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Hi, I'm Corey Anderson.
I fight for the UFC.
Frankie Edgar, former UFC lightweight champion.
Hey, it's Todd Frazier of the New York Mets,
and I'm pumped to see this documentary.
And I'm super ecstatic about my boy, Big Nick.
I think it's going to be a super inspirational,
He's going the distance.
This is his story.
This is his "Rocky story", man. Going the distance.
one of those just dig deep type stories.
And getting his big fight coming up.
I'm proud of him, and he's going to do awesome.
My message to Nick is just keep fighting
for what you fighting, and man,
when you step in our ring, do what you got to do.
Get it done.
Do more than go to distance.
Get your hand raised.
So we talking an amateur fighter
going up against a pro fighter.
How many amateur fights did this amateur fighter have?
He had none?
Zero fights?
It doesn't matter if you're the CEO of Google.
You didn't start at you don't start at the CEO.
You start you go to college, you do an internship.
There's a process. Yeah.
And it would really be unintelligent to try to
skip the process, in my opinion, because that fight,
you could fight a guy 0 and 10.
That means that guy's got ten professional fights.
You have none.
That ten times that guy's been laced up,
wrapped up, and made that scary ringwalk.
You've never done that. Ten times
that guy's had guys punch him in
his face to try to hurt him.
Not for trophies and metals, but for
meat and potatoes to put food on his table.
Yeah. That's serious business.
When you fight a guy that's
10 and 0, he's at jeopardy,
or a guy that's been knocked out two times
before, he's in jeopardy of losing his job.
He might be an auto mechanic.
He might work in a factory.
He might make an extra $2,000 every few months.
So if he, imagine you're a minimum wage guy,
you're making extra ten grand a year boxing.
You can't afford to lose too many fights,
or they won't let you fight anymore.
So he's fighting for his life.
So it's no joke.
He could be a "ham and egg-er".
He could be a tomato can.
He's still a man out there with gloves on.
And there's been countless times when guys have
set out to start their career with easy
fights and they've gotten themselves knocked out.
You've already been in the world champions.
It's not about whether you can take a punch.
I'll vouch for you.
You could take a punch.
Not about that.
Can you throw a punch? I'll vouch for you.
You could throw a punch.
Can't handle the pressure.
You don't know who you are until you're in the ring.
You find out the real type of person you are under
the pressure of the ring...
that's what remains to be seen.
Definitely a gracious quest.
And the fact that you're willing to kind of
put yourself out there to spread awareness and
maybe put yourself in harm's way
just to push the issue of MS
I think is just a valiant thing to do.
And I got all respect for you, obviously.
The fact that you could have chose probably numerous different
ways to pursue this or to get the word
out about MS, but you chose fighting.
My name is Nicholas Anthony Zarrillo.
I'm from Jersey.
Currently living in Florida.
I got to thank Paulie for getting in there
and helping me raise awareness
for Multiple Sclerosis. It's really big.
Me alone, trying to raise awareness, it's just me.
But someone like Paulie, its a big deal.
Two time champ, that's just going to help us
help this documentary, and it's just going to help
us so much more than I ever could have.
I own my own business, make costumes,
like stuff like this,
pirate hat.
Guy Laieta,
Boxing trainer, World Famous 5th Street gym.
Paulie Malignaggi, who we work with,
was nice enough to spar with Nick.
I've known Nick for a couple of
months, since he began his journey here.
We're all really proud of him and impressed with him.
So we've done everything we can to help
him show how you can beat this illness.
And today's sparred with a two time world
champ, Paulie Malignaggi, and he held his own.
He learned that boxing is a
little harder against a World Champ.
It's usually a lot busier around Halloween time, but
I don't know, I guess people don't have anywhere to go
or too scared to go out, given the current situation.
13 years, doing something that you kind of fell into
I mean, you know, how could you feel about it?
I work two times a day,
usually in the morning, then at night. I need to
take a break because I have a condition.
So I like to call it I call it "brain breaks" because
at a certain point of in the day, I kind of get
mentally exhausted a lot to where it's like,
decision making, goes out the window.
My name is Platinum Mike Perry.
My name is Michael Perry.
I have an alias of Platinum Mike Perry.
That's my fighting personality.
That is my persona.
That is my idea of what life should be like
as an aggressive athlete, fighter, martial artist, a winner.
I've had nine UFC fights.
Both of those attacks were in your left eye, right?
Or did you have one each?
Yeah, they were in both.
It was stronger on the left.
Gotta started training like that movie that came out
where they were all wearing blindfolds and shit.
In case it gets too bad, when
you get older, you'd be ready.
I'm just playing, try to make light of the bad.
I didn't really know much
about Multiple Sclerosis at all.
You guys need to read more about it.
People need help out there.
It's affecting people's lives in a negative way.
We got to get rid of all negativity in 2019.
We're going forward out here.
You had a fair amount of enhancing lesions, the active ones.
The last time before we
started the Copaxone and everything.
So that was kind of the that was some of the concern.
I mean, of course you don't want anything new,
but you especially don't want new active
ones because if there's more activity, then that
might mean copaxone is not holding it so.
Let me just look real quick.
Could you tell me something about Multiple Sclerosis?
This is the one that you just got from Simon Med.
So this is the post.
So this is after they inject the dye.
This is the active lesions. The goal is...
So that where you would see them glow.
Yes. So those are the few, your goal is
to have actually have zero of those at all.
Is it a deficiency with the
spine or the bones or something?
So you've got a little glow here.
You've got one here.
That's the same one getting a little bigger there.
You've got one over here.
You have multiple.
So there were quite a few that were active. One here.
This is a bigger one that they measured.
That's the same one.
That's another one.
So one there curling around.
Could you tell from the location
what effects what?
Not always. Sometimes if they're in the back, they
can affect the balance a little more.
Usually like when you first got attacked, they did
your optic nerves because they specifically did an MRI the
optic nerve and they didn't see anything.
