This is an audio interview, but I posted the transcript first, the youtube video with the interview is posted at the end, scroll down.
They talk about many interesting topics from what happened at WAL to the upcoming ARMFIGHT 48 Vendetta: Devon Larratt vs. Denis Cyplenkov which should take place on 20 November 2017. They also discuss about the strap and about armwrestling and Olympics.
0:09 hey guys welcome back to funny blunt
0:12 truth we have the awesome Devon Larratt
0:15 back on the podcast want to say hi to
0:17 the listeners Devon hey guys how you doing
0:20 Devon Larratt world champion armwrestler
0:23 the man yeah for you guys listening on
0:27 that video was up between you and Matt
0:30 Mask it was for the WAL finals right
0:33 Devon this year yep that’s right
0:36 225 to Canadians in the finals once
0:41 again you know you know you know that’s
0:44 you and met have quite a little bit of a
0:47 rivalry there no yes you know I love
0:51 Matt and he’s consistently been getting
0:55 second place and the thing I love about
0:58 Matt is he really really wants to beat
1:02 me like so badly yeah that kinda that
1:06 kind of I kind of really enjoy that
1:09 yeah um competition that that breeds
1:12 greatness you know so that’s I’m sure it
1:15 brings the best out of you yeah and
1:17 that’s really gifted oh he’s uh he’s
1:20 he’s actually I think he’s even a little
1:22 bit taller than myself he’s got a
1:24 tremendous hand and his arm wrestling
1:27 principles are really really solid
1:30 looking trained smart and it is an honor
1:34 to get to you know pull against him in
1:37 the finals mm-hmm and off the table I
1:40 really love the guy but on the table
1:42 every chance I get to know cam you know
1:46 I will take oh I see it I see it you
1:50 know that must give you an advantage
1:52 like on the table like the little mental
1:54 game you know well yeah
1:57 Matt I just can’t figure me out I don’t
1:59 know Matt what is the matter with you
2:01 man okay some opportunities and
2:04 seriously I can’t much more man you know
2:07 what I think that I’m done pulling Matt
2:09 I’m sick of it I’m sick of beating him yeah
2:13 I’ve decided I’m gonna I’m gonna start
2:14 eating a lot of baked potatoes and then
2:16 and I’m gonna start going after the big
2:19 juggernauts from all around the planet yeah
2:22 I definitely was in a touch or not an
2:24 episode um so you’re pretty much done
2:26 with 225 huh well here’s the thing I I
2:31 would pull away class if I thought that
2:34 there was enough glory in it and the WAL
2:38 has been just amazing like you know
2:42 we’re on ESPN we got world broadcast the
2:46 level was high enough mm-hmm III think I
2:49 could pull 225 and definitely you know
2:51 um you know it’s where I naturally sit
2:54 but if that’s gone and we’re in a new
2:58 chapter of armwrestling and that looks
3:01 like you know kind of like it did more
3:04 old-school calling guys out that’s self
3:08 promotion nobody cares nobody cares
3:11 about weight in that world in that it’s
3:13 can you beat this guy yeah
3:16 so I think that’s where we’re at right
3:18 now and that means that I have to eat
3:21 baked potatoes mm-hmm so for the
3:24 listeners uh for those of you that don’t
3:27 know Devon won the both left and right
3:29 hand at that recent event like I said
3:31 it’s on YouTube P beat Matt Mask on so
3:33 Devin but wao they have a 225 division
3:37 which is heavyweight right and then they
3:39 have like super heavies that’s correct
3:41 yeah okay this is a common division in
3:45 like in most leagues there’s a split
3:48 somewhere around there mm-hmm whether
3:51 it’s 231 242 220 225 mm-hmm so with you
3:58 with the move to 225 um why did you even
4:02 go to that division did you feel like
4:04 the guys were like – it was too much of
4:06 a gap like they were too big because I
4:08 seen you like just crush monsters yeah
4:11 well I’ll tell you so I’ve always
4:15 weighed around 200 I mean but when when I was
4:22 okay so when I was twenty years old I
4:25 was already weighing in at 220 okay so
4:33 when I first was kind of competitively
4:35 armwrestling I was in my way category
4:38 kind of started to dominate my weight
4:40 category and so I started to go after
4:42 bigger guys and I can always pull in the
4:46 weight class but the thing is is you’re
4:48 always kind of pushing yourself to see
4:50 where you kind of top out at and that
4:52 kind of brought me to pulling super
4:54 heavy weights I was still the most I
4:56 ever weighed in competition was 247
4:58 mm-hmm
5:00 you know you normally saw me about 240
5:02 245 yeah what happened was I ended up
5:06 developing a chronic injury in my right
5:11 arm and when that happened I found that
5:16 it was a nice shallow pond that I could
5:20 kind of recover in in the weight class
5:25 of 225 you know it’s it’s a safer place
5:28 this is you know you enter a tournament
5:30 where you know guys are 610 400 pounds
5:35 you know I think it hurts man yeah so
5:40 you know for the cost and for you know
5:44 the consideration of my career and the
5:46 longevity that I want to have in the sport
5:48 I might chose to kind of live in that
5:51 weight class for a few years yeah yeah
5:54 and another reason for you moving up is
5:58 it just like simply the challenge
6:00 because like if I’m not mistaken you
6:02 just you just pretty much dominate 225
6:05 you know so it must it must get boring
6:07 for you but you know there are guys at
6:11 225 who can give me a good challenge but
6:15 the thing is is to get that to happen
6:19 requires some serious promotion and
6:22 orchestration like there there’s some
6:25 European guys at 225 that I would love
6:28 to pull rush by Vitaliy Laletin tall
6:31 skinny guy the exact opposite this
6:34 short Bulgarian kid Sasho Andreev of
6:38 Italian guy
6:39 Ermes Gasparini these are three names
6:41 and there’s more there’s there’s a lot
6:42 of elite guys and in North America you
6:44 know there’s Matt and I there’s Ron Bath
6:46 John Brzenk right right exactly but the
6:50 problem is is to get us together is it’s
6:54 not easy to do yeah but I can have great
6:58 matches like I can have really
7:00 challenging matches with great big
7:02 monsters basically anytime I want mm-hmm
7:05 so it is a lot for the challenge you
7:07 know yeah um back to a Wal Devin um
