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Nov. 10, 2011 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:03:32
JRE MMA Show #156 with Royce Gracie
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joe rogan
01:00:18
r
royce gracie
58:42
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unidentified
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out!
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
joe rogan
What's happening, my friend?
Great to see you.
royce gracie
Life is good in my world.
joe rogan
Yeah, life is good in your world.
It's always good to see you, man, but I know you're you, and I know you're just Hoist Gracie, you're who you are, but for most human beings, You are one of the most unusual people that's ever lived.
The original ultimate fighter, the number one, the guy, the reason why this whole thing is so big.
You're the fucking man.
royce gracie
It's because of my father.
I'm a product of his work.
joe rogan
For sure, for sure.
But for most people, our introduction to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was you in UFC 1. You know, I grew up in martial arts, but we didn't know about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu until UFC 1 in 1993. That one, Roryon had a vision.
royce gracie
So back then we used to teach in the garage, private classes, one student at a time.
And Roryon had the vision, how can we spread out throughout the world?
Once America finds out, we've got to put it on TV. Once America finds out, the whole world will find out.
joe rogan
The world found out so quick.
I've never seen a martial art spread through the country like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu did in the 1990s.
royce gracie
A lot of people thought the graces are arrogant.
They were trying to put down the other martial arts.
But it was not.
It was like put up or shut up.
Karate against kung fu.
Everybody claims that their style is the best.
There's only one way to find out.
And we're willing to try to find out.
We're not saying that we're the best.
We're just like, hey, you say you're the best.
I'm the best.
There's only one way to find out.
joe rogan
Well, the thing is, you guys had already tried it in dojos.
You'd already gone to gyms.
You'd already had challenge matches.
Gracie in action videos were an eye-opening video for a lot of martial artists because they saw all these karate guys who were the guys who thought they were these badass fighters and they just got taken down and strangled, taken down and strangled, taken down and armbarred.
royce gracie
But again, that was in Brazil.
A lot of that happened in Brazil.
When we came to America, it was a different level.
It was, okay, this guy's the world champion in karate, the number one boxer, the number one kickboxer.
Well, let's see if our stuff works against them.
And they're bigger, too.
joe rogan
When you grew up with this, I mean, you started Jiu-Jitsu when you were very, very young.
So when you grew up with this, when was the first time you saw one of those challenge matches?
royce gracie
It was Hickson fighting Zulu.
I was young.
I couldn't get into the stadium, so I watched it through a crack on the door.
It's like outside the stadium because there was an age to be in there.
I think I was like 16. And I was like 15, I think, when he fought or 14 when he fought.
So Royler got in because he did a demonstration, I guess, before.
But I had to stay outside and I was looking through the crack, could barely see it.
unidentified
Wow.
royce gracie
Yeah.
Oh, sorry.
Even before that, there's a black and white video of Horion, Hellson, Horlish, and some of the students fighting against karate guys on the tile.
And that's when I was there, I was present on that day.
But I always heard stories.
Of the family fighting, and yeah, we got to fight this guy on the beach, and the guy showed up at the school, and we had to fight, and I always grew up listening to them, the stories of my father fighting, my uncles and my cousins, and so I was like, I want to be one of them.
I wanna do this.
joe rogan
So there's always rumors about why you were chosen to be the representative for the first UFC. What's the actual truth behind it?
Like, why did they choose you?
royce gracie
Dude, it was gonna be on national TV. The looks!
Imagine if they put an ugly brother with an ugly...
They all could have done the same thing, my cousins.
They all could have done the same thing.
But come on, buy the looks.
No, no.
I think my father in the hordeon I knew I was going to obey my father's order.
It was like, do not hurt your opponents.
The other brothers and cousins, all of them, bigger, smaller, they could have done the same thing.
It was very raw back then.
It was one style against another.
But I think my father knew I was a little more calm personality.
I was going to obey his orders, and his order was like, do not hurt your opponents.
joe rogan
Now, why was that so important to him?
royce gracie
To show the true art of jiu-jitsu.
If a cousin gets in there and beat the guy up with an elbow across the opponent's face, eh...
It would have been impressive.
Oh my God, it would shock everybody, but wouldn't show the technique.
And my father and Jorge were concerned about showing the technique of just what we can do by dominating somebody bigger, stronger, without having to hurt them.
joe rogan
That's so amazing that you guys had so much confidence in jujitsu that they wanted you to not hurt someone.
royce gracie
That's the conversation I remember having with my father.
I was like, but dad...
The guy's bare knuckle.
They're gonna hit me.
He's like, don't worry.
They will never hit you.
They're not gonna touch you.
Don't worry.
That's how much confidence he had.
joe rogan
Wow.
royce gracie
He's not gonna hit.
Don't take me wrong.
My mother's order was totally different.
My mother was like, your father doesn't know what he's talking about.
I want to see some blood.
Send him to the hospital.
Mom was a mean one.
joe rogan
That's crazy!
royce gracie
Dad was like, no, no, don't hurt your opponent.
They're not going to touch you.
Don't worry.
They're not going to...
Nothing's going to happen.
You're going to dominate.
Mom was like, I want to see some blood.
Send him to the hospital.
joe rogan
It's so...
Your family is...
It's so unusual.
Because I have always said that your family, your father, Carlos, everyone, the whole family...
It's the most important family in the history of martial arts.
There's no family in the history of martial arts that's had the same impact that the Gracies have had.
royce gracie
I think that jiu-jitsu landed with them for a purpose.
They're from the north of Brazil, persistent people, and the vision that they had of having a lot of kids.
Uncle Carlos had 21 kids, 11 boys, 10 girls.
My father had 9 kids, 7 boys, 2 girls.
So it could have been all girls.
And you just wouldn't be what it is today.
joe rogan
It is kind of crazy, because your father was so unusual.
He had such an unusual mindset.
And the fact that he had had those early matches, like the matches with Kimura, Santana, all those different early matches that a lot of people don't even know about, that you could see online.
royce gracie
it was a it was a they want to test themselves so kimura haven't lost and not just not lost but nobody lasts more than three minutes with him and my father was like okay I want to try.
Heavier, younger.
Valdemar Santana, heavier, younger.
They fought for like 3 hours and 40 minutes.
One round straight.
joe rogan
Wow.
royce gracie
So it's, yeah.
They just, they want to put it to the test.
That was the main thing.
They want to see what they can do.
But my father always said...
It wasn't on how can he beat the opponents.
He always told me, don't walk in to win.
Walk in not to lose.
If you don't lose, the question is how you're going to beat him.
He makes a mistake.
But the mentality was always not to lose.
joe rogan
So always be defensively minded.
royce gracie
We're giving the weight advantage to the opponents.
So if I don't lose, we're going to...
He always used to explain that way.
We're going to play a ping pong game.
So every time you put the ball on my side of the table, it doesn't matter where you put that ball.
I'll put it back on the center of you.
I'll catch that ball, put it back on the center of the table.
What am I doing?
Playing the perfect defense game.
When am I going to lose?
Never.
So when I'm going to win?
Now we have to change the question.
When you miss the table, did I win?
No, you're the one who made the mistake.
You're the one who lost.
If you're not, we're going to play forever if you don't make a mistake.
So it's a very defensive art.
It's not a very aggressive art.
joe rogan
I've heard Helson describe jiu-jitsu in that way.
He said, jiu-jitsu is I do this and then you do that and then I do this and then you do that forever.
royce gracie
Until somebody make a mistake.
joe rogan
Until somebody make a mistake.
royce gracie
They say, I could make a mistake too, but if I don't make a mistake, if you don't make a mistake, we're going to play forever.
You know how it is.
We're going to play.
Until somebody gets tired or make a mistake.
joe rogan
Also, it was perfect for you to be in it because in the first UFC, what did you weigh?
About 176 pounds?
178. 178. Crazy.
And you were in there against gigantic guys.
What did Kimo weigh?
250. 250 roided to the gills.
royce gracie
There was no testing.
joe rogan
No testing.
Carrying a wooden cross into the octagon.
That was crazy.
royce gracie
He was a raw.
He was probably one of the strongest guys I fought.
joe rogan
He was huge.
royce gracie
He was raw strength.
Not the most technical, but he was pure strength.
And I messed up on that one because I tried to match strength with him.
He got me tired.
So I heard he was very strong and I tried to match strength with him.
joe rogan
Walking in with the cross.
I remember everybody was like, what the hell is going on here?
Taekwondo.
royce gracie
I was like, go ahead, carry that cross.
unidentified
It's heavy.
royce gracie
It was solid wood, by the way.
That was heavy.
joe rogan
I'm sure.
Probably a good warm-up.
And there's you.
How old were you then?
royce gracie
That was his third UFC. I was 27. Wow.
Look at his eyes, man.
It's like, yep.
joe rogan
Yeah, just jacked, full of juice, enormous.
unidentified
Jesus tattooing his stomach.
joe rogan
The early days, my man.
What is it like when you watch these?
royce gracie
Bare knuckles.
Sometimes I think what my father was thinking and hoarding on putting me rockers.
And I had a fight before.
joe rogan
That was your first fight?
It was UFC 1?
royce gracie
UFC 1 was the first fight.
unidentified
Wow.
royce gracie
I had to say, how many fights you had?
I said, 51 tournament matches when I was a kid competing in tournaments.
Professional fights?
Never.
On the street?
Never.
Wow.
unidentified
That's crazy.
royce gracie
I got jumped on the street once when I was like 14 years old because I want to be a fighter like my brothers.
Never had a fight.
I heard all of them fighting.
So I was like 14, 15 years old.
I went to a very bad neighborhood with my bike.
Got my bike stolen.
My nose broken.
Got jumped for like five guys.
Daytime took my bike.
But I came home and I was like, okay, I had a fight.
unidentified
Got my ass kicked.
royce gracie
So I can be one of them.
I want to be one of my cousins, one of my brothers, man.
I want to be part of the Gracie.
Never had a fight.
It's like, ah.
joe rogan
When you first fought, did you have striking training at all?
royce gracie
Yes.
Very little.
I had students showing me some stuff.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
royce gracie
More for me to know what's coming at me than for me to use.
So it's more for me to know how they move.
