Benny Urquidez: Spirit of a Warrior

It was kind of, you know, it was just kind of all part of life for me, really. Yeah, I can understand that. Well, it sounds like you grew up in a fighting family. Exactly. I mean, I’ve been traveling since I can remember. Yeah, no doubt. How did you get the nickname, The Jet?

You know, actually I was fighting at Madison Square Gardens. And this gentleman, Darnell, he loves… I’m known for my jump kicking. Is this Darnell Garcia?

Yes, you know him also. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So he started yelling out, you know, come on, you know, let me see you fly like a jet. You know, I want to see you fly. Come on, jet, fly. And so all the audience started saying jet. So I started jump kicking and then I dropped my opponent with a jump spinning back kick. And then, ever since then actually it was what, a year, a year and a half later, Benny the Jet came out. Yeah. And I actually started that name kind of just stuck with me and throughout my fighting career. And that’s how Benny the Jet became Benny the Jet. That is so cool. Yep. You’re one of those guys, Benny, there’s just not a martial artist walking the planet that doesn’t know who you are. You’ve really got the name recognition, Benny the Jet.

You know, it’s my understanding that your professional fighting record stands at over 200 wins, zero losses, and your world title defense record stands at 63 wins and zero losses with 57 knockouts. I got to say it, that’s truly one of the most incredible fight records of all time. Can you tell us a little bit, if it’s possible, about your most memorable fight and if there are any significant lessons in there that we should be aware of?

Well, you know, actually, I’ve been competing in the martial arts. And back in the 60s, we fought with, you know, you could always tell the warrior he had tape around his knuckles and tape around his two toes. And that’s why you tell the words back then because it was contact and takedowns and so forth and flipping on concrete. And this is the way we fought back in the 60s. And then I got to the point where the problem with that is that they stopped you. Once you got going, they would stop you on points. And I wanted, because I come from a boxing background, I wanted more of the reality of the contact without being stopped and seeing where I can take it. So I started boxing in 73. My last fight was at the Internationals.

[04:25] And it was actually one of the fights that to this point people still talk about. I got out of that fight. After I finished that fight at the Nationals, I started to box professional because I started boxing with Bobby Chico and Randy Shields. I started boxing with them because I wanted to feel the reality going back into the boxing. So I started boxing and then in late 73, early 74, full contact karate came in. And so they got all the top martial art fighters and they all fought with each other. And they got to a point where we actually started competing. We started competing with each other. It was to the knockout. And the funny part about it was everybody kept on saying, you know, well, when you say to the knockout, what does that mean?

To the knockout, they said yes. And I said, well, what happens?

Would I get disqualified? And they said, no, this is to the knockout. And I said, I won’t get disqualified. It was hard to imagine that you can do the art, but to the knockout and nobody’s going to stop you. And so we all started competing. And then it’s called the World Series of Martial Arts. It was in Hawaii. It was a two-day tournament. And it was just anybody came. No rules, no weight divisions, no nothing. And I fought eight times on a Saturday and I had eight knockouts. And then on Sunday, we fought. There was elimination. There was supposed to be 28 of us left for the finals. And actually, I think eight or 12 showed up. The rest of them, they didn’t want nothing else to do with it no more. So I was fighting with Bernice White.

And he was a Marine champion. I fought Bernice White. I stopped him. I knocked him out. And Blinky fought Dana Goodson with 6’3″, 245 pounds. He was a Hawaiian champion favorite. So I told Blinky, my brother-in-law, if you don’t knock him out, hurt him for me, at least slow him down. And so Blinky fought him to the distance. And Dana Goodson won. So I ended up fighting Dana Goodson. And I stopped Dana Goodson. I fought. It was like David and Goliath. And I fought him. And I stopped him in the fourth round. And I became the first champion. I was weighing 140 pounds at 5’6″. And he was 6’3″. Holy cow. And that’s when I said, I love this. So I started boxing professionally and doing full contact karate. And my oldest brother Arnold, he gave me a choice.

He said, one or the other, if you want to build the sport of full contact karate or you want to do boxing. And I said, why can’t I do both?

And he said, one or the other. So I said, well, I love the arts. I’ll stay in the arts. So I started fighting in every sense. And then in 1973, I first became the champion of, then they started with the PKA. I took that title. And then I couldn’t believe I was a world champion because I didn’t go outside the United States yet. And I said, you know what?

[08:13] I want to fight out of the country. I said, how can I be a world champion when there’s other people around the world?

And I can’t be a world champion. So they invited these Muay Thai fighters from Thailand. And so this is 75. So they brought two Muay Thai champions from Thailand and Ernest Hart. Yeah, very hard. Ernest Hart fought. He was a semi event. I was a main event and he got knocked out and they brought him in the second round on the stretcher. And if I roll back and I thought, OK, so when he told me that I was going to fight this Muay Thai fight, I thought that was his name. Nobody knew what Muay Thai was. I mean, you know, in 1973, everybody was saying Muay Thai. What’s that mean?

But I thought it was an F-E-Y fight them. And so I ended up fighting this champion there. And we went nine rounds. We went and what happened is they stopped it. It’s because he started. I mean, this is the first time I’ve ever been kicked in the fight. I’m not being kicked in the fight, but never like this intentionally. And every time he kicked me in the fight, it’s like those dogs you squeeze and your eyes pop out. It was I’ve never felt that kind of pain before. And then I panic. Since I had a good boxing hat, I just charged them and I just started boxing them. And then he started grabbing me by the head. And I didn’t know I had no idea because nobody ever did that. So I threw him. I’m a good judo man.