7:13 are you able to talk about like what
7:15 happened with the whole cancellation
7:17 because I saw you know for the listeners
7:21 like you had posted a video where it was
7:23 like really commendable – and cool you
7:25 were gonna still make the best out of
7:27 the situation and just like pass the
7:29 hammer and I give you logs can you can
7:31 you touch an at all well I can give you
7:35 it from my perspective I don’t have a
7:37 lot of details mm-hmm that hammer deal
7:40 is still on the table by the way you
7:42 know and when I get beat by a
7:44 heavyweight they’re taking that hammer
7:46 if we can arrange a match I will I will
7:48 pass that heavyweight hammer around
7:51 I think it’s cool idea and who knows
7:53 maybe maybe I’ll say forget and give it
7:55 to the next guy who beats me whatever
7:56 yeah but yeah I think that there’s still
8:02 potentially a small amount of dust to
8:05 settle from the wal but I think for all
8:09 intents I think it’s I think we’re done
8:12 I think I know I am it I hate that those
8:16 words even come out of my mouth that
8:17 sucks I know it sucks it the weird thing
8:21 is is to me like I really just don’t get it
8:26 I risk so that’s why I don’t want to
8:29 speak for anybody because I do not have
8:31 the answers I’ll tell you a few things
8:33 mm-hmm that I feel pretty confident that
8:36 I can say there’s a lot of resentment
8:38 for you know what happened with the wal
8:42 and Steve Kaplan and the the wal team
8:45 but I’ll tell you in all
8:47 all my years of working with Steve I’ve
8:53 got nothing but love for the guy and for
8:57 the wal what they brought to this sport
8:59 it was a fantastic era in armwrestling
9:03 and I’ve said it before but for all the
9:06 arm wrestlers for whatever reason that
9:08 decided not to attend the wal events I
9:10 just encourage you that next time next
9:14 time there’s a big league a big promoter
9:17 that steps in like this do everything he
9:19 can to get to get on that boat because
9:22 you don’t know like it’s gonna happen
9:23 again you know Steve I think was working
9:28 like a maniac to try and make amazing
9:30 things happen in the sport mm-hm
9:32 and I think that the deck of house of
9:35 cards just kind of fell apart about four
9:38 weeks or five weeks before the finals
9:40 mmm its high-level business stuff that I
9:43 don’t don’t really fully understand I
9:46 mean from the place where I am on the
9:49 ground mm-hmm I feel like I feel like we
9:53 were so close to really making his
9:59 vision Steve’s vision about the league
10:02 really come to life and I think that the
10:07 positive thing is that all the work that
10:11 the wal did there’s a lot of inertia
10:16 there in this farm wrestle so I think so
10:19 long as guys just keep on loving what
10:22 they do I think that we’re gonna have
10:24 even even greater opportunities and I
10:27 still have a small degree of hope that
10:30 Steve has more life in him to see this
10:34 league come to you know its pinnacle
10:37 mm-hmm
10:38 yeah that’s unfortunate that that bums
10:40 me out because I somehow stumbled across
10:43 like armwrestling I became a fan and
10:46 it’s so similar to like mixed martial
10:48 arts that’s like my other favorite sport
10:50 where you know MMA at one point was like
10:53 so like underground and like nobody knew
10:57 what the heck I was talking about and
10:59 I’ll be so excited about like matches
11:01 certain things and I feel like arm
11:03 wrestling is like right on the fringe
11:05 like the line of being super mainstream
11:08 and it’s like that same thing right man
11:11 and then you guys aren’t ESPN like all
11:14 this exposure and wal such a you know
11:17 awesome production and then to see a go
11:20 under that sucks yeah well I mean it’s
11:23 it I certainly don’t think that this is
11:25 the end in any way and I think that
11:27 there’s a lot of people right
11:29 o who are are scrambling to put together
11:34 a lot of really exciting stuff and in a
11:37 lot of ways this can be viewed as a
11:41 really positive thing I mean I look at
11:43 it like you know you had this giant head
11:47 of the wal you know and everybody was
11:53 starting to get in line everybody really
11:55 was every every year the progress it was
12:00 gathering steam and I feel like we’ve
12:02 maybe cut that head up but it’s like the
12:06 Hydra and I feel like there’s all these
12:08 people right now just organizing stuff
12:12 mm-hmm
12:12 I hope so because um you know you guys
12:17 are like just tremendous athletes man I
12:20 really a mind a sport like it’s not just
12:23 and again like it’s like a lot of
12:24 parallel so like mixed martial arts like
12:26 people used to view it as like human
12:28 cockfighting but people don’t understand
12:30 there’s so much to it and the same thing
12:32 with armwrestling
12:33 um so much technique to it it’s not just
12:35 like a super strong guy versus another
12:37 group I mean you’re you’re like a prime
12:40 example because you’re a big guy but
12:42 like you best like monsters and it’s
12:45 like technique you know yeah you know it
12:48 is it’s a miniature fight of the hands
12:51 and that that’s what makes it really
12:52 really that’s why people really love to
12:55 do it because a lot of our guys have
12:58 that same you know they’re searching
13:01 that same thing do you get from fighting
13:02 I like a lot as well and see that I mean
13:08 I’ve done a lot of different types of
13:09 fighting but I used to do a lot of
13:10 martial arts and
13:12 and there was a point in my career where
13:15 I kind of realized that I could go pro I
13:21 think that I could have gone pro like
13:23 become a you know I don’t know I mean I
13:26 like to think I could have become a UFC
13:28 guy I believe it I believe it you’re
13:30 naturally I mean you’re super athlete
13:33 but one of the things that kind of made
13:37 me you know really question do I want to
13:39 go down this road is all the head trauma
13:43 that is kind of inevitable in the fight
13:45 game if you go to a higher level you
13:46 know you know I’ve seen a lot of my
13:48 friends who are fighters you know have
13:50 just terrible concussions Gary Goodridge
13:53 yes exactly like he’s a great dude great
13:58 fighter but I just don’t know if if that
