riverside_vinny's_studio _ jul 25, 1731 002_vinny's_studio

Justin and Vinnie Gonzalez are hosting a podcast called "Blood, Sweat, Banter." They introduce themselves and talk about their wrestling careers. They then discuss the wrestling team at the University of Northern Colorado, praising wrestlers Boo, Andrew Elirez, Steve-O Fallon, and Dominic Serrano. They also mention Vinny Zerbin and talk about Boo's potential in MMA. They express their admiration for Boo's success coming from a small city. They discuss Steve-O's viral video as a child and talk about his time at NC State. Hey everybody, welcome to the show, Blood, Sweat, Banter with your boys Justin and Vinnie Gonzalez. First episode that we're recording for you guys, so we want to give you the whole intro. So, if you know us, we're happy to have you guys here and we're happy to have you as listeners. If you don't know us, Justin's going to kick it off with an intro. Go ahead. Yo, what's up everybody? Thanks for tuning in to our podcast, the Blood, Sweat, and Banter. We're going to talk about a lot of things. Mostly we're going to try to hit interesting people, interesting topics, the kind of people that we know. We know a wide variety of people, so yeah. A little about myself, really native Northern Colorado, went to Northridge High School in my day where I won two individual state titles, won one team title, the only title in its history. But after that I went on to college, went to wrestle at University of Northern Colorado and finished my wrestling career at CSU Pueblo where I earned my Bachelor in Exercise Science and Health Promotions. I am a professional mixed martial artist with a 14-5 record, Bellator vet, PFL vet, former LFA champ, former Sparta Combat League champ. You know what? I'm looking to add another title to my collection, so yeah, that's a little bit about myself. Let me introduce you to my co-host, none other than my little brother, one of my favorite wrestling people, Biggie Headlock is us. Let's hear it, man. Alright guys, so a lot of people know the J-Train, he's the man, he's the pride of Greeley, but what you don't know is that I'm his younger brother, we're the Gonzales Boys, this is our podcast. A little about me, so I grew up wrestling my whole life just like Justin did. We had a reputation, they didn't want to mess around with the Gonzales Boys, and that's included our older brother Vance, shout out to Vance right now, but so a little bit about me. So I grew up wrestling. It's kind of funny because I went to the exact opposite schools that Justin and our older brother Vance went to. Both of them attended Heath Middle School in Greeley. I went to Franklin, which was the rival school, and then they went to North British High School. I went to Windsor High School, but one thing that we do have in common is that I was able to win a team state title with Windsor, we actually won two. A couple. Yeah, man. The third, we lost the third one, my senior year, that gut-wrencher, dude. Man, if it was yours to win, Justin, things did not go your way, and sometimes that's how it goes. Yeah, man. We kind of did what the Broncos did against the Dolphins last year, and we just, we went in there like hot, and then 70 points later, Heath Middle School beat me out. But it's alright. I was able to do it because two state championships as a team, I played twice for Chassa, going to the state tournament. I always shoot my horn about this, because nobody remembers this, but I am a three-time consecutive Freestyle and Greco state champion, right? Freestyle and Greco, my friend. Double champ status. People don't talk about that enough. I'm the man, you know, so, but I was able to parlay that into actually getting to wrestle collegiately with my older brother at Colorado State University, Pueblo. I obviously didn't graduate from there. I went back home, and just like Justin, was able to have a decent little amateur MMA career. I went three and three, but I did, at one point, win the Sparta Combat League welterweight title, which, you know, shout-out to Justin Snarrows and the great people at Sparta Sports and Entertainment. They always treat us like family. Yeah, and they took care of us for a long time, so, yeah, so. But after my MMA days were over, I became a papi, I became a daddy, and I got my bachelor's degree in communication studies with a minor in business administration from University of Northern Colorado. Go Bears! And when they're always there. Yeah, man, UMC is stacked this season, dude. Let's talk about that. You've heard about us. Let's move on to something that people want to talk about. UMC, University of Northern Colorado Wrestling. Holy shit. You know, let's start back in my day. We were competitive, but nowhere near where they are now. I think they have four or five, maybe even six wrestlers ranked. Obviously, Boo, Andrew Elirez, returning national champ from whenever he competed in 2023. He took 2024 off, so he can compete for an Olympic title. Getting close. Getting a little short, but holy shit, man, that guy is a stud, and he is hot right now. Not to mention Steve O'Fallon, other Windsor alum, Dominic Serrano, dude, making moves. Big fan of that kid, too. Love him. There's a couple more. Zerbin. Zerbin. The second best Vinny Ingrieli right now, so, you know, Vinny Zerbin, who was ranked number two, like, all throughout the 2024 season. He's going to come back. He's healthy. He's ready to rock and roll and shoot, dude. I mean, and then, talking about Dom, dude, a lot of people slept on him and didn't really know much of him coming back, because Dom spent some time in Nebraska, and Big Ten, too, in three years, I believe, and then said, I'm coming home, and I was so psyched, because we'll be back, Dom Serrano. He actually holds, because it was, there was a guy named Kyle Sands from Arvada West, four-timer, undefeated, eight-champion, Colorado high school. I'd have to pull up the record right now, but I'm pretty sure he had, like, 128 wins from when