You know, I was already a black belt, second to be black belt. And judo. So when he grabbed me, I didn’t know what else to do. So I just threw him. Throw him. Now you have the ties getting mad because I’m throwing them and the Americans are getting mad because he’s clenching me and eating me and they’re thinking he’s cheating. And so both sides started getting very upset. And so Chuck Norris at the time. They knew they bet by the round instead like we would bet like who’s gonna win the match Well in Thailand they bet by rounds who didn’t win the round so by the seventh round You know by the seventh round I was really beating this guy by point and so the Thai started getting upset because I kept on throwing them and By the time the ninth round came around they actually So I think the story I heard that Chuck asked, you know saying well Give me my money and the Thai didn’t want to give it to him so he jumped up on the seat and tried to elbow and Chuck slid back and fell down and then The fight started and it went up It went all the way up the seats and then it started to do like a wave it started to go all the way around

The auditorium everybody’s hitting fighting because And so I stopped and so this Thai guys in the middle of the ring with his hands up I turned around I jump on the ropes to see if there’s my mother and my sisters without the audience so I stopped and I’m watching them and After that so this is you know, this was the first experience of doing a fighting outside the country So then I had a rematch with them and I stopped him in the seventh round I bloodied him up so bad in the seventh round it That this was in Texas. I fought him. We had a mirror and they stopped and this Thai guy was so upset That they stopped it. But you know on the front covers. You couldn’t see his face It was covered with blood and I thought to myself what’s wrong with this guy?

You know, and so from that point is when I truly I got dinner and then in Japan They want they offered me a fight in Japan because they wanted to know who is this American that beat this Thai champion Who is he? Yeah, and so when I went when I went to Japan we went with a five-man team and for my four of our guys Lost and I’m the I’m the main guy So I’m the anchor guy should I say and I go on there and I end up Fighting Suzuki and the champion Okao he retired and then his stablemate became the champion, which was Suzuki I fought Suzuki knocked him out and so Okao came out of retirement and three months later I came back to Japan knocked him out And the rest is history. So now they think I’m have Japanese. That’s how they Justify me beating the champ That’s an amazing story and I can only imagine the battle stories you must have with

[12:48] From so many different countries that I’ve been to every Third world country fighting now when you could fight outside United States, there is no rules to there is no rules They said well, these are the rules but when you once you get there, that’s it Oh, yeah, you got to be prepared for everything elbows knees throwing clenching and This is what I know. Yeah, and so I think each decade how it changed from the Sixty to the seventies to the eighties to the nineties now two thousand is completely changed and I actually want to touch upon that A little bit I mean you’ve seen it all and as a whole the martial arts industry has really changed a lot and say even the last 20 years and from your standpoint What are some of these changes and have they been good or bad?

Well, you know what happened the good part about it is it you know, it elevated to a higher it made people Really in the arts come out and really show what really works and what doesn’t work And so this is why I started, you know, I started my system which call you ketocon, which means the way of life And a way of life means there is no rules, you know I mean in the street there is no rules You have to be able to know how to fight on the ground fight in the air fight on your feet You are learning to close a gap and this is why I created you ketocon because of that because I realized through my Competing that there is no rules and you have to be able to be good under pressure So I started which you ketocon really means way of life Which means internal training the internal understanding and how you deal when you’re threatened under pressure Because I don’t care what you know when you’re threatened and if you can’t do it under pressure, it’s not any good Yeah goes out the window. Yeah, sure So through each decade I realized, you know, I realized it. Okay is is It has a good point because I realized in the in the 70s full contact karate

The sad part about it is full contact karate Was the word kickboxing was born in 79 75 because everybody kept on saying what’s full contact karate It’s like you know, you’re boxing you’re kicking so the word kickboxing was born in 75 And so we said yes So now in you had a dividing between the kick boxers and the martial artists -because now the martial artists, you know, the their students were saying since they come on You got the best kick show them with the best or you know since that you got the best punch show them that you know Our style is the best and so a lot of the style started to try it and they got knocked out so So then the other the other Top fighters in the mark on the arts started talking bad about it. you know folk that full contact karate that kickboxing man That’s you know what if you were out in the street and I have to really I said I will really I would I would hurt Them real bad, but you see they would talk bad about it. So there was a dividing between the art and kickboxing and so the sad part about that is Then a lot of the a lot of the heroes and a lot of the masters in the arts start backing away. So

[16:02] In the in the 80s now the top the top martial artists There was no more heroes in the martial arts There were just very few of us and the rest of them were backing away because there was dividing between the art and the in the I understand now you got the 80s around 80s start coming around and everybody’s wearing turbans different colors purple uniforms and they’re making up the room styles and you know and Trying to figure out what the heck is going on

Yeah, so now you have the 80s and you had no no you had no followers and everybody’s a kickboxer Master of the fool fools that they all have this different, you know, they’re making up their own They’re making up their own styles or making and they’re giving yourself ranks -and now you have a big in the 80s you have a big confusion because now nobody’s father There’s no heroes to follow and very few to follow and so now it is in late 80s and early 90s Now you have the graces come in sure and now they started with the grappling and challenging everybody They challenged me and everybody else. I accept the challenge. I said hey, that’s my cup of tea But you know what I realized that they you know, nobody knew about them until they started challenging anybody. They had a name They started challenging and when they and this the graces got so much publicity Off my name and he never fought me anyway. He wasn’t gonna fight me anyway, which crazy was that was a Horrying I really not gotta bring names out. We everybody most people know who it is anyway But as far as I’m concerned, you know what?

The and I said how smart and how clever is that man? He couldn’t buy the publicity he got yeah You know, and I thought man, why’d I do that?