14:00 price is something that I really want to
14:03 pay for for prizefighting but but arm
14:07 wrestling is different you it’s it is
14:09 fighting you get very similar sensations
14:11 but you know my spine is fine I’m always
14:14 gonna be a little walk and I’m not
14:16 getting my bell rung
14:17 so right I can do this sport until I’m
14:20 dead until I’m 80 years old nine years
14:24 old I feel like you could do this game
14:26 it’s so accessible you know like anybody
14:29 can arm rest mm-hmm
14:32 yeah with the whole head trauma thing to
14:34 like you Devon um I got some experience
14:36 too like in like martial arts and stuff
14:38 and I’m very competitive and you know
14:43 I’m thinking along the same lines as you
14:44 like I don’t want to get hit in the head
14:45 I think you know so like you know I was
14:48 thinking maybe doing like jiu-jitsu like
14:51 strictly jiu-jitsu cuz you don’t get
14:53 gained in the head and you get that
14:54 competitive you know thing out of you
14:57 that’s why I’d like I lift weights cuz
14:59 it’s a fight against the weights you
15:01 know right know boys kind of progresses
15:04 like if you enter the fight game it’s
15:07 like you wanna climb to those higher and
15:10 higher parts of the fight game and in my
15:12 mind if you become a fighter mm-hmm like
15:15 I mean you want to go to the UFC right
15:17 you know that’s the show right like
15:20 that’s the way I look at it so and if
15:22 you like as much as
15:24 I can love jiu-jitsu and you know the
15:27 grappling and the chokes and the armbars
15:28 staying away from the head trauma I mean
15:31 if I really want success eventually I’m
15:33 going to the UFC yeah you know what’s funny
15:37 Devin like it will be so interesting to
15:39 have you transition to like jujitsu
15:42 because of like you’re ridiculous like
15:44 strength you know what I mean like
15:46 you’re static like arm strings like how
15:48 would people armbar you you know like I
15:51 just don’t see it happen that’s right
15:54 like I mean we can laugh and say it’s
15:57 funny but I mean knowing what I know is
16:00 a specialized athlete like you can say
16:04 oh I know this guy actually a guy I’m
16:07 I’m gonna be arm wrestling here I’m not
16:08 gonna be arm wrestling this massive
16:10 massive beastly arm wrestler um it’s
16:14 like 350 pounds he can curl probably
16:18 some ridiculous amount of weight and to
16:21 the outside somebody can say oh you know
16:23 how are you ever gonna pin this guy’s on
16:26 when he can curl you know your body
16:28 weight you know but like anything you
16:31 know there’s it’s really specialized and
16:34 I mean I used to fight for years I mean
16:37 you probably don’t know that but I did
16:39 judo as a kid you know all through my
16:43 formative years I thought I was a fight
16:46 instructor with the Canadian Armed
16:47 Forces for a long time I did a lot of
16:49 fight camps I never went pro but I did a
16:51 lot of fighting and and I got armed
16:54 guard I got our bar and I got armed
16:56 barred by little dudes who we get
16:58 amazing it’s right raizy like I remember
17:02 you know my experience to like um you
17:05 know I grew up I fought before like a
17:07 mystery you know like we have fights you
17:09 know growing up and everything and and
17:11 you think you’re like tough you know but
17:13 but I remember like my one of my first
17:15 experiences in a gym it was the same
17:17 thing I was just getting like tapped out
17:19 like what a triangle choke I don’t know
17:20 I don’t even know what it was I’m like
17:22 what the heck is this and it was like
17:25 this unassuming kid and it was just like
17:27 it was amazing but he’s been loving it
17:30 right he’s been loving that game yeah
17:32 yeah but speaking of monsters
17:37 so this is a dream match and on the arm
17:41 wrestling world everybody wants to see
17:43 it well okay
17:45 oh you know where I’m getting at with
17:48 this like it’s all I think about as I’m
17:50 you know eating you know half pounds of
17:53 butter in the morning like nice do you
17:56 want more bread yes I do yes please oh
17:59 so so I got a few questions with that so
18:02 for the listeners who don’t know what
18:04 I’m talking about
18:04 there’s this I believe he’s from Ukraine
18:06 he’s Ukrainian. Denis Cyplenkov and I
18:10 consider him a Russian but okay yeah
18:12 yeah yeah I mean I think he was born in
18:14 Ukraine but he wasn’t sure okay
18:18 this super jacked monster Russian arm
18:22 wrestler you guys Google him
18:24 Denis Cyplenkov the guy looks like you know I
18:27 mean it’s with all due respect a freak
18:29 deceit reject real life incredible the
18:32 whole deal for real
18:33 exactly his hands are like ridiculous um
18:36 but I’m not kissing up I believe in you
18:39 Devon like like I seen you take out big
18:41 dudes I definitely see you taking that
18:45 match and it’s like it’s a dream match
18:47 and but but okay so I have a few
18:50 questions what would be your ideal
18:53 weight to take him on well geez how
18:56 about 400 pounds Devon 400 and final
19:00 honey oh man that’s a lot of us
19:03 Swiss myths cakes and I think I’m just
19:08 gonna just keep eating I used to do this
19:11 like before I was for the last four
19:14 years I’ve been eating well you know
19:17 I’ve been eating what I should eat you
19:19 know a bit healthy but that’s not what
19:22 you do when you’re trying to be as
19:23 strong as you can be you just need
19:25 everything like people talk about diets
19:27 and all my listen if you’re not
19:30 interested in how you look and you’re
19:32 only interested in top and strength if
19:34 something’s in front of you you need it
19:36 yeah like none of my chicken and
19:39 asparagus right listen if there’s a
19:41 chocolate in front of you you eat it if
19:43 there’s a cake in front of you you eat
19:45 it if there’s chicken in front of you
19:46 eat it yes you just eat as much as you
19:48 can until people get angry
19:51 is do you think there’s a point for you
19:54 where to be um
19:56 the weight gain will take away from your
19:59 arm wrestling I mean like what if you
20:01 went up to light 280 is that less absurd
20:03 for you that is absurd for me the head
20:08 okay so the heaviest of competed is 247
20:11 the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life