But it could have been close enough that it still
when it swelled, that it caused the impairment in the vision
you had in the left eye.
Okay, Multiple Sclerosis, meaning, so like
when you get hit, it could be way worse?
You may have had a couple of new things.
Like the first couple of months
Copaxone starts gearing up to work.
It takes a little while for it to start working.
So those first couple of months you can have a
one or two new lesions pop up, but then at
that point, after they should significantly go down.
Do you pass out sometimes?
Do you have seizures or not seizures per se?
You look like a healthy guy.
You may look like you take care of yourself, young.
It can affect you later as you get older?
This is the original one.
So that's the one you had originally,
which was you had one there.
These are not the active ones though.
That's just scarring?
That's just the scars over the years.
You know what I mean?
I've been there, I've done it, I've seen it.
The only thing I ain't had is multiple sclerosis.
Maybe you hit a "muthafucka",
that's that new shit
you say in 2019, bitch I'm a hit you give you
that multiple sclerosis, you're going be in this bitch,
convulsions.
I mean, I've tried to change careers several
times over the years and had some success,
but I always end up costumes.
I mean, I always felt like my life needed some
sense of accomplishment,
anything, anything to get out of this.
But it hasn't always been like nothing going on.
I did have one great accomplishment,
to me.
Which is crazy, considering it's something
that you fear your whole life.
My little artist.
My "rosebud".
That's a long story, though.
Right now I'm just supposed to be talking about my job.
Vision is still doing okay? -Yeah. Good. Good.
So it probably was good.
I mean, I kind of could tell from the second we
met that you didn't have a whole lot of subcu tissue.
That Copyxone wasn't going to be a long term
because you just don't have any fat to inject.
So it kind of went along.
And then the MRI sort of validated when there
was a new active lesion with the MRI so.
Any other questions or concerns?
There's no concern with like, me
breastfeeding or being pregnant with around
him with the Tecfidera, right? -No. Okay. -Yeah.
Not at all. And then if we wanted
to conceive again? -Perfectly okay.
Yeah, Tecfidera is perfectly fine.
So when are you due?
Eight days. Oh, my goodness! -Yeah.
Very exciting.
Squeeze for me.
Can you go tighter? Can you go tighter? Yes.
He doesn't want to hurt you.
Got to know they're working.
Then refresh me,
Are you the boxer? Yes.
How's that going? Its going good.
Good. Did you get hit?
I had the head gear on. -Okay.
They noticed something on the MRI, like there
might have been a little hit or something.
I think it was on your left side.
All that was from a while ago. -High school. -They noticed it.
Push down. Good.
And then lift up.
Yeah, they did.
They saw it right there. Yeah.
That's from high school.
He got cold cocked.
That's pretty intense.
They see enough of it down there
that they know something was going on.
As soon as I saw that, I
thought, oh, yeah, hes my boxer.
He had like the orbital fracture,
I guess, but -Must have.
It was healed.
Yeah.
It didn't look new.
No symptoms or anything.
That was someone just cold cocked him out of blue.
Oh, my goodness. Yeah. Dr. Kumar. So,
Dr. Kumar is the nuero radiologist at Simon Med.
So he's very meticulous in what he's looking at.
Oh, yeah.
We were going to ask about stem cell.
Like harvesting, I guess.
Well, for when I give birth.
Taking the blood from the placenta and putting it in him.
So you don't really have to go to that extreme.
Okay. Only because I think you have to
pay to have your blood. -Yeah, I was just wondering.
retrieved and stored and all that.
What they're eventually using is patient's own blood.
Okay.
So they would take your blood,
the baby cells, the stem cells.
Stem means the brand new cells that are just being
formed before they become MS cells to attack.
So they take those out, then
they suppress your immune system.
And then those baby cells are
repopulating as normal cells outside.
Then they put your own cells right back in, so
you don't need to worry about somebody else's blood.
And then basically it reverses, stops the MS.
So there's no more progression, no more MS. Yeah.
The key is though, the ideal person would be somebody
like him because you're healthy and doing well.
So I've also got people that come in
in wheelchairs and they want stem cells and
I have to say, well, unfortunately, it'll stop things
where they are, but it doesn't repair, so it doesn't
mean you can walk again, kind of thing.
So the earlier you get them, really, the better.
Feels like I can't even breathe just thinking about it.
She's not even one yet. You know?
Well, just remember, you got family and
you have family that's been through it.
Reach out.
We were a family.
We weren't perfect.
We went through hard times just like everyone else.
They went overseas to seek medical treatment
and I couldn't go.
My finances were declining.
I couldn't leave my busiest season.
I just couldn't.
Then something happened over there.
I don't know what, or who.
Whatever it was, when my family came back,
we were no longer a family.
I should have went, but I chose my job.
I fucked up.
I miss Jocelyn I get to see pictures of her.
That's how I get to see her grow up.
Everyday struggles that any family man would have
with kids and a wife, I think just whatever it
may be, just house issues, financial issues, career issues, and
I've had ups and downs in my career.
And I been down some times where I think it's hard
to climb back or in the stress of just everything
on top of that, I think definitely rounds
you and makes you a little tougher.
Like you said.
I'm a big believer in having a good backbone.
And that starts with family.
Whether it's a wife, whether it's your
father, your mother, brother, sister, cousin.
Talk to them, get words of wisdom every day,
try to enjoy life as much
as you can because it's real short.
You know how much I love boxing, right? Yeah.
Maybe if I actually get in the ring fight and I
can do something with it, I can make some waves.
If I'm finally good at something,
maybe I can win them back that way?
Nick that was a real fight with
a real, real good pro fighter.
Very high level stuff, great survival.
We go three, five minute rounds in boxing
or three 3's or four 3's in boxing.
I give him making it to a decision.
I'll say he could make it to a decision with me
four rounds in boxing.
I don't know, about six.
Yeah, I get that momentum I'm going forward.
