All language subtitles for Fighting.Fear.2011.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.BZ]

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- Not a lot of people even
thought we'd make it to 25.

- We've done a lot of stupid

and reckless things
in our lives,

but I guess that's just
a part of growing up.

This is our story.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] The
magnificent Pacific Ocean.

It's not surprising
that so many Australians

decide to live by it's shores.

One of Sydney's most
popular city beaches

is Maroubra.

Like most places in Sydney,

cost of living in
these kind of areas

has gone up significantly.

But things were a lot
different 20 years ago.

Surfing World magazine
described that

the only way to
survive there was to

outrage, out surf, outplay,
and out drink the other guy,

even if it ruined your life.

(upbeat music)

But none of that mattered as
kids growing up in Maroubra.

It was all about the
beach, the waves,

and the mates who
rode them beside you.

Mark Matthews and Richie
Vaculik were two such kids.

- [Mark] Rich and I
have been best mates

for as long as I can remember.

He's two years younger than me,

but he was never
scared of anything.

Because it was so small, he
was always getting picked on.

And I guess the fact that
he was the biggest smart ass

in Maroubra, didn't help him.

- [Richie] I always
used to rely on my speed

and my smart ass mouth
to fight my battles.

- Look who it is,
the local midget.

- Look who it is, the
local pumpkin head.

- What you say,
little smart ass?

- Ow, get off!

Oi!

Didn't even hurt,
you bunch of girls!

- [Richie] But now I guess
a little bit has changed.

I always looked up to
Mark as an older brother,

even though he was such
a wuss in the surf.

- [Mark] I was
absolutely petrified.

I don't know what it was.

I mean, the waves, they
weren't even that big,

but it was just that feeling

of getting rolled
around under water.

I'd always paddle out the back,

but the thing was
once I was out there,

I was stuck because I was
too scared to turn around

and catch a wave and
get back to shore.

That would be where my
mom would have to swim out

and get me, and that
age is pretty much

the most embarrassing thing
that can happen for you.

I guess it was that mentality
of just making yourself

do what the other guy
was too scared to do.

Stuck with me over the years.

Eventually I got over
my childhood fears.

(intense music)

I felt pins and needles
coming down my back.

I was like, oh God
what have I done?

- [Richie's Mother] The
thought of losing him,

to go to jail, I
couldn't cope with it.

I wasn't sure he
could cope with it.

- [Richie] A whole corner of
my face was just hanging off.

- I thought he was going
to break his arm for sure,

cause it didn't look like
Rich was going to tap.

(intense music)

(light music)

- [Mark] No, I had
a great upbringing.

My whole family surfed.

My dad's still calls me Nev,

after the first
surfboard he bought me.

I was a young one
when my parents split.

And when they did split,

I moved down the
beach with my mom.

And from that point on, I just
spent every day in the surf.

And that's when I met Richie.

He just happened
to be going through

the exact same thing
with his parents.

(upbeat music)

- [Richie] My dad is from the
Czech Republic, he moved out

to Australia as a political
refugee in the 70's.

And that's where he met my mom,

who was from
Manchester, England.

They met in Sydney
and they got married

and they started a family.

And that's where myself
and my sister grew up.

At a young age, when I
was 10, my parents split.

My dad, he was a bro by trade,

so he obviously loved to drink.

But you know,

often when he did he'd get
an argument with my mom.

As a kid growing up,
seeing your parents argue

when you know they've
too much to drink,

it was a pretty upsetting.

And, it kind of
sticks with you too,

even though it never got
violent or anything like that,

it's just the constant
arguments and stuff.

Now it was really
sorta, you know,

sucked as a kid to watch that.

I continued to live with my mum,

but my dad moved into an
apartment at Maroubra Beach.

I guess in some way,

this kind of eased the pain
of my parents splitting

because I now had a
house at the beach

where I could leave my board,

and I had every excuse now
just to spend all my time

at the beach with my friends.

- [Mark] It was probably like
though we didn't realise it

when we were that
young, but you know,

we had that sort of similar
situation going on that probably

brought us a bit
closer together.

- [Richie] I think there was
a surf contest down the beach,

also a skate contest, and
the surf shop put on a

pie eating contest.

- [Mark] Australian pie
is just like boiling hot

and to try and eat it
fast, is just ridiculous.

(eccentric music)

Oh, he's always putting
a show on for everyone,

regardless of what he was doing.

He could have
everyone in stitches

and that's what
everyone wanted to see

and everyone would egg him on,

and just like create
this little monster.

- [Richie] Mark was never shy
or a bit quieter than myself.

- [Mark] Other kids they're
watching the heroes on TV,

but for us, we were
growing up with our heroes.

It was that much more powerful,

we were trying to
impress our heroes

who are right there with us.

The older boys were making a
lving out of surfing big waves.

Everyone saw the boys
as being fearless

in and out of the water.

We didn't know at the time,
but we were growing up with,

you know, older surfers
that were pretty much

the craziest surfers
in the world,

and it felt normal to us
because we'd been trying

to keep up with guys
that were going anything.

Like if someone said to you,

you know, you won't do it,

I'll bet you, you
couldn't do it.

You'd just do it to
prove them wrong.

That was like our motto
growing up, is like...

- You won't.

- ...you won't.

So you do it in the surf
like the biggest wave

of the day would
come through then.

- Just screaming in
colour, you won't!

- Yeah and I just look at Rich
like, he won't go this route.

Just swing around
and take off on it,

regardless of the
fact if it's possible

to ride the wave or not.

When I was around 17 to
18 and I finished school

and had the dream of becoming
a professional surfer,

I thought it was possible.

And I started working
towards it, you know,

just working in bars and
saving money to do trips.

- [Richie] Down the beach
at Maroubra, I mean,

there's a lot of the older
guys that are carpetlayers.

So when you're a kid and
you just want to day's work,

it wasn't hard to pick up a
day's work playing carpenter.

That's just what happened
after high school

and I started to learn
how to do the trade

and did it for six
or seven years.

And I was just trying
to save my money

so we can do trips away
and chase those swells

that Mark was
watching on the maps.

- [Mark] I knew straight away
that I wasn't going to be

the next Kelly Slater
and win world titles.

But I figured out that
by being able to forecast

where the biggest waves were
going to be around the country,

I could be the one in the
right spot at the right time

and possibly make a career
out of surfing that way.

And that's when I came
across this wave in Tasmania,

I'd never seen anything
like it in my life.

And at that point in time,

no one in the
whole surf industry

had seen a wave
like that before.

(upbeat techno music)

- [Narrator] The break
presented huge challenges,

most particularly the
infamous double step.

The huge volume of water
aggressively builds up

and suddenly collides
on a reef so shallow

that in anyone's language,
it's a recipe for disaster.

- [Mark] You know at
the time we surfed

some of the biggest
barrels ever surfed,

it gave us
international exposure.

I mean it was after
that happened,

that I really
believed that I could

make a career out of this.

I wanted to make sure Richie
had a shot at it as well,

instead of, you know, having
to lay carpet five days a week.