20:14 was 253 and that was on a tour where I
20:18 was being fed like a king and training
20:21 like a machine and I was training my
20:22 whole body so I had legs and you know
20:25 back and chest and everything so 253 was
20:30 the biggest you’ve seen could I get
20:31 bigger at this point in my life being 42
20:35 I’d probably be just kind of more fat
20:37 okay but I don’t look at in armwrestling
20:41 what you really want is strength and
20:45 power you know along with your technique
20:49 but physically if you can add strength
20:51 and power that’s always what you want to
20:54 do above above everything else so I mean
20:57 I don’t think it’s like Oh Devon you’ve
20:59 got too big for that pressure I don’t
21:01 think that I’m ever gonna think or hear
21:03 those words I’ll be as big as I can be
21:06 if but if I could if I could approach
21:09 250 I think that that’d be fantastic I
21:12 don’t know if it’s possible I haven’t
21:15 tried to get big yeah I haven’t tried to
21:18 get big and since like 2012 no you look
21:23 you look pretty big I think it was Arm
21:26 Wars it was as one gang older guy Lucas
21:29 oh yeah yeah you look pretty big there
21:33 if I’m not mistaken and I saw another
21:34 match with with a Travis Bagent
21:37 saying yeah that was December 2010 all
21:42 right that makes sense you must have
21:43 been like 240 right like I’m yeah
21:45 probably almost I was probably like 245
21:48 yeah definitely yeah you definitely look
21:51 bigger now um so okay I don’t know if
21:55 you want to get into his weaknesses but
21:57 but what can you say about like his
22:00 strengths what do you see in him besides
22:02 been freakishly strong
22:03 I mean you just have to look at the guy
22:05 and it’s it’s very clear what you’re
22:07 dealing with I mean he’s probably the
22:10 most mesomorphic human that I have ever
22:13 seen in my life
22:14 mmm he’s six I think he’s 6’2” or 6’3” and
22:18 he looks like a midget so yeah yeah he’s
22:20 super thick like something’s going on
22:21 they’re super thick I mean he’s got I’m
22:30 sure he’s got some really good top in
22:33 but a lot of times when you want to find
22:36 somebody’s weakness you really don’t
22:39 have to go much further than looking at
22:41 their strengths yeah right and because a
22:44 lot of times those things are really
22:46 exchangeable like some strength also
22:49 lead to you know it can give you some
22:51 good info he’s strong he’s way too
22:54 strong he’s way too strong I’m sure that
22:58 things come too easy for him and he
23:01 hasn’t had to suffer much on the table
23:05 I’m sure he hasn’t had to learn as much
23:08 as the guys who started doing it when
23:10 there are kids or the guys who started
23:12 doing it you know and who were weaker so
23:15 I’m hoping that his technique is not
23:18 quite as refined I’m hoping he has a lot
23:21 of faith and his strength mm-hmm and
23:24 lets me kind of play an efficiency game
23:26 with them you know but I mean these
23:28 these aren’t these aren’t surprised
23:29 anybody who knows armwrestling knows
23:32 that I’m gonna try and extend this match
23:35 yeah deep-water exactly exactly and I
23:41 think that it it is top-end
23:43 is good enough where he can kind of
23:46 finish me quickly mm-hmm that’ll be his
23:48 victory and if and if I can just stop
23:51 those surgeons it’s gonna be like he’s
23:54 the biggest bull at the Calgary Stampede
23:58 and I just got to stay on for seven
24:01 seconds now yeah yeah and if I stay on
24:04 for seven seconds I win
24:05 mm-hmm yeah that that is gonna be an
24:09 amazing frickin match how how close have
24:13 you guys come before of making this
24:15 happen has it like fell to last minute
24:17 I feel like you know there’s been some
24:22 this match is now set to happen because
24:26 everything’s now in place see so in 2008
24:30 I became world champion of the open
24:34 weight division and he was at that point
24:37 two thousand eight nine ten he was
24:40 rising
24:41 he was rising to his kind of current
24:45 stature okay but at that point we were
24:50 having a hard time setting up the match
24:52 because at that point I was doing all my
24:55 defenses in one-on-one and I think that
24:57 they really wanted me to go and do a
25:00 tournament against him you know but I
25:02 didn’t really have a lot of interest in
25:04 that and he didn’t have a lot of
25:07 interest at that time and facing me
25:09 one-on-one mm-hmm okay so I’m gonna say
25:12 that’s probably the main reason it
25:14 didn’t happen then there came a period
25:16 where I became injured they around
25:21 thousand thirteen
25:23 I just wasn’t game for the right hand
25:24 match I just I knew like it just
25:27 wouldn’t have it I just couldn’t beat
25:28 him it would have been a match so we
25:31 were trying to do it left-handed but I
25:33 think that for whatever reason we
25:36 weren’t able to make a left hand match
25:38 happen I I know that I did some offers
25:41 that I don’t I don’t know there was a
25:45 translation issue I don’t really know
25:47 why the match didn’t the match did not
25:49 happen we had a fifty thousand dollar
25:51 offer for a match and the dollar offers
25:54 for match mm-hmm budget money there yeah
25:59 I mean good enough financial incentive
26:02 but now okay
26:06 wel you know kind of sinking has now
26:12 massively opened up the potential for
26:14 his match I don’t have that locked in
26:18 big event that’s gonna pay me enough to
26:20 keep me away from this kind of
26:22 excitement now you know you know I so
26:25 I’ve said that I want the match deadness
26:29 has said
26:31 that he wants the match as well right
26:33 there that’s biggest hurdle
26:37 so Dennis saying that he wants to pull
26:39 me now the door is open I already talked
26:43 to the professional armwrestling Lee I
26:46 know that there is a potential for this
26:49 match to happen the 20th of November in
26:52 Poland still the final details have got
26:55 to get drilled down but I believe at
26:58 this point I believe if it does not
27:00 happen at that date it will happen it’s
27:05 gonna happen really soon
27:06 mm-hmm because I am I am I’m all in on
27:10 I’m all in on this match I would love to
27:12 do it so that’s all it takes right there
27:15 armwrestling Super Bowl right there you