You going back a lot.
You got to make me step back.
If somebody chasing you down like that, you
got to give them reason to be scared.
Give them something to be scared of.
Thing was, I was tricking you a lot, too.
You thought you was getting
away with just touching me.
Yes. -But I do that, and it goes right by, and
I stay in place or even move a little closer.
That's a big move that I do to high level guys.
I make them miss by just an inch then step in.
Bang. Bang.
You got to try to learn how to get points, hit
and not get hit while not using too much energy.
That's something you can work on.
Comfortable right there while not using no energy.
The better you get, the less energy
you use, the more.
You see what feints work, you know?
That good left hook off my right.
That was there.
Did I have any power? Was anything there?
No, you didn't.
You never committed to nothing.
Almost like a fear, maybe, or not wanting to disrespect me
in the cage, in the gym because I'm a pro.
You have respect for a professional
who's gone to the pro level.
I can get into the disrespect a little more and
be like, okay, I got to hit this "muthafuka".
He's killing me!
You gonna count? You gotta count!
You got up in 10.
If somebody chasing you down like that,
You gotta give them reason to be scared.
It's up to him.
Do you want to keep going?
He said, you know what?
When the video started, he asked me, one of the
questions was, do I think a fighter, an amateur, can
get in with a pro? A guy with no experience
get in with a guy with experience?
I said it depends. I had to see.
I mean, he's lasting a little bit with me. He's moving.
He's got some good ideas about basic survival instinct.
When you get to the point when it's
like, okay, do I have to keep going?
I have a choice to get out and stop?
A guy without the experience going to want to get out.
You did fine.
Don't think too much about it.
Don't think too much into it.
Just keep going in, keep drilling.
You get better at being calmer in dangerous situations.
We're talking about a game of fucking hurting people.
Yeah.
So I was nice because you could
say, "okay, all right, that's enough".
And as a professional, we're taught to turn off,
shut down. Ref say something,
We act like we got in trouble. You know what I mean?
That's how we're taught. But you say on,
and the level keeps gradually going up.
We we keep going up until someone wins.
You're very good, man.
I'm sorry I had to turn it up on you, but you good.
Hey, It needed to happen.
You want to go on camera with a pro fighter?
He going to do that every time.
He going to try to make himself look better than you.
He took a risk tonight. He did good, too.
He tried softening me up with
that Multiple Sclerosis story. That shit ain't work.
Fuck that, I'm a hit yo ass!
So how do I compare to someone
else who doesn't have that?
You did great. You did fantastic?
Should I hang them up? Is what I'm asking.
No no. Remember how I was saying that I was struggling
where I believed I was something special in this?
And then it wasn't going the way I thought.
But it could just be a little difference.
I still am something special in this.
I still have a ton of followers and believers.
I still have a bunch of people who support me and
a bunch of people who want me to win, some people
who need me to win, some people who are praying for
me, some people who are hating on me, and that's enough.
Me being able to wake up in the morning and
breathe is enough for me to go get it and
go do it, because I love to do it.
You love to do it, and get mad at
guys like me who start going a little crazy,
but it's okay because we in here training.
That's what training is about.
I take you to a new level, a new height.
Then you say, "Alright, now I can see".
But you were just in there with a crazy "muthafucka".
You keep working hard.
I hope you keep understanding.
You're a great person inside, and
I always talk about your heart.
You have a great heart, and
you're there to help others.
And this is just a starting
point for you and your journey.
And I'm excited that I'm here to talk about it
with you, because hopefully, my words, I can help somebody,
too, along the way with what you're doing.
So keep focusing.
And those times where it's not a good day, think
back all the good times you had in the past
and the friends that love you and family that love
you, and I think you'd be all right.
What you bring to the table and what
all my clients and all our
fighters bring or they're not welcome
is their blood, sweat, and tears, their effort.
And if you have some kind of condition that requires you
to put forth more blood, sweat, and tears, then for me,
that means you're spending more money at the gym.
That's more that's more currency to me.
So to me, you deserve then more
attention, more effort, more welcome, more everything.
So as a coach to multiple champions, what would
have been or what would be your path for
me to take as far as a game plan?
Continue to be who you are.
Your conditioning is always superb, so
that really puts you an advantage.
I mean, if you and another fighter step in the ring,
and the first round, you're both going 80 miles an hour,
for example, and you find a lot of fighters that in
the second round, they start going 70, and
then the third round, they go 50.
Now, the fourth round, they're going 40.
Your conditioning will allow you to go
80 miles an hour all the way through.
So with all fighters, matchmaking is an art.
These world champions today,
Go look back and look at their records.
See what they fought in the beginning.
All the world champions. You can look at
the Floyd Mayweather's of the world.
Look at Canelo.
Canelo is making $36 million a fight.
He's the most famous fighter in the world.
Look who he fought his first four fights.
So we wouldn't have you matched up
any tougher than Canelo was.
This guy was the Mexican prodigy.
They've groomed to become the
biggest star in the world.
So you have to be careful with who you fight.
You have to learn from each fight, and then
that kind of sets the map for going forward.
We reevaluate after every fight and see
where you're at and go from there.
So back in 2017, when I
sparred with Algieri, you remember that? -Yeah.
At the end, I talked with him and I said that I
had this gameplan that I wanted to do. Because I didn't
know what the disease would do as far as having a relapse.
And then if I would lose something from that
if I would lose something from that.
Before you could probably do whatever
you wanted, as long as you wanted,
for as many hours as you needed.
Ever since I was a kid,
I had a fear of blindness.
See my grandfather Pop-pop Mata,
he was blind, and all my
memories with him, he was blind.
When my vision seemed like it was deteriorating,
I thought I was the unlucky one to be next.
After a couple of months,
my sight miraculously cleared up,
turned out to be a symptom of the MS.
Medications keep the disease at bay, but now
I wait anxiously for my next relapse.
And now you're half a second slow.
But I pray that it doesn't happen any time soon.