It's so often we'll
chase a swell somewhere

and it just won't be good,

and we'd come back home
and then straight away

the following week,
another swell would pop up.

And you know, Richie
would've spent all his money

he had saved chasing
that first swell,

and you get nothing out of it.

You just don't have the
heart to see your best mate

not be able to go and get the
waves on the following swell

just because you didn't
have the money to.

- It did drive me
of course, you know,

cause I wanted to be there.

We didn't want to be
jumping on the plane,

but at the time I used to
go down like box of nails.

- [Mark] I just wanted
him there with me.

If I was going to
score pumps and waves,

it was nothing for me to
be able to pay for him

to go chase that next one,
cause he's a hard worker.

There's no way he's not
going to pay me back.

- [Richie] Pretty lucky
to have Mark in my life,

it helps ya to try and
chase your dreams and stuff.

(rap mix music)

- [Narrator] As a
result of Mark's help

and a mutual dedication,
Richie started to get some

of the respect he
was looking for.

- We surfed as hard as we could

and we also partied
probably harder.

And the difference
between me and Rich is,

I kept my clothes
on and he didn't.

- It goes back to the
old, "You won't get nude!"

And cause as soon as I
hear that, I was like,

"Yeah, well watch this!"

I was not the only
one getting nude.

- There were plenty
occasions where you were

the only one getting nude.

- Yeah, yeah, special occasions.

- I can remember the time
Rich at a music festival,

decided to climb a
hundred foot light tower

in the nude in front
of about 30,000 people.

The whole crowd turned
around and watched him.

And he just put on
a show for everyone.

There was the security
guards and police everywhere,

waiting at the bottom for him.

But he somehow managed
to evade all the cops

and the security guards and
vanish off into the crowd.

- [Narrator] At the height
of his partying days,

Richie met a beautiful
young girl called Lucy.

- The first time I met Rich,

I was at a friend's
party at her house.

And I pretty much didn't
know most people there.

- Called a mate, knew most
of the people are partying,

then I saw Lucy.

I was like, "Oh, who's that?"

- This little guy with
this big head of curls,

just came up and
started chatting away.

- I just remember sort
of making my way over

and she was wearing
this little top,

it said, Ballerina Baby.

First thing I said was,
"Hey Ballerina Babe."

That's what I'd like to think,

I was just great while
I was sitting on top.

- And what I loved about him
the first time that I met him

was just, he was so charismatic,
and he was really funny.

- I took her out to the movies
and stuff and asked her out.

And at a bar and just said...

- "I want to go out with you"
and he couldn't get it out.

- Yeah, I want to get out then.

No, no silly business.

- I was like, yes.

And he was like, oh!

And we both kissed and it
was a pretty cute time.

Looking back on it, it
was really, really lovely.

- [Mark] One of Lucy's
neighbours had told her mum

that Richie was actually
hanging out with

a bad group of guys and
she made it really clear

that she didn't want
anything going on

between Rich and Lucy.

Particularly because Lucy
was only 16 at the time.

- And I think they always had
the idea that she was going to

meet a nice little
Italian Catholic boy,

but no, obviously she
didn't and she chose me.

- [Mark] We were
definitely egging him on,

but Rich just couldn't help
being the life of the party.

We could all tell it was really
starting to embarrass Lucy.

- [Narrator] At the same time,

Richie's recognition for surfing

and his love for Lucy
had another rival.

The martial art of Brazilian
Jujitsu had come to Australia

and Richie quickly
became addicted.

He surprised himself by winning
tournament's from the start.

The next logical challenge
was mixed martial arts.

Because of the UFC
frenzy in America,

MMA was spreading like
wildfire in Australia.

- [Richie] Mixed martial arts
or MMA as we all know it,

is simply that it's a mix of
all the martial arts out there.

This all takes
place in an octagon.

Most bouts are three,
five minute rounds.

Can win by submission,
whether your opponent taps,

knock out, or win on points.

- [Narrator] Every aspect of
the sport appealed to Richie.

It should be said
that it also fed

the adrenaline junkie in him.

- [Richie] I started
getting really excited

to have my first fight.

I was fighting a local
guy, he'd been unbeaten.

I didn't really
know much about it,

all I knew was my limited
experience in boxing,

in the backyard and the
jitsu I'd been doing.

I was nervous and excited,

and like, you know, really
eager at the same time.

And the feeling of the whole
day that I'm walking into

the cage and that whole
buzz is pretty amazing.

And I wasn't sure how I was
going to react my first fight.

I didn't know if
when the bell went,

if I'd freeze or get really
nervous and not doing anything,

(crowd cheering)

- [Announcer] And
we have a knock out!

- [Richie] Like I never
pictured like winning that fight

the way I did and sort
of surprised myself

by winning by knockout.

Yeah, that feeling was
definitely addictive

and I just wanted to stick
at it and do more of it.

I was pretty keen to get back
in there and have another one,

and that one had
been down in Sydney.

And I won that one as well
when I went into submission

and I'm pretty
chuffed for myself.

- [Narrator] Although Richie
had found a new sporting high,

the Maroubra surf
culture that had created

Mark and Richie's dreams,
now started to destroy them.

- [Mark] That aggressive
never backed down mentality

that we'd grown up around,

was actually giving
us the careers

we had dreamed of as kids.

But we thought that to get the
respect from the older guys,

we had to be like that
out of the water as well.

So instead of trying
to our surf our mate's,

we wanted to out drink, out
party, and out fight them.

And when you mix that
aggressive mentality with

alcohol, partying, and fighting,

it's not hard to
guess what comes next.

(rock music)

- [Richie] I remember coming
out of the nightclub blind,

drunk, I walked over and ended
up getting in a huge punch up

with a bunch of guys, the
police came in to break it up.

We sort of all
fell to the ground.

Police officer had
jumped on top of me.

So I just continued to fight him

thinking it was the other guy,

and in the midst of a big fight

I put my thumb as far as would
go into the guy's eye socket.

I'd been charged with assault,

actually causing bodily harm
on a uniform police officer.

I woke up that next morning.

And the first thing that I did

was head straight to
the police station,

and I found the
officer that I had

assaulted the night before,
and I apologise to him.

You know, I was worried
about, you know,

going to jail for doing
what I did, but I seriously,

I honestly felt bad
about what I'd done

because you know, I'd
almost blinded a guy that,

you know, I didn't even know.

And I had nothing
against and you know,

he had nothing against me, he
was just there doing his job.

And, you know, to think that
I came that close to blinding

someone like whether it was
the guy I was in the fight with

over a stupid argument
or the police officer,

like, you know, either of them
didn't deserve to be blinded.

And you know, it's a scary
thought that I came that close

to actually doing
that to someone.

Six months down the
track when I was in court

and I was facing, you
know, a long jail sentence

if I was found guilty.

That moment was the scariest
thing I've ever been through.

The police prosecutor had handed
in their witness statements

late and they got
thrown out of court.

And for that reason now
I was found not guilty.

And you know, it
was just so lucky.

You know, I promised
myself I'd never put myself

in that situation again.

But I was young and
stupid, and you know,

a month down the track, I got
blind drunk all over again.