So it wasn't like I'm going to learn striking to learn boxing to fight against a boxer.
It was more for me to know what's coming, how they're going to move, when they're getting ready to throw a kick, a punch, for me to understand their movements.
joe rogan
Yeah, Hickson's talked about that the same way.
He said he didn't learn kickboxing to be a kickboxer.
He just learned kickboxing to understand what they're doing, the distance, the timing.
royce gracie
Distance.
That's management.
Distance management.
That's very important.
Some guys you see plant their feet and just exchange firepower.
You can go either way.
So, I like more of a lute style.
Hit and don't get hit.
Get away.
joe rogan
When you look back on this now, and you think, I mean, when you watch these old matches from like 1993, what does it feel like to see that?
royce gracie
Crazy.
I think my father was crazy to put me there, man.
joe rogan
No one had ever done it before on television.
It had never been, in America at least, it had never been a thing.
unidentified
And then to all of a sudden have this, No time limit, no weight division, no gloves.
joe rogan
No rules.
royce gracie
No rules, everything.
No biting, no eye gouging.
joe rogan
Yeah, you can punch the nuts, everything.
royce gracie
But if you do eye gouge or bite, like Gerard Guardu, as soon as I took him down, he beat my ear on the first year in the finals in the first UFC, but there's no punishment.
There's no, okay, you're going to get disqualified.
It's like, don't do it again, sir.
joe rogan
It's so crazy.
But then from that moment, from UFC 1, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu exploded across the country.
Exploded.
royce gracie
Grace Academy double size after the first UFC. Wow.
After the second UFC, we double again.
joe rogan
Wow.
This is in Torrance?
royce gracie
Torrance.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I started at Hickson's place and then I went to Carlson Gracie's place because I didn't know any better.
It was closer.
It was closer to me.
It was on Hawthorne.
That was when Vitor was making his debut in the UFC back when they were calling him Victor Gracie.
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
It was UFC 12. And I remember The feeling of the first class, the feeling of how humiliated you are when you don't know jujitsu and you spar with someone who knows jujitsu.
It's like you think you know how to fight and then you get in there and then all of a sudden you're on your back and you don't know what to do and all of a sudden you're getting choked and you're like, oh no, this is crazy!
royce gracie
And you've been doing martial arts for a long time already.
joe rogan
I had a completely distorted idea of my ability to fight.
Completely distorted.
And I remember my first class, I was like, oh boy.
Now I know.
royce gracie
It's like back in the garage days, there was always a student that bring a family friend or a family member or coach from different styles of martial arts, and they would come in, and they would come in to fight us.
But we, Jorge and I, would be like, okay, we're going to control and turn him into a student.
So we'll take the guy down, mount, and pretty much talk to him.
Maybe choke, maybe armbar, let it go, not hurting.
And the guy will go home and goes, oh man, can I sign up?
Can I learn?
joe rogan
Right, because of the fact that you didn't hurt them.
You could convert them into a student.
If you beat the fuck out of them and just broke their face...
royce gracie
They would never come back.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
So we were more concerned about gaining a student than trying to beat them up.
But they would come in to fight.
We were converting them.
joe rogan
Wow.
Was it your father that was the mastermind behind doing it that way?
royce gracie
I think that was Horian, because Horian was like my second father.
I came to live with him.
I was 17, going on 18. I came to America to live with Horian.
joe rogan
So Horian was a lawyer, very smart, very calculated.
royce gracie
And we were teaching back in the garage days, teaching every day, private classes, half an hour private classes.
Place looked like a crack house.
unidentified
Half an hour there's a person coming in and leaving, coming, coming, coming.
royce gracie
The neighbor's like, what are they doing over there?
joe rogan
It's amazing what started in that garage, if you really think about it.
But it's also amazing like his vision that he had some so much belief in jujitsu that he knew that he just it wasn't like it had to be developed it was already there you just have to show people they just need to know And we try advertisements, and so he finally figured out we have to put on TV. And once the American people find out, the whole world will see it.
royce gracie
And that's what happened.
Put on TV, second UFC, people coming from everywhere.
There was applications coming from different parts of the world.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
There's never been...
I mean, other than...
One thing that happened...
Like Bruce Lee.
Bruce Lee movies.
People saw Bruce Lee movies.
They all wanted to learn martial arts.
But other than that...
But that was movies, right?
So that was like you wanted to do this thing that wasn't real.
Like this guy was fighting ten people.
They were all coming out of one at a time.
unidentified
Wah!
Wah!
joe rogan
But it wasn't real.
Watching you in UFC 1, it was like so many people had this light bulb moment.
royce gracie
But I thought a lot of people thought it was fixed.
It was like, eh, no, there's no way this thing's for real.
Even though Taylor Tully lost a tooth by Geraldo Gordor, got kicked in the face right off the brad, the first fight.
But a lot of people thought, eh...
Second UFC, still people like, eh.
I think the fourth one is when people said, okay, this thing's for real.
joe rogan
Martial artists knew right away.
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
In the martial arts community, right away.
I didn't see UFC 1 first.
I saw UFC 2. That was the first one that I saw.
Because UFC 1, for whatever reason, I think it was some licensing thing.
It wasn't available as a DVD or a VCR tape.
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
So the VHS tape, when it was released and you could get it in a store, a friend of mine had told me about it.
And I had just moved to California.
It was 1994. And I got a hold of UFC 2. And I watched it in my apartment.
I remember going, oh, Oh my goodness.
It just changed my mind about fighting.
Fighting for me was always stand-up fighting.
I wrestled a little bit in high school, but fighting for me was kickboxing.
So when I saw that, I was like, wow!
I remember everybody, like all my friends that were into martial arts, everybody was scrambling to try to find a jiu-jitsu school.
There had never been a moment like that where one martial art had emerged With such force.
royce gracie
Jiu-jitsu, Judo, wrestling.
I had a lot of wrestlers and Judo guys that came up to me and was like, man, thanks for putting us on the map.
Going back to the old Black Bell magazines, Inside Karate, Inside Kung Fu.
Those all stand-up martial arts.
They wouldn't consider wrestling, Judo, part of martial arts.
joe rogan
I know, isn't that crazy?
royce gracie
That's not.
It's all stand-up.
joe rogan
We used to share a gym back when I lived in Boston.
There was a guy that I used to work out with and he had a gym that he would share with the judo class.
So on one side there was a judo guy and the other side was the kickboxers.
And I remember thinking like, what are these guys doing?
What a waste of time practicing throwing each other around.
Like, what's the point?
You know, and no one knew.
It's so interesting that everyone...
See, from the time I first got into martial arts when I was a little kid, there was always this thought, like, what would happen if a karate guy fought a judo guy?
What would happen if a boxer fought a wrestler?
And everybody had an opinion.
But until UFC 1 came around, no one really knew.
It was just theoretical.
I always maintain that since 93 to today, martial arts have evolved more over the last 30 years than they have over the last 30,000 years.
royce gracie
Everybody had that, like, what would happen.
But nobody would challenge the other one.
Nobody would want to step on anybody's toes.
joe rogan
Well, nobody was willing to take the chance, you know?
royce gracie
What if I lose?
I don't want to bother.
I don't want to beat the other guy, too, because if I beat him, he's going to feel bad.
There was a lot of that.
We're like, hey, we're willing to find out.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, thank God you did that.
I mean, thank God it came along because who knows where martial arts would be today if that hadn't happened.
royce gracie
It would have been people thinking that death touches.
unidentified
Yeah!
royce gracie
I'll touch you right here in the shoulder, and a week from now, I'm paralyzed.
joe rogan
Grab your collarbone, you go to sleep.
Yeah, there was a lot of that stupid shit.
There's still that stupid shit out there.
There's still a lot of people out there that believe that stuff.
It's crazy, isn't it?
royce gracie
But, hey, UFC came along.
joe rogan
Yeah, but most people know now.
Most people know now.
I mean, now, if you want to fight, you have to know jiu-jitsu.
You have to.
Because there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
royce gracie
If you take jiu-jitsu away, it goes back to the old style.
Stand-up, karate against kung fu.
Jiu-jitsu is the bond between the striking arts and the grappling arts and all of them.
joe rogan
I mean, there's still guys who only understand jujitsu in a rudimentary sense, like they understand defense, but you have to at least understand defense.
You have to at least know what someone's doing.
You can't compete without understanding it, because you'll get caught.
royce gracie
You gotta know.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Not just on the grappling part.
But on the stand-up part, you have to know how to defend yourself.
It's like, it's not just come up and start to hit the opponent.
joe rogan
No, no, no.
royce gracie
I gotta manage distance.
I gotta know when I'm too close and he's gonna hit me.
So I gotta play defense all around.
joe rogan
What is it like for you, having been there for UFC 1, to see what it is today?
To see, like, UFC 300, which was just insane.
This thing where millions of people are watching it around the world.
It's this huge phenomenon.
It's like the most exciting sport in the world now.
And to know, you were the original.
You're number one.
There's only gonna be one original Ultimate Fighter.
That's you.
royce gracie
I don't look at that way.
I don't look at that way.
I look as a, yeah, I was part of it.
joe rogan
You were the part of it.
If it wasn't you, like if you didn't exist, if they had the UFC won and there was no representative of jujitsu, some big strong guy would have won.
royce gracie
Or what if I lost?
joe rogan
Right, what if you lost, yeah.
royce gracie
So I said the other day, I said, I'm not part of the history.
I am the history.
joe rogan
Yeah, you are the history.
Yeah, you were the original representative of jiu-jitsu.
And the reason why the UFC became so exciting was not just because you get to see these wild fights inside of a cage, but you see a smaller guy with better technique Beat the bigger, stronger men, which is what martial arts was always supposed to be.
Jiu-Jitsu, I always tell people, is the only martial art that delivers as advertised.
Because if you're a kickboxer, and you're a small guy, and another guy's a kickboxer, but he's like 250 pounds, you're fucked.
He's going to hit you.
royce gracie
A lightweight boxer against a heavyweight doesn't stand a chance.
joe rogan
Doesn't stand a chance.
But Jiu-Jitsu, if you're really good and that guy doesn't know what he's doing, you're going to fucking kill him.
He doesn't have a chance.
royce gracie
Or even if he knows what he's doing.