So I already, I put in my mind that
I needed to do something that was going
to almost, I guess, put a "nitrous oxide boost"
on getting to the end of this documentary.
So I told him that I want to get as many
name fighters, champions, involved in the project.
This way there would be enough prestige around
it to where someone with a name would
want to be the debut fight, almost mirroring
a "Rocky, Apollo Creed" type situation.
So that was my original gameplan.
Rocky had 40 fights before that fight.
Wasn't his first fight. -Yes. Keep that in mind. -I do.
Okay.
What's your thoughts on that plan?
I think it's terrible. -It's a terrible plan right? Yeah.
It's not fair to you. It's not fair to them.
It's not fair to the fans.
I mean, nobody does that their first fight.
This is just my opinion.
In my opinion, you set up the way as if
you were trying to become the world champion one day.
You set up a real fight with a real guy at the
real level of the fight that you should be fighting at.
And beat that guy just like
Just like Evander Holyfield had to do.
Just like Chris Algieri had to.
Go look at Chris Algieri's first couple fights.
And he's coming from, He was a
kickboxing world champion, if I'm not mistaken.
Yeah. And I promise you he didn't
fight for a world title for his 1st fight.
He didn't fight a famous guy for his 1st fight.
And Chris a great fighter and a tough guy.
Thud!
Like when I'm not in the gym, I'm always
working on something for the documentary. -Sure.
And that's what I wanted to show you here.
The story is not going to be as strong if
I find someone that is going to lay down.
I want to find someone who has a belt or
had a belt, because that's the real life "Rocky" story.
He fought Apollo Creed.
He was a champion.
I know that I'm never going to fight
an actual champion. That'd be like,
you can't, number one contenders can't.
I don't know, you're good. You go in there and
point fight your way. I mean, points are a real thing.
You're fast as lightning. -Appreciate that.
You had great points on me last time.
You know what I'm saying? You was moving so.
Like just having a former World Champ
or a former National Champion or a former
International champion, it's sad to say, but there's
champions out there with those kind of belts that
the public didn't even know, right?
Like, there's some guys out there that I meet
There's people without the belts that they don't even know.
Reach is the most important thing for me.
Getting the most people to actually see the project.
That's the most important thing.
Because with this disease, it's unknown.
And the more people that get to know about it,
the more chance that maybe there can be a cure
or a better treatment or something like that.
So that's the job that I want to do.
And I feel that if I were to have them set
me up with a guy that's easy to beat, that people
don't know about, I feel like it's almost like not wasted,
but the story, it's like that phrase where if a tree
falls in the middle of the woods, does anyone hear it?
Yeah but. It's almost like that.
But that tree does fall you know what I'm saying?
It does.
So it's it's like, brother, the name that you
fight against isn't going to be what matters.
It's going to be the challenge itself.
Yeah, that's correct.
The challenge will be real as long as another
man signs that line and doesn't mean to fall
on purpose, that's then you have a challenge.
What's your weight?
Right now, I'm about 167.
It doesn't matter, though, the challenge itself.
So that's all that matters is if
you want to fucking do it right.
But here's what I'm here's what I'm
trying to get trying to get at. -Yeah.
When you go to the movies, right, and you watch
an entire movie, you sit down and you watch an entire
movie, what do you remember from watching that movie?
You remember the character, right?
That's the number one thing you remember.
Let's say, Pirates of the Caribbean?
The first thing that comes to mind is Jack Sparrow.
Johnny Depp. Right. It's the character.
And as a filmmaker, because that's what I
was before doing all this stuff, is, it's so strong
to have strong character, because that's what's
going to make people remember the story outside.
When they leave, they're going
to think about "remember that. Oh, yeah".
"Well, it was about this guy with multiple scolosis".
So characters is so important to me, and
the number, I'm trying to focus my mind here.
My mind is all over the place.
The reason why I'm here with you today is because
I feel like this is, what I wanted to do,
was I wanted to create a real life "Rocky" story.
Everyone knows a Rocky story needs an Apollo Creed.
Someone to help carry that story. Where these two
characters, two beloved characters come,
and they clash, and it's
a like a camaraderie at the end, you
know, they're respect each other so much that it's
it goes, you know, for different sequels.
But what I'm trying to say is, is that
I've never been a champion,
but you want to fight me?
You're jumping the gun, but you're
You want to challenge me?
I would be honored if you would -Yeah.
be the "Apollo Creed" in my story.
Absolutely bro, you could beat me.
That's what I've been working on.
It took three years to get to that point.
And what do you think?
I think it's too big for you, because
I don't think it's the right weight class.
I mean, if you're walking around 167, that
means you fight at 160 or 54.
So that's an issue, you know, but at the
same token, he's game for it, and he's right.
He's, you know, he's a rough guy that he doesn't
he's not going to really take into consideration you
want to put him in the ring, he's going to
throw punches, and that's the respect that you deserve.
If you're going to get in there, he should try to
knock you out, and if he knocks you out in 1
second or 40 seconds or never, that's the way it works.
That's the way it goes.
What's the, what's the next step?
The next step is to have the fight try to
figure out how we can how and where we can
sanction the fight, because a lot of commissions, most
United States commissions will not allow the fight.
The MS may be enough to
stop them from sanctioning the fight.
The size difference may be enough.
The lack of experience. I mean, to get a
state commission to sanction a real professional bout
is going to be a challenge all unto itself.
Now, there's there may be states, like, where
they do bare knuckle matches. The commission is a
little bit more lax. Out of the country
they're a lot more lax in different countries.
But really, to be honest, if you go to
any doctor, you tell them you have MS and
you want to schedule a fight, they're going to tell you no.
I would imagine not because they care
about you, not because they think that
something's bad is going to happen.
They're just afraid that if something does happen,
and they put him on the stand and say,
"Doctor, did you know he had MS"?
And the doctor says, "yes, I did".
They say, "okay, well, you're going to jail".