You know shoot and that was that was so clever. And so he started, you know Challenging Mike Tyson and challenging you and I realized what they were doing. I said wow Yeah, it’s actually a very smart publicity move So now the night is you got grappling coming in and to stay now, they’re no they’re talking about, you know You know Do you see they’re doing you know, they’re doing that type of fighting now in the 90s now You got 90 kickboxing is starting to move out in 93 94 and now you got you know This mixed martial arts going on now. You got the 2000, you know now it’s You know, you got cage fighting and you got mixed martial arts and you got I mean all that kind of fighting You know going on which what happened is they lost the brochure away. That’s the sad part They lost the discipline people that are coming from did have some kind of rapping background. Yeah But they didn’t they don’t have the brochure the way they don’t have the discipline They don’t have the respect and the court of honor between warriors. So now they’re talking, you know, I’ll kill him I’ll take his arms pull him out of his socket And there’s no discipline of respect

Yeah, a court of honor between those words of today. That’s the sad part I have a question on that all this publicity that MMA is receiving these days. It’s everywhere Do you think that that’s helping or hurting the average traditional martial arts school? Of course, it’s hurting It’s hurting because what happens is they don’t have they don’t have a discipline of Background of martial arts see the martial arts teach you a way of life of respect and honor There’s a court of honor in that but now these people coming without coming from the art about martial arts background They’re just coming from the streets and you know, there’s like a tough man contest I got a good job I got a strong hand and they’re coming in there and if everybody and you know what I’ll kill him and he ain’t nothing And he ain’t nothing but a chump. I mean talking that kind of Gang language type of time during the people that are watching it These kids are watching think oh, that’s cool. That’s what I want to be. I want to be like him and the worst part about it is These kids thinks it’s the martial arts. Oh, yeah, then it’s not They’re getting mixed messages in that and the sad part because any time you use that kind of foul language

[20:26] It brings in a dark spirit. It brings in a dark energy and it invites a dark energy And that’s what people that are clinging to You know, it’s almost like we’re going into Salomon Gamora, you know, everything goes and not nobody There’s no court of honor or no respect and no discipline. They’re just hey everything goes whatever, you know Then it becomes it becomes booze women, you know dope, you know and on that note You know about 70% of the martial arts industry as children Do you think that the average parent out there may be thinking that that’s what martial arts is? Well, you know what?

I believe it or not the hoping teachers these things That will teach them a Good grounding of respect and honor. – This is what most parents take their kids to hopefully that they will teach them short and honor and then some parents say My kids are such afraid of everything and I hopefully come on make them a man make her stuff You know and then some of some other parents are saying you know what he has no confidence I need you know, so parents are pleading with With the sensation hoping that they would ground them and give them, you know, some kind of strength because you need something nowadays It is tough for these kids. Absolutely. I mean, there is so much pressure physically mentally spiritually Pressured on these kids that these parents are saying, you know, they’re afraid for their kids that they’re not gonna be able to survive So they need to do something so they send them to these schools. Hopefully that they will be able to These kids are out of control. It’s like what have you done for me lately? Nobody wants to do there’s not really strong warriors These champions are paper champions. They’re here today and gone tomorrow These guys they hold meal because that kind of MMA type of fighting within one two years

You’re so broken up from Tearing tissue Snapping and breaking bones and stuff because all of it is about submission holes and locking and you know They say tap or snap and I come from that kind of background and the problem is I teach I teach I teach three surgeons I teach chiropractors and stuff and they’re saying what they’re having a field day Right now what they’re having a field day with right now is they said they have never had so many hip replacements elbow Outflow replacement shoulders right now they said in the in the medical industry They’re saying they’re having a field day with this I can imagine in fact that was One of my questions in this interview. I’d like to skip to it. It goes along these lines, Benny you know, we have over a thousand six hundred instructors in our Association and Many of them myself included are battling injuries from training Personally, I got a really bad hip right now. That’s just slowing me down tremendously Talk to us about Mentally dealing with injuries and the wear and tear that you get on the body while you’re still trying to train Teach classes and earn a living in the martial arts field. You have any advice?

Absolutely, you know see the most important ball is you got to understand one thing our body has better chemicals and better, you know our healing process in any Any pharmacy in the world?

We have better chemicals in our system and better healing processes It’s just that you know, like these two big monks they through meditation they learn to bring these combinations Okay, and bring them together of healing with inside and in it. I’ve proven it I’ve proven it time and time again that you could actually heal from internally inside You can heal with inside and then outside see because right now the medical field, you know, they’re automatically They you know, they did there’s big money in death. There’s big money and sick people Absolutely and the more sick you have now if you look at most things you’re in first of all your intake You look at any big product any big brand and you look at it and you look at you know Nabisco a wise I’m sorry I don’t want to say brands but Any big brand you look at and you look behind it and you look at the ingredients they by law they have to show you the ingredients and in the ingredients in it most of it First of all, it’s small prints. You can’t read second of all Hey is you know their words that you probably don’t even understand it You know, they say what the heck that means? Yeah, and you look it up and you realize it’s chemical

[25:08] -and most of the foods that you’re eating is chemical and is messing with our internal It’s messing with our liver and our kidneys and so forth and what’s happening with that is shutting down our force To rehear within to it within ourselves. So what happens first of all is if my students I teach them first of all How you know to discipline their eating habits by putting good fuel in?

