, you
call a foul, you automatically go to a neutral corner and both
fighters. So at that time, I'm looking over him going, and I'm
going, I'm gonna get him, knock him out, left, but I look down
on my arm. Now my bicep is rolled up, like in my armpit.
That's when the pain receptors kicked in. Right? Now I'm in
shock. I'm shell shocked, like, whoa, what just happened. And so
what happened is I tore my bicep tendon at the distal end. So the
bicep is attached at the long head, which is the top piece and
then at the elbow, which is the distal end. One of the most
horrific things you could ever do, because what happens when
you tear your bicep tendon is you lose the ability to pronate
and supinate. So you lose the ability to turn knobs and turn,
you know, the volume on the switch. But in fight World, I
lost the ability to do the one thing I had been training for 12
weeks there on that left. So make long story short, I ended
up winning, but it was hard. Because I had to dig deep within
myself. I had to rely on my coaches, because I was so
fixated on knocking this guy out with a left hook. I'm going to
get him I'm going to get him. But that was taken away from me.
And so my coach comes in to the cage after that third round.
Going into the four. He says, Randy, he's poking me in the
chest. If you don't throw any punches, that belt is going on
that plane, all the way back to Great Britain. Is that what you
want? Now I'm using the PG rated version of it, because he was
saying some things it was trying to fire me up from coach to
athlete. And he fired me up. He slapped me in the face. And I'm
waking up. And I go back out there. And I didn't finish him.
But I started scoring points. I got the crowd behind me. I got
my hand raised. But yeah, that's what happened. But I tore my
bicep because it's one of those moments that I use. And today,
sometimes you have to take an alternate route. Sometimes when
things don't go your way. What do you do? Do you sit still? Do
you cry about it? Did you just move forward? Do you rise above
that you rise up? And then you find another way to get there?
Yeah, I It's I'm just saying pure resilience,
man, pure resilience. And I love that. So I you know, you can't
fight forever. You've got so many accomplishments. So I want
to go back now to master kick. Okay, and suicide prevention,
awareness and education. Why? Why is this so important? And
what are you doing about that now?
Randy Blake Jr.: Yeah. So when I thought about the master kick
thing, that didn't really resonate to me, I was I was
saddened by it, because I would have liked him to been there.
For my world title wins, I would have liked to been able to just
acknowledge, like, hey, like, this is a guy that, you know,
helped me and put me on a path when I couldn't see things for
myself. What really resonated for me and why I wanted to help
was just here recently, you know, a couple years ago, I saw
some guys who I had trained with who committed suicide. And there
was been some guys in the martial arts world who I was
inspired by not John Claude Van Damme. But in the Power Ranger
world. I was a huge fan of Power Rangers and Jason, David Frank,
the green of the green slash White Ranger, I found out that,
you know, he just taken his life and I'm going, Man, this is this
guy kept me out of a lot of trouble, because I was spending
a lot of my childhood trying to do these Tommy moves, and you
know, singing the Power Ranger song, and that really hurt my
feelings. And really, right around that same time, I just
meet a guy named Buddy Thornton. So in 2021, I announced I was
going to have a book, come out. I have my book. It's right
behind me. Yeah, I did this book just purely for my daughter. And
that's next thing I know, this book is now international
bestsellers. And now I'm going on tour. Now I'm doing book
signings and meeting all kinds of people. And I catch myself in
the middle of Las Vegas at a martial arts convention and book
signing. And that's where I meet buddy Thornton. And we exchanged
numbers. And he asked if I can jump on a few podcasts with him
and I jumped on a few podcasts with him a couple weeks right
after that event, and the title has happened to be about
bullying and suicide. And so I just started explaining my
experiences with bullying which we talked in this show and what
I would hoped to want to do for suicide if there is anything
that I could do, because I don't have a degree. I mean, I dropped
out of college. But if I can just do something, be a part of
something that help. And I'm in the middle of my sentence, mid
podcast, and my phone's going off. And it's buddy Thornton.
And he said, Hey, we need to talk after this podcast, we're
going to fix this, we're going to, we're going to go and do
this thing. And so that's really how it all started, was about
two years ago. And so now buddy, Thorton. And I'm, we've put
together a nonprofit, and we're gonna go into the heart, we're
going to go and do this thing. We're going to go to the
schools, to colleges to prisons, we're going to go on the street,
we're going to go wherever we can, big corporate small
business, and you name it, and we're going to address this
thing, and do what we can to help bring these numbers and
suicide and mental health down.
That's, that's first of all, that's beautiful.
That's, that's noble, that's heroic, that you're now taking
your whole career. Okay. And now you're focusing on helping
others and getting the word out. I just love that. That's such an
example. You know, to your daughter and for your legacy,
okay, you have a legacy already, but now the legacy becomes so
broad, so much broader. And so I really appreciate that. So I'm
gonna ask you to put on some sunglasses. Okay. You got the
cool ones. You got the Coolio glasses on. Oh, look at that. My
Randy Blake Jr.: my three year old daughter.
You're looking fly. So this is the shining,
brightly spotlight. So I want people to tell how they should
best get in touch you. Of course, I'll put everything in
the show notes and on social media, how to best get in touch
with you. Then also share with me a quote that means something
to you to inspire others.
Randy Blake Jr.: Okay, yeah. So if you want to get a hold of me,
I have social media with Facebook, Instagram, and
LinkedIn, just typing and Randy Blake Jr. You'll, you'll see
their profile picture, which is my book cover, that should pop
up and then I'll add you as a friend. If you would like a copy
of my books, autographed copy, then you need to go to my
personal website and as Randy Blake, Jr.com. You can go there.
autograph it, I'll put a special sticker on it and make it
personalised to you and I will ship it directly to you. One of
the quotes that I like and it's a quote that I live by, because
it just helped me out so much because we we go through life,
and we love the sunshine and rainbows. But sometimes that's
just not the way things happen. And when they don't happen, we
ended up taking these weights and these burdens and we carried
on our backs. And then we just we Debbie down and we don't know
how to get back up. And so one of my favourite quotes I live by
is in moments of quitting, find greatness, don't carry mistakes,
step on them, use them as stepping stones, and rise above.
So every little piece of adversity, everything that's
negative, everything that's not going your way that you don't
feel that's going to help you get to where you need the Great
Bay. Use that as a stepping stone. That's what's going to
help you climb higher rise up rise above to get you to where
you need to be. I
love that, man. Thank you. Thank you for that.
Well, we take off the glasses now. And I just what a great
show what a great story. There's so much more to it, please reach
out to Randy at his website and socials and the book and all
that. This has been an amazing show. So for me, I want to give
a shout out to some people that helped me get here. So front
edge publishing, read the spirit.com that comes out every
Monday. That's a very inspirational blog I do goes out
to a lot of people, and then also my amplify U team that
helps help them to get this podcast produced. So if you want
to contact me it's simple shining brightly.com And you can
learn about the book and you can learn about my speaking my
motivational paid speaking gigs. Also, the podcast is there. But
my the real important stuff to me is my advocacy just like
yours is is for suicide prevention, minus cancer. Mine
is entrepreneurship and leadership and also with
interfaith, knowing the other and expanding your worlds and
lifting people up. So this has been an incredible show. Boom,
boom. Randy, thank you. This is great and just be well and keep
by keep doing what you're doing and I appreciate you.
Randy Blake Jr.: Thank you so much.