That's not he's worried about you.
He's just worried about himself.
He doesn't want to go to jail.
And you can't blame them.
I know it's crazy.
I know it's impossible. Nothing is impossible.
For starters. Impossible is nothing.
In the end, he's just a man with gloves on.
In the back of my mind, always.
How long can I sustain before my next relapse?
Today, I will be boxing Marlon Moraes,
ranked Number One in the UFC.
Former UFC champion Frankie Edgar will be watching.
If I'm to continue on my journey, I need his blessing.
I need to put up a good fight.
For sure, I was nervous when you were training with
Marlon, man. You know, like I said, I don't know much
about MS, so I didn't know what's
dangerous, what's not dangerous.
Is there any risk because I have MS,
that Jocelyn would get MS?
Patients with MS have a 1% chance of increase
of a child having MS versus somebody that doesn't
have MS, but it's more genetic.
For sure I was nervous when you training with Marlon.
I said, I don't know much about MS I didn't know
what's dangerous whats not dangerous.
And you're still working out pretty regular. Yeah.
Which also is super for MS.
Helps the fatigue, helps the balance.
I mean, everybody should have at least
some sort of a workout routine.
That's a good thing.
Memory is doing alright?
Sequence stuff is really hard for me.
Like remembering a phone number.
If you tell me to remember a phone number
right now, I'm probably not going to remember it.
Or like, for example, for the boxing that I'm doing.
Yes.
They'll do the pads, and they'll say a combination.
1.2.3.
I'm like an airhead. I can't even remember 1,2,3.
I'm really struggling with just remembering.
Its dangerous for them.
Because I can slip and hit them.
Right, right.
And I wish there was something magical.
But you're exercising or sleeping okay at night?
Pretty good. Yeah.
Okay. How is the fatigue, do you think?
Um, lately?
Like, right now, I'm pretty good.
But I mean, that's another thing I wanted to
talk about is the whole month of December really?
That was pretty bad. -Okay.
with the headaches and the fatigue and just um,
I don't want to say desire, but that was pretty bad.
Okay.
Anything going on during that month?
Any infections, colds, flus, stress?
Definitely stress. -Okay.
I wasn't able to see my baby, Jocelyn.
I wasn't able to see her the whole month.
Pretty much. -Gotchya.
And I know we don't usually talk personally. -Yeah.
But you know how Jessica used to come in
with me all the time? -Yeah. And now it's just me?
And everything affects the MS, makes things worse.
It's definitely something that someone bring up.
Got you.
How to manage the stress.
So the relationship and the support is kind of
Kaputz.
Yeah.
But you're still able to see your daughter? -Yeah, yeah.
It's gotten better because, I mean, it gets difficult
too, just to, you know, because I'm coming from all the
way from Miami because I live with my brother now,
so I go to see her then.
But just like, small, stupid stuff.
Like, for instance, I had the brakes,
but I had to fix my car. -Yeah.
I didn't want to put her in the car with bad brakes.
Right. And I couldn't financially get, you know,
afford to fix the brakes so I just went the whole month
of December is kind of, like, really tough.
Sure. Because shes like everything to me.
I couldn't see her. -Yeah, that is hard.
That is hard. Honestly. Yeah.
That's not good.
It all affects the Ms, so thinking things are a
little bit worse may not be the brain lesion is
getting worse, or those kinds of things, or the MS
progressing, but that stress can just really be enormous.
The cognitive stuff and the processing, if things aren't
going well, you need to be able to say,
you know what, having a bad day. Yeah.
Can't happen today.
Yeah, that makes sense.
So you don't think that I should take that?
What's that stuff? Ocrevus?
I like Ocrevus.
We probably have well over 200, maybe
250 people on Ocrevus now.
I haven't seen a lot of risk of increased infections
and things, especially in people physically, as good as you
are, some people that are a little more impaired might
have a more of a risk of respiratory infections and
things. That's just from the infusion aspect?
Yeah. Because it's a mild chemotherapy. -Ohhh.
It's actually depleting cells. So its, right,
I know that word conjures up a lot of bad stuff.
I thought you did great.
You're in there not afraid to get hit and
then not afraid to take one, to give one.
I think what you've done so far, you're
on the other side of it, man, where
you're inspiring people, you're inspiring myself.
The fact that you're going after this, having
MS, I mean, if that doesn't motivate
someone, I don't know what really would?
I got Frankie Anger's blessing.
I got the confidence that I
needed to continue my journey.
Seems like things are starting to fall in my favor.
Now on to the Big Apple.
I work for Matchroom Boxing USA.
My title is the Event Manager
and Head of Athlete Relations.
I'm Kevin Rooney Jr.
The taller, better looking version of my father.
Some of my earliest memories are with my
father and Mike Tyson training camps.
I didn't go to the fights.
I was just too young.
Him and my dad split up in 88',
so I was only four years old.
But I have memories of him and Mike in training
camp in Vegas, in Atlantic City, and Mike hitting
the bag and Mike getting bloody noses during sparring.
How did you first become aware of Nicholas Zarrillo me?
Instagram social media, the world we live in.
But when you had reached out, I remembered
Chris had talked to me about it, like
you said in 2017, you sparred with him.
I remember Chris bringing it up, and then as
soon as you reached out, I texted Chris, and
I'm like, this is your boy, right? This is the guy?
And he's like, "yeah, it is".
What are your thoughts on me
creating my own "Rocky story"?
I mean, I think it's intriguing, you know what I mean.
Where I think that's what this sport is about.
It's like the element of surprise and the element
of you never know what's going to happen in
this sport. And everyone's always looking for a story.
I mean, this is a story.
You know what I mean? Like you said, it is the real
life Rocky story, and it's intriguing, it's inspiring.
And that's what I think, that this sport, kind
of unlike any other, is what it does.
It inspires people.
It motivates people, and it gives people
the opportunity to do things that they
never thought they could do before.