The lightweight have a chance to survive and play defense and end up choking or arm bar the bigger opponent.
joe rogan
Which is why absolutes in jiu-jitsu matches are so interesting.
When you watch a small guy beat a big guy.
royce gracie
Win the heavyweight championship.
It's crazy.
It's a lightweight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
No, it's the only martial art that really delivers as advertised.
Where technique triumphs over everything.
royce gracie
And that's what my father and Uncle Carlos and their brothers always tried to show people that you don't have to be the biggest, the strongest, the fastest.
You just gotta know what you're doing.
My father used to say, give me the right leverage and I'll lift the world with one hand.
Just gotta have the right setup.
joe rogan
Well, that was also the brilliant thing about jiu-jitsu and your father.
So your father was a smaller guy.
He weighed like 147 pounds or something, right?
royce gracie
About 145, yes.
joe rogan
Crazy.
Crazy.
royce gracie
And challenge everybody, wrestlers that came from, would go to boxers, would go to vacation in Brazil.
He would be at the airport waiting for the guy.
The old Joe Lewis.
unidentified
Really?
royce gracie
Went to Brazil.
Excuse me.
And went to Brazil and my father challenged him.
joe rogan
Wow!
royce gracie
Hornel had a letter that was given to my father saying, Joe Louis would box against anybody.
Boxing against boxing.
Not in an MMA match.
My father was like 145 pounds.
Joe Louis was 220, 200 pounds, the heavyweight champion at the time.
unidentified
Wow.
royce gracie
The old man was crazy.
joe rogan
Imagine if he took that on, if he was willing to do that.
That would have been exciting.
royce gracie
But back then, there was no...
the internet.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
So a lot of people probably wouldn't find out.
unidentified
Right.
royce gracie
It would be very modern.
It would be...
Didn't happen.
joe rogan
Yeah, no one would understand.
royce gracie
There's no tapes.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
Yeah, you'd have to set that up.
You'd have to set that up, bring a camera crew and the whole deal.
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
What was it about your father that had this mentality, that had this desire to challenge himself and prove jiu-jitsu's effectiveness?
royce gracie
I think he was...
Being smaller, being peak on it.
And once he learned, he had that power.
He learned Jiu Jitsu, he got that power with him.
So he want to show others.
And he wasn't...
I would say, as a fighter, he always says, if I fell on top of the opponent, I would be nice.
I would choke him out, I would subdue him.
Use the submission, make him tap, technique.
If he was on top of me, I would beat him up.
He used to say, hit him, get off me, get off me.
He should have listened, he should have got off me in the first punch.
He would tie you up and beat you from the bottom.
joe rogan
Well, that was one of the more interesting things about jiu-jitsu because of what your father did.
Because your father was smaller, he developed much more technique off of his back.
Because in these other styles of judo and Japanese jiu-jitsu, it wasn't really emphasizing fighting off of your back.
royce gracie
Yeah, he was playing defense.
So he always said, tie your opponent up and...
If you have to beat him up from the bar, but if you get on top, there's no reason to beat him up.
You're under control.
You control the fight.
You just subdue him.
There was a lot of defense.
joe rogan
It's interesting now...
royce gracie
A mean defense, I would say.
joe rogan
A very mean defense, yeah.
But it's interesting now when you see the rules.
The rules are set up much more for strikers and for wrestlers because...
I've been talking about this lately.
Like, say if you're a jiu-jitsu guy, and you're fighting in the first round, and rounds are five minutes long, and you take the guy down four minutes and thirty seconds, you only have thirty seconds to work.
I feel like a fight should be, even if you're gonna make it rounds, the fight is the fight.
I don't think someone should be able to get up.
I don't think you should stand people up ever.
I think once a guy takes you down, the fight is on the ground.
If it's boring for the audience, tough shit.
If you're on the bottom, get up.
And if you can't get up, tough shit.
And if the round ends and then the new round begins, I think they should start you right back in the same place.
royce gracie
I think because they're on the same weight division.
Back then there was no weight division.
I would say the fight doesn't favor one person, one style or another.
joe rogan
It doesn't favor it, but it gives a distinct advantage if you let a person stand up that didn't stand up.
So if you start the second round, say if you take me down with 4 minutes and 30 seconds to go and you're dominating me and you're closing in on me and you're about to tap me, but then the round ends.
And then we start, but now we start standing up.
But I didn't earn that stand up.
I just gotta stand up because of the time.
I feel like the fight should be a fight.
So if a fight is five rounds, that's a 25-minute fight.
And I think whatever position that you're in at the end of that first round, you should begin in the second round.
That's what I think.
royce gracie
I'm in favor of doing one round straight through.
joe rogan
Well, that would be wild, too.
I think one round, and maybe even no time on that.
royce gracie
Eh, no time limit is not good for the TV. No.
joe rogan
No, but good for the internet.
royce gracie
Make it one 15-minute round.
joe rogan
Ooh, yeah.
royce gracie
It's like, that's it.
One 15 straight through, go straight, no rounds.
Start, 15 minutes later, we'll stop.
joe rogan
They should try that.
royce gracie
And if, hey, nobody wins, another five minutes or ten minutes.
joe rogan
Right, overtime round.
royce gracie
You see, overtime.
joe rogan
Well, I think Pride had good rules.
A ten minute first round was better.
I think ten minutes is better.
Especially if someone, like, works really hard.
Again, four minutes, thirty seconds, you finally take the guy down.
Now you're on top.
And now you're trying to set things up, but the bell rings.
And then you start standing up again.
royce gracie
Yeah, I started standing up again.
But then, yeah, I think you've put a 10 minute round, 15 minute, one round straight through, man.
joe rogan
But I think the problem is they've stopped changing the rules.
The rules are the rules now.
And they've kind of like solidified them and established them.
But I don't think the rules are right.
I think if a guy takes you down, you should have to earn a stand-up.
You have to get back up to your feet.
So if the fight ends...
royce gracie
With one mounted on top of the athlete or on the back.
joe rogan
Yeah.
If that's the end of the round, you start from the same position.
I think they should show it up on the screen, what the position was, and then everybody agrees.
Okay, so he had an overhook, he had half guard, go.
royce gracie
Or how about, like, they play football, American football.
If the five-minute finish and the guy's on the mountain position, you got to let it go until they break away.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
royce gracie
So you're going to go until somebody scores.
Yeah.
joe rogan
I like that.
royce gracie
It's like if the position ends up on such an advantage position, That was something to think about.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's something to think about if you want to make things more realistic.
royce gracie
If we finish the round and I'm on your back about to choke you or with the guillotine or the choke or our arm bar is cut.
Okay, the bell doesn't ring until you get away and get up, then we'll take a break.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's not bad either.
I just think that having a fight start, if you start, you start standing up.
But I think round to round, you should resume the position, whatever you were in, in the previous round.
I think that's the only thing that makes sense.
Because otherwise you didn't earn a stand-up.
But if a guy takes you down and mounts you and he's setting up a head and arm choke and he's sinking it in and then the buzzer rings, you should go right back to that spot when round two starts because you didn't get out of that.
And now if the guy's a kickboxer, now he goes, oh shit, I almost got caught.
And now you start that next round standing up.
He has an advantage because now he's standing up.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But he didn't earn that stand-up.
You earned the takedown.
You got him down.
You got in a superior position.
You were about to finish him.
royce gracie
I like it.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think it makes more sense.
royce gracie
I like it.
joe rogan
No one's gonna listen to me though.
Especially me.
They go, you're biased towards jiu-jitsu.
I'm like, yeah, yeah, I am.
But I'm not, though.
I'm not, though, because I feel like, I mean, if it was the other way, if you start a fight, if a guy stood up and got back to a standing position, you would never take them back down again and start to...
royce gracie
But if it was a switch around, just playing devil's advocate over here.
joe rogan
Okay.
royce gracie
The kickboxer or the stand-up guy...
Hit, almost knock him out.
Bell rings.
Saved by the bell.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
How do we restart that one?
joe rogan
Well, you restart it standing.
It's still standing.
I mean, the round, you have the minute rest, but you're still standing.
The kickbox is still...
royce gracie
I would say let it go.
joe rogan
Let it go.
royce gracie
The clock goes until, hey, and either he recover, get in a clinch, and whew, got away.
joe rogan
The right way to do it then is one round.
One 15-minute round or one 25-minute round in a championship fight.
That's the right way to do it.
That would be wild.
royce gracie
15, 30 seconds.
So 30 seconds, minute round, minute break?
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
And then 10 minutes.
joe rogan
That's not bad.
Yeah.
royce gracie
First round, 15. Yeah.
joe rogan
That would be crazy.
royce gracie
It would be an early night.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, how many finishes would there be?
There'd be a lot more finishes.
royce gracie
I think so.
joe rogan
I wonder how different...
royce gracie
People have to work on the endurance, too.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
royce gracie
Because a lot of guys, I see they finish the fight...
One is fresh, the other one is done for the night.
But then the one that's fresh lost because he doesn't have that quick twitch, that fast twitch muscle.
The one that explodes everything on the first round, the second, third round, that's it.
This guy's ready to go for five, six, but his time is over.
joe rogan
Right.
That's an interesting thing, too, right?
What people don't understand that just watch it and don't do martial arts is that it's really just about pacing yourself, too.
Knowing when to hit the gas, when to back up, knowing that you have to fight for five rounds, and knowing when to push.
Like, some fighters, they'll back off in the beginning because they know that a guy's gonna come out fast and hard, and they're just gonna wait.
Okay, he's slowing down now.
Now I start to press.
Now I start to put on the gas.
royce gracie
And it becomes a mental, too.
Like Horton used to say, if I drop you off in the middle of the ocean and tell you I'm coming back in an hour, all you gotta do is tread water for an hour.
But if I drop you off and say goodbye, find your way home, now you gotta pick a direction and start swimming.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Most people drown before an hour.
joe rogan
Yeah, true.
Right?
Mental.
Yeah.
royce gracie
It's a lot of mental.
There's no round to save you.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the most interesting thing about the early UFCs is that it was just no time limit.
Just, here we go.
royce gracie
There's like Dan Severn on top of me for 15 minutes.