Because the chemicals in it is actually shutting down their system And this is why that most people are getting injured and they can’t they can’t rejuvenate and they can’t we heal it with inside Because the chemicals in it does not allow it I see and so the doctors the first thing they want to do is they want to cut you open and see what’s in There and what’s going on and then second of all, they want to prescribe you know ongoing treatments and medications And the worst part about it shuts down your own you shut down your body to reheal itself Yeah, our body is like a computer when it’s overloaded shuts down And then if you have to unplug it and replug it so I’ll recess itself Yeah, but the only way you do that is by your intake. See Our taste buds, you know, we’re the only one here. We’re the only Country to put sugar in our bread. I Mean we got so much sugar and so much, you know chemical this did substitute sugar And everything that you eat and so that’s the biggest problem is your intake First of all, they’re shutting down Second of all our bones are starting to get brittle and because it’s not giving enough Supplement and if you look at the supplements good

Do not most of it is not pure supplements. There’s a lot of Additives to it and stuff like that. Did you know that there’s not a peer a Peer vitamin not there. -So, you know and so what’s really important if you really want to heal You must learn how to heal internally and healing internally. That’s see that as a warrior You need to understand because see I teach the art of war. I’m talking about mental warfare First of all, okay when you’re challenged mentally and then I’m talking about physical warfare Which we’re all used to when somebody’s grabbing pushing whatever pushing us physically and then spiritually We know their spiritual warfare because you’re being attacked. I’m sure women are great at this They’re walking into a room and they’ll say oh, I don’t like that guy and then we’ll say well What do you mean? You don’t even know Michael?

What do you mean you don’t like it? Well, what you didn’t like is his energy and his intentions you can feel women have a gift With this they can feel it and sense it right off the bat, you know And then and then we have character energy, you know Some are some characters are real quiet and timid and they walk in real quiet And they don’t want to you know, let nobody know that they’re around sure then you got other ones. Hey watch me Rico Swale I’m everything look at me and I’m cool. You know everybody so that carries an energy So the art of war is learning to recognize what kind of energy Did it is confronting you and once you understand it then you can deal with it and move maneuver with it So and that’s the problem with the art Everybody’s still doing external and this fighting is external. It’s not internal Okay, there’s other ways in a ways and middle ways of being able to train but they’re only doing one way Get the body stronger move faster have more endurance Take you know, take the pain more until you know until you snap or so something happens That’s why these champions are paper champions. I’ve held the title for 24 years

[28:53] Man before I change before I before I decided to take my fight from the ring to the screen I see I see but these guys are only holding it for maybe two three years at the most They’re so broken up and they’re not a good for themselves or anybody else. How about their families? Oh, and if they’re not married What about if you know, they want a family they’re gonna be so broken up. They won’t be able to survive Yeah, yeah that is that sport is so hard on your body They really I won’t mention any names, but I know a lot of these guys myself and they’re nursing some serious injuries A number of them I know right now Let’s shift gears for a moment presently. You are one of the most sought-after fight coordinators in all of Hollywood What is it that you do differently Benny that that makes what you do so in demand?

What makes me in demand is? First of all, I truly understand the emotions behind the action First of all, if I would for instance, I would take you and you’re playing a part as a boxer So my job is to okay. First of all to get your body to To actually form it as in a boxer’s form and in those condition you your body To make you your body look first of all as a boxer Second of all did to teach you Then my job is to teach you how to picture fight so that way you look believable and you can capture down his emotions and then my job is to Choregraph to bring out the best of you and leave what you have in a hard time leave that behind and bring the best You out Okay, as a stunt coordinator then Sometimes my job I do say you second you directing to make you to bring you on to bring you on screen To bring you out do you know like a diamond in rough?

You know to sculpture you so everybody can see your shine. -And so I do five jobs One, you know, I wear five hats and they pay me once We have to make an adjustment there I know I know you’ve worked with Tom Cruise Nicholas Cage Kurt Russell Lewis Gossett Jr. And truly a very very long list of huge Celebrities and one of the guys you really worked with a lot was David Lee Roth by the way Have any of these individuals actually are in their black belts under you or were you primarily getting ready?

Okay He’s the professional boxer Great kickbox or great martial artists are good Grab Just all-around athletes and but you know what? He actually can go out there and really compete professionally, but that’s not what he does He’s an actor. Yeah, most of these actors, you know, they just want to know see most well people come to me They want to do first of all three things. They want To have the endurance to go the distance You want to be able to have quick recovery to repeat whatever it is that they did with explosion?

[32:01] And then they want the flexibility for the centuries now in that once you have that that’s just that’s external and then internal is To be able to recognize the emotions that are that is in front of them and how to deal with them And then that that’s internal in the middle ways is to be able to utilize energy only when they need it and to be able to recognize So they don’t get captured by the emotions because again whatever captures you mentally Captures you physically and captures your spirit So if I put fear in you if I put fear in your mind, I captured you I got your mind body And so if I put if I put if I get you mad I captured you if I get you frustrated I captured you If I put you in anxieties, I captured you so I teach my students how to capture an opponent See So but that’s in life you see when I teach a way of life you can you know my squid the square jungle Which is the ring I say that’s your home. That’s your office. That’s your work That’s your with your peers that other words. That’s your space and you need to know Then that space what kind of energy is in that space so that way you’re able to respond to it

I see without fear without anger without frustration because basically most people approach something with anger and if anger first Then fear follows anger what follows anger and it’s frustration after what I mean And when you get frustrated you start beating yourself up Yeah, that’s the frustration if you go into stage four which is anxiety that means you’re stuck You either have to go to a doctor or you have to go to somebody you really trust And that’s what it really is all about See if I told you do you believe I can help you and whatever it is that you want me to take you with and if you Said yes, then we have a working relationship Then my job is to after we have a work nation my job is it through a time is to earn your you know to earn your How would I say Earn your respect Okay, and once I earn that you know once I earn that You get to a point where I learned then I get you point to I learned so you earn that you trust Once I get you once I can earn your trust you allow me to take you right to the edge every time I see now once you let me get to that point my the hardest part is to get into your space