I mean, people will want to come out and be part
of that journey and part of that voyage and just
say, "Look, I'm going through this as well,
I'm here to support him".
Again, it just goes back to
the inspiration aspect of it.
He's an inspiration to all of us, to the fact
that he's able to do this gives me hope that
I'm able to do whatever it is that they desire.
If it's playing an instrument or playing
another sport, you know what I mean?
Your vision, your dream is to compete in one of the
most ruthless sports in the world you know what I mean?
And to do that with with your disease,
I mean, it just it gives people hope.
I mean, and not even people with MS,
just anyone in general.
Like, if that guy can do that
shit, why can't I go do this?
Years wasted, stripped away by a fucking pandemic.
Can't win anything back
If there's no fight. Where do I go from here?
Was this all for nothing?
I guess I want to say that, ah,
to anybody who can hear it, anybody who's listening.
Man keep fighting. Stay strong.
No matter what you're going through,
God always got you back.
Somebody got you back.
And if it feels like they don't,
You got to have your own back sometimes.
So don't cry about it. Stay strong. Go forward.
That's it. Go forward.
That's my message, you know what I'm saying?
Because I'm out here going in, I'm fighting.
I'm going to put it all online.
I'm going to die for this shit, or I'm just going
to live while doing some shit that I think that I
would die for. This shit ain't going to kill me.
This shit only going to make me stronger.
Suffering only makes you stronger.
Let's suffer, together.
I do have a little confession to make.
I haven't been to church in a long time.
Okay. So what does that mean?
Maybe it's time.
You want to be a role model. -Yeah.
And you'll be a good one.
Even the great role models humble themselves on their knees,
turning to God, saying, it's truly all about you.
I can inspire people.
I can do good things.
But it's only really worthwhile if it's in your name.
He needs to be your ace in the hand. Right?
He sees a hero on his knees.
He sees a hero being a good example.
And all the young ladies and all the young men
who will look up to you will take note.
This old priest can inspire an older crowd.
I'm not going to inspire kids.
Heroes do.
Careful.
What about the other doctor?
Does he have to go back?
The GI doctor?
No, the one in Austria.
Well, we're going back in May, but in general,
considering that they wanted to do surgery on her
and all the doctors here said that they couldn't
do anything, I think I did a good job.
Saved her from surgery.
Right, no more "tubi".
So what about possibly, like you were saying,
moving to Austria?
What are you talking about?
You said you might possibly. You were thinking about it.
I thought it would be a possible good option.
Switzerland is really good too, because they
have free education and things like that.
And I think that if she had the opportunity to
go to school for free would be a good idea.
But that's, why are we bringing up?
She's going to move to Austria if it's something
that you were going to consider, is something
that would be highly effective to me.
And all my concern was whatever was best for her.
So I don't understand why
you're asking that specifically?
I'm just concerned thats all.
Concerned about what?
Not being able to see her that much.
You see her once a month as it is.
That's equivalent to one full day a month.
I focused a lot of my negative energy,
I guess, into the training.
And, you know, I traveled around and when I trained
with these guys, like, I learned to respect them.
Like, almost like training with a gun.
You need to respect the gun because
you could get seriously hurt or killed.
Get all this experience with these world champions and
like layer by layer, building back that confidence.
Like this suit that I'm wearing right now. Right?
This was given to me by I don't
know if you're familiar with Conor McGregor?
This is his fashion line.
Like, they believe in my journey, gave me this suit.
Best suit I ever had. Right.
Even though these good things are happening,
I still, wakeup every morning and I just feel like
a failure because I can't be there with my
daughter every day. I can't raise her like I
envisioned it, like how we're taught to.
How do you know I don't want what's best for her?
Because she would have just made a sacrifice
at any point, but you never do.
See, I thought I was making a sacrifice.
That's where we're having this disconnect.
I thought I was Sacrificing.
You know what the thing is, though? Fuck you.
Because this is a helpless child.
Who I was there for. I was there for her every day.
You were not.
Check my phone.
I have all pictures back from day one. Day one.
And you said that you you take one day that
I fucked up and you're you're, you're fucking
castrating me for the entire span of it. One day.
Fucking passed out you.
And you told me, you just told me
that that you're yeah, you're fucking nanny.
She goes to sleep all the time.
I fucked up once and went to sleep once.
I had no choice.
And how dangerous was I to the baby?
None. -Considering I had to
leave work early several times. -Once.Once. Because
I fell asleep once. Because she was vomiting, almost
aspirated her tube and could have easily died.
She asp...She knocked her tube out all the time.
That's why she wore the wore the glove.
You know that. We went to the doctors
several times to get the tube put back in.
And you're going to sit there and try
to blame me for this whole thing?
You're not listening to me.
It's fine.
You don't have to listen.
I'm listening to you.
You asked me a question. I gave you an answer.
You're not fit.
It's good that you stepped up now and you seem to
like, want to take care of her because you sure as
hell had no interest in her when you were living here.
I had several hundred pictures and videos
that we've taken together that says otherwise.
Well, your perception on what you
were looking at is your own perception.
Everyone's perception is their own perception.
I would do anything for her.
You are unfit to take care of her.
I'm protecting her from you.
Because I'm such a monster right?
You stepped up and
you take care of her, the limited time that
you spend with her because that somehow works.
And that's fine.
That's why I'm letting you see her.
But when I used to leave, she used to
scream and try to get away from you.
So now she looks forward to seeing you.
And if she continues, if it seems like
a positive thing for her, then good.
If it turns back to what it was, then I
will fight tooth and nail to keep her away from you
because I will not have anything hurt her.
Where do you even get this that I'm such a monster?
I don't understand?
Where are you even getting it from?
I think your story, Nicholas, is really
an awesome story about not giving up.
Just don't give up.
You wanted to come to the church just to talk.
Who do you think called you in here?
For a reason, because he sees a lot of good in you
and he finds you useful.