And I ended up in more trouble.

(indistinct party chatter)

(glass shatters)

The whole corner of my face
is just like hanging off,

like I have my head down
and it was just hanging out.

And when I went like
this, I put my hand

like on the inside of it,
it just made me feel sick.

They put me in an ambulance

and they took me
out to the hospital.

- Just been in hospital,
we've got 70 stitches.

Doctor said I was pretty
lucky I didn't lose

my eye or anything.

Yeah, they had to get
like a plastic surgery in

and fix off a few arteries
that have been cut

and spraying blood.

It's not too bad, you know.

Yeah, we're fucking surfing
again in a couple of weeks,

just have a fucking rough
head for the rest of me life.

What can you do, you
know, if someone's fucking

doing that to your
girl and yeah,

trying to fight your
cousin, you know,

and fucking just standing there
letting them do it, are ya?

You gotta do something.

I don't know, I was real
angry after that happened

for a long time, like
all I wanted to do was

get the guy back.

If he had been in front of
me and that his first week

or two, I don't know
what I would have done.

Like I could have ended up
killing him, I was that angry.

- Pretty keen on doing whatever
had to be done, you know,

I'd like to, to try
and get the guy back.

And at that age, that's
all you want to do.

Now if someone, yeah,
like glasses your friend,

you want to get them back.

- [Richie] I spoke
to my mom about it

and I started to learn I
didn't need any of this stuff

before this incident,
and then this happened

and she goes like,

"This is where you can
make a change in your life.

You know, you can let your
mates go after the guy,

but you've got no control
over that situation.

What happens if they
go and beat him up,

and one of your mates
ends up killing him

or ends up in jail for doing it.

You want that on your head?"

I thought about it,

in the end I would rather
just let it go, you know.

Looking back on it now,
I can see how stupid

and dangerous what
I was doing was.

But when you're young, all
you want to do is impress,

you know, the older guys
and your friends around you.

I didn't realise that, you know,

I didn't have to do it that way.

I mean, if you have
to test yourself

and your skills as a fighter,

and you want to prove
to everyone that

that's what you're good at it,

then the only place to do that
is in a ring against someone

who wants to fight you as well.

- I was a little bit
shocked too like,

to see Mark react that
way and actually think,

think the whole matter
through so well and yeah,

and come up with it.

- You know, I'd learned
from my mistakes.

And I could see Rich going
through the exact same stuff

and it was only going
to lead, you know,

one place and it was going to
get him in a lot of trouble.

- There was hopes that my
mates were going out partying

and you know, drugs
were going around

and I wasn't a fan
of the drug side.

But the odds I'd find myself
getting super drunk instead,

you know, and I'm just
trying to sort of keep up

with everyone and then just
make a mess of myself, so.

- I'd always used
to say to him, look,

babe I don't like
you doing this.

- You know, she put out
enough of me going out

and carrying on the way I was.

And you know, also
embarrassing myself,

which obviously embarrassed her

and just things
like that, you know.

- By the end of it, it
started to get really tiresome

and it put a strain
on the relationship.

- It's nice to have a good
time but all in moderation

where I obviously try to do it,

you know, not in moderation.

- I don't think I could keep
up with him, he was just,

just was one of those
just really nutty people.

- I've got no one to blame
himself, really, carrying on.

(sad music)

- The way things ended,
it was quite amicable.

We both knew it wasn't
working and it was almost that

we were growing apart.

- Commitment was a definite
thing, you know what I mean?

Like at that age, I mean,
I think it is for everyone.

I was too young to be in
a serious relationship

and I just didn't know how
to handle it, you know?

I didn't know I was
worried about committing

or anything like that, I
didn't know what it was.

I just, you know, I learned
you learn on that later,

I guess.

- [Mark] I was definitely
worried that without Lucy,

Rich would go way more off
the rails than what he was.

To get even wilder
can end up dangerous.

- [Richie] On the weekends,
I'd always be out partying,

but I never missed a training
sessions through the week.

And I knew it wasn't a good mix.

I knew if I was to take it
serious, things have to change.

But at that time I
just had two wins

and I was really confident.

And I was just really looking
forward to my third fight.

- [Sports Announcer] And
Richie Vas in the black shorts.

Both young men and plenty of
feeling in this one, prefight.

(crowd cheers)

- [Narrator] He wins in
a record, 12 seconds,

and people start to take notice.

His personality makes
him a crowd favourite

and he starts winning fans.

(crowd cheering)

A few weeks later,

he goes back to
Queensland for a rematch

with his first opponent,

who had gone on to win
several fights, undefeated.

Another win keeps his
record at an impressive

four straight wins
with no losses,

promoters start to see
him as a draw card.

- [Richie] I won four in a
row and people were saying,

"Oh, he's just a surfer,
he's not a real MMA fighter,

he was just giving
this MMA thing a go."

You know what I mean?

And at the start,
part of that was true.

Obviously the more I
got involved in it,

the more serious about it I got.

There's a little bit of
buzz around it though,

that easy surfer kid out there
doing pretty good at MMA.

And more opportunities
presented themselves.

All of a sudden the
opportunity to fight for

World Title came about,

and I was stoked and I was
still kind of new to the sport.

You know, only after
four fights to have that

kind of opportunity
put in front of me,

it was, it was amazing.

So that definitely got the
motivation to really step back

and think about the sport and
how far I wanted to take it

and I wanted to
really pursue it.

- [Narrator] But just
when the world title fight

was within his grasp, his
partying ways finally catch up

and his whole world
comes crashing to a halt.

(intense music)

8th of January, 2008.

Richie's mother was greeted
with four detectives

at her front door.

Richie was wanted for an
incident that had occurred

a few months earlier
in Queensland.

It was the day of professional
surfer, Mick Fanning's

first world title celebration
on the gold coast.

It had been a terrific win and
Rich was proud for his friend

as were thousands of his
other fans and fellow surfers.

- [Richie] That night,
we all fall into a pub

and the night led on and
everyone was pretty much

in good spirits and, you know,
we were getting pretty drunk.

And ended up just being
your typical bar arguments.

The arguments started inside
the pub and moved outside.

I went outside
the pub by myself,

and there's a bunch of other
guys who was arguing with them.

That's where the fight started.

And I got pretty dusted up
at the start of the fight.

And before long, my friends
who were there with me,

came out to help me out the
tender we were brawling.

And I ended up just
getting back to my feet

and ended up punching
a guy who was there

and amongst the brawl.

(dramatic music)

I know a huge part of why I
was sitting there in that cell

was because of how drunk
I'd got myself that night.

And the last thing I want to
do is go out and get that drunk

and get into fights
where people get hurt.

And not only that,

I drag my whole family
through it as well,

which you know, I'm
pretty shamed of.

It took that situation
for me to realise

which way I was heading.

If I get the opportunity, I
just want to show my family,

my friends, and just everyone,

just how sorry I
am about all this.

And it's going to be a long,

nervous wait until
it's all over.

- [Newscaster]
Arriving from Sidney,

handcuffed and
escorted by police,

bra boy, Richard Vas, on his
way to a Gold Coast Court.