And we all put a space around for protection because we’ve been heard wounded light cheated heard it Definitely so we build a space around us and we’re not gonna let nobody go in between that space because it’s too painful And we’ve already been there But if the moment I can get into that space even though it’s scary and so forth But at least and at least you trust enough that I will not do nothing with it other than for your own for your own Good, that’s really fantastic Benny. And this is and this is this is what this is internal training This is what I do This is why I took my fight from the range of the screen and this is why When they did I’m in demand because everybody’s looking for that peace of mind of that understanding sure I knew their truth Very very beautifully put yeah as you know NAPMA is an organization that helps martial arts professionals with their Businesses we are the world’s largest professional martial arts Association Have you learned any valuable lessons about business during your career that you’d be willing to share with our audience today You know basically in business I know for one thing Whatever is in demand and if you can give what these what these

People are looking for You know in the art and you and you got that to offer to them Then like in my gym it was it was to a point where my gym was too small because it was too many people We had to offer was in demand. Are you talking about the jet center? Yes Did the jet center burn down?

[36:20] Yeah, it is it was gone down from your quick and then the just Jim the just Jim was up and then you know Matter of fact just three months ago We had to close down the gym because they’re building a mall They notice saying hey, you know what?

This city once this part and it went for three blocks They don’t ever they did I gave was 90 days every one of us get out in 98. I’m sorry to hear that Are you know?

All this business is just is just you know, I said, okay There you go You know, that’s my least worry, you know, I live in the moment because what I’m doing today is happening tomorrow next week next month -And so that’s important to me. I stay in the moment of today only Yeah, because if you’re asking me, what are you what am I gonna be doing tomorrow? I said, well, I’m doing it They said no, no tomorrow. I said I’m doing it I want to meet you tomorrow. I said well just write it down and then what you know winter mile comes and You know and if I’m blessed and lucky enough to be at this point I will be there Yeah, yeah, you’re very future focused and I recognize that in you In fact when I met you out at the Lee Strasburg Theater Institute recently and by the way, thanks for your hospitality that day You mentioned that you’re part Blackfoot Indian and that you’re very much a spiritual person I wanted to ask you Benny. How does your spirituality help guide you through the rigors of everyday life?

Because again, I realize My when I when I wake up in the morning and my eyes open up is the first thing I say to myself Thank you for another day. -that I can be with my loved ones and people that I love being around Thank you that I get a chance and I said, thank you and give me the courage to be able To ask for forgiveness and give forgiveness that I couldn’t do yesterday that I get a chance to do it today I see and give me the wisdom of understanding and let my words be impeccable that I just don’t talk just to talk my words I choose wisely because that way I’m not just talking to talking and because Words are very powerful. I recognize and I realize that so I’m very careful with my words That I don’t hurt somebody and because I’ve learned through my business that everybody really listens to me Yeah, and I was joking one time With and I just made a joke and I was joking with this one person three days later He came back and he came in like his tail between his legs. He looked at me. Can I talk to you?

I said sure And he said are you mad at me? And I said am I mad at you?

I said if I was mad at you believe me You would know because I would make it known that I am upset and he said and I said why he said well You know three days ago You said this and he told me in detail. I said I was joking And he said and you should see me say that oh my god, you know I didn’t sleep for three days. I didn’t need this miss and I thought you gotta be kidding me Yeah, you know my words As a joke they stopped you from sleeping three days not eating and this and that because you thought I was upset at you and I said and I said wow I Said to be careful for what I’m saying because And this is when I started realizing You know my words have to be impeccable otherwise They’re just you know, I’m just talking like that’s why I don’t use found language I you know, I don’t use its found language because it brings on dark energy Yeah Well, I don’t walk that around So I don’t allow any of my students to use any found language or anybody around me don’t use far languages because they know I don’t like it If you start using far language, I’ll just turn and walk away. I see cuz if I don’t want to hear it

[40:10] I just leave Well, people really do put stock in what you say because you’ve been there, you’ve done that, you have a lot of experience, you’re a legend in the field. And along those lines, right now we’ve got a lot of people listening to this. Talk to us about staying in shape. In other words, school owners, when they get successful and their businesses really start to take off, they spend a lot more time in front of the computer, they’re managing staff members, their marketing, their selling, etc., etc. Why is it so important for them to find the time to work out no matter how busy they get?

Again, because then you shut down your life. In other words, it’s almost like you’re saying, I retired. I don’t have to do it no more. I don’t have to look good. I don’t have to be in shape. I don’t have to share, you know. I don’t have to do anything. I can go and eat whatever I want to do because, you know, I retired. So you might as well say, well, I’m just waiting for my maker to come and pick me up now. And for me, when people say, did you retire?

I said, absolutely not. They said, well, you’re not fighting him. I said, hey, I didn’t retire anything. All I did is change occupations. I didn’t retire anything. I’m still doing what I can do at 18 years old. I can do round off flip flop backflips. I can do the splits. I can do why?

Because my body doesn’t count numbers. It has no idea how old I am. Okay. I have a 65 year old thinks she thinks that she’s 30 and I have a 15 year old thinks that he’s 70. I see. Now, what’s the difference is like, we’re both under the same roof and the same and the same day. I mean, we’re under the same dojo and we’re there all day. And then I said, you say, man, that was a long day. And I said, man, that was short to me. What was the difference?

Time went so fast for me, but yet time went so slow for you. Why?

It’s the perception. It’s the perception of how you look at things and how you and how you receive them. Yeah. So for me, life is just one day at a time, one day at a time for me right now. And I keep my body because I owe it not only to me, to my wife, to my kids, to my students, to people that are my, you know, that are around me. I owe it to them as well because why?

How can I teach something that I can’t do?