I beat him on the final 16 minutes.
But 15 minutes, if it was today...
He would have won.
He took me down, got on top, would have won the decision.
joe rogan
I remember that day.
I remember when you caught him in that triangle.
Most people didn't even know what was going on.
They're like, what is he doing?
What the hell's happening here?
What is going on?
Nowadays, everybody would be going, oh!
The audiences are so educated now.
royce gracie
That was a perfect example of playing defense right there.
I totally played defense against him just...
Frustrate the opponent until he made a mistake.
I tried a triangle early on in the fight, but he was able to get out, to get out, and then I defend, defend, defend, defend.
He couldn't do anything.
I can see him getting frustrated.
He didn't know how he was going to win.
I can feel that.
There's no way I can beat this guy.
joe rogan
Right.
Because you were so good defensively.
royce gracie
Just playing defense.
He couldn't hit me.
He tried.
But I knew he didn't have any finishing holds.
He didn't know any finishing holds.
He was just trying to put pressure.
Okay.
I'll take it.
No problem.
joe rogan
It was also the gi.
The gi was so smart, too, to fight with the gi on because guys would just grab that gi.
When you would close the distance and get a hold of them, they would grab your gi instinctively.
royce gracie
I prefer them to grab.
A lot of Brazilians were like, man, but then they grab, they make it harder for you.
No, I prefer them to put their hands on me.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Because I know where their hands are.
At least if they're not punching me.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
If they have nothing to grab, they're going to be swinging at me.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
Go ahead, grab Nike all day long.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
I don't mind.
joe rogan
Well, guys who weren't even grapplers would grab your gi.
I remember watching.
royce gracie
It's human instinct.
joe rogan
Yeah, human instinct.
Yeah.
And also, you have all that friction.
It's so good to hold on to guys when you have the gi.
royce gracie
And I dry them.
My father used the gi to dry the guys.
Because if not, it would be slippery.
It's not like today.
They put oil on their body.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
They definitely do.
Yeah, they definitely do.
royce gracie
The kickboxers all put Vaseline all over.
That's to warm up.
The Tiger Bond to warm up.
That thing is slippery, man.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Guys take baths in baby oil.
They would lie down in a bathtub and put water and put baby oil in the water and just soak themselves in baby oil.
So even if they're dry, then the moment they start to sweat, they're just like, whoop, like holding on to a salmon.
Whoop, it'll slip right out of your fingers.
royce gracie
It's crazy.
Good old days.
joe rogan
Good old days.
royce gracie
No rules.
joe rogan
And then they slowly started implementing rules.
They slowly started implementing weight classes and then mandating gloves and then taking away shoes.
royce gracie
I understand.
I understand.
It had to be...
It became a show, let's say.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
So in the beginning, it was a style against a style.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Today is more of a, I would look at it more as like an athlete against an athlete.
joe rogan
Yes.
Now it's a sport.
It's a real sport.
And it's still a sport that there's still a lot of rules that I don't agree with.
Like, I don't agree with no knees to the head on the ground.
I think that's ridiculous.
I think that doesn't make sense because they're very effective.
Like, don't be in a position where you get kneed in the head.
Like, don't be in that.
Don't stay in a turtle.
Like, when guys just stay in a turtle and a guy's got a hold of him, man, that's a terrible place to be.
In the street?
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
If a guy's got a head and arm on you and he's holding you and you're in the turtle and his knees are free and you're not blocking your head, oh, this fight is over.
But in the UFC, you can't even do anything.
That seems to me to be crazy.
royce gracie
They tried to make it, I think, to last long, the fights.
joe rogan
Well, I think it's less brutal, too.
And the idea is that you can't defend yourself against knees to the head of the ground.
But you can, obviously.
Pride did them.
royce gracie
I can't elbow the back of the head.
joe rogan
Right, the back of the head from the back, if you have the back mount.
Remember when Henzo, when your cousin fought Striker, that guy, in World Combat League?
Oh, my God.
He got his back and just...
unidentified
Boom!
joe rogan
Boom!
Just fucked him up.
Like, you didn't even need to put the choke in.
Like, you couldn't do anything.
You just flattened out with your face on the mat and the guy's pounding the back of your head.
You just tap.
royce gracie
So they're kind of trying to put a little bit of...
to protect the fighter.
joe rogan
Yes.
royce gracie
I understand.
Eh.
joe rogan
I understand too.
royce gracie
I don't agree with it.
joe rogan
I don't agree with it either.
Also, it's weird that you can't hit the back of the head because the back of the head gets hit a lot.
A lot accidentally, especially with head kicks.
Like a lot of times head kicks wrap around the back of your head and it's totally legal.
Like if two guys are standing and one guy faints and the guy throws a punch and the guy throws a head kick and the head kick hits him, bang!
It wraps right around the back of the head.
royce gracie
It's okay.
joe rogan
The shin.
That's okay.
And that's a legal KO. Yeah.
Which is crazy, but if you get a guy on the ground and you punch him in the back of the head, the referee take a point away, stand you up, doesn't make any sense.
royce gracie
Yeah, I would say, let it go.
unidentified
Yeah, let it go.
royce gracie
Go back to the old days.
That would be good to see.
joe rogan
You've got to protect the back of your head.
The back of your head's vulnerable.
If you're in a situation where a guy can punch the back of your head, you should be blocking the back of your head.
And if now he can punch the front of your head, now you've got to block the front of your head.
royce gracie
Turn facing the opponent.
joe rogan
We're talking about the sport of effective fighting.
And it's very effective to punch someone in the back of the head.
And they say it's more dangerous.
But I mean, we're talking about a very dangerous sport.
It's affected to punch the temple.
That's okay.
That's fucking vulnerable.
That's a thin little piece of bone.
royce gracie
How many ounces are the gloves?
joe rogan
Four.
Yeah.
royce gracie
They're just to protect your fingers.
joe rogan
That's all it does.
royce gracie
Protect your knuckles.
joe rogan
So you don't break.
It helps you hit harder.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It just protects you from cuts a little bit.
A little bit.
You know, but still.
royce gracie
The cast that they put underneath, all that taping and the gloves, just to protect your hands so it don't break your hands.
joe rogan
Exactly, yeah.
Do you think that they should be bare knuckle?
royce gracie
I think I should go back to the old ways.
Just tie out one time.
joe rogan
One time, right?
One time would be great.
royce gracie
No time limit, no weight division.
joe rogan
Why doesn't someone do that?
Why doesn't someone do that?
Someone should do...
I mean, I don't know about the weight limit thing.
Guys are too good now.
The problem is guys are too good.
royce gracie
But if there's no weight division, if there's no weight division, you cannot have time limit.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
So if you take the weight, you gotta take the time.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
Like my father used to say, I'll give you the weight division, you gotta give me time.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
So you get some of the lightweights over here, man.
The 170s, 180s.
They will fight the heavyweights.
joe rogan
Also...
royce gracie
With no time limit.
joe rogan
Most of these guys, well, if they're jiu-jitsu guys, but also a lot of these guys are not really...
That's the other thing is the weight cutting.
Like Kamaru Usman is a great example.
He was the 170-pound champion, one of the greatest ever.
Never weighed 170 pounds.
He weighed 170 pounds for about five minutes.
royce gracie
Walk around 200. Yeah, easy.
unidentified
Jacked.
royce gracie
All of them.
Everybody.
joe rogan
Everybody.
You can't fight, I mean, except for BJ Penn.
BJ Penn was the last guy who fought at 170. He probably weighed like 165 when he beat Matt Hughes, you know?
And he just didn't cut any weight at all.
He just weighed what he weighed and just went in and went after it.
But again, jujitsu guy, you know?
royce gracie
But everybody has to know Jiu Jitsu today.
Some are more proficient than the others.
joe rogan
Yes.
royce gracie
But everybody has to know.
joe rogan
Yeah, you have to know what's going on.
You have to.
royce gracie
Everybody has to know a little bit of wrestling, judo, kickboxing, boxing, karate.
Everybody has to know a little bit of everything.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's a different sport.
It's totally different.
royce gracie
But would it be fun to do once, see who can sign up for it?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, no time limit, no weight class, no gloves.
Yeah, old school.
I think they should take away the cage.
I think the cage helps people, too, because it helps people stand back up.
It helps you if you get a guy down, and you get a guy down in an open room, like, say, a basketball court.
Like, there's nothing to help him get back up.
royce gracie
Okay, hold on.
Time out over here.
Now you brought some memories over here.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
First UFC. It was John Millers, the producer for Conan the Destroyer, the father of Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood.
He's in charge of creating the cage.
But before the cage, they come up with some ideas they present to me.
I was like, wait a minute, hold on.
They're like, how about if we make a round ring with a pit underneath, with a pit.
joe rogan
Around it.
royce gracie
With sharks.
I was like, hold on.
Imagine if I fight a sumo wrestler and just bump me off and fall off the sharks.
We eat you.
Yeah, yeah, we should put piranhas because you're from Brazil.
joe rogan
What?
unidentified
What?
royce gracie
The ideas they had.
unidentified
How about like a bowl?
royce gracie
And people try to get off, but you can't because it'd be slippery.
You can't climb off the walls, the side.
But then they didn't have the angles for the camera.
And how about putting a...
They try with the octagon, but with barbed wires.
joe rogan
Oh God.
royce gracie
I was like, dude, imagine if I had somebody big and just push me against and hang me on top.
Oh yeah, that's right.
Let's make an electrical fence.
I was like, really?
The ideas they had, man.
I was like, everybody I'm going to fight is going to be bigger than me.
The guy pushed me against the fence and fried me against the fence.
unidentified
Come on, really?
joe rogan
That's crazy.
royce gracie
I keep viewing the ideas, man.
They had all kind of crazy ideas.
joe rogan
God, imagine if they went through with those.
That's so ridiculous.
I've been saying for a while that they should do...
Look, if you could watch a basketball game.
Basketball games on this massive court.
Why can't there be a fight on a basketball court?
Just flat mats.
No walls.
So everyone can see everything that's going on.
royce gracie
Even a basketball, the guys will go to the edge.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you have a warning track.