- Is there anything you'd
like to say to the victim?

- [Mark] I remember seeing
Rich on the news in handcuffs

and it just freaked me
out, your heart just sinks.

Like I wanted to know exactly
what had happened, you know,

what kind of trouble was he in?

If he was gonna be
all right, you know,

I was trying to ring him,

but obviously he didn't
have his phone on.

And I knew it was
going to happen,

it was only a matter of time,

the way he was carrying on.

You know, you feel bad
that maybe we could have

done something more to
stop it from happening.

And then, you know,
it was too late now.

He was, you know, he
was in that trouble.

- I was actually in bed
watching TV one afternoon

and I couldn't believe
that what I saw.

My first reaction was like,

oh my gosh, what have you done?

- She knew my mom
would be pretty upset,

so Lucy gave my mom a call and
just to see how things were

and just to see how I was.

- [Narrator] Richie
turned up for his hearing

and was granted bail.

But he had to remain
living with his mother,

hand in his passport, and report
to the local police station

once a week until the
court case was over.

He even had to get special
permission from the police

if he wanted to go on any
surf trips outside of Sydney.

- In the middle of Richie's
court case, he was just so down.

I mean, I can tell how much
he regretted what he had done

and the position he was in.

At that time I just
wanted to help him.

I just wanted to get
him away from it all

and, you know, get
him back in the water

and take him surfing.

It just so happened a huge
swell popped up at Sheep Stones.

And we were lucky because the
only place he could travel

to was locally, he couldn't
travel internationally.

- No, I didn't really
want to go to be honest.

When Mark came and grabbed
me that day, I was like,

you know, we're going
to Tasy this afternoon

and just dealing with court,

and knowing I had to sort
of ring my lawyer and say,

"Look, I'm going
to go to Tasmania."

And I wasn't too
excited on going

but Mark was pretty
persistent on saying

it's gonna be big,
it's gonna be popping,

let's go, let's go.

- You know, that was
just the perfect thing

to get his mind off
what was going on

and keep him fit and focused.

(upbeat music)

That swell that we went
on to surf, shift plans,

but just so happened that
it was on the anniversary

of Steve-O, one of Australia's
biggest icons, death.

And we wanted to do something
special to mark that day.

And one of our good
mates brought along

a huge blowup croc, and he had
the idea to get a huge barrel

with the crocodile, just to
pay tribute to everything

he'd done for Australia,

everything he'd done for
wildlife around the world.

- [Richie] We just
loved his character too,

the way he was such a great
ambassador for Australia.

You know, as he said, he
loves surfing, he loved MMA.

(intense upbeat music)

So unexpected and
sad to see him go.

So I'm sure he would
have been looking down

and having a laugh, as you know,

going, "Look at these idiots."

- I decided to put a
helmet with a camera on it,

to get us some point
of view footage,

to show what we get to see
when we're pulling into

a big barrel of ship stones.

Just got absolutely smashed.

I don't remember
anything about the wave,

but going back and
looking at the footage,

the wave is like a
second wave of the set

and it was all just
white wash and bumpy.

Even though it wasn't
a big wave on the day,

I think it would have been
pretty shallow at the time.

I've rolled up in the lip
and the lips pushed me

into the reef at a
hundred miles an hour,

and that's what's
knocked me unconscious

and busted my helmet.

The first thing I remember,

and I can still see this
picture pretty vividly

was regaining
consciousness under water.

And I had no idea where I was,
but everything was so silent.

(water rushing)

Looking up and all I could see
was the surface of the water

and the sun coming
through all the turbulence

and the whitewash.

I was sitting there for
like 10 or 20 seconds.

It was like I was floating
in the middle of nowhere.

The buoyancy belt I had on
was just slightly bringing me

to the surface, I didn't
even know what was happening.

I was just like flying towards
the surface of the water.

As soon as I broke the
surface of the water,

it was like the pain
from the injury just hit.

Right at that point, I
just had the sharpest

pain in my neck,
the back of my head.

And I felt pins and
needles coming down my arms

and down my back.

I was like, oh God,
what have I done?

But luckily enough, I had that
helmet on because without it,

I'm pretty sure I would've died.

- [Richie] Oh, I
was really scared.

Terrifying seeing your mate
down there, unable to move.

And there we were in the
middle of the no where,

and I was just thinking I
could get home and go to court

and if things weren't to go my
way, I could be behind bars.

And with Mark looking
the way he was,

and that was every
chance that Mark

wasn't going to be able
surf again as well.

So things couldn't have got
any worse for us at that point,

both myself and Mark.

Such a great day
to just pretty much

the lowest point
I've ever been in.

It was just nonstop,
playing over in my head

that I'd broken my neck,

I was never going to
be able to surf again,

my career is over.

What am I going to
do if I can't surf?

Saying to myself, that's it,

I'm never surfing
big waves again.

- [Narrator] After seeing
the footage of the wipe out

and the damage
caused to his helmet,

the doctor told mark, it was
a miracle he didn't sustain

permanent spinal injuries.

What happened was the disc
had collapsed on the nerves,

which made Mark believe
he had broken his neck.

- [Mark] The physical
rehab was going to be long,

but that was bearable.

What I wasn't prepared
for was what the accident

had done to me psychologically.

As soon as it became
real, that I was about to

surf the waves again, that's
when I started just having

the craziest nightmares.

Nightmares about drowning,

about breaking my neck, about
it happening all over again,

ending up in a wheelchair,
leading up to that first swell.

In my head I'd already wiped
out a hundred times a day,

even before I'd even
put a foot in the water.

It was just exhausting.

(intense water rushing)

I'd gotten over all those
fears of surfing big waves

when I was a young kid.

And then it was like that
injury just brought it all back

and it was like, it brought
it into a new light,

like just how dangerous
what I was doing, was.

I'm not invincible
and it completely
wrecked my confidence.

I tried everything,
no matter what I did,

the confidence
wasn't coming back.

- [Narrator] Mark's in-ability
to overcome his fears

affected his profile and
all of his sponsorships.

His contract came to an end

and he started to
fall off the radar.

- [Richie] It's almost like
looking at a pause button

and it just hit on our lives.

To see him now question
himself a little bit

and confidence or motivation
drop, it definitely just

rubbed off on me as well.

- [Mark] Before he went up
for that final day of court,

I just wished him all
the best and just said

it's going to be over soon,

you can put all this
behind ya after this day.

And then when he went up there,

I was just worried about
which way it's going to swing.

And you just want to know,

you just want to know that
it's all going to be good

and we can go back to
chasing what we were chasing.

- I'm just glad to see the end

of eight months, it's
just gone on a long time.

I've just got a
knot in my stomach

and I'm not looking forward
to going into that court.

- Better walk down to court now,

get there and then I guess
within a couple of hours,

hopefully we'll have a result.

We're nervous but
hopefully it goes our way.

- The thought of losing him
to go to jail, you know,

to go into jail
for however long,

even for a week was
really upsetting.

I didn't didn't
want it to happen.

And I didn't know if
he could cope with it.

I couldn't cope with it.

I wasn't sure he
could cope with it.