I get it. I get that you, that you,
in your mind I'm a bad father. Okay? I get that.
You're not even a bad father. You're just a bad person.
You calling me a monster! That's just ridiculous, man.
I just call'em like I see'em Nick.
I've accepted you for what you are, but
you need to understand, that's why I'm
limiting her exposure to you.
How many times have people come to church like this
one on one with the priest, right? It's not common.
Who has you here? God does.
And he shows you how much he cares for you.
And that's something to ponder too.
Isn't it strange?
In the ring, you are so powerful, but
here in God's house, you're a bit nervous.
I think you should just film this part
and then cut out the rest of it.
It's not really going to bode well for you.
As a lonely, single father,
takes care of his daughter.
Here's the most important message that I can give
to Nick and anybody that is out here listening.
Is that, no matter how hard it gets,
nobody gives a fuck.
Keep going. Keep doing you. Keep doing your thing.
You just keep going forward. Keep doing you.
Don't wait for somebody to help you. Don't sit down.
Don't lay down and die.
Get your ass up, stop crying,
and fucking go fight for something.
We didn't always have a lot of time together,
but we always made the best of it.
Playing Lion King.
Please, please help me.
Holidays.
Jack Nicholson's Joker impressions. -Boo!
My personal favorite...
And then just sprinkle. Making pizza.
All you got to do is sprinkle.
You don't even have to touch.
Just sprinkle. sprinkle, sprinkle. Sprinkle!
Yes. sprinkle, sprinkle! Sprinkle!
Ready to put the pizza in the oven? -Yeah.
Dada!
Who's that? Is that Daddy's hair see it?
He's strong. -Who's that?
Dada strong and thats Jocelyn. -Awe!
Four days a month, I see my rosebud.
For those days, I don't feel like a failure.
I feel alive.
How you doing? -Hey.
Life is life, bro.
I'm a fighter, and life sucks
sometimes, so that's why I fight.
So it is what it is.
But other than that, you know, life is all right.
You know I respect the guy for willing to step in there
but, you know, when these knuckles
touch his noggin, he gonna be rocking.
And you know what Aliyah said?
Don't rock the boat. Rock the boat, baby.
How has COVID affected your life?
COVID has really just slowed me down from partying.
I'm better than I've ever been.
I'm smarter than I've ever been.
Faster, stronger, well rested.
I'm the best version of myself.
To my opponent, Nick. Welcome to hell.
How does it feel to be compared to
the iconic Apollo Creed in my documentary?
Um, I mean, man. Apollo is well, he's a movie legend.
You know what I mean?
I don't know. He's a movie guy.
I'm not an actor.
This crazy guy think he going to fight with Platinum.
I respect the crazy guy.
I respect that. I can give him what he wants.
What's your prediction on the fight?
It's always the same, man.
I'm gonna knock this guy out.
I'm a real live combatant. And ah,
I'm not really sure, man.
You know, it's just totally different.
Rocky Four had a famous exhibition
with Apollo Creed versus Ivan Drago.
What are your thoughts on the final fight
of my documentary being with you as an exhibition?
Exhibition is a popular topic right now
with Mike Tyson and Roy Jones.
So if we can get some cameras behind it and
some attention to a great cause, I'm all for it.
My prediction for the exhibition is that Nick is crazy.
You got a goal in mind, and
I'm at the end of that goal.
And if you can get on the other side and
be victorious, I'll give you a round of applause,
because I'm not going to not try to be you.
I don't know how to do it any other way.
Any day, any place, anyone.
Do you think it'll be controversial at all that
I asked you to be my Apollo Creed?
Considering Carl Weathers is black?
There's a lot of controversial areas for your idea
between us, and that could be one of them.
Me being white and
And we could do it Christmas, we could do
it New Year's, we could do it January 1.
Also. I think something that's controversial between
us is the MS and me being a hard hitter.
That's kind of my style.
We could do it Valentine's Day.
You're going to need your girlfriend to show you some
love after I put these hands on you anyway so.
And me being a full fledged professional and you
not being a professional. Any day of the week,
Mother's Day might not be a good one.
Your mama won't be too happy with you.
Respect. I want to help you get what you want, bro.
You're looking for something deep inside of
yourself, and that's what fighters do.
So, you know, dig deep.
Time for talking is done. It's time to work.
You get these hands right in your face.
Yeah!
Is that a good spin?
You like that spin? High five.
Yes, that was a good spin. Come on.
You want to put the cheese on? -Oh, yeah. -Okay.
Come on up.
You want to try spin first or no? -Spin. Spin.
Go ahead, try spin. Just toss it in the air.
Just go.
Just go. Use your hands like this.
Here, put your hand like that. Like this.
Watch I'll show you. Put your hands like this.
Like this.
And then just let him sit on. There you go.
That's a good spin.
Ahhhhh!
Get ready to catch you got to catch it like this.
Ready? Your fingers don't go through. You ready?
I'm fighting a losing battle with MS.
I'm fighting a losing battle with her mother.
I'm fighting a losing battle against Mike Perry.
But if all that I accomplish is that one day,
my Rosebud can say that my dada tried
his very best. Then I'll have accomplished something.
Anything is possible.
And it would be kind of like the cherry on top,
If you get it done. That would be awesome.
How many people give up?
How many people okay, "I can't do that" until you're
flat on the floor, you just can't get up.
You keep going.
That gives a lot of people courage, and that's awesome.
I guess celebrities sort of
make their way along, right?
It's not like every day is full of events for you.
That day might come and it might not.
No harm, no foul.
Let's just say it doesn't.
You keep at it. You keep working out.
God may intend for you to be a great coach for someone.
I mean, you don't know, right?
But with the knowledge you have, the drive you
have, the enthusiasm you have, the love you have
oh, my gosh, that's a great motive.
Those are great motivators for you.
And I'm amazed you're at this point.
How many people would have said, okay, no more?
And how many people have already said to you,
"you really need to kind of do something else".