So you have a warning track of like 15 feet on each side.
royce gracie
Let's make that bowl.
joe rogan
Bowl's not a bad idea.
royce gracie
So a guy can not climb off.
It's like with the wall, the edge is...
joe rogan
Have you seen Karate Combat?
How Karate Combat's doing it?
royce gracie
No.
joe rogan
Karate Combat is doing it like that, where they have a flat surface and it's on the edges.
There's mats that go to the edges, like at an angle.
royce gracie
In the angle, like people cannot climb out.
joe rogan
They kind of go up against it, but then they get pushed and then they fall down.
They fall down.
I think a wall is actually better than the angle.
Because it's just too easy to fall.
Like someone's pushing you up against that thing.
It's a slope.
It's hard.
If you see how they do it, see how they have that wall?
The angle?
So I don't necessarily think that that's the best idea because as soon as you go up against that, a lot of times guys wind up falling down and the guy just falls on top of them.
Yeah, you can't back up.
Oh, you can't back up?
I think it would be better if it was like a basketball court.
Just a flat mat and a basketball court and there's a warning track.
So if you know you're in the red zone, you have to get out of that red zone.
And if you keep retreating to the red zone, maybe they take a point away from you.
It's a lot of room.
A basketball court is a big space.
There's plenty of room.
You start in the center and then that's how you fight.
I'm just trying to eliminate all the factors that aren't another human.
Like the other human, if a guy takes you down and you could scooch up to the wall and then you start using the wall and you press up against the wall, now you're standing up again, but you use the wall.
If that was just flat, no wall, you're not getting up.
Now you have to go under hooks.
You have to do deep half.
You have to do something to try to reverse the position.
You try to get back up on your feet.
You have to earn a stand-up.
Much more difficult than if you're just using the wall to help you stand back up.
royce gracie
Shark.
unidentified
Yeah!
royce gracie
Shark's piratas.
unidentified
Shark's piratas, electrical fence.
royce gracie
God.
joe rogan
I remember the first UFC I worked was UFC 12. And this was when I was on a television show.
I was on this television show called News Radio.
It was a sitcom.
And so I was hired to go do the post-fight interviews.
And I remember the people that I was working with on the sitcom were like, what are you doing?
Like, why are you being involved in this?
royce gracie
This is brutal.
joe rogan
And I was telling them, I was like, no, no, no.
This is going to be the biggest sport in the world.
They're like, you're out of your...
Fucking mind.
You're crazy.
No one's gonna like this.
This is insanity.
Like you're going to watch people fight in a cage.
And I'm like...
royce gracie
That was one of the challenges that Horton had and a lot of people did not believe in on him.
He was like, people are like, man, you cannot fight on the streets.
How are you gonna put this on live TV? Right.
That was one of the challenges that the Horton figured out pay-per-view.
joe rogan
He must be happy now watching it, right?
royce gracie
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Like, look, I was right.
royce gracie
His baby.
joe rogan
Yeah, look at his baby now.
His baby's on ESPN. Yep.
Crazy.
Crazy.
unidentified
Yeah, on national TV. When was the last time Horian went to a UFC? I don't know.
joe rogan
Does he still watch them?
unidentified
No.
royce gracie
I think so.
I think he's just watching.
So I talk to him once in a while and once a month we talk.
joe rogan
It must be crazy for him to see this thing that was his idea just branch off and become this huge...
royce gracie
All over the world.
unidentified
Is he mad that he didn't get a piece?
joe rogan
No.
royce gracie
Because it's sold for billions of dollars.
He never talked to me about that.
joe rogan
Boy, they should have cut him in.
They should have cut him in.
You know, when you think about it, like if anybody deserves a piece, that guy deserves a piece.
royce gracie
For the vision that he had.
unidentified
Yes!
joe rogan
If it wasn't for his vision and the way they decided to go about doing it, and also your father, your father's vision for it, you're like, don't hurt him.
Just use jiu-jitsu.
Show everybody.
Because that's one of the things that made it so appealing.
It wasn't that it was just so brutal.
It's that the guy who won wasn't brutal.
The guy who won was just better.
unidentified
Technical.
royce gracie
And that's why I think the first, second, third UFC, until I didn't finish on the third UFC, and first and second, people were like, there's no way.
He's the smallest one.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
Beat everybody without hurting them.
I don't know.
Everybody thought, I was like, eh, a lot of people are like the non-martial artist people.
joe rogan
Yes.
royce gracie
Martial arts people knew it was like, uh-oh.
joe rogan
Yeah, martial arts people knew.
royce gracie
We've got to learn this.
joe rogan
Well, everybody who took jiu-jitsu knew right away.
Because it was so eye-opening.
Like I said before, my first classes, the ideas that you had in your head of how competent you are versus the reality that you're confronted with.
And you saw that in all the Gracian action tapes, too.
These guys, they wanted to do it again.
Like, how did you do that?
Let's try it again.
No way.
And then, whoop, take down again.
Whoop, armbar.
royce gracie
Like Geraldo Gordor, after the first UFC, he went back to Holland and prepared Remco Pardus to beat me.
Remco Pardus, judo player, used some stand-up.
When I beat Remco Pardus, they went back to Holland, they're like, okay, we have to learn this jiu-jitsu thing.
We have to learn this.
joe rogan
Remember when Remco Pardue fought Orlando Veet?
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
And he got him in side control, and he just elbowed him unconscious, and everybody's like, oh, wow.
royce gracie
Like, whoa.
joe rogan
That was crazy.
Because Orlando Veet was scary.
That guy was scary.
royce gracie
Yes.
Lightweight, very good kickboxer.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Nasty.
Nasty Muay Thai.
And Remco Pardue just whoop, took him down, elbows, boom, boom, boom, and then stopped.
He stopped.
royce gracie
He's out.
He was done.
unidentified
That's it.
joe rogan
That's a wrap.
Such an educational moment for martial arts.
Again, martial arts has changed so much since 1993. People's understanding of martial arts, just the general public, what they know.
If you see street fights today, guys go to the ground all the time.
You see street fights today.
Guys get guys in heel hooks.
It's crazy!
Street fights!
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
You know?
Here it is.
Here's Remco.
Boom!
Boom!
royce gracie
The first one, he was already out.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
royce gracie
Remco is like 260 pounds.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was a big dude.
But it was just like no one understood what was going on.
No one understood anything.
royce gracie
That's the same takedown that he tried to do to me, but I ended up on his back.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
And I knew he was going to do that takedown, trap the arm, roll over.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
royce gracie
So I end up on his back, and that's when I choke him.
joe rogan
Such a strange time for martial arts, really.
If you really stop and think about it, such a strange time.
Because all these years, thousands of years of people fighting, thousands of years of people having this idea of how to fight, and then all of it comes together in the UFC, and then we go, okay, now we have new data.
Now we have new understanding.
Now we have, okay, now we get it.
Now we get it.
And then you see it evolve to what it is now, where you see these guys, like Alex Pajeda, the kickboxer who comes in, and now he's got his style.
royce gracie
I think today is more of a lot of strategy too.
Because both fighters are practicing the stand-up and the grappling.
They do jiu-jitsu, they do wrestling, everybody does kickboxing, karate, everybody practices all of them.
So it's a question of who has the best strategy.
joe rogan
Yeah, who has the best strategy?
And then there's people like Pajera, who has a unique skill set.
Like, scary kickboxer.
Dangerous.
He just hits you once, you're unconscious.
You know, like, that guy presents a very unique challenge.
Like, if you don't grab him and you don't get him to the ground, you're fucked.
Because if you're standing up with him, at any moment that guy's gonna set you up, move, and BOOM! Like we did with Jamal Hill in that last fight.
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
All it takes is one shot from that guy.
So these guys now, everyone has their own unique skill set, and it's so interesting seeing how that skill set matches up with another guy's skill set.
With Pajeda, I want to see what happens if he fights against an elite wrestler, who is really good at takedowns, who knows jiu-jitsu.
You know, and we haven't seen that yet.
royce gracie
But he trains a lot of grappling, too.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Well, he just got his black belt from Glover.
royce gracie
From Glover, yes.
joe rogan
Yeah, which is huge.
royce gracie
And Glover's good.
joe rogan
Yeah, and Glover says he's, like, very good on the ground now.
royce gracie
No, Glover himself is tough as fuck.
joe rogan
People don't know how good Glover is because Glover could not fight in the U.S. for six years because of visa issues during his prime.
During his prime, Glover was stuck in Brazil.
He couldn't come to America.
Everybody knew about it.
Glover was the boogeyman.
Everybody talked about Glover.
Glover was the guy that, out of all the elite guys that weren't in the UFC, Glover was the number one guy that everybody talked about.
He was so good when he was younger.
By the time he got to the UFC, he was already 36 years old.
He won the title, I think he was 41 or 42, when he won the light heavyweight title.
royce gracie
And Alex trains with him.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
royce gracie
Yeah, it's a good combination.
joe rogan
Oh, perfect, perfect, perfect combination, yeah.
I mean, it's an amazing, exciting time for the sport, you know?
It really is.
royce gracie
And it's good.
There's still a lot of countries, a lot of places that are against.
So we still can open up more doors.
joe rogan
What countries are against MMA now?
royce gracie
A lot of European countries are still like...
joe rogan
It's starting to make its way, like this guy's from France.
royce gracie
Just now, last year, I think, starting France and Spain.
joe rogan
Well, France has some great guys, too, now, though.
You know, Cyril Ghosn and Cedric Dumbay, who fights for PFL, who's an elite kickboxer.
And then, of course, you got those guys from Dagestan.
That's an interesting element, too.
Those Russian wrestlers.
royce gracie
Yeah.
I don't think it's because of their wrestling.
I think it's because of their discipline.
And I tell a lot of people that those guys don't think about anything else.
Just train.
Discipline about it.
joe rogan
Very religious.
Very disciplined.
Very focused.
Yeah.
royce gracie
There's no, the girlfriend or wife, they're not thinking about any of that.
joe rogan
No partying.
royce gracie
There's no partying.
That's all they do.
unidentified
Get up, train, sleep, eat, train.
royce gracie
So yeah, they don't think about anything else.
