"I Was the Cocaine King of San Diego" – MMA Gym Owner’s Wild Prison Interview

MMA History Podcast #328: Rudy Silva Prison Interview – The Cocaine King of San Diego In this raw and unfiltered prison interview, former fight promoter, City Boxing and Alliance MMA gym owner, and self-proclaimed Cocaine King of San Diego Rudy Silva opens up to Mike Davis like never before. Rudy details his traumatic childhood, early days at City Boxing alongside Brandon Vera, Dean Lister, KJ Nunes, and Tyrone Glover, launching Alliance MMA with Vera, and his deep connections in the San Diego MMA scene. He speaks candidly about his relationships with Dominic Cruz, Jocko Willink, Dan Bilzerian, Justin Bieber, and the chaotic lifestyle that pulled him into the Tijuana Cartel world. From gym politics and embezzlement drama to cartel dealings, robberies, a high-profile nightclub stabbing, bipolar struggles mixed with heavy cocaine use, family estrangement, and life in federal prison while appealing his sentence, Rudy holds nothing back. This is a gripping, no-holds-barred look at the dark underbelly of early San Diego MMA — sex, drugs, violence, power, and regret from someone who lived it all at the highest levels of both the fight game and the streets. A must-listen episode of The Other Side of the Cage prison interview series. The MMA History Podcast is the only show dedicated 100% to preserving mixed martial arts history through interviews and stories from the men who lived it. 0:00 MMA history podcast intro 0:33 Joey Venti’s guest introduction 2:16 interview start 2:25 current life/ 5:28 going through a break up 7:09 having a rough upbringing 10:16 becoming involved in drug distribution 12:01 selling memberships for City boxing 15:58 Urijah Faber and Mark Dion incident 19:07 kickboxer Alex Gong 19:53 Coach Oleg Larson 21:18 Boxing coach Manny Melchor 22:37 Coach Ernesto Martinez 25:51 kickboxer Danny Steele 26:04 leaving City boxing 28:54 opening up a gym 31:56 renting rooms out to fighters 34:29 introduction to the drug market 42:33 working for Total Combat 44:05 fight politics in Mexico 47:00 opening an Allian