27:17 know like I think it’ll it’ll even bring
27:19 in casuals you know people who are not
27:22 even like into the sport like that
27:24 it’s an exciting match oh man it’ll be
27:27 like you know for you huh East versus
27:31 West right yeah East versus West it’s
27:33 like I mean you’re not small by any
27:35 means but it’s like a david-and-goliath
27:36 time it kind of thing you know um
27:39 technique versus power so I mean I’m
27:43 really excited for that that’s awesome I
27:44 think we’re good representations of our
27:48 individual cultures you know yeah with a
27:51 nice board right yeah yeah I think it’ll
27:54 be really really and I’ll tell you I
27:57 don’t know I was gonna try and keep this
27:58 a secret but I’m really gonna win nice
28:02 I’m kind of wet hey I believe you 100%
28:07 there’s no doubt in my mind I mean it’s
28:09 funny cuz you see like you know comments
28:12 I mean cuz he has his fans and you have
28:14 yours and you have you know your
28:16 supporters and and they like kind of
28:18 bicker and you see it like on YouTube
28:20 and stuff like that and it’s this funny
28:23 man it’s really funny a lot of people
28:25 just kind of go by visual like sighs
28:27 like oh he’s so jacked I mean but I have
28:31 all confidence in you you know you just
28:34 gonna be the man you’re the man I can’t
28:36 wait but it is I’m dreaming about it all
28:39 right Devin so I want to get into like
28:41 another topic and
28:44 okay so the strap so for you guys
28:48 listening that you don’t know what this
28:49 is an arm-wrestling there’s a tool used
28:51 when guys like slip grip it’s a strap it
28:54 goes over the hands and I’ve seen videos
28:58 where you you have like a new design or
29:02 you’re working on something can you talk
29:04 about the issues with the current strap
29:06 design
29:07 well the strap has gone through a few
29:10 phases the the strap is designed to keep
29:17 our hands together when we arm wrestle
29:19 maybe if both guys are doing a technique
29:23 where they’re kind of targeting the
29:24 other person’s fingers and while they’re
29:27 trying to make the other guy hold on
29:28 okay this lip you know the slip is
29:31 inevitable your hands are gonna come
29:32 apart you know what the strap is there
29:35 for is to keep you together no matter
29:39 what
29:39 you can’t escape so that’s the first
29:41 thing that has to do it has the fully
29:42 fully bond used so that you cannot
29:46 cannot break your grip mm-hmm and it
29:49 benefits the power guy too right
29:51 am I mistaken I hear people say that
29:53 benefits the power guy I mean I don’t
29:57 want I don’t want to generalize quite
29:59 like that because arm wrestling you know
30:02 favors the power guy okay like if you’re
30:05 stronger that’s an advantage in the
30:07 strap or Outsiders job you will find
30:09 guys who prefer the strap you know you
30:11 will find guys who prefer to be out of
30:13 the strap so you can still use hand
30:15 techniques in a strap then right oh yeah
30:17 yeah see there’s tons of stuff going on
30:21 in that strap it’s not some simple track
30:23 to pull you it’s it it does change the
30:26 game a little bit like if you want to be
30:29 a good strap puller you have to get in
30:31 that strap and pull I mean the other
30:32 thing about the strap is it has to be
30:35 fair okay okay
30:37 and now this is something that the
30:39 armwrestling world has kind of struggled
30:41 with over over the last decade or so
30:44 because you know the last decade
30:47 I’d say that the technical depth of
30:51 knowledge in the sport has become very
30:53 wide okay whereas you know 20 years ago
30:58 there was a bunch of experts and now
31:00 it’s like everybody knows much I mean
31:04 it’s the same kind of thing to happen in
31:06 martial arts you know you know and so we
31:09 are all very well aware of who has the
31:13 advantages where so what we’re trying to
31:15 do is we’re trying to come up with a
31:16 really fair system to to make the strap
31:19 even for both competitors so another car
31:23 you love them but it’s something has
31:24 something to do with the buckle right
31:26 like I yes that’s right what side of
31:28 time yeah it’s not so much that the
31:31 buckle itself is an issue but the buckle
31:34 is where the strap gets tightened okay
31:38 and it’s and it’s in this tightening
31:41 process that a Wiley and you know
31:46 intelligent arm wrestler can take
31:49 advantage of the situation very greatly
31:52 when that strap is being tightened
31:55 basically one hand is being pulled
31:57 downwards and the other hand is being
32:00 pulled upwards and then that height
32:03 generated in the tightening process
32:04 mm-hmm and secure advantages you know
32:09 for when they say go mmhmm yeah I’m at
32:12 the post right is that the terms well
32:15 the post is is a pressure that you’re
32:18 gonna put on a guy’s fingers but anyway
32:20 you cut it having your hand pulled down
32:23 is generally gonna negatively affect any
32:28 technique that you want to apply to
32:31 somebody okay
32:32 supposed to press whatever I want to I
32:35 mean there are exceptions to this but
32:38 you know very generally the further past
32:41 and the further out you can get on
32:44 somebody’s hand the more advantages you
32:46 have okay yeah so so what we’re trying
32:49 to do is we’re just so there are double
32:53 buckle systems out there a couple guys
32:56 have made a bunch of different versions
32:58 which do neutralize the buckle advantage
33:02 which is which is really fantastic but
33:05 the thing is is administratively and so
33:09 they’re just a little bit more costly to
33:10 make and they haven’t been why
33:11 accepted by the armwrestling community
33:13 as yet mm-hmm just because the original
33:16 strap is it’s like a 99% solution it’s
33:20 the way we now it’s pretty good it’s
33:22 it’s a very small advantage but people
33:25 are still you know struggling you know
33:26 that people want to be perfect so we do
33:29 have a system now that’s really fast and
33:31 fair and I’m gonna be running with it
33:33 here in Canada and I’ll be pushing it at
33:35 the events that I’m in charge of but
33:37 yeah so this new strap I mean this is
33:41 like your design right I mean you’re
33:43 you’re pushing out there like I mean I I