They're just more, I think they're more disciplined than this side of the world.
joe rogan
Yeah, I was watching this interview with Khabib where he was talking, it was a conversation that he was having with someone who was talking about young people, that it's so important that they maintain focus because a young guy who's really talented and is above and better than everybody else when he's 18, sometimes they'll slack off and then they come back to it when they're like 22, but then by then they're average and everybody else has gotten much better and they lost that advantage and they won't be special.
But the guy who's 18, who's above and beyond everybody else in the gym, that guy, if he can maintain that discipline and maintain that focus, then he can go on to become a champion.
royce gracie
I totally believe on that.
It's the discipline.
It's not because they're better wrestlers or because they're better strikers.
You find very good wrestlers everywhere in America.
Top wrestlers in the world over here.
Olympics.
But I think the discipline is what's missing a lot of people.
They don't take Sunday offs.
joe rogan
Right, right, right.
royce gracie
Oh, it's Sunday, we're going to rest.
No, no, not for them.
Not for those guys.
joe rogan
What was training like for you during UFC 1?
royce gracie
I never really party.
So I understand because I'm on that philosophy.
I would say good.
Before, like a month, two months before the fights, a month before the fight, when I was fighting in Japan, when I went to fight in Japan, a month before the fight, I would move out of the house.
So I don't have to deal with the kids, with the woman, nothing.
So, a month before.
And Or you would come over and have a talk with me and my father.
And it's like, okay, there's no babysitting.
There's no hanging out with the kids.
Yep.
None of that.
joe rogan
Just Spartan training.
Yeah.
royce gracie
Pretty much.
Yeah.
And I understand.
I was like, okay, I'm a soldier, man.
You tell me to do it, I'll do it.
There's not a doubt.
They say, do it, done.
So you cannot hang around with the kids and babysit and the kids are little.
They're all grown now, but it's like, nope, okay.
I can cut it off, not a problem.
A lot of discipline on that.
Say goodbye to the family.
You gotta go train, you gotta go spend a month away.
joe rogan
And what was a day's training like?
Did you do any strength and conditioning back then?
Or was it all just jujitsu training and position training and drills?
royce gracie
It was a lot of in that order.
You have to know what you're doing.
That's how I learned from my family.
You have to have endurance.
Then becomes power.
Yes, I did a lot of strength and conditioning, but a lot of endurance.
Endurance was before the strength.
So even till today, it's knowledge.
If you don't know how to fight, you have no business in the cage.
But then you know how to fight and you have a lot of power, but you can't last more than two minutes.
Uh-oh, you're in trouble.
So you have to know what you're doing.
You have to have endurance to last at least the first round five minutes.
Then it becomes power.
joe rogan
And what kind of endurance training would you do?
royce gracie
Oh, doing everything from running to swimming to strength coach.
And I one time got up and it's like, okay, the guy, he used to be the strength coach for USC, for the Rams when they were in LA. James, man, went for a 41-mile run.
joe rogan
41 miles?
royce gracie
One day, seven hours later, I told him, stop.
My calves are both cramped up, man.
I can't take a nugget step.
joe rogan
That seems crazy.
royce gracie
Yeah.
So, just not too long ago, a couple years ago, a bunch of friends of mine from the Navy SEALs asked me, hey, let's go swim across, let's go swim at Tampa Bay.
unidentified
I was like, sure, let's do it.
royce gracie
I figured out it was across Tampa Bay.
It's like three hours later.
joe rogan
Three hours of swimming?
royce gracie
I made it, but my God.
unidentified
Jesus Christ.
royce gracie
I was having frostbite on my fingers.
It was January, very cold water.
Brazilians are not made for cold weather.
It was not the distance.
It was not, I can make it.
It was not carrying like extra 40, 50 pounds of weight dragging behind us.
No, it was the cold water that got to me.
It was like, but I did it.
Got to the other side.
joe rogan
Did you train for that or did you just do it?
royce gracie
I swim about maybe a dozen times.
I thought we're just going to go to the beach and just hang out, swim on the beach.
Yeah, cold water.
Okay, yeah.
Come in, come out.
No.
joe rogan
Three hours.
royce gracie
By the time they said it's across Tampa Bay, I was like, now I cannot back down, man.
I got to do it.
unidentified
Wow.
royce gracie
Went to a pool, swim in a nice warm pool a dozen times, maybe a dozen times.
joe rogan
Just to get ready for that.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Oh, fuck.
royce gracie
It was pretty much just on heart, man.
We climb up, cactus to clouds, that's in Palm Springs.
Strength coach is like, yeah, we're going to go for a hike.
Dude, it's like cactus to clouds.
It's bad.
We did it!
We got up there.
joe rogan
How long did that take?
royce gracie
All day.
Oh, they left like 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock in the morning.
We started.
Finished by 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
joe rogan
Cactus to clouds.
21 miles.
Difficulty.
Class 1, 2. Highly strenuous.
10,400 feet change of elevation.
Jesus Christ.
That's nuts.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
Yeah, I always did endurance stuff.
joe rogan
With fighting, if you don't have endurance, you don't have anything.
royce gracie
We fought for an hour and 45. Was it an hour and 45?
Yeah.
It was six rounds of 15 minutes with a two-minute rest.
I think it was two-minute rest in between rounds.
15 minutes, rest for two, 15. Crazy.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Is that the longest fight you had?
royce gracie
Yes.
945, that's the second longest fight in history.
joe rogan
What's the longest fight in history?
royce gracie
My father.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
royce gracie
340. Wow.
342 or something like this.
Yep.
joe rogan
Fighting.
royce gracie
But he was one round.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
That was six rounds of 15 minutes.
joe rogan
What was the longest fight in the UFC that was one round?
royce gracie
I think Dan Sever and I. No, Kesham Rock and I. One round of, it was 30 minutes on the UFC 5. We did it one round of 30 minutes.
joe rogan
What about other organizers?
Remember when Murillo Bustamante fought Tom Erickson?
royce gracie
Tom Erickson, yes.
joe rogan
That was another one that was crazy because Murillo was 185 and Tom Erickson was 300 pounds.
He was fucking huge.
royce gracie
And a very good wrestler.
joe rogan
Powerful guy, too.
People forgot about Tom Erickson.
royce gracie
He was a very good wrestler.
joe rogan
He was a scary motherfucker.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Big, they would call him the big cat.
Because he moved like a cat, but he was 300 pounds.
royce gracie
That was when the wrestlers were taking over and trying to fight against, showing the Brazilians that Jiu-Jitsu was nothing.
So they had the heavyweights.
It was Tom Erickson, Kerr, Coleman.
joe rogan
Yep.
Royce Alger, too.
He entered into the UFC. And Ensign Inouye armbarred him, remember?
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Broke his arm.
royce gracie
And all those guys went to Brazil, to fight in Brazil.
joe rogan
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
royce gracie
Kevin Randleman.
joe rogan
Randleman, Mark Kerr.
Yep.
Chuck Liddell.
royce gracie
They fought Fabio Gurgel.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Chuck Liddell fought Pele.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Remember when they used to have the ring with the netting underneath the bottom rope so people can't slip out?
Yeah.
Crazy.
It's crazy when you think about it, how much the sport has changed and how many just, I mean, and what's amazing is you could watch all those matches too.
Like back then, trying to watch a match was very hard to do.
You had to find a tape.
You know?
royce gracie
Yeah, I remember people saying, yes, man, you fought in America.
We had to wait a week or two weeks until somebody bring the tape over, the VHS. They had to bring it, not even send.
They had to somebody come over here, record it, and then take it back to Brazil and make copies and pass it around to people.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, it's also like people had to understand where the level was at, too.
Because if you didn't watch it, you didn't understand where the level was at.
I remember there was a match between Hickson and Hegan.
There was a jujitsu match between Hickson and Hegan.
And at the time, it was like the highest level.
Jiu-Jitsu black belt match we had ever seen.
And we're watching Hickson and Heegan going after him like, oh my God.
royce gracie
They were both studs.
unidentified
Studs.
royce gracie
Heegan was not easy, man.
joe rogan
He was so good.
royce gracie
He was a stud.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
And watching those guys go at it in their prime.
It's like you get to see that level.
And you get to watch the tape if you were going to see that.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Because, you know, we weren't in Brazil.
So we'd have to, someone has to film it.
They have to get it over to us.
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
Crazy.
How come Hickson never fought in the UFC? Was there ever a moment where he almost came over?
royce gracie
I think because I was fighting there in the UFC. If not, it was tournament back then.
So if both of us fought, we end up facing Chad.
So I think that's why he decided to go to Japan.
joe rogan
But when you stopped fighting in the UFC, was there ever a moment where they were trying to get Hickson to come over?
royce gracie
I don't know if they approached him, but he was already successful in Japan and they kept him busy over there.
So Higgs was beating up the heavyweights in Japan.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was beating up everybody over there.
That's the thing that, unfortunately, in America, people weren't aware of, like, Japan Vale Tudo and all the different...
And then the original Pride, you know, when he fought Takata, and he fought all those guys over there, and Funaki.
royce gracie
The original, the first Vale Tudo, yes.
joe rogan
Yes, yeah.
Yeah, well, that's...
Fortunately, we have Choke, the documentary.
So people get a chance to see it from that.
royce gracie
Hickson was a beast, man.
joe rogan
Oh my god.
Yeah.
Well, that was the crazy thing when you were winning the UFC. You were telling everybody, hey, my brother's even better than me.
And everybody was like, what?
royce gracie
By a hundred times.
Not by a little bit.
By a lot.
unidentified
That's crazy.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
Why was he so much better?
royce gracie
I don't think it was just physique.
It was the way he moved.
Put his weight.
The way the position himself.
So, it was all position.
Wasn't people say, well, because he was stronger, he was more athletic.
Nah, he wasn't.
Because he...
I don't think he ever used strength against me.
When we were training, it was not like, okay, I'm stronger than you, I'm going to just rely on strength.
It was just body weight.
joe rogan
Just the knowing position.
royce gracie
Knowing.
joe rogan
So he just had a special talent.
royce gracie
Yeah.
I would say a special talent, yes.
joe rogan
But that was so confusing for us, because we would hear like, what?!
His brother's better than him?
Like, how is this possible?
royce gracie
Not by a little bit, by a lot.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
royce gracie
But Hoyle, too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
And Hoyle was lighter weight than me.