I said, now I’m one of those don’t do as I do, just do as I say. [inaudible] And I say, oh, yeah, right. You know, you’re telling me not to cuss, but yet you’re all cussing. You’re telling me not to do that, but you’re out there doing it. You say don’t drink, but you know, you’re drinking. And I say, well, you’re a hypocrite. Well, you know what?

That’s one thing. That’s one thing that I know when I talk and I say something is because I have to walk my talk. I have to show up here. I said, let me do it first. This is what I want you to do. I’ll do it. And then you can do it because if I can do it, you can do it eventually. Maybe not right now, but eventually you will do exactly that. Well, you’re leading by example. And the only way to do it. I mean, so everything I do, my intake and everything else, you know, I was taught by a little kid, one of my students, I was at the beach and I was telling my students, you know what?

I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t this. I don’t that. I don’t do this. And one day we’re at the beach. And after I just gave them all this big speech, we’re at the beach and somebody offered me a beer. I hate beer, but it was so hot and we trained this and that and I was sitting down and he offered me a cold beer and I took it without even thinking. And I took a sip and I said, oh, that was refreshing because and I hated the taste, but it was refreshing because it was cold. And I thought eyes on me. And I turned and I looked at him. He looked at me and he turned his face and put his head down. And I thought about that. I said, what was that all about?

[44:08] And I just looked down at my hand at the beer and I said, ah, I wonder if this is, so I got him, I didn’t hide it. I just got up and I walked to him. I said, what’s the matter?

And he kind of shook his head, no, nothing. And I said, it’s because of my holding this. I was drinking this beer and he shook his head. And I said, you know, I really don’t like beer and I really don’t drink this, but it was so hot and we’re working. And for some reason, this beer for some reason, it just felt refreshing at the time. And you know, because I really don’t, I really don’t drink. And so I said, you understand what I’m telling you. It really is not good for you. And it was just happened to be hot and this is cold and I drink them without thinking about it. And then after this kid, he smiled and looked at me and he shook his head. It was okay. And he started running and playing again because I took the time to explain my actions.

And that’s why I’m very important. I know it’s important to me to be careful in what I say because people really take it, you know, take it at heart. And well, people are going to always look to you for guidance and consider you a role model. So you really are doing the right thing. And you’re talking about kids. Let me ask you this. You started combative sports at what age three, I think you said. Why do you think every child in America, I’m like talking every kid growing up in today’s society, why do you think they could benefit from taking martial arts lessons?

You know, it’s a way of life. It grounds them. It teaches them. First of all, it gives them discipline. It teaches them nothing’s for free. You want this, you must do that. So there’s a negotiation going on. It teaches them how to negotiate at a young age. Third of all, it teaches them respect. It teaches them to end physically. It keeps them limber and show somehow to keep their joints loose. And at the same time, it teaches them how to interact with other kids and other people, you know. And the good part about it is it gives them a guidance. Yeah, it gives them a guidance. But you know what?

Sometimes that’s not all teachers that are good role models. You’re right about that. You know, they’re yelling and screaming and this and that. They’re worse than the parents. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And speaking of schools in general, I mean, I can’t imagine how many thousands of schools you must have seen in the last 30, 40 years. But you know, the average martial arts school, it probably has around 100 students. You know, you’d think almost that more students would be training in the martial arts, given the benefits you just mentioned. Why do you think the majority of schools out there stay so small?

And they stay small because they because first of all, it’s the instructors are thinking small. They keep their mind in that small space. Hey, well, you know what?

I’m surviving. I’m doing you know, I’m doing good. You know, I get some students didn’t I don’t get them this and that. So in other words, they don’t know their craft. Well enough. They don’t know. They only know one way of their craft. They don’t know the outer ways and inner way. I mean, they only know the outer ways, but they don’t know the inner ways and middle ways of doing it because they can be clever. And they can really make that. So that’s the problem. They’re small minded and thinking, OK, well, we’ll keep doing this and this and this, you know, well, you know, he’s doing this. Well, maybe we can add this. They really don’t know what they’re doing. They really don’t know. Other than they’re mimicking, it’s almost like people, you ever do that?

You ever heard that when people they memorize some scriptures from the Bible and then they come here and they bash you with them?

Yeah. And they have no idea. Yeah. All they did is memorize some scriptures, but they have no idea. They have no experience with it. Yeah. They have no idea what the hell they’re saying. They’re just bashing you with them. So a lot of these martial arts, they memorize technique and they go and they really don’t know. That’s why a lot of the a lot of these instructors don’t laugh long and they say they stay small because they’re small minded. Yeah. Do you think that they could benefit more?

[48:14] The average instructor that is benefit more from like martial arts business education because a lot of these guys, I find that they really don’t know how to run a business. They may be good at martial arts, but they’re not strong in the business area. Well, you know, it’s you know, it’s always important. Knowledge is power. The more they know about business, the more they get an opportunity. It’s like, you know, to the windows of their eyes, they say, you know, these I’m looking at it with these windows. I said, what if I give you another window of the same thing you’re looking at?

Brilliant. And they said, well, I don’t understand. Well, let me give you another window. Well, how come I never saw that one?

Well, let me give you another window. Wow. Where’d that come from?

So you’re giving them different windows of what they really have never seen. So you draw them a picture and they add the colors to it. And then once they add the colors to it, you want to know why they pick their colors that way, it tells you what they’re thinking. You know, why they pick those colors and what they’re thinking and how they perceived it. And it’s the upkeeping is the up. The up giving whoever raised them. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s one of the things with NAPMA is a lot of people don’t know what they don’t know. And then when you show them a better way, then they take off like a rocket ship. We’ve seen that happen a whole lot. And sometimes you see the point is when they take off like a rocket, they race from this like to that light.

