David Leduc Remembers His Championship Lethwei Match

You are really famous in Myanmar, right? Like someone told me that your wedding... 30 million people watched your wedding on television there? More than that I think, but yeah. That's fucking insane. It was... the story that's like... Look, so now we go back to the story. When I went to over after prison fight, I went to Myanmar. Then after... We didn't even talk about the prison fight. We kind of skipped over it. I mean, I won. Like, so it's... No, man, I think the more important is the left-wing part. So then I... I will talk about it because... That was my connection to the promoter. Oh, okay. Then the promoter gets me into the left-wing. And then I like beat up Tutu. And then I get right away challenged by Tutun Minh, the open-weight. So like the best in the country. When you open-weight champion, you're the best in the world in the left-wing, right? The biggest and the strongest. So he's a third, fourth, five generation left-wing. His grandfather was a left-wing fighter. And they were all golden belts winners, right? So he's born in the... Like if you look where he lives, it's raw, man. It's the hut. It's in the jungle. And he's raised in the headbutt culture. Like, you know, he's an animal. He's a headhunter. He just goes for the head and he has a good right hand. So I'm like... And I knew right away after that fight with Tutu, he was fighting that night too. So I go shake it hand. He doesn't know yes and no in English. That's how bad he is. And I say, good fight. He's like, you just give me a head nod. And I knew that we're going to meet. So we meet. And yeah. And then why was I going with this? Basically, what was your question, Joe? You said... Just keep going. So you need him. With the first fight, I think it's important to talk about this. Because I was only my second Let We Fight ever, right? And I'm fighting the best. Two legends in a row. Yeah, exactly. So I'm like, the one again, like, Tutu didn't get him. So let's get Tutu to fuck him up, right? So I go back. I was a tiger at the time. And that was... We'll go back to this later. But they were laughing at me because I was doing headbutts on the bags. And it was all a big show every time I was doing headbutts, right? Like, oh, look at Dave doing this. I had to teach this guy with 300... My coach at the time, my pad holder at the time, I had to teach him how to hold pads for headbutts. And that's the way I developed a bit of a way to do, you know, jab cross hook, headbutt, elbow, stuff like that. So then they were laughing. Okay, cool. I don't care. I'm winning fights. I go there. And first fight, that's the hard part, man. Like, the first round, the first couple of rounds, the three rounds, I push kick his stomach and he grabs it and he sweeps my other leg many times. So I actually sectioned the back of my leg. Like, I had to do physio. Like, my nerves, I think in the back of my right leg was... Section? Section. Maybe not sectioned, but like severely damaged. Okay. So, yeah, section would be pretty bad. So, because I would... What did he mean by section? Does that mean like tear? Like tear the... Yeah, it was like damage. Is that from kicking the back of your leg? Because he did it many times in the same spot, right? On the back of my knee, which there's a lot of nerves. So he's catching your tip kick and then kicking your other leg? Yes. Okay. So then many times and I don't... So it's tearing. Yeah. And I don't really... I'm like, what the fuck? Because I want to go inside. I want to do my elbows and I can't because... And so then adaptation, I think is key in life as well, right? You need to adapt. And so again, this guy is 70 fights. I think he had... All my chaos, he's just smashing everyone. And then I started adapting. I went to the leg instead. Pushed kick to the leg instead of this time. And that he couldn't catch it anymore. And then it was making buckle up. So that was a big thing in my... So you're hitting him above the thigh, hyper extending the knee. And he can't get in. So he's a bull. They call him the bull. So he goes inside. He can't go inside if I'm pushing his leg too much. So he's having a hard time and he's gassing out a little bit because he's usually knocks him out in the first round. He goes far, right? So then I'm like, I knocked him out a couple of times, knocked him down a couple of times at the end of the fight. So it was a real draw, right? It was a real draw. So we ended up the first fight as a draw, but then right away, automatic rematch, we fight you again. How long? Two months. Two months. But then... The leg is fucked up. Yeah. But then it was an added sweetener. That was... Again, I'm very emotional today. I have goosebumps. Because it changed my life, Joe. If you win this fight, it's going to be December 2016. If you win this fight, we're going to pay for your wedding and it's for the Golden Belt. So the other one was only a challenge fight. But this was actually for the title fight. So I got two draws and now it's like title fight. So I'm like, let's go. I train and I train hard. And yeah, we meet up again. And now I... Because I proposed to Irina after the other fight in Bagan. By the way, if you have a chance to go there, beautiful. Ten thousand temples, UNESCO protected temples, and you go there at 5am, 4am, and you see the sunrise on those temples and there's hot air balloon. It's beautiful. So I proposed to Irina in Russian. I learned my script in Russian and she says yes. I don't know how trick to love me. So we go there, but then he makes the news in Myanmar, right? So David had engaged in Bagan. So then the promoter calls me. So, hey, you got that fight in December. If you win, you want to get married in Myanmar? I said, yeah. So it's going to be a Myanmar traditional wedding. So full gold with like... I'll show you