- Basically, we
went in the courts

and the judge saw the
night and the case,

and everything that was put
forward for what it was.

And the victim had admitted
to drinking all night,

being with his friends, and he
said he wasn't a part of the

brawl, but his friends were,
and he was witnessing it.

He also admitted to
watching myself get kicked

in the face when I
was on the ground.

And then he basically
said I got up

and then came at him
and assaulted him.

- That moment when he came
back and he was about to give

that verdict, I was holding my
breath because I was scared.

I was really scared.

And I can't, I can't
describe it, I'm sorry,

I was just so scared.

- We're all out
there on the drink

and brawl erupted, and we
all carried on like a bunch

of idiots and they
agreed that, you know,

I was in the wrong
for hitting the guy,

but under the circumstances,

he thought it was fair
to record no conviction.

Which, you know, end of the day,

that means there was nothing
recorded against my name.

It wouldn't stop me
from travelling overseas

and for sharing my surfing
or fighting career.

- It was like, it was,

I just wanted to jump
up in there and shout.

- My mom, more so than anybody,

has been torn up over all
of this, to see a smile

and realise this is all
finished and is over,

is just the best feeling.

Just really looking forward
to putting it all behind us

and just getting on with life.

- Rich came back from
that last day in court,

and there was just like
a spark in his eyes.

Like he was real excited
to go out and surf.

And at the time I
was still terrified

of surfing anything real big,

but his excitement of
what a chase this was,

just rubbed off on me.

My mom's really spiritual

and she's into a
lot of meditation.

And I remember reading
a book that she had,

that she'd given me years ago

that I'd never
bothered to pick up.

For some reason, I just
picked it up at that time,

and it was pretty
much life changing.

The book was all about a
technique by questioning

your thoughts when they
come into your head,

you're able to detach from
that thought emotionally.

Like for me, the emotional
component was fear.

The thought came in my head
that I was going to wipe out

in this next swell.

I was going to break my neck.

I was going to drown
or something bad
was going to happen.

The technique was to
question my thoughts

and ask yourself
three questions.

The first question
you ask yourself is,

is that thought true?

I can't know definitely
that that's going to happen

in the future, so no
that thought in my
head, it's not true.

The second question is,

how does that thought
make you feel?

It made me feel terrible,

made me anxious, made
me lose my confidence.

Made me not want to go and surf.

And then the final question,

this is where the magic happens.

Who would you be
without that thought?

Let the thought go,
don't think about it.

And straight away, when
you stop thinking about it,

that's when you realise
that without that thought,

my body just felt relaxed

and I straight away
felt confident.

And I started to become excited
to surf big waves again.

- [Narrator] The two boys
set themselves a mission

to be at the top of their game.

With Marks eye on the biggest
wave of the year prize,

at the Oakley Big Wave Awards.

(upbeat music)

- Mark Matthews is crazy.

- Oh, I consider them, yeah,

definitely top five hell men.

Big, gnarly, whatever
shit that people look at.

I've looked at a lot of
his photos and just went,

"I don't want nothing to
do with it. It's crazy."

- Mark Matthews has ridden
the wave of his life

at the Monster
Energy Pro in Hawaii.

The 24 year old Sydney Sada
threading the thrilling

five metre tubes of
the Banzai pipeline,

to score himself a
perfect 10 points.

His incredible tube
already being described

as one of the all time
great north shore rides.

- You know, everything
I see from him is just

charging into something
big and mutant.

And it's a pretty specialised
field that does that.

You know, there's a lot
of guys who will just go

and charge big waves, but
then there's guys who can

surf good too and surf
big waves in small ways.

And I think Mark's pretty
high on that totem pole.

- Richie, this
crazy little brute.

- I don't think he has 'no',
he needs vocabulary you know,

he just, he just goes for it.

Some of the things
that I've seen him go,

and I'll be pulling
up marlins for sure

on some of those waves,
he goes for it, man.

- Fuck, he's crazy.

He has balls, big balls.

And you know, he might
not be the best surfer

in the world, but he
sure will fucking,

he'll go, he'll go on anything.

- [Mark] We were like two
little kids at Christmas time.

We were chasing every swell
that popped up, you know.

We were having more
fun than we'd ever had.

And in-between swells we were
just doing all kinds of crazy,

training to help prepare
ourselves for every swell

that was going to
pop up that year.

Just trying to push
each other, you know.

I just wanted to get stronger
and fitter and more confident.

(upbeat music)

- [Richie] Enthusiasm
was definitely back.

And we were both pretty keen
to make up for lost time,

I guess, and push
a bit harder to try

and reach what we
were trying to do.

- [Mark] I couldn't get
another sponsor straight away.

And I just knew I had to
maintain that level of exposure.

I got all my savings together

and I spent that year chasing
waves as hard as I could.

I had to keep believing
that by the end of the year,

I was going to find
another sponsor.

- [Narrator] After 12 months,

both Mark and Richie
gain substantial exposure

in the surf media.

And Mark surfed some of the
biggest waves he'd surfed

to date, including this 20
foot plus wall of water,

which was recorded
as the biggest wave

ridden in Australia
for the year.

(indistinct announcer)

(crowd cheering)

- [Mark] You know, I got to
the final amount of dollars

in my savings, that
won me that award.

With Richie's help and
with some hard training,

I managed to turn around
and by the end of the year,

I'd turned a year that was
the worst year of my life,

into one of the best
that led straight into

a three year deal with O' Neill.

And I was just like
gone from rock bottom

to being back on top.

I was on the road
all year that year,

which pretty much
ruined my relationship.

It made it really
hard to travel.

It made it hard to leave
home because, you know,

you didn't want to
leave them behind.

It was really hard for her too
if I was always on the road.

I was so focused at the time,

almost to the point
of being selfish,

but I knew I had to be like
that, to have that career.

She was always
second to surfing.

I was pretty heartbroken when
I broke up with my girlfriend

and it was pretty hard
to take at the time.

- [Richie] When we were kids,

he didn't really
sort of talk too much

about his parents splitting,

he keeps all that kind
of personal stuff,

pretty close to a chest.

And it was the same when he
broke up with his girlfriend,

he's not the kind of guy to
chew your ear off about

his personal problems.

He just gets on with them

and deals with them
in his own way,

as quite a long relationship
that came to an end.

And so I'm sure he
was affected by it.

You know, I know that I
wasn't when Lucy broke up

after a few years.

- [Mark] As sad as I
was when we broke up,

I just tried to use that
and turn it into a positive

in the fact that now
had absolutely nothing

to be at home for.

None of my family live here
in Sydney, where I live,

I didn't have family to
come back here to see.

So it's kind of like, I'd
rather be on the road.

- The breakup and the
end of the relationship

did reflect in his surfing,

to sort of push him
to a another level.

It's a very fine line
between doing something

recklessly dangerous and
doing something dangerous,

but calculated.

And Mark was pretty good at
doing the most dangerous things,

but calculated and
often came off with

surfing the biggest
wave of the day.

Well, I don't think it will
come as a mega surprise

to know the biggest slab
winner for this year

is Mark Matthews.