33:46 don’t want to pretend like there’s an
33:48 original thought in my head really
33:50 because I steal everybody’s ideas been
33:53 together
33:53 we we had an issue so there are there
33:58 was already a guy who made the double
34:02 buckle idea okay
34:05 he’s a great guy from Bulgaria the
34:09 name’s escaping me right now but really
34:11 really smart guy from Bulgaria came up
34:13 with this double buckle system hmm and
34:15 what we had coming up is we were
34:18 supposed to be live on ESPN mm-hmm okay
34:22 and so wel started to struggle with this
34:26 because being a live show we didn’t want
34:29 to have any dead air time in the strap
34:31 even by a good referee no you know takes
34:35 about 15 20 seconds to throw on even if
34:38 you’re fast with it yeah yeah right and
34:40 they didn’t want that in a live show
34:42 they wanted that thing you know to be
34:44 right on though so they they came up
34:47 idea of a single loop strap which you
34:50 know I knew was gonna be a disaster
34:52 because I knew that you could come out
34:53 of it very easily so it would you know
34:55 you wouldn’t meet the first criteria of
34:58 a strap which isn’t you know did even
35:00 another clue you off but did you pull
35:03 Michael Todd with that design because I
35:05 remember I saw a match where like you
35:07 guys slip out of it oh no so what we did
35:12 is so you can climb out of a strap you
35:16 can it’s very hard to do but you can
35:20 climb out of a strap and it’ll happen
35:22 against guys who have good flop risk
35:25 tactics mom mr. Kings movers kind of
35:28 opened themselves up so that a guy who’s
35:32 really just trying to gain advantage
35:33 yeah you can get out of that strap so
35:37 what happened was at that point this is
35:39 that was like 2011 I think so at that
35:45 point we weren’t even using the ferrer
35:47 strap wrap so at that point we were
35:49 still just wrapping the old way which is
35:52 really archaic now think about it but
35:55 all they did was they they put on the
35:57 one strap and then they put on a second
35:59 strap so we were doubled from Neffe yeah
36:03 that match was crazy man that was a
36:05 great match that was a really great
36:07 match
36:07 I loved I wrestled Michael Todd he’s so
36:10 intense he’s so intense he’s such an
36:13 intense dude he’s okay pretty fun watch
36:15 it’s crazy
36:16 and you know like because he’s going for
36:19 a world title as well he’s uh that’s a
36:22 great arm wrestler yeah I think I’m
36:24 wrestling watch Michael Todd oh man and
36:26 his person he’s great for the sport cuz
36:28 it’s just he’s so he’s such a character
36:30 it seems that way you know he gets fired
36:33 up like you know really fired screaming
36:35 at people and hitting the table
36:36 yeah falls in love and cries and you
36:40 know everything all like within the
36:42 matter of like a couple seconds you know
36:44 you up him in a Travis Beacham is a
36:47 character too from what I’ve seen he’s a
36:49 big-time trash talker love it right he’s
36:52 a smart smart charismatic guy he can he
36:55 can make a situation go his way I don’t
36:58 know how he does it I just you know
37:01 there’s a lot you can learn from traffic
37:03 I saw this wild match between you and
37:05 Underwood it was crazy
37:09 like he kept like doing elbow fouls and
37:12 for the guys for the people listening
37:14 correct me about wrong Devin but it’s
37:16 you know it’s like when your elbow comes
37:17 off the pad and yeah you know he was um
37:20 he just kept committing like fouls and
37:23 it seemed like the matches I get and
37:24 just dragged out and and eventually you
37:27 got him but that was a that was a crazy
37:29 match that was I feel like I had the
37:33 world stacked against me that night so I
37:35 had to arm wrestle Richard Lucky’s when
37:39 he was like arm wrestle tim Bresnan oh
37:44 my god yeah right after that nobody can
37:47 shoot and then I had Don underwood
37:49 whereas dawn had one match with Yoshi
37:52 can I blue Yoshi’s bicep on the first
37:54 hit so he had one mansion and we’re
37:57 talking the normal format is six rounds
37:59 mm-hmm okay so and then he and then he
38:02 arm wrestled Travis for like two rounds
38:04 before Neil pick up shut the match down
38:06 because they were making such a you know
38:08 they were just John each other and they
38:11 weren’t even arm wrestling zone I came
38:13 into that match you know kind of really
38:15 beat horn I was I was really warned we
38:19 were doing you know they had eight of
38:22 the best super heavyweights in the world
38:24 at that time gathered in Las Vegas and
38:27 that was the final match at that event
38:29 and uh yeah I vowed after that never do
38:34 another format like that again in my
38:36 life yeah when you’re that fatigued
38:39 though Devon I mean I can imagine that
38:42 the risk of injury is higher right I
38:44 mean it’s too high it’s too high I would
38:46 tell every arm wrestler to avoid that
38:49 format when you’re competing at that
38:51 level you know you know when you’re when
38:54 you’re at world level you do one match
38:56 you do one match with one like you do
38:59 one series with one guy you don’t you
39:02 don’t do like a whole bunch of you’re
39:05 gonna you’re going to get injured
39:07 especially if you’re the type of arm
39:08 wrestler who’s really really going for
39:10 it and maybe doesn’t know how to not go
39:12 for it yeah because you’re gonna put
39:15 everything on the line and you’re gonna
39:16 you’re gonna you’re gonna get damaged
39:19 yeah that tournament like style it’s
39:23 like is it really the best arm wrestle
39:26 or winning or is it more of like a
39:28 chance thing you know I guess it depends
39:30 how the matches went to previous ones if
39:32 you’re talking about the tournament
39:34 format now that that was a little bit
39:35 different in tournament format that’s
39:36 what they call battleground format hmm
39:39 okay battleground is a series of super
39:42 matches okay in kind of like a single
39:45 elimination tournament format mm that’s
39:48 a battleground okay now turn
39:51 for it to find out who the best guy is I
39:54 mean there’s there’s a lot of there’s a
39:58 lot of debate on what that looks like
40:01 some people think you need to be able to