a picture that's pretty cool. But he said, but it's going to be like, we're going to make an event out of this. So obviously he's not stupid. The guy pays 20 grand, but he's going to make an... He's going to... Put it on television. Yeah. You know, they help Connor or whatever. Like they want to build a fight. Sure. So it's live on TV and it's a BBC freaking everything. Wow. So I had a lot of pressure. I had to win. I don't want my wife to... Because the wedding was going to happen regardless, right? But this could be a better wedding, right? Yeah. I don't want to... Oh, yeah. That's not the most glamorous one. Maybe there's another one. It's pretty cool, man. This one, yeah. Wow. Yeah, pretty cool. So you have Irina Terejova and Dave Lezuk in Burmese language. That was pictures from BBC. Look at my hat. Maybe Jamie can go on the left and maybe you can see the hat. This one, yeah. Look at... I have like a hat. It's pretty cool. What is that hat called? I don't know the name, but when you see my skirt, it's called a longi. Longi. So this is... Everybody in Myanmar has that. It's also in India. In India they call that the longi. In Myanmar they call it the longi. Most comfortable thing in the world. You wear that. Is it like a kilt? I have one for you. You have one for me. Look at that. It's hilarious. It's directly from Myanmar. It fits in that little tiny bag? Yeah, yeah. So you're gonna... Look, it's like a long thing. This is directly from Burma. And basically, yeah. So it's like a kilt? It's like a kilt. No, a kilt would be knee up. Right? And this is lower? This one is all the way down. Oh, all the way down the ground. And I have a story for that. So this actually... Like, I don't give you expensive... The dude's wear underwear? That's a dollar, by the way. A dollar? Yeah. Sweet. These guys wear underwear under this? Or they free ball? Yeah, they commando. Now they wear underwear. No? Okay. But then the story with this, and we'll go back to the fight guys, is just that people wear that. Very comfortable. But then when the... When war happens, you put it up, and it looks almost like a diaper, right? And you can kick. Because this, you can kick with this. Oh, I see. And you put it up, and then it shows off your leg tats, because they have a big tradition of leg tattoos. Oh, okay. That's where you get all your tattoos and your legs? Yeah. Does it come from being over there? Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so it is... I waited before having them, because I wanted to make sure I deserved them. Ah, interesting. Okay, cool. And basically, so I like that, because when you don't know who's a fighter, unless you see it on your face, but then let's say the war was happening, boom, everybody gets their longy up, and they're ready for battle, and you see, oh, he's a fighter. Oh, he's a fighter. Oh, he's a fighter, right? Because the legs are tied it up. Got it. Back in the days, everybody had... Every fighter that was fighting the two had the Tukwun, it's called. Okay, so anyway, back to the fight. Yes. So, because we're doing a big 101 about Niamhara right now, everything. Yeah, yeah, cool. It's so many things to talk about. So the fight, and then I started... I actually had a Canadian TV following me for that fight, and he usually told me that they, usually when we follow somebody, the guy never wins, you know? But I was like pretty happy, so I ended up getting him like a takedown. I'm bloody... I get him with an elbow in the face, his head is like open up, a pretty big gap. He's bleeding, and then I get a takedown, but I'm using a lot of my teeth this time. And he bucks him up, and I think the legs are not going too well. And then I do a takedown, and he falls on his leg, and then he has to use his time out. So they bring him back, and he looks in pain. And I tell my corner, and I'm a bit like I'm bleeding because he got me to cut too. That's also pretty rare, but I'm... And then I'm here, I say, which leg is it? Which leg is it? And my corner, at the time, it's the right leg. So I'm like, okay. So I'm like... And then the two minutes ends up, he goes back, he looks limping a little bit, so I'm like, I'm attacking the right leg. So I try to hit it, but he's... And then I do another takedown, and he's bleeding more, then not long after that, it was over. He wasn't able to get up. All right, so... And actually when he fell down, it was a beautiful... It was a pretty intense moment. He fell down, and right in front of the Canadian TV crew, and the blood leaks on the floor, and it's pretty intense, pretty cool. Because I'm excited about this, because there's not a lot of good quality videos about literally. Right, right. Is that available online? Can Jamie pull that up? I mean, if you go to my YouTube or something, you could probably see the thing while we're talking. So this makes you the Golden Bell Champion. This is a giant moment for you. And this also spreads the word about that way. In Canada... Well, not automatically, right? Because it happens in Myanmar. Right. But then in Myanmar, it's just becoming crazy people. We get married live on TV two days after the fight. So it's literally there. Now, they don't resent you for beating up their champion now? Well, okay, a little bit. Because he's representing the entire Muslim community in Myanmar, and I'm basically without even because I don't adhere to anything. But basically, I'm representing all the 95%ers, which is Christian, Buddhist, and everybody else basically. So yeah, they were so happy. They were pretty excited. Oh, that's interesting. Because I think they knew that what was going to happen, they were going to promote their culture abroad. Yeah. Yeah. So they're just happy people are promoting the sport. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 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