- [Richie] I was just so happy
to see Mark win that award.

And it just proved to everyone
his confidence was back.

And on top of that,

I was given the
opportunity to fight

for the COC world banner
weight title in a few months.

And now with the
title on the line,

I just totally focused on
putting all my energy in the gym

and getting ready
for that title fight.

(hiphop music)

- [Narrator] Mark was well
and truly starting to cement

his name in the world
of big wave surfing.

But he felt he needed to push
the envelope even further.

So he decides to spend the
whole winter swell season

in Hawaii.

Richie accompanies Mark
to use the trip to further

his preparations for
his upcoming fight,

with the opportunity to train

with some world-class fighters.

- How is it out there?

It looks pretty gnarly.

Mark Matthews called
me the other morning,

"Hey, hey Kala! I'm fucking at
the airport! I'm coming in!"

I like Martin, I like
surfing with him.

He wants it, if it's
big, you gotta want it

because if you don't want it,
you don't belong out there.

(hiphop music)

- Change of environment,
change of training partners,

and trainers, just that
short period of time

it can really just
reenergize you,

and get you really excited
about getting back to your home

and training with
all your trainers.

(hiphop music)

- Richie's good, he's
strong, little guy,

and you surf those big waves,
you're not afraid of any man.

Right?

(hiphop music)

- A lot of strength
conditioning work and showed me

a whole bunch of stuff
I hadn't seen before.

And it was really good to have
a fresh approach on training.

(hiphop music)

- [Mark] When Rich heard that
he was going to be training

with BJ Penn, you could just
see how excited it made him.

And I guess it would be
the exact same thing for me

to be able to go surfing
with Kelly Slater.

That's what it was like
for him to train with BJ.

- BJ is one of my all
time favourite fighters

as he's not bothered
about getting in the ring

with anyone, he's gone
up in weight categories

and fought guys much bigger
than him, which I now admire.

And he's just such a
great fighter watch.

So it's nice to meet
him and have the chance

to train with him, it was great.

- I definitely think MMA
is a good outlet for kids

because it teaches
them discipline,

but it's not like trying to
hammer discipline on them,

you know, but as, as time goes
on, they start to realise,

you know, with great power
comes great responsibility

and raise their self-confidence,
give them comradery

with their training partners.

And it's really just
a positive thing

for the youth everywhere.

- It's great to
see their training

and what level they're at.

But to meet him and realise,
yeah, that he's just,

he's a cool guy and
just normal bloke.

And he's just like anyone else.

He just chose to dig deep and
makes you realise it's all

possible, and if you
want it, you can have it.

(upbeat rock music)

- So one minute, one minute,
and then we'll just do

probably about six minutes.

The guy might be real
tired after three minutes,

but I'll keep switching them.

Life is about second chances,
that's the mark of a man.

Everybody can be happy and
smiling and happy go lucky

when everything's going well.

But when things go bad,
you can either give up

and stay down or get
back up to your feet.

It's a tough world out there,
it's a dangerous world,

but you know, you
got to keep fighting

and you got to keep going, man.

We all have had our trials
and tribulations throughout

our lives, and you
just can't stop.

You gotta move forward.

- I'd gone from rock bottom

to being back on
top of the world.

And Rich was doing
well with his fighting.

And we just wanted to
keep the ball rolling,

but there was always just
one thing eating away at me.

Since the injury, I'd
never been back to

surf the ships stones.

And it was like, no
matter what I did,

what awards I was winning, or
what big waves I was riding.

It was like ship stones
had got the better on me.

I had to get over
that fear completely.

You know, I had to go back
down to ship stones and surf.

- [Narrator] At the
heart of his training,

Richie received a personal
phone call from Australia.

It led to an unexpected reunion.

- Me and Lucy been broken
up for four or five years

and we were still friends,
like when we bumped into

each other we would still
and the odd few occasions

that we'd give each
other a call and talk.

So, you know,

we knew we could always
call on each other

for whatever reasons.

- Leading up to
Richie's title fights,

we started to spend a
lot of time together.

My mom got diagnosed with cancer

and that killed me to hear that.

But it was my fear that,

and it's still my
fear to this day,

that I might lose her.

And that's the hardest thing
for me to even comprehend.

And I didn't have
the coping mechanism

or strategies to deal
with that situation.

But having Rich as a friend,

he helped me through that.

He comforted me,
he supported me.

No one else had the time or
had the want, like he did.

And I have the utmost
respect and thank for him.

Cause he really saved me in
such an awful time in my life.

It surprised me, he was
there in my time of need

and he just stepped
up to the mark,

and he's just the
most amazing person.

- I'll just try to be as
supportive as I could.

And yeah, as I said, I
always thought of Lucy

through that time
we weren't together

and I consider her a
really good friend,

and I know she's a
really good person,

and she'll do the same for me,

and the same for
any of her friends.

So it's was just really
easy to be there for her

and help her deal with it.

Cause it's not an easy
thing to do with obviously

when a family member
gets sick with cancer.

I always had feelings for
her while we were apart.

Even though it was
unfortunate circumstances,

it was nice to
start hanging out.

And being there
for her, I guess,

sort of proved that I still
had strong feelings for her.

- [Lucy] It sort of led into
us spending more time together

and really enjoying
our time together.

- [Richie] When we
first started going out,

I was too young to commit
to a proper relationship.

And I always thought
this kind of relationship

would be suited if we were
both five or ten years older,

you know?

So now that five years have been

and we were hanging back out,

so it's seemed a
lot more possible.

(techno music)

- Now, I got there that
night, it was pretty packed

and I was lucky enough
to have the title fight

in my backyard at home,
and I had a lot of friends

or family there
supporting me and

yeah, I was just so excited
to get in there that night.

- I've been wanting to
see Rich fight in person.

I haven't seen him fight before.

I've seen some footage
of him fighting.

- [Richie] Everything's
on the line,

you've got all your friends
and family in the crowd,

the fights in your backyard,

and now your heroes
are in the crowd,

coming to watch your fights.

It's a massive
whirlwind of emotions

when you're in your backstage.

(indistinct sports announcer)

- You spin a wheel in
your brain that is hoping

that you walk out of the cage

and then it lands on
the right frame of mind

and just thinking, dang,
why am I even doing this?

I thought I'd enjoy this,

now I can't think of anything
worse to be doing right now,

and fight in front
of these people.

And then the next breath,

I'll be super kid,
jumping out of my skin,

and can't wait to
get out to the cage.

I mean, bouncing around,
it's a crazy experience.

- [Mark] Rich had only
had a handful of fights

before that world title match.

You know, it was a
huge stepping stone,

he'd never faced an
opponent that good.

But at the time there was no
one in the country that wanted

to fight Rich because he'd been
beating everyone so easily,

that he really had to step up.

Most fighters in his position,
there's no way that early

in their career they'd
take a fight like that,

but Rich just wanted that
title and he wanted it now.

- [Narrator] As this
is a title fight,

instead of the usual
three, five minute rounds,

this one is scheduled for
five, five minute rounds.

It's a tall order
to go the distance

and requires
superhuman endurance.

