ZestVlog

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tony Ferguson is leaving nothing to chance ahead of his fight with Paddy 'the Baddy' Pimblett.

The MMA stars, who are at opposite ends of their careers, face off at UFC 296 on December 17, and to get himself mentally and physically prepared for the fight 'El Cucuy' has drafted in one of the hardest men on the planet.

David Goggins is a former Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner and bestselling author whose self-help memoirs 'Can't Hurt Me' and 'Never Finished' have sold millions of copies.

The 48-year-old is the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces to complete SEAL training, Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training, but he wasn't always the unbreakable character he is today.

Goggins had a troubled upbringing where him, his mother, and older brother were physically and mentally abused by his father, Trunnis Goggins.

The American has spoken extensively about his difficult childhood on podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience, describing his early years as 'being like Hell on Earth'.

READ MORE UFC

Goggins moved around as a lot as a child and fell behind at school due to toxic stress and having a learning difficulty. He developed a stutter due to social anxiety and repeatedly faced racism while living in Brazil, Indiana.

He taught himself how to read and write and eventually made it into the United States Air Force.

However, he was later diagnosed with sickle cell trait which forced him to move to the Air Force's Tactical Air Control Party, which he quit due to his fear of water. After quitting the Air Force, his weight ballooned from 175lbs to 300lbs.

"Fast forward to when I was 23/24, I was going nowhere, " he says. "I was almost 300lbs, and was spraying cockroaches to pay the bills.

Most read in MMA

"I came home one day from work at 7am and saw a TV show about Navy SEALs; it made me sit down and think about how badly I always ran from my fears, and how I had to start facing them because nobody was coming to help me."

Goggins joined the SEAL reserves and began training after shedding 106lbs in three months. He went on to join SEAL Team 5, becoming just the 36th African-American Navy SEAL in US history.

He had a 20-year military career that included tours of Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded the VFW Americanism award in 2018 for his services in the United States Armed Forces.

After his life in the military, David dedicated his life to the pursuit of difficult physical challenges, mostly in the form of ultramarathons.

He became one of the world's best endurance athletes, completing over 70 long-distances races including the San Diego One Day, a 24-hour ultramarathon, the Moab 240, an annual 238 mile ultramarathon in Utah, and the Leadville 100, a 100-mile trek through the rugged Rocky Mountain terrain.

If that wasn't impressive enough, he also held the Guinness World Record for completing 4,030 pull-ups in seventeen hours.

Goggins gained mainstream media attention when he lived with entrepreneur Jessy Itzler for a month - an experience Itzler later wrote about in his book, Living With A SEAL.

Goggins released his own memoir, Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, in 2018, which became a worldwide smash.

Since then, he has become a sought after public speaker, and travels the world sharing his philosophy on how to master the mind with businesses, CEOs and top athletes.

David released his second book, Never Finished: Unshackle Your Mind and Win the War Within, in 2022, which was just as well received as his first.

David now spends his time working as an Advanced Emergency Technician in a big city Emergency Room and, during the summer, as a wildland firefighter in British Columbia.

The endurance athlete has over 9m followers on Instagram and regularly shares powerful motivational speeches while he's out running hundreds of miles. Many of the videos are filmed by his partner, Jennifer Kish.

His 'Stay Hard' mantra has been an incredibly powerful psychological tool for his followers to remember in times of great difficulty.

Recently, he has been preaching his 'Stay Hard' philosophy to UFC star Tony Ferguson, who has been put through the ringer in one of Goggins' infamous 'Hell Weeks'.

'El Cucuy' teamed up with Goggins in an attempt to get himself in top physical and mental condition before his fight with Paddy Pimblett, and became the first athlete to ever complete a Goggins 'Hell Week' without quitting.

Goggins shared video footage throughout the brutal seven-day challenge, and had this to say on whether he thinks Tony will win his fight with Pimblett.

"A lot of people ask me if I think he will win his next fight- I don’t have the first damn clue about that. That’s up to Tony," Goggins said.

"What I do know is that the man who walks into the Octagon on December 16th will be a deeply changed man.

Read More on talkSPORT

"Sometimes when the fight is near, the warrior must go back home because home is where the hell began.

"My friends, Tony is home! Hello darkness my old friend."

ncG1vNJzZmiskaG4tLzOq6tnm5%2BifLS8zquraGlmaYJ1fpdom5qumZl6qLvGoKCnq12pvK%2FFjJ%2Bcq5%2BlqLyvec%2Bam52xXaW2rq7LnqutZaWbsG5%2BmG9m