But like you said, Spartan with Hoyle, he's like grabbing a salmon.
He's all over the place.
It's like, ah!
And he's little, man.
joe rogan
Well, he was the most successful in tournaments, right?
Yeah.
royce gracie
Yes.
And he used to win the open-weight divisions and fighting all the heavyweights and Royle was a beast, man.
joe rogan
What a family you have.
I mean, what a family.
royce gracie
All of them.
Bunch of studs.
joe rogan
All of them.
Everyone.
Henzo.
royce gracie
Including the girls.
joe rogan
Sure.
royce gracie
Yeah, look at Kira.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Sure.
Sure.
royce gracie
Look at Kira.
Look at even the ones that are not involved in teaching.
Dude, they're vicious.
joe rogan
It's just so incredible that this one family produced so many champions.
There's never been anything like it in all of combat sports.
There's never been anything even remotely close.
There's no even second place that you could bring up.
You know, there's a few times where two brothers were really good at fighting, you know, but it's never been anything like you guys.
royce gracie
A bunch of brothers and cousins.
joe rogan
Yeah, everybody.
Yeah, everybody.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
I mean, when you heard the name Gracie, everybody's like, oh, shit.
royce gracie
It's going to be a problem.
Like, I think it was Henzo that said once, Henzo, man, it's another beast on the family, said, we are not a family, we're a factory of fighters.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
Pretty much.
joe rogan
In a lot of ways, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, so many.
Heian, Henzo, I mean, just so many, so many.
It's just really incredible when you really stop and think about it.
royce gracie
The amount of people that we all created, that came, that learned from us at one point.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's extraordinary.
It really is.
When you watch jujitsu now, you know, do you watch jujitsu, like no-gi jujitsu?
Do you watch these guys?
Like when you see guys like Gordon Ryan.
royce gracie
I'm not big in tournament.
Gordon Ryan's awesome, man.
joe rogan
That's his belt up there.
That's his Abu Dhabi belt.
royce gracie
We met up with a friend of ours, Derek.
We met up with him.
We were teaching him in Chicago.
And he's very respectful.
Gordon Ryan came up.
He's like, man, can we roll a little bit?
He's like, sure, let's roll.
It wasn't too long ago, maybe a year ago, less than a year ago.
And the guy's a beast, man.
I was like, I know of him.
So he's very respectful, we're going very light, and he's going easy on me.
And I was like, okay, go ahead, catch me.
And he wouldn't.
joe rogan
Really?
royce gracie
And he turned around and I can feel him giving to me.
It's like, no, you take me without talking.
And I was like, there's no way I'm going to take because it wouldn't be believable.
There's no way I can tap him.
And I'm, okay, and I give it to him back, something.
unidentified
And he's like pretending he doesn't see it, and he gives something back to me.
Up to the point that I start laughing, I was like, dude, really?
royce gracie
I'm giving the arm, and he's giving me the neck, and I'm giving the triangle, and he's giving me this.
We're like both giving each other, but very respectful, man.
joe rogan
That's funny.
When you talk about discipline, that guy works out 365 days a year.
There's no Christmas.
Christmas, fuck you.
Your birthday, fuck you.
Every day.
They train every day.
royce gracie
I told him people misunderstanding what he's saying.
He's challenging people.
I said, that's good.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
That's what my family did.
You say you're good.
I say I'm good.
There's only one way to find out.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
And I told him, keep doing it.
Because they'll push people.
You see, yep, that's us training.
We're going so light, he's going so easy on me and I'm giving to him, go ahead, catch me.
And he's like, put the hand and it doesn't catch me.
I was like, really?
And then he'll give me something and I was like, okay, you take it.
I was like, no, you take it.
joe rogan
Nice and smooth and slow.
But that's the thing that he's capable of rolling like that because he's so fucking strong, but he doesn't use it.
You know, it's just all technique and movement, you know, and understanding.
And obviously he came from Henzo school, you know, John Donaher taught him and Donaher came from Henzo.
You know, it's like it's all that same lineage.
royce gracie
But there's a lot of good talent people out there right now.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
It's incredible.
Like, the level of just jiu-jitsu now is so high.
You know, Mikey Musumechi and, you know, the Rutolo brothers and all these different guys out there.
royce gracie
There's just so much high level.
There's somebody that trains with him, with Gordon Ryan...
I can't remember his name right now, man, but I heard the kid says, I'm gonna catch you on the left arm.
And he catch you on the left arm.
It's like, fuck, I'm gonna catch the right foot.
And he catches you.
And he tells you how long and timing.
It's like, wow, that's impressive to be able to pull such a thing.
It's not easy.
joe rogan
No.
Well, that's what guys do when they get past the level of everybody else, right?
They just start challenging themselves by giving themselves one thing they're going to try to do.
royce gracie
And I ask people around, and people say, yep, this kid is...
Which guy is this?
It's a training partner for Gordon Ryan.
joe rogan
Gene Carlo?
Who is it?
Do you know which guy it is?
royce gracie
I can't remember the name.
He's one of the guys that trained with Gordon Ryan, man.
He's on that level.
joe rogan
Well, there's very high-level guys now.
I mean, it's just...
But it's also iron sharpens iron, you know?
These guys are so good now, and everybody's competing with guys that are so good.
Like, you go to Abu Dhabi, and you watch the level.
It's just so amazing.
royce gracie
They've been doing it since little kids, too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
People in the beginning thought, well, the graces are good because they keep it secret.
No, no.
We just stick to it.
We just start as a young age, and we grew up on this.
unidentified
Mm-hmm.
joe rogan
Well, this is the thing that Gordon always says.
He says, my jiu-jitsu is 10 years advanced of everybody.
So I can show you everything I'm doing.
It doesn't matter.
You're not going to catch me.
Because I'm in the gym 365 days a year.
Discipline.
Discipline.
royce gracie
It boils down to discipline.
What he eats.
Yep.
joe rogan
John Donaher talks about kaizen.
Kaizen is this Japanese phrase for doing something over and over and over again, just constantly focusing on this one thing and continuing to perfect it over and over and over and over again.
That's what they do.
And their thought is, if you work out five days a week, but I work out seven days a week, In a month, I've worked out four times more than you.
In a year, you add that times 52, 52 weeks.
You keep going over and over and over again.
After 10 years, I have, you know, extra years of training on you.
And when you think about it that way, it's really the way to do it.
If you want to really be the best of the best, and you know there's a guy like Gordon out there that is training 365 days a year, Like, you kind of have to.
royce gracie
And we go back to Dagestans.
joe rogan
Same thing.
royce gracie
There's no Sundays for them.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
There's no, today's my birthday.
Today's, it's holiday.
No, there's no holidays for them.
joe rogan
No.
royce gracie
It's just discipline.
joe rogan
If you're not getting better, you're getting worse.
royce gracie
So you gotta have discipline.
That's what I tell everybody.
You gotta have discipline.
You can be the most talented person.
Without discipline, you're not gonna stay on top forever.
joe rogan
Yeah, you know, Mike Tyson said that.
He said, discipline, without discipline you're nothing.
And he said, and discipline is doing things that you hate to do but doing them like you love it.
unidentified
Yep.
Yeah.
royce gracie
I just love it to do anyways.
joe rogan
I mean, that's the thing about jujitsu too.
It's so fun.
It's so much fun to do.
Even when you're losing, it's fun.
royce gracie
I love a challenge, man.
Let's go for a swim across Tampa Bay.
unidentified
Okay, fine.
royce gracie
Let's run 41 miles, climb cactus to clouds.
Okay, no problem.
joe rogan
Speaking of challenges, you recently got into bow hunting.
How did that start?
How did you get into that?
I know you met John Dudley.
And I know you did John Dudley's podcast because I listened to you with John Dudley.
And John Dudley taught me.
So he's an amazing coach.
Amazing archery coach.
royce gracie
When I first met him, he came up to me.
I was shooting at the Black Rifle Coffee.
And the challenge, I didn't know what I was doing.
He came up to me and was like, hey, come see me.
I'll make your ball.
And I was like, what the fuck is this guy, man?
He's like, I don't know him.
I was like, who is this?
I was looking around.
I asked around there like, he's the hoist grace of bow hunting.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's the fucking man.
royce gracie
So I went and spent some time with him.
Show me some stuff.
Maybe build me a bow.
Not like yours.
Yours is how many pounds to pull?
joe rogan
I have a 90-pound bow.
royce gracie
90 pounds?
I cannot even carry that thing.
joe rogan
Well, it's not 90 pounds to weight.
It's the pulling is 90 pounds.
unidentified
I cannot pull.
royce gracie
I cannot even carry that bow.
unidentified
Mine is like 60. 60 is good enough.
joe rogan
But if you can pull 90, it's better.
royce gracie
Yeah.
No, I don't have the...
joe rogan
Well, the way I felt, people say that there's controversy in the bow hunting community.
Where they said, you don't need 90 pounds.
70 pounds is all you ever need.
And I'm like, okay.
But 70 pounds for you is not 70 pounds for me.
70 pounds for me is easy.
90 pounds for me is not hard.
So 90 pounds for you is almost impossible, but 90 pounds for me is pretty easy.
There's a video of me pulling my 95-pound bow back.
I just fucking pull it back because I lift a lot of weights.
So if you lift a lot of weights and you have all this muscle, why not use it?
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
I agree.
That's a lot more power.
I was shooting with the 95-pound bow, I was shooting a 520 grain arrow at 301 feet per second.
When that thing fucking hits, man, that is going through everything.
The amount of penetration you get with a bow like that is insane.
And that kind of power, that's better.
Because if you hit bone going in, you're going to go through the bone.
It's going to go through everything.
You're not going to worry about penetration.
You're not going to worry about lethality.
It's going to be very lethal.
So you wouldn't use a 20-pound bow.
royce gracie
I wish I had those muscles so I can pull a 90-pound.
unidentified
I wish.
joe rogan
Start lifting weights.
Let's go.
Start lifting weights.
I do a lot of rows, a lot of chin-ups.
But if you could do that, and it's not hard, I always say pull the thing back that you could shoot.
I have an 80-pound bow that I practice with, and I'll shoot that bow for three hours.