(intense music and
crowd cheering)

- [Richie] The first
round started off well,

we started the game
plan and I felt now

my striking was working well

and I was able to
keep him on his feet.

We got sort of into a quench
and he landed a good knee.

Which sort of buckled my knees

and we end up going
to the ground.

My opponent, he was
very experienced.

And he was a Brazilian
jujitsu black belt.

So now on the ground is
where his strength lay.

(air horn blows)

- It was a tough round, but
they were four more to go.

(indistinct sports announcer)

Richie's opponent had him
in the dreaded arm bar lock,

a circumstance where the
fighter will often tap out

in order for his
arm not to break,

but to tap out is
to lose the bout.

- I just thought, you know,
the fighter has to tap out.

You can't possibly
get out of that.

- I thought he's going to
break his arm for sure.

Cause it didn't look like
Rich was going to tap

and we're just going,
dude, what's he got?

I'm going to sit here
and watch this guy's arm

break right now.

- One thing I learned
surfing big waves,

if you do find yourself
in a bad situation,

you're under the
water, if you panic,

it's just going to
make things much worse.

And pretty much the same
when you're in the cage

and you do got to stay
calm and just think,

you know what you got to do
to get yourself out of it.

And this is the occasion
you've been preparing for,

for a long time.

And you're not just going
to have that opportunity

of getting that belt
around your waist,

sort of slip by just by tapping.

So I'll just going to
give it everything I could

to try and escape the situation.

- [Narrator] Richie's
determination not to give up

and tap out is as bewildering
as it was miraculous.

(crowd cheers)

- Gosh,

I don't know if the guy
knew he was going to break

the arm or what,

and he just got a little slack
for a second or whatever,

but Rich just like bent
out of the thing somehow.

And it was pretty crazy.

He's going to last, no
matter what happens.

- I was grateful to get out
of the arm bar obviously,

but I was kind of dirty
for even letting myself

get in that situation and I
have to make it hard for myself

to get out of it and you know,
and continue on the flight.

(intense music)

- I was still standing,

I would try and throw
punches into the last round.

But then again,

I felt fatigued and probably
a little bit more tired

than I would have liked.

(indistinct sports announcer)

- [Mark] After getting
almost knocked out

in the first round and then
withstanding an arm bar,

and five, five minute rounds,

it's not in his nature to give
up and you just push through.

And he gained a lot of
respect from the crowd

and from the guy
he was fighting.

- He's got a character
where he just,

it's not an option to fail.

He wants to succeed,
he needs to succeed.

(indistinct sports announcer)

- I ended up getting paid on
points, there I was gutted.

I didn't think about losing
in preparation for the fight.

I just felt so confident,
but then again,

he was no pushover, he was
really experienced fighter.

So I had plenty of
positives to take out of it.

- He'd come up to all of us

and he was like apologising
for letting us down.

He trained as hard as he
could and he fought as hard

as he could and he didn't
leave anything behind.

And you know, you're
not letting anyone down

when you give it
your all like that.

- Oh, I was pretty emotional,
not winning the fight,

but having Lucy there
and I'm realising that

not all is lost and it's
still pretty lucky anyway.

So I was still pretty
happy in my life.

- He came up to me and
told me he loves me.

I think he wanted
to show his love

and also his appreciation
for my support

that I've given to him
leading up to that point.

- [Richie] Me and Lucy
were pretty serious

before the title fight.

Hadn't really made it official
or anything like that.

We knew where we're at.

- I came about to say, you
know, yeah, let's do this.

Let's go out and
let's give it a go.

And yeah, it so
happened that he posted

his relationship status
on Facebook the next day.

- The next day I was
putting up there officially

that I'm in a relationship.

So there'll be a great
opportunity to put it up

and for her that I wanted to
give it another proper crack.

- But that's as official as
it gets these days though.

Like, you can like
hide your wedding ring,

but you can't really hide
your relationship status

on Facebook.

- Such shit.

- Soon after
Richie's title fight,

a huge swell popped up in
Tazzy and straight away,

you know, the nerves
just started to kick in.

Having to say to myself, if
I can overcome this fear,

then nothing's
going to scare me.

- Mark hadn't surfed
since he's neck injury.

So going back there,
there's a lot of excitement,

but still a little
element of unease.

Kelly Slater was
actually in Australia

and he had been
my hero ever since

I was a young kid growing up.

- Last week I
talked to Mark a lot

and I've been wanting to get
down to Ship Stones for awhile.

- [Mark] I was nervous
enough, but on top of that,

I also had my all time
surfing hero, Kelly Slater.

I had Koby Abberton
and the guy that made

my career possible
from a young age.

And then I had my
best friends and Rich.

It felt like the whole
world was watching

what I was going to do.

(upbeat music)

It was probably the most nervous
I've ever been in the surf.

You know, I had formed
butterflies in my stomach.

Having Rich there
at that moment,

gave me that little
edge of confidence.

You know, we'd been
pushing each other

our whole life to surf
bigger and crazier waves,

and having him
being the one there

to tow me in, it was
just, he had my back.

If I was going to wipe
out, he's going to be there

and I could see that he
had the confidence in me

that I was going to
be able to do this.

- [Richie] If I could bear
or play any part in getting

his confidence back
and then seeing

him surf as well
again or do anything.

- [Mark] I just wanted
straight away first wave,

no matter what I
wanted a big one.

The only thing that was going
to get me over the fears

was getting a proper huge wave.

I guess you gotta be
careful what you wish for,

because one of the biggest
waves I'd seen popped up,

you know, 10 minutes
later and it was my turn.

- [Richie] I was a little
bit like, all right,

there's a big one coming, do
you want the next big one?

- [Mark] I just had to go.

I had to do it no matter what
the wave was going to do,

I was going.

(intense music)

As I hit the wave
surface I'd fall,

I just went, alright this
is it, this is the wipe out.

You know, you're going
to have to get through.

- [Richie] I was a
little bit worried

because of the, you know,

the history in his previous
wipe out, down there.

But in his first wave of the
trip, it was a massive one.

And those massive ones, they
can do all sorts of things

down there.

- [Mark] The wave just
drew me up into the lip.

It feels like you're
airborne underwater.

And I was just like,

it's just that sort of one
or two seconds of floating

and you know what's
about to happen.

And then all of a sudden,
it just goes, BOMMM!

Like the craziest loud noise,
just smashes into the water.

And you know, the
turbulence is just trying

to rip your limbs off your body.

Like my arms are
going everywhere

and I was just tucking
up and I was just like,

please don't hit the bottom,
please don't hit the bottom.

I just remember rolling,
and rolling, and rolling.

All of a sudden it just stopped.

And let me go.

I was just like watch this,
one stroke, two strokes.

I was up, the wave was over,

and I was just like,
"I've done it!"

I've never felt happier
in my life, you know?

- [Richie] He got a
pretty good beating,

but it is probably a
little smaller tonight.

I was pretty keen to
jump on the rope again.

- [Mark] As soon as
you handle a wipe out

that big in a wave, you're
like, alright I'm back.

I was ready to take on
anything after that.