You need to move on to something else. Right.
Many people try to be discouraging, and you've
continued because you have confidence in yourself.
That's good. I think we have to believe in ourselves.
Again always saying to yourself, like,
"What's my motivation"? What will I get out of this?
My daughter will be proud of me.
I'll have a living. I have to make a living.
And am I pleasing to God?
Like, what is it that I'm doing that serves God?
And everybody, whether they're working at a
nursing home or a hospital, working out in the fields,
working on the farm, whatever they're doing, working in
the gym, working out somehow that can serve God. It can.
You don't have to feed the whole world.
Maybe if you feed one person, you may not be
able to house people, but you could inspire the homeless.
In other words, not to give up.
I think your story, Nicholas, is really
an awesome story about not giving up.
Lets go!
Just don't give up.
Coming to the scales from Toms River, New Jersey,
with a record of zero and zero,
"the real life Rocky", Nicholas Zarrillo.
Weighing in at a 177 pounds.
Fighting out of Miami Beach, Florida, as well.
Originally from Flint, Michigan, he fights for the
UFC Welterweight Division. Record of 14 wins.
Eleven wins by knockout.
Seven in the first round.
Give a big hand for Platinum Mike Perry.
Weighing in at 190 pounds.
Fighters to the center of the ring.
You guys know the rules and regulations.
Ready? Go!
The moment I realized I'm in a real fight.
Move and use your jab.
Fuck. Wow. He's really fucking strong.
I know your inclination is to slug because you're
a fucking warrior, but I want you just to box.
Jab. Jab. Move. Jab. Jab. Move.
Don't stand in front of this guy.
Stunned me. Thank God for the bell.
Can't just sit in the pocket. He'll break your ribs.
Keep pumping the jab
You're all heart, but now be all speed. All right?
That's it. Combinations. Come on. That's it.
Keep jabbing.
That's all you got to do! Like that!
He's too strong! Don't stand right in front of him!
Box! Yeah! Move! Move!
1. 2. 3. 4.
I think he's too big for you.
Five. You got to get up on eight.
Not many people, Nicholas, get this opportunity.
This guy fucking hits like a truck.
Six, seven, eight.
You all right? Fighters! Ready? Go!
Damn. That was my best shot.
He's relentless, but I have to do
something to keep him off me.
Wow, he's really fucking strong.
You could be me.
That was your best round.
Seconds out!
Keep jabbing. Like that. Keep moving. Keep jabbing.
Can't stand in one spot with him.
That hurt.
Eye of the tiger, Nick. Eye of the tiger.
30 seconds gentlemen. 30 Seconds.
You okay buddy? -Yeah.
Jab. Jab. Move. Jab. Jab. Move.
NICK GET OFF THE ROPES!
BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!
15 seconds. Lets go!
Down.
One. Two. Three. Four.
Here. Ready?
She didn't quit on me, I can't quit on her.
Dada.
Just don't give up.
If you walk away, it's over.
Six, seven, eight.
I think that's enough, Nick. -Huh?
It's enough. It's enough! You proved your point.
You're a fucking monster. It's enough.
All right, thats it. -One more.
Lord Jesus, we ask your blessing
upon your faithful servant
as he attempts to serve you in such grand ways.
Lord, protect him always. Keep him safe.
Let him know of your intense love for
him in his success and in his failures.
Let him know that you're always with
him and with his beautiful daughter.
Keep them safe, Lord Jesus.
May he be always, in whatever capacity,
a wonderful hero to his daughter.
And, Lord, a wonderful hero for
you in spreading your name.
In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Gloves. Go!
Keep jabbing while you're moving. Keep moving.
It's been almost five years now since I got diagnosed.
Man, I was headed towards a dark place, and
then these guys helped me out right here.
Dino, Guy, Big Mike. He helped me out in
a different way, but he helped me out.
I did this whole journey because of my daughter,
you know, me and her mother split up, and
I don't get to see her a lot.
So this was my way of fighting back.
And I owe a lot of gratitude
to, Dino, Guy, Big Mike.
You're just getting started.
This is just this five year journey just started today.
There's a whole new thing ahead of you so.
That's fighting. You know what I mean?
I have a son now.
I have a kid now. Little baby. Thank you, brother.
So I know now what they say when their
parents are always like, it's the craziest feeling.
I finally have the little dude in my hands,
and me and his mom are taking care of
him, and it's just a whole new motivation that's
different than you know what I mean?
So I came in here, and I fought today, and you fought
one of the best fighters in the world today, period.
And you went, like, nine or ten rounds.
You know what I mean?
Thank you, brother, for showing us all what heart means.
Thank you.
You know, also, with MS, there'll be better days ahead,
Yeah. and you'll be back in the game so.
Thank you Dino for allowing me to take this
crazy, risky, five year journey.
There's two types of people in the world.
There's people that actually step in the ring and
fight, and then there's the rest of the world.
And now you've separated yourself from everybody
else, and that's a big, big deal.
It's a tiny, tiny percentage of you guys that
are willing to make that commitment and that level
and then put cameras on yourself and expose yourself
and let everyone see what you're made out of.
That's a special, special individual.
And now you've put yourself in that small, selective
group, and everyone obviously is super proud of you.
Yeah. A couple of days a month, but it's never enough.
No, relish that Nicholas.
Take every minute, every hour, and just
make it the best for her.
It can just be a day on the couch, and so it
may not be a lot of days, but, you know, allow her
to be proud of you as girls are to their dads.
You take the challenges that befall
you, and you still are strong.
How many people give up?
How many people okay, I can't do that.
Until you're flat on the floor.
You just can't get up.
You keep going.
That gives a lot of people courage.
Thank you for the fight, brother. It was a pleasure.
Thank you so much for being my story's Apollo Creed.
Like I said, day one. This is day one. -It's day one.
To our future, bro, and we got endless possibilities.
I am not quitting after this. -Lets go brother! No sir.