40:05 prove yourself in a tournament but the
40:07 problem with the tournament is if it’s
40:09 not seated correctly you have a very
40:12 high chance of you know one guy getting
40:16 a much tougher road etc so there’s just
40:18 like there’s a lot of excuses that can
40:20 happen in a tournament a lot while I do
40:24 say that it is impressive to be a lot of
40:27 different people there there used to be
40:30 this claim that the tournament pullers
40:32 are different than the best super match
40:34 poised I just don’t really think that’s
40:35 true I think you see the same guys
40:38 winning in both formats yeah I think
40:41 they just when it comes to excuses
40:43 there’s no excuses yeah yeah yeah it’s
40:47 it’s him and I and there’s there’s
40:48 there’s really very little that you can
40:51 say you know on why you didn’t have
40:54 success mm-hmm a tournament I’ve got
40:58 I’ve got a whole bunch of reasons I’ve
40:59 got a whole bunch of things that I can
41:01 complain about you know it diminishes a
41:04 little bit sometimes the champion finish
41:08 him because there’s all these parties
41:10 yeah because people will start making
41:12 excuses for like why some guy lost and
41:15 this and that and there’s value in both
41:17 I think that kind of the feeding ground
41:20 for kind of the elite level can be
41:23 tournament based you know I think a
41:25 large amount of arm wrestling can be
41:27 tournament style and I think that once
41:30 you get up to a certain level you know
41:32 where you’re ranked to some degree I
41:35 think that it’s probably in your best
41:38 interest to start seeking out the guys
41:40 in front of you in one-on-one format you
41:42 know if that’s what your goal is
41:44 I mean there’s there’s a lotta there’s a
41:46 lot of prizes that you can chase in in
41:48 this world right mm-hmm
41:50 um definite I mean you’ve been very
41:53 gracious for your time I won’t keep you
41:55 on here to too much longer but um we
41:58 touched on injury um to my knowledge
42:01 it’s a relatively safe sport I mean what
42:04 what are the odds of actually getting
42:05 injured of use proper technique well I
42:10 think that as far as sports go is very
42:14 safe you know you do have the occasional
42:19 muscle tear okay so guys blow their
42:22 shoulder or their pack or their bicep
42:24 but I’ll tell you there’s normally other
42:28 factors involved with with these
42:30 injuries like you have a pre-existing
42:32 injury what you do see is you see a
42:35 chronic sort of I guess manifestation of
42:41 something typically in the elbow or the
42:44 shoulder over the course of a career um
42:47 but you know when you compare it to most
42:48 sports I think it’s very very safe yeah
42:51 and unlike other sports um you got guys
42:55 you know competing at the highest level
42:57 like like brzenk was like what 50 or
43:01 something and and still kickin ass I
43:03 don’t know if he’s retired now but the
43:06 the guy that I always love to talk to is
43:08 top sorry talk about is crazy George Iszakouits
43:11 okay I don’t know if you’ve heard
43:14 that name before but oh so when you
43:16 think about the population of the the
43:19 planet you know and and you think 80
43:21 kilos like about 175 pounds there is a
43:25 lot of people mm-hmm there’s a lot of
43:28 people so when you are the best in that
43:30 weight category you know you’re you’re
43:32 really good you’re really good at what
43:34 you do hmm and the best guy in the world
43:37 is a 70 year old garden gnome looking
43:44 dude to have him yeah
43:46 70 damn 70s crazy in a car that’s bored
43:51 leading leading the way that’s the
43:54 definition of and I don’t even mean I
43:56 don’t mean disrespect writers but like
43:57 old man strength
43:58 that’s ridiculous it’s it’s totally
44:01 ridiculous it’s completely ridiculous
44:02 you know you get this 25 22 year old
44:06 Russian cyborg No raised in the Sports
44:09 Institute
44:10 you know drilling all day long man you
44:13 got this fat dude with a big mustache
44:18 seven years old you wouldn’t even know
44:21 and nobody no body is beating this guy
44:26 that’s crazy I have to see some of his
44:28 matches now yeah is konzi and it to me
44:31 it’s such motivation yes or not I
44:34 knuckle from his example that I can do
44:36 to support as long as I want in my life
44:39 and to me that’s that makes it really
44:41 special it makes it a really special
44:42 sport yeah so I was going to kind of get
44:46 into that so um you know as far as like
44:50 guys that want to get into the sport so
44:52 basically it’s I mean is it ever too
44:55 late to try to start no no it’s never
44:58 too late and I mean look it’s never too
45:02 early either so you can get involved as
45:04 a kid but yeah I mean we’ve had guys
45:07 come in quite late and reach like elite
45:12 Elite levels okay so no it’s it’s never
45:16 too late just know that if you come into
45:19 the sport late you’re gonna have the
45:22 first the first couple of years are
45:25 gonna be really challenging to you one
45:28 of the deterrence in armwrestling is
45:31 it’s a unique type of pain okay it’s not
45:37 like you went to the gym pounded out
45:40 like the most ridiculous leg workout
45:42 you’ve ever had and you know like oh I
45:44 can’t walk for a couple days you know
45:46 what I’m talking about
45:47 yeah yeah it’s not like that it’s not
45:49 like that it’s like you have like now
45:52 this is at the beginning when you have
45:54 like that crazy
45:56 arm wrestling workout where you’re like
45:59 in the hook nice and deep and you’re
46:01 getting opened up slowly but you’re
46:03 trying to not let it happen you do that
46:05 for like you know a good solid arm
46:07 wrestling session and then like the next
46:11 day or like two or three days after you
46:14 like throw a ball or you pick up
46:17 something heavy or you move quick
46:19 mm-hm and the pain is something like
46:22 comparable to like you know childbirth
46:25 or something like that annoys the hell
46:28 something that not even a woman could
46:31 understand you
46:32 that’s that’s crazy because you know
46:34 I’ve lifted weights like my whole life
46:36 pretty much and like I know tendinitis
46:38 pain I know bone pain like you know when
46:41 you form some curls but something like
46:44 that that’s crazy and it’s the the