- [Richie] That was
like a great relief.

And if there was any concerns
about surfing shippers again,

they were definitely gone.

Mark was finding that
passion and that desire

to surf big waves again by
going down the ships ends

and surfing it again.

And that's exactly what I
wanted to do with my fighting.

I want to get back in
there and prove to myself

and prove to everyone who
was there to support me,

that I was better than
that last performance.

After that loss,

I was trying to be
positive and remain happy,

but I still just couldn't
get over the fact that

I felt like I blew it.

I'd gone away with Kelly shortly
after to go to ship stones.

He's obviously been through
so much in his career,

ups and downs, and he is
shedding new light on it.

You know, not to worry,

he kind of put it in
perspective for me,

it just made me feel
better about the situation.

- You know, I honestly,

I would probably argue that
having that loss with Danny,

was the best thing I ever
happened in my career.

And it's, you know, I think
if you look at anyone's

stories of their lives,
any person, you know,

it's in real sort of deep
despair or a bad loss,

or, you know, something
seemingly terrible happens

in your life where you can
find what life's about,

you know, why you
do what you do.

You know, for me, it was,
it was to re-energize

what I do and find
like a new life in it.

You know, for Richie that
could be, it could be the same,

it could be something
different, you know,

it's really how you take it.

And what you learned
from when you lose.

- [Mark] Ten times
World Champion now,

and one of the best athletes
that there ever was.

So if he can give you
any advice on how to deal

with loss and how
to remain positive,

yeah, you're going to listen.

- I can understand being
devastated and you know,

he had a perfect record until
then, but everybody loses,

you know, that's
just part of life.

It's just really having your
mind open enough to accept

that maybe that's a good thing,

Not to be okay with
like going out there

and losing every time, you
know, but to be okay with that,

you have already
lost, just process it,

get through it, learn from it.

You don't learn until
you're shown something.

You know, even from a little
kid, you can't expect to get up

and run when you come out
of the womb, you know,

someone's got to help you out,
you know, it takes a while.

So, you know, we're all
just in different places

trying to learn more and more.

- [Richie] I had dreams
of fighting in the UFC

and make it to global stage.

So if I didn't win
this next fight,

my dreams and my
goals of fighting on
those massive stages,

it would seem more distant.

It's important to get a win

and keep those dreams
alive, I guess.

(upbeat music)

Straight away, we got in there
and I worked for the cleans,

got the cleansing out,
taken in to the ground.

- [Mark] When Rich got his back,

you could see that he had
him in a good position.

He was choking him.

I'm just that nervous,

I was just going, "tap,
tap, tap, please tap!"

(crowd cheering)

- [Richie] Me trying
to take MMA seriously

and become a professional
athlete has definitely

introduced things into my life.

And a lot of discipline
and dedication that have

made me grow up and matured me,

which I don't know where
I would've got them from

hadn't I not gotten
involved in this sport.

So definitely that help mould
me to the person I am today.

Definitely helped me resurrect
my relation with Lucy

and really appreciate it.

If it wasn't for my
friends around me and Lucy,

things would've been different,

so I'm pretty happy with it now.

- He's obviously matured a lot.

He's gone through a lot.

Those pitfalls that
he had in his life has

obviously changed
him as a person.

But the relationship now is
different in the sense that

it's a relationship based on a
big foundation of friendship.

- [Mark] I don't reckon
there's any way either of us

on our own would have
gotten to where we are now.

To have been able to
help each other out

and through the
ups and the downs,

and to be where we are
now, it's a good feeling.

- [Richie] We've developed
such a strong mateship

over the last couple of years

with everything that's happened,

it's just unreal to celebrate
these moments together.

I want to keep chasing the
biggest waves around the world

and find the biggest
shows in the world.

My dream is to one
day be in the UFC

and be on shows of that calibre.

And after years of
getting things wrong,

I'm finally starting
to understand what
has to be done to,

you know, to reach that level

and become a professional
athlete and do the right thing.

So I don't have any plans on
giving up one for the other.

I believe I can really push
both as far as I can go.

And the goal is to be on the
world stage in both sports.

(upbeat music)

- [Mark] My dreams are to
just to enjoy what I'm doing

for the next five years.

Like as amazing as it is
being a professional surfer,

it's still easy
to get complacent

and find everything
negative about it.

The travel and being
away from home.

I see parts of Richie
and Lucy's relationship

that I really do
want companionship,

always having someone like
that there for you to rely on.

But for me,

just the way I'm travelling
and stuff at the moment,

I don't know what
the future will hold.

I don't know what sort of people
I will meet down the track,

but I'm so happy just with
the friends and the family

that I've got, that you know,

I don't feel like
I need to have that

other one strong relationship.

I'd rather just spend
my time with my family,

and my friends, and my career.

Definitely in the
next five to 10 years,

I'd love to have
kids, I can't wait.

But I don't think I'll be
risking my life the way I do

when I have kids,
it'd be selfish.

We had such an amazing
two or three years,

so we wanted to
celebrate, but you know,

in the past we'd gone out
and celebrate on the drink

and had an all night
drinking session

and then end up in trouble.

So we just wanted to
do it differently.

And there couldn't be a
better way than spending

the whole night instead of
in a nightclub, drinking out,

surfing our favourite
wave in the world.

- Mark always believed it
was possible, you know,

surfing hours at night.

Surfing hours at night.

Surfing hours at night.

- [Mark] We had gotten
our careers in a place

where we could actually
afford what it would cost

to put all these
massive lights in place,

get the insurance,
get the permits, get
everything together,

and pull off something that
was just a dream in the past.

- [Richie] People were against
it for all sorts of reasons,

but pretty made our decision
and had the confidence

we could pull it off.

So, sometimes you just have
gotta back yourself, I guess.

- [Mark] Ours is the most
dangerous wave in the world,

size for size, and the
waves at the opening

of Botany Bay, so the big
swell lines charging out

of deep water, they
fold over themselves,

pitch onto this reef
ledge that's only
one or two feet deep.

Below that is just
razor blade barnacles.

And then 10 feet down the line
from that is a cliff face.

So if you don't hit the bottom,
get cut on the barnacles,

you'll get smashed in a cliff.

You know, there's been
crazy cuts from the rocks.

I dislocated my
hip out there once.

There's so many risks,
but the rewards,

when you make a wave like
that, make it all worthwhile.

- [Richie] I get nervous
and scared, you know,

paddling out there in
the middle of the day.

To be out there in pitch black,

the adrenaline is pumping
and the fear factor is there,

but it's all there.

So you, it helps you switch
on and try and do your best.

- [Mark] Doing all
that in the days hard,

but you can pull it off,
but don't in the night,

it was just something else.

(techno music)

- We just surfed through
the entire night.

- [Richie] It was just
unreal, to be a part of that,

definitely something
you remember forever.

It was just surreal to end
the surf as the sun was coming

up, you know, this way we got
to go on a surfing bender.

You know, I don't know
what's going to happen next.

I guess anything's impossible.

- Everything's impossible,

don't bother about
doing anything.

- Don't even try, seriously.

(upbeat music)