I say, oh, did you see that coffee shop?

What coffee shop? I said, well, what do you mean?

The ones you race, the ones you pass by, the ones you just race by. And I said, besides, where are we going?

I don’t know, but we get there, we’ll get there. And I said, when we get there, then what happens?

I don’t know. But we’ll see when we get there. I said, well, why don’t we enjoy the ride?

It’s beautifully put. You know, Benny, have you ever practiced meditation?

You know what? This is I am definitely what I teach. I definitely teach meditation. Tunjung is one of the meditations I teach. It’s in. But there is many as meditation is the risk people different kind contemplation meditation count meditation You know Lamaze meditation breath meditation goes on and on and on there’s so many different type of meditation bubble meditation and So I use these three meditations I use the concentration meditation into a power meditation into the action meditation These are the meditations I teach that people are like me that are aggressive I’m an aggressive person because when I when I want them I go for it, you know and So in this in this aggression is there’s enough what I do and So my essence for my love when I want them I go for what I you know I go for whatever it is it is but if I don’t believe it How can I go for something? I don’t believe and that’s what this meditation does First of all, it teaches me to concentrate on what it is that I’m focusing on sure and then the power meditation is the I am Concept what I tell myself who am I you know, why do I deserve it?

And so since I see inner is the inner voice within And then the action meditation who I’m physically doing whatever it is that I’m said not to do So these meditations is what I use sounds my speech for my For my students, that’s fantastic Outstanding as we wind this interview down. I had just a couple other fast questions for you. I know you’re extremely busy You’ve got one of the most prolific Fight records of all time. Let me ask you this. What’s the difference between a good fighter and a great fighter a Good fighter. There’s two type of fighters. You have a checkered player, which is a good fighter Then you have a chess player, which is a great fighter checkered player will take two three hits to give one and a chess player will take none and give the four five and six And so I’m one they don’t like to get hit And this is why I can still understand myself and I wake up with no pain and go to sleep with no pain so My you know, it’s internal a great fighter is it’s not when you get the title. It’s what you do with it I’ve held the title for 24 25 years and it’s what I’ve done with it was which what counts

[52:32] So most people get the title and they lose they have today did they got today and they’re gone tomorrow So they’re not you know, those are paper child. Those are paper Champions and that’s a good fighter a good fighter will say man. I’m good at this man I go out there but a great fighter keeps it keeps it uses Yeah I follow you there and when you travel around and you work with today’s black belts and fighters Do you see many big differences between you know today’s black belts versus say the black belts and the fighters are 20 or 30 or 40 years ago Absolutely. -What are some others that fighters of the 60s and 70s? -They were warriors. Okay They’re just the fighters up today. They’re just fighters. Okay, you know, they’re just here today gun tomorrow Strong job strong mind, but that works out breaks like everything else See, I’m not I’m not into fixing things. I’m into healing things. I see you see you gotta understand first of all us men We were robbed from the fact that we do not know how to be emotional. Why cuz as a kid My father said you cry, you know your sissy your pansy you go out there you don’t cry Don’t show me it shows weakness, you know take advantage you la

So by the time now I don’t want to cry because I think it’s weak and I want people to take advantage of me Now I’m a young adult and I still don’t want to cry because I’m thinking that it’s weak and this and that and so now We’re you know now I have a relationship with a young lady and she’s saying you’re not listening to me I said I can repeat everything you said. Yeah, but you’re not hearing me I did I just repeat everything you said and you said no the point is we heard the words But we didn’t hear the plea we didn’t hear you know The cry and that was that was the thing is because we don’t understand we want to fix it if you’re sad I want to fix it. How can I fix it? You know, you’re sick How can I help you and fix that if you’re something said we want to fix everything because that’s what we’ve been taught We’ve been taught if it’s broken fix it. So we fix everything and we try to fix relationships That’s why most of these kids can’t have a good relationship because we’ve been robbed that So we don’t know how to have that kind of emotional, you know Relationship because we’ve been robbed the fact to be emotional and they’re absolutely glad

As they say, you know means for Mars women from Venus Because we’ve been robbed the fact of emotional feeling so we don’t understand women Because that reason we don’t go from Should emotional Attack we go from a physical attack Yeah, let’s fix it. Come on. Could be in a pantry. They fix it. We’re crying. Let’s fix it Yeah, and that’s women see that our guys do we fix everything women see it very differently, don’t they?

Absolutely, but see hey, I would be lying to you say if I if I understood a woman completely Yeah, but I got a better handle than most men. Yeah, I’ve been teaching Young girls and young women and women For you since I was nine years old. I’ve been a teacher. I’ve always thought it was a better teacher than a fighter always Very even to this day. I feel I’m always I’m a better teacher than a fighter very very interesting You know right now schools across the nation report that the industry is in a lull business is down and Many instructors asked me if another big martial arts movie like the karate kid is gonna be coming out anytime soon They think this will drive traffic to their schools. You’re out there in Hollywood. You’ve been in the movies. No, what’s happening?

[56:13] This way Hollywood left Hollywood How so Hollywood went to you know?

Went to Bulgaria Hollywood went to Australia Hollywood went to see, you know because it’s it The problem is what is the message??

See the message is everybody’s looking for peace of mind, but what do they find it?

Everybody wants to find you know, everybody’s looking for a mentor You know and mentors because we were meant to help each other and a mentor is Somebody that says my way or no way. No mentor says look it. This is You know, this is how you’re looking at it because you use what you spain But let me give you three different windows of the same thing great and then you pick Well, then they say well, why do I have to pick why can’t you pick for me?

I said no you pick me said well you tell me what to do you tell me how to do you tell me where to go?