he graduated high school. I think Dom had somewhere around, like, 150. Yes. I know, I know Kyle very well. He's a good friend of my dad. Went on to wrestle at Alamosa. Little about him, he didn't wrestle his entire career his senior year, I believe. Don't quote me on it, but not sure exactly what happened, but he missed a good chunk of the career. I'm not saying he would have lost, because he was very dominant, and he was a beast, but, hey, dude, the things that he did, no joke. But back to Dom, you know, as he came back, I feel like he excelled. He did some very big things in Nebraska. He was very competitive. He was always in the mix with high-level guys. But once he came back, man, you could just see. I think he was comfortable being home. I could see his wrestling. He was having fun. And, like I said, man, huge fan of this kid. I see him around Greeley all the time. Friend of his family. Want to see him do the best. And, man, that kid never seems to amaze me, man. I think this is his year. I think he's going to All-American. Dom's going to All-American. Steve-O's going to All-American. Blue's going to All-American. We need another title. He's going to have a tough go at things. He wrestles. He's got a very tough mix of just all the guys in the line-up. Who did he wrestle? Mendez? Mendez, yeah. I don't know how to say. But let me say this. I get the inside scoop. Boo. This was shortly after he entered the transfer portal. He wasn't sure what he was going to do. Low-key, between us, I got a train with the guy. And I was very fortunate for it because that is a bad motherfucker. Excuse my language. I'm very good at what I do. But if he chooses to go into MMA, which I think he will, he's going to have a very bright future. And he wasn't on the training at the time. He was doing some other things. He was enjoying his life. Don't want to go too much into his personal stuff. But I do know, quote-unquote, maybe I'm paraphrasing, when he's right, he gets them. What people don't know about Boo, and I think it's a super cool thing, Boo actually won a ringside national championship in boxing as a youth. Yes. So he's got the hands to back up his high-level pedigree of wrestling. And we'll have to get him on the show one of these days because I'm getting a glimpse into his life. Not many people know what it's like to be a national champ. Not only, I don't mean to cut you off, not only a national champ, but a national champ from a smaller city where, I don't want to say not a lot of good comes from, but reaching that level of success is very rare. And holy shit, he put real on the map. And he kept it real. I would suggest all to go into that. Stay loyal, stay down. G-Town, 9-7-0. I fucking love it because that's him. That is really. That's finance. So just respect for that. I'm glad they worked things out and I'm glad he's staying. There was a video of, if you've never seen it, go check out his Instagram, dude, because I loved it. It was like, he's going to Okie State because David Taylor's there. He's going to Iowa because he's going to take Real Woods' old spot. He's going to go. And then he just pulls up the Wolf of Wall Street. And he hasn't leaving. I fucking love it. The show goes on. Man, big ace. I've been friends with the Elias family. We've been friends with the Elias family for a very long time. His uncle, his dad, both been coaches of mine. It's just awesome to see somebody that you grow up with doing and reaching these goals and watching him mature into this young man who is, man, the world is his for the taking because he is hot and it is fucking exciting. Oh my God. Just that whole team. Again, speaking of a heartthrob. Boo's been successful since he was a kid. But you know who went viral as a kid? Steve-O Pullen, man. He had that highlight film when he was a kid with the mohawk. Little kid, mohawk, headlocking people, just walking around. Arse puffs. He's very viral. And I remember that. I don't know what to say, man. I think it's badass. And it had, I can't remember the song. It was my life, your life, ooh, ah, bye. Is it Grits? Dude. I don't know. But ooh, ah, bye. I think it's Grits. And then just while five-pointing kids like twice his size. Just complete domination at that time. Doing things that kids at that level shouldn't. You want them to know how to do, but just they don't. They can't. And way beyond his time at that time. Even still, man. And carrying it on, a little bit about Steve-O. What? He went to NC State his first year, right? Yeah. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but if I am correct, he reps for the same club team as Troy Nickerson. So had some little inside scoop. Came to Northern Colorado. I got to meet him personally whenever he first got here. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect, you know? But man, you see that kid work, and you talk to him, and you just hear what he has to say. How can you not root for him? His story is amazing. He was hot all year and came up just a little short at NCAAs, but like, man, you cannot deny this kid. He is wrestling year-round. He's doing huge things. And just a stud and a great add to the UNC program. I think you surround yourself with successful people, you will be successful. And you know, we talked about things earlier, and I made the joke, but dude, his first run at the NCAAs, he was like the 32 seed. He got in on a wild card. I'm sorry, Ben. No, you're good, Ben. It's awesome. Tell the story, because it is badass. So Vinny Durbin, 32 seed, wild card selection, because he's in a good conference, the Big 12. And he just showed out at the conference, made enough of an impression to get himself to go. They called him in. And once he was there, right off first round, I can't remember the name now, nationally ranked, highly picked to All-American, first round. Durbin beats him. Holy shit, out of nowhere. And I think he, did he win or lose the second round? But either way, wrestles all the way back to the blood round, one round away