46:47 tendons and connective structures um
46:50 they’re gonna they’re gonna adapt and
46:53 when they’re adapting they are gonna let
46:57 you know in a way they’re gonna talk to
47:00 you really loud yeah like I remember I
47:04 remember like back in like she’s like 95
47:08 or something like that and this at this
47:10 point I was I’d already been I rest on a
47:13 long time but I mean not not super crazy
47:16 okay um and I arm wrestled at Canadian
47:20 Nationals mmm and then there was an
47:22 after-party I wrestled all day at the
47:24 after all night at the after-party and
47:26 then we added a houseboat yeah we arm
47:29 rested the whole next day and my mom
47:31 were like hamburger I came back home and
47:33 like three days later I went to this
47:36 Fight Club on base and I started
47:39 fighting and the pain hit me so hard and
47:43 so suddenly I had to leave I was
47:45 vomiting totally crying on the ground it
47:49 was so bad so um yeah so it’s a bit like
47:52 and these are the types of thing if you
47:54 want to be an arm wrestler these are the
47:55 types of things you may have to work
47:57 through at the beginning of your career
47:59 yeah so wig is a deterrent for some
48:01 people some people like I oh I’m not in
48:03 for this but for those who make it
48:06 through that you’re gonna you’re gonna
48:08 be gifted a type of strength that few
48:11 people ever really get to understand mmm
48:14 damn so so that basically weeds out
48:17 those who really want it and those that
48:19 don’t you know yeah yeah you gotta be
48:22 you gotta be a little bit you gotta be a
48:24 little bit special to become a pro arm
48:25 wrestler yeah that’s crazy here goes a
48:29 big question Devin so would you ever
48:31 consider running your own league one day
48:34 I’m in the process of doing that as we
48:37 speak
48:38 that’s freaking awesome like there is no
48:41 better representative farm wrestling
48:43 than you that’s awesome I’m gonna
48:45 I’m gonna be involved in armwrestling
48:47 until I die whether it’s competing
48:49 promoting and the more that I get
48:54 involved the more I want to promote and
48:56 share this sport with other people so
48:58 that’s gonna try and I’ve got a lot of
49:00 ideas that I’m implementing right now
49:02 then kind of shape the sport to a way
49:07 that’s fair and I think is what
49:10 everybody had in their roots really want
49:13 to experience in the sport of arm
49:16 wrestling mm-hmm
49:18 that’s awesome Devin I wish you like you
49:20 know all the best with that you know I
49:22 hope everything works out for you so I
49:27 just got a couple of more questions for
49:28 you like I said you’ve been awesome when
49:30 your time really appreciate it you’d
49:32 like the best so arm wrestling in the
49:35 Olympics what do you think about that I
49:37 think it’s great yeah obviously right
49:40 horse but if we can if we can make it to
49:43 Olympics that’s fantastic I think that
49:45 the our main obstacle is I’m not
49:49 involved in any of that kind of level of
49:50 promotion but when I hear rumors of the
49:55 Olympic Committee wanting to cut sports
49:57 like wrestling oh no that’s just right
50:01 you heard that terminal that is criminal
50:03 isn’t it right it’s like what God what
50:06 are you doing you’re gonna cut the
50:07 hundred meter dash you’re gonna you’re
50:09 gonna cut weightlifting in the same
50:11 insane price I mean I feel like arm
50:14 wrestling certainly has a place there
50:16 just especially due to its accessibility
50:19 for everybody you know you know it
50:21 doesn’t matter who you are you can arm
50:23 wrestle I think it’s certainly an
50:25 Olympic type of sport for sure I just I
50:29 wonder if the Olympics has room for us
50:34 you know I think so because they have
50:37 the weirdest quote sports in there you
50:40 know like make a squeeze arm wrestling
50:41 and armors hanging is awesome hey you
50:43 know buddy you know somebody from the
50:45 Olympic Committee given given my my
50:47 number I’ll work on it all right
50:52 oh so let’s see all right Devin he goes
50:58 last question for you is like random it
51:00 was going on topic but what’s the single
51:02 best armwrestling workout that you could
51:06 recommend for somebody for competitors
51:08 and people or maybe people getting into
51:10 it if you can only do one what would it
51:12 be just one workout well I’d say
51:21 whatever workout that you’re doing right
51:23 now just do it harder
51:27 okay you know that cracks me up because
51:30 I thought all you want so sue me and
51:33 your pulse kill me they’re so funny
51:35 because they’re so short to the point
51:36 like you know whatever 7:30 my place
51:40 bring the pain okay like oh like you
51:43 know come harder you know like only
51:46 harder yes anything only harder like
51:48 hilarious cracks it’s all in the wrist
51:50 man that’s why you got a no arm
51:52 wrestling is all in the wrist
51:54 mmm so Devin um anything you know you
51:59 got cooking do you want people to visit
52:02 any sites or you know where can people
52:04 fans reach you well I think if you just
52:08 follow me on Facebook and Instagram I’m
52:12 gonna do my best to kind of use that
52:16 form to which I launched all my stuff in
52:20 the future so um everything that’s
52:23 significant I will at some point
52:25 announced through one of those things
52:27 mm-hmm yeah yeah and your YouTube I
52:32 follow your YouTube channel you have
52:33 great content up there I mean like from
52:36 training to just funny stuff to thoughts
52:38 about the sport so for the guys
52:41 listening you know you listeners check
52:43 out Devon Larratt YouTube channel and
52:45 subscribe to that that is pretty awesome
52:48 hey thanks so much for having me on
52:51 oh man Thank You Devin I mean it’s it’s
52:54 a it’s a pleasure
52:55 you’re just so awesome and cooled down
52:58 earth and I really enjoy talking to you
53:00 again so but um that’s gonna wrap up the
53:03 episode so for you guys listening if you
53:06 enjoyed the episode please subscribe on
53:09 iTunes follow
53:10 social media subscribe to Devin Larratt
53:13 YouTube channel follow him on social
53:15 media and I’m going to post those links
53:17 on episode and that’s it we’ll catch you
53:21 guys with the next episode
