10 THINGS EVERY MAN MUST DD BEFORE HE DIES

·':-r.i'f' • F; . ,

By: Donald ''Cowboy'' Cerrone

� 1 ,

.,� , .

If someone asked you what you’re going to do today, this month, or this year, what would your answer be? For most people, it’s a long list of chores, errands, and obligations. Apart from the occasional vacation and maybe a half thought-out business venture, very little on the list would have the potential to be life-changing, perspective-shifting, or—heaven forbid—pure, unabashed fun. We can’t think of anyone more in love with life than UFC welterweight/lightweight contender Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, whose reputation as an adventurer rivals that of Indiana Jones. He’s Onnit’s own real-life version of the “World’s Most Interesting Man,” and that’s why we asked him to write you out a bucket list that you can begin checking off in 2018.

10 Things Every Man Must Do Before He Dies

#1 Get Into a Fight

Just like they said in Fight Club, you don’t know anything about yourself untilyou’ve been in a fight. You know the expression “fight or flight?” You’ll findout if you’re a fight or flight-type of guy and then you can decide what youwant to do about it.

Everybody has the opportunity to get into a fight, even if you’re not in highschool anymore. I’m not saying to go looking for fights; you don’t have to.Keep your eyes open and the opportunity will present itself somewhere alongthe line. When it does, let it happen.

And don’t worry about knowing anything. I think it’s better if you go into your first fight without knowing shit about how to fight. It doesn’t even matter if you win. The point is to find out if you’re the kind of person who’s willing to fight to the death, or if your instinct is to get scared and run off, or wait for someone else to come in and stop it.

#2 Get Your Ass Kicked

This doesn’t have to be connected to #1, although it could be. Losing, at anything, is how you learn. If you’re a thick-headed son of a bitch like me, that’s the ONLY way you learn—the hard way. Somebody could tell me,“Don’t walk on the thin ice,” and I’d be like, “Yeah, right.” I’d walk until I fell through.

If you win all the time, you’ll never know what a loss has to offer you.

#3 Go Hunting

My kids will never play video games. If they want to shoot at stuff, they canuse a gun, not a Nintendo controller. Everyone needs to go out and throw aball, go on a hike, go swimming. One of the best things to do outdoors is hunt.

All the people who post on my Instagram that it’s wrong to hunt are allbuying cage-raised, factory-farmed turkey. I’m out here eating for real. Peoplewho pick up Burger King are having burgers made from animals that lived a

much harder life than the ones hunters kill.

You learn so much about nature and about life learning how to shoot, how to skin and prepare an animal, and how to cook it yourself. The process teaches you to respect animals and the land, and it teaches you self-reliance.

#4 Take the High Road (When It’s Easy to Go Low)

When a Jackson-Wink photographer called [UFC featherweight champion Cris “Cyborg” Santos] a man after her fight with Holly Holm, I said that doesn’t represent the team I fight for. Sure, that guy was on my team, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stand behind him on something like that.

When you go low, you paint yourself into a corner as that kind of guy, and people remember you that way. I want to be remembered as someone who always took the high road.

#5 Go Scuba Diving

Everyone should see the world from underneath it.

When people say they don’t want to do it because they don’t know what to expect, I say that’s exactly why you should do it.

I’m super tech about scuba diving and I dive deep. Like 350-feet deep. Where I dive, one screw-up or malfunction can mean death. But I love that.

I actually chase after it. I had a major malfunction one time off of Catalina Island. My wetsuit tore and filled with water.

I couldn’t inflate my BCD, so I had to come out of my suit and leave all my gear on the bottom of the ocean.

I grabbed one backup tank and came to the surface before I caught hypothermia. I had to close my eyes, remember my training, and figure life out.

Scuba teaches you how to handle stress, handle adversity. Everything’s good until it’s not. Kind of like in the Octagon.

So it trains you to be prepared. Now I check and re-check everything before I go.

On the other side of that, scuba can be very therapeutic. When you’re underwater, you have only you and your thoughts. No one is calling you, bothering you.

You’re just looking at the wonders of the world: giant sea turtles, octopuses that change thousands of colors, millions of fish. I like diving around wrecks. It’s like being a kid, playing hide and go seek, but instead of running around your house you’re swimming through a giant shipwreck. Key Largo and Key West have some of the best wrecks.