And this that’s 80% of the people are saying they’re followers You tell me how to do it because they don’t want it. They don’t want to either they’re lazy or they don’t they’re afraid To do it themselves because they don’t want it They don’t want to take a chance of making mistakes because they’ve been tied up be careful You know if you do that, you know, you make a mistake is gonna cost you gonna cost you dearly Now everybody’s afraid to make the mistake. So they’re afraid, you know of disappointing They’re afraid of and this is what the most of these eight percent are followers because of fear -and I just told you what follows fear is anger because then you get mad You’re mad because you’re fearful of it and then you get frustrated because it’s not happening and you start beating yourself up And then so and this is what this is what the martial arts schools are not giving See they’re doing they’re teaching external Okay to get this black belt is gonna cost you this much and you have to learn this many wass this many grab bars This many got us you have to and then when you got that you want but what did all they did is memorize What did they learn nothing?

So what should what should the school owners as a whole be doing differently these days to make the industry bigger better stronger The only way that’s gonna happen is to teach them internal Go inside with these what these people were searching for to begin with There they’re there out of fear. They’re there out of anger. They’re there out of frustration They’re there for those emotions. But these Black buffs are not teaching them. They’re not giving them what they want. They’re just teaching Okay, I’m gonna give you more confidence and teach you to have confidence or you’re not afraid I’m gonna teach you how to go out there and you know, break this board and go out there and do this technique But you know what?

It doesn’t work because you know if there’s no threat in front of you. I don’t care what you know It’s not any good If you’re being threatened, I tell you what everything underneath your bed and your closet comes up Everything the moment you’re threatened and all that technique goes out the window. Where do you think the martial arts industry is gonna be in 20 years from today?

I hope it draws a circle and comes back to the beginning again Everybody just breaks it all down and starts all over again and starts from the internal understanding of what this is where I’m trying to bring back Go back from the beginning see because In on the reservation we go back what we call the sweat lodge that going that’s what they call going back to the mother’s womb Going back from beginning. -And that’s a spiritual the spiritual quest of understanding Going back to the mother’s womb being starting all over again. -And that’s what these schools see That’s what I’m gonna do. I want to build it. I want to build a gym I want to build a hub where people can fork in like the just center was yeah I had 40 something countries coming out of the just center Wow And I you know and it was it was a place but I built that place to build the sport of kickboxing She that’s the reason why I built that place and I built this for kickboxing out of the jet center and then when the earthquake destroyed it, you know, it was already in what, 90, 94.

[1:00:24] It had to be because I used to have a pair of jet center sweatpants I used to train in all the time and that was in the 90s. That’s right. So, you know, anyway, but what I’m saying is we need to go back and eventually I’m looking for some property because I will be building another jet center but this time the jet center I built was to build the sport now is now building the center for an understanding. Going back to the mother’s womb, going back to the center, going back to the beginning, going back to the understanding why they’re doing what they’re doing. I mean, did an earthquake like level the jet center?

It did. It actually, believe it or not, the health department came in, they red tagged our building and put chain, chained our doors. And I own the property. Can you imagine that?

Oh no, I can’t. I own the property and then, so I end up doing a movie and somebody came and we have metal doors. Somebody came and actually saw the hinges off, opened the door the other way and came in and took everything. Could you imagine that took my trophies, took my belts, took my, and it didn’t mean nothing to them. What a nightmare. Yeah, but you know, and so I started all over again. I said, hey, you know what?

It’s not about easy come, easy go. It’s about, you know, it served its purpose. But what it was, it served its purpose and it allowed me to look at the jet gym to go out there and really practice and humble me to a point where I, now I’m standing in my truth because now that, you know, that was $3 million of my money that went down the drain and everybody thought the jet is through. I said, but through?

I got knocked down. I didn’t get knocked out. So I went back and opened up the jet gym and that’s when I started teaching my wife and I started teaching internal training. We started really understanding and searching and traveling the world and teaching internal training. And 13 years later, you know, we got out. Now I’m looking for a place to build a center of internal understanding, what everybody’s searching for. Everybody’s looking for it. Not only the peace of mind of understanding why, what their purpose here, what’s the reasoning?

You know, No, I did an interview recently with Jackie Chan and he talked about doing something exactly like this in China. It would be a school that taught people, you know, the mental aspects of martial arts training, spirituality, stunts, martial arts, everything. It sounds like you two guys are on the same path with that. Yeah. Well, you know, we, you know, we both take a like. Yeah. We hit it off with each other, right?

In 75, we first did the first movie together. We hit it off with what I mean with no problem. There’s like nobody you haven’t worked with out there. Very interesting. Final question for you, Benny, which I asked all of my very special guests here on the Sounds of Success. What is your definition of success?

To me, I thought it was to be known. Okay. And I thought that was success. Hey, I’m success. I mean, I’ve done movies, I’ve done books, I’ve done videos, I’ve done movies. I mean, I’ve built gyms, I’ve built jetware, I’ve built equipment, I’ve done design. And I said, that’s successful. But really, what I really believe in my heart is successful, is being able to be successful of conveying and giving my essence, my love for what I do back to the world. This is what makes me successful, that I’m able to do that, that I’m able to go and convey this message of understanding and wisdom of experience, to pass it to others that they may pass it on. And that’s success for me. That’s just beautifully put. What can I say, ladies and gentlemen?

[1:04:28] He is the one and only Benny the Jet Erkitas. Benny, you’re an inspiration. You’re a true champion. You’re a legend. And you’re a hero to many. Thank you for all the time you gave us here today on the Sounds of Success. Thank you much. Alright, it’s been an honor. We’ll talk to you soon. Take care. Alright, catch up.