from placing. And man, he came up a little short, but like, no doubt, his journey, his tournament was, fuck, man. It makes you want to root for this guy, you know? Coming in 32 seed, the very last seed in the NCAA tournament, and beating not one, but multiple ranked kids who were highly touted to be All-Americans on his journey. Coming up just a little short, man, his time is coming, man. His time is coming. He's going to figure it out. It's crazy that Nickerson was able to find this diamond in the rough, dude. That's exactly how he put it. A diamond in the rough, man. You recruit kids who normally you're trying to recruit the higher seeds who are already polished diamonds, gems, you know. But you get him, who a lot of people didn't really, not to say didn't know about, because he was very good coming out of high school. But going up into college ranks, people didn't expect, they weren't sure what to expect. But lo and behold, dude, his story, people know the name Vinny Durbin. So UNT's got it. And they got a good slew of kids from the recruiting pool. And it's real funny, too, because if we're going to talk about recruiting, you got to talk about how crazy NILs are nowadays, man. Let's just jump back to Boone. I heard a little inside scoop, but it's not my story to tell. He got offered a very large amount of money to go somewhere else. And holy cow. You know, talk to the kid and just his story of staying loyal, staying down, and UNC coming up clutch when they had to, to keep UNC, the face, the name, national champ. You have to keep that kid. You cannot lose him. And they came up clutch. It goes on to express, like, dude, I wish they were around when I was in college. I'm not saying I would have made that. But, like, shoot, man. Would have made my college a little bit nicer, because I lived in kind of a little rougher house. You know, sometimes we had to kind of figure out, like, all right, how are we going to figure out some groceries and stuff? You know, maybe go to the dining hall and, you know, stock up on some extras. But, you know. Well, because at the UNT dining hall, they made you put your bags up, right? You couldn't take your bags in there. At one point, they did. Maybe it was because of us. Maybe it was because of somebody else. I don't know. But at one point, they made you put your bags up. You weren't allowed to take them into the dining hall. And I didn't have a meal plan with UNC. But there were times where, like, I'm just going to go get lunch. I'll pay for it. And I see kids. They're sneaking in zip lock freezer bags. And they're like, I got my treasure. And they're just, like, pouring it into a zip lock. I mean, they have good food. It's my favorite. Chicken cordon bleu. I was, I mean, you can see me. I'm kind of a husky guy. I'd go up to the ice cream machine. I'd be like. It wasn't nice that the dining hall didn't stay, dude. I would say, I've been to a couple of them. You know, just various friends. Various former teammates, family, going to different schools. I've been around the block. Yeah. UNC dining halls are one of the nicest in the state, for sure. That's what kept Boo here. Air Force was pretty nice, too, though. But that's government funded. That doesn't count. Hey, dude. I'm just saying. Yeah. That's pretty nice. Well, their wrestling room is insane, too. Their wrestling room is very nice. I remember we went out there for, we did a duel against Discovery Canyon, who was in the spring. And they had this weird machine. It was air compression. And you just like, it set up two rods. And it has two little pistons. But the more you move it, the harder the air pressure is. So you start off and it's like. But then, when you push it more, the more that it moves, the harder it gets to move it. So you've got guys that are like working on hand fighting and getting their muscles working. And they're just like. It's so weird. That is some CIA special operative shit that the wrestlers just have in their room. I've seen some machines that are air compression. It's supposed to stop the jerky motion. But. And better on your joints. But, dude. I'm sure those guys have some of these in mind. Were you around whenever, were you boxing? We went down and I boxed some of the Air Force guys. No. Not even a boxer. So. Still a top notch was underneath the reel. Okay. So a while ago. And. Shoot, dude. Some of the boxing guys were going down there. I was training for a big fight. So I was like. You know what, dude? Let's go. Let's just. Let's really. Let's do something out of our comfort zone and do it. Dude. It's. You've competed there before. Not at the Air Force. Not having just my tournament youth or anything. I don't remember. Not having youth. But we were just there to do that practice out there. The tennis court. You had to go past the tennis court. Yeah. But you have to check in. This is what I was going to. You have to check in when you get there. And like. It's a pretty heavy duty check in. Take all everybody's IDs in the car. Make you stop. Go around the bottom with. I'm assuming it's a mirror. At one point they made us open up our bags. The bag. And they just made us open them. They didn't thoroughly check them. But they checked them. Pretty. They looked. And then we had to sit there for like five minutes. I don't know what the heck they were looking at. But yeah. They wouldn't let us in. Even as. Hey. Was it UNC we do it down there? Either way. Not in town. Just us. Hey. Be ready. If you go down there. You might get a little extra. You know. And. So. Something I was thinking about. When you're talking about Google. Was. You know. With NILs. And getting these offers. You got these kids that. They're like 18, 19, 20 years old. And they're getting paid. Like. Now. You look at. Alabama. Georgia. They're throwing out the bigger bucks. A lot of these schools. They have more funding. They have more sponsors. They just. People want to be a part of. Yeah. But it's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's. It's.