If you ask 10 people if they’ve ever been, I bet three or four will say they’ve done it. And none of them are dead. People are so scared they’re going to die, and skydiving is great for overcoming that fear.

It shows you that you have to push your body, even risk it, to have fun and experience something incredible. That applies to a lot of other things in life.I’d say, of everything I’ve done, skydiving is the ultimate rush.

#6 Go Sky Diving

I had a dog named Harley that was half pitbull and half rottweiler. I met him at a junkyard when the owners were getting ready to shoot him. I said,“Whoa! Hold on. I’ll take him off your hands.” At that time, my parents had just kicked me out of the house. Harley and I bonded because we felt like we were two rogues that nobody else wanted. For the rest of his life, he was always with me, no matter where we went. We hunted together, swam together, traveled. We were bros.

I think you need someone to bond with who’s not human. No matter what you do, animals will give you unconditional love. You don’t get that with people. It doesn’t matter if you had a bad day at work, or, if you’re me, you lost a fight. When you get home, that cat, dog, horse, or whatever will come up to you and be there. I have nine dogs, five cats, turkeys, goats, pigs, chickens… If you’re not an animal lover, I just don’t think you’re worth a fuck, man. If someone brings out a puppy and you don’t start holding it and kissing it, I don’t know what kind of a person you are.

#7 Find An Animal That You Love

#8 Have Sex With More Than One Person (Bonus: At the Same Time)

I think the days when you could meet a girl when you’re young and stay with her forever have changed. Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation, where they got married out of high school, is gone. Our generation—hell, our SPECIES—is not monogamous. All animals fuck as many other animals as they can. Those days might be past me, but I had some good years! If you settle down too young, how do you know you really love your girl? How do you know what’s special about her if you never had anyone else? I don’t care if you’re straight, gay, bisexual, or transgender, you need to go and experiment and see what you like. If your wife or your girlfriend allows you to enjoy other company, that’s great. If you can get a threesome going, why the hell not? If somebody gets jealous, remember that ego’s are like coats: it’s better to check them when it’s hot.

#9 Travel

I’ve met so many people who were born and raised in Colorado and never left. When I hear that, I’m always like, “What do you mean? You’ve never been to New Mexico, or California, or even one state over? You’ve never been to the beach?” That drives me crazy.

Getting out there let’s you see all different kinds of cultures, and that means having different kinds of experiences and learning new things. You find out that people all talk the same way, only the language is different, you know?

In my kickboxing career, I fought on every continent except Antarctica. I’ve been to Japan 18 times, and I love it. If you go there, check out Roppongi. It’s like the Las Vegas of Japan. It’s an awesome party town. The thing about Japan is you can get a noodle bowl anywhere but it’s hard to find a steak. That forces you to try different foods, and that’s important. Step out of your comfort zone. Try fish-eye soup instead of sausage for breakfast, for fuck sake. Travel as far as you can afford to. You don’t have to see the world, but at least see the U.S. If you just get into a car with some buddies and road trip across America, I guarantee it will be one of the best experiences you ever had.

#10 Alter Your Consciousness (I.E, Try Getting Fucked Up or High)

I think everyone should experience some altered state of mind. I’m not sayinggo out and do heroin. But I think you should research drugs and be open towhat they can do.

I like psychedelics. I’ve done DMT and mushrooms. They say it teaches yousomething. I don’t know what I learned other than I loved it, and I can’t waitto do them again. So at least there’s that. They’ll let you see yourself in thethird person—that’s how my trips were. I was watching my body from theoutside. And I guess if you do that long enough you’ll start to notice thingsabout yourself.

Getting fucked up in general can be a good thing. No one should take himselftoo seriously. If you don’t drink, you might want to start. I don’t like drinkingto the point where you don’t remember anything the next day, but drinking tohave a good time is something everyone should try. I wouldn’t have had asmany fun times in my life as I’ve had if I were stone-cold sober. Just be safewith driving and don’t be stupid.

My motto is work hard and play even harder. That’s what I teach thesefighters who come out to train with me at the BMF Ranch. To me, the funpart of life is the scuba diving, the skydiving, the travel. I enjoy training toobut I look at it as the thing that makes those other things possible. Do whatyou have to do to live the life you want to live.