I'll be out in my yard for three hours just shooting hundreds of arrows.
royce gracie
Man, I love...
joe rogan
But it took forever.
royce gracie
I love guns, any kind of weapons, swords, bows.
joe rogan
You've gone to Taron Tactical too, right?
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's great, right?
Isn't that place great?
royce gracie
He's awesome.
joe rogan
He's awesome.
Taron's amazing.
royce gracie
Good teacher too.
joe rogan
Oh, amazing teacher.
royce gracie
He knows how to push you to...
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, it's just, it's again, it's like learning from a real master, you know, and seeing like, when you see him shoot, you're like, Jesus Christ.
He's like, fast, super accurate, perfect technique, you know, and you see that, you go, oh, that's what it looks like when it's done right.
You know?
royce gracie
But we got into bow hunting, bow in general, not too long ago.
I'd say four or five years ago.
I started to play with it and then...
joe rogan
When did you think about hunting?
royce gracie
Oh, I've been hunting for a while.
I keep that quiet, yes.
joe rogan
You keep that quiet because of Brazil?
royce gracie
No.
joe rogan
Because Brazil has a very anti-hunting attitude as opposed to the United States.
royce gracie
Yeah, but it's not just Brazil and the Gracie family.
joe rogan
The Gracie family.
royce gracie
A lot of them don't like hunting and they give me a hard time.
unidentified
You were telling us about your WhatsApp group chat.
royce gracie
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
They post a picture of somebody was eating some sushi and somebody post a picture in a Brazilian barbecue place and they all post about eating.
And I post a picture holding an elk.
There's no guns.
There's no blood.
Everybody give me a hard time, man.
joe rogan
Crazy hypocrites.
royce gracie
Give me a hard time.
I give them an hour.
And then I came back and I was like, that's a bunch of hypocrites.
You all eat meat.
Give me a hard time.
So, oh, but then they start to, oh, but you just kill for the fun.
No, I did not.
The meats are my house, the hides are my house, the heads are my house, and the leftovers, the cuts that we don't eat, the other animals went to eat.
So I had to educate a lot of them on that.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's the thing.
Most people are just uneducated about it, and they have this stereotype view of hunting as being this cruel thing that people do for fun.
royce gracie
No, I do it for the meat, because I want to eat.
joe rogan
It's the best meat in the world.
royce gracie
If I'm not going to eat, eh, I don't kill it.
I'm not going to shoot a cat.
joe rogan
Of course.
royce gracie
I don't eat cats.
joe rogan
Right, exactly.
Yeah, people have asked me to do some hunts where they don't eat the meat.
I'm like, sure.
Yeah.
There's helicopter hog hunts they do.
They fly around the helicopter.
They shoot wild pigs out of a helicopter.
I'm like, eh.
I know you have to do it.
royce gracie
You can go back and get it.
joe rogan
Well, you could, but I mean, how many of them are you going to get?
Like, one day they shot 250 of them.
royce gracie
No, I'm not that many.
joe rogan
You're not going to really butcher.
And some of them, they donate to Hunters for the Hungry, which is a great organization that feeds a lot of homeless shelters and stuff.
And they'll take that meat and bring it to a butcher shop and give it to hungry people.
And it's very good meat.
It's the best meat for you.
But when you're shooting out of a helicopter and shooting 250 pigs, you're not...
You're not going to go and take those pigs and bring them anywhere.
royce gracie
No, I have a friend of ours in Texas that take us out to have his helicopter, Ryan Ashcraft, and we shoot, but then we go back down, we collect.
We don't shoot like 250. Oh, okay.
joe rogan
A couple.
royce gracie
Four or five, you see?
unidentified
Right.
royce gracie
We go back, get the best ones.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
We cut it up and take the meat.
joe rogan
Oh, wild boar is delicious.
So good.
royce gracie
And sometimes we even give out to churches and they take care of, feed people.
joe rogan
That's great.
Yeah, that's great.
But wild game meat, man, it is the best meat in the world.
When I eat it, I just feel so much better.
royce gracie
It's not just the best, but the feeling of you went there.
You got that meat.
It's something that you brought home.
You went hunting.
And hunting, I tell people all the time, it's not catching.
I would say 70% of the time, I come back home with nothing.
So, it's not every time that I go out that I come back with something.
joe rogan
No, it's very difficult.
royce gracie
It's, I would say, for me, it's about 70% of the time, man, I come back home empty-handed.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
But it's like, okay, I was there for a whole day, peace of mind, there's no cell phones, there's nothing, there's nobody bothering me.
joe rogan
It's difficult, you're in the woods, you're hiking.
Yeah.
You need endurance.
I mean, you need strong legs to get you around those mountains.
I mean, the first time I ever went hunting, I got that mule deer with my friend Steve Rinelli.
He took me hunting in Montana, and I was in really good shape.
And I was like, you know, I do jujitsu every day.
I'll be fine walking up these hills.
unidentified
And I was like, whew, this is fucking hard.
joe rogan
Like, I didn't think of it as a physical thing, but mountain hunting is very physical.
Like, you have to be fit.
You have to be in shape.
royce gracie
I just got back from bear hunting in Idaho, and it's up and down the mountains.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Hot sun.
Yep.
joe rogan
Yeah, up and down the mountains.
Idaho, that is rugged terrain, too.
Very rugged.
Beautiful terrain, too.
royce gracie
Last year, my first elk that I got with a bull, shot the elk with a bull, 30-yard shot.
Got the elk loaded up, took it back to the house.
We're taking the skin off.
And taking the skin and the hide and taking the meat.
And I went to help the guys at 11 o'clock at night.
There's three of us.
I went to help my friend to cut because there's knives everywhere.
So as soon as I start to lift the hide, put my finger, my hand on the wrong spot, the guy cut my finger to the bone.
So it's like, okay.
He's like, did I cut you?
I was like, yup.
I feel the knife touching the bone.
Ouch.
So the other friend was like, hey, do you have a hospital nearby?
He's like, hospital is two hours away.
joe rogan
Got a veterinarian?
unidentified
Veterinarian?
royce gracie
So he's like, no, it's 11 o'clock at night.
Everybody's asleep, man.
So he's like, do you have super glue?
He's like, no.
He's like, You got a stapler?
joe rogan
Oh, so you stapled it?
unidentified
That's crazy.
royce gracie
Put four staples on my finger.
unidentified
I was like, okay.
joe rogan
Wow.
That's crazy.
But it worked.
royce gracie
It worked.
joe rogan
Wow.
royce gracie
Day and a half later, I get home, and my son decides to take it off.
I have to take the staples off.
Look what he's using to take it off.
joe rogan
A pair of pliers.
royce gracie
From the garage, from the motorcycle, pick up the pliers.
I can't believe I still have my finger, man.
We didn't clean anything.
He just picked up the pliers and started to pull the staples out.
joe rogan
And how long after the injury was this, that he was doing this?
royce gracie
A day and a half later.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
So it kind of healed up a little bit?
royce gracie
Because that was when I got back to Florida, yeah?
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
It's like, I was in Montana, I got back to Florida, my son's like, no, you're not going to the doctors, I can take this off.
joe rogan
Are you living in Florida now?
royce gracie
Yes.
joe rogan
Where do you live?
What part of Florida?
royce gracie
Cerro Sorda.
joe rogan
No kidding, when did you move there?
royce gracie
I moved there about, almost two years ago.
joe rogan
What made you decide to do that?
royce gracie
I can see myself getting arrested if I was in California.
joe rogan
Really?
royce gracie
Oh, California, people got so...
I love California.
Don't take me wrong.
I think California is the best state in the world.
And I travel eight months of the year.
I love California.
But the people over there, man, they just get on your face.
It's like this, like this.
It's my right to be here, okay?
What are you going to do about it?
It's like, dude, it's my right to knock your teeth out.
unidentified
Okay.
royce gracie
Oh my God, he's violent.
Call the cops.
Arrest him.
People was like disrespectful.
Got to a point where it got disrespectful.
joe rogan
It got weird, right?
royce gracie
It's hard.
And I love, don't take me wrong.
I totally, I can't say enough how much I love California.
joe rogan
It's the only place where you could be in the ocean and then in the mountains in an hour.
royce gracie
And on the desert.
joe rogan
Yeah, in the desert.
royce gracie
You can surf, ski, and spend the night in the desert on the same day.
joe rogan
The climate is beautiful.
And a lot of great people there, too, but they've lost their fucking minds.
royce gracie
But the people that are there, man, it's like...
And so...
To me it's disrespectful.
joe rogan
Disrespectful and they've emboldened a lot of really stupid people to act like idiots.
The way they're dealing with the homeless situation is fucking insane.
You know, they've lost $24 billion that they can't account for.
Is that what the story is?
There was some controversy about $24 billion missing that's allocated towards the homeless crisis.
royce gracie
Yeah, so I was on a trip and I called my son.
I was like, dude, we've got to get out of here.
We've got to get out.
So all the kids are grown, so everybody's in a different location.
joe rogan
So how'd you pick Florida?
So here it is.
California spent $24 billion tackling homelessness over five years, but didn't track if the money was helping the state's growing number of unhoused people.
so they spent 24 billion dollars and they can't they can't figure out what the it did god it's ridiculous and it's not it's not getting better at all it's getting worse every time i go back there i'm like oh god it's worse and i only go back like once a year now i go back once a year i love it i hope it gets better i would love to move back but It's not going to get better.
It's not going to get better for a long time.
It's going to take generations.
royce gracie
I used to joke with people and say, I'm front line of resistance.
But he got to a point, it's like, nah, it's too out of control.
joe rogan
Well, it's also crazy things are happening.
Like, a guy got arrested because someone broke into his house and he shot the guy.
And they arrested him.
Like, okay, you can't even defend yourself in your own home?
Like, what is the fucking point?
What's the point of the Second Amendment?
What's the point of having a firearm?
Isn't it to protect your family?
Are we supposed to assume that someone was willing to break into your home violently, that that person's not going to harm you?
You got to call the police?
How long is the police going to take to get there?
What if you have a family?
What if you have children?
What if you have a wife?
You're supposed to just let this person break into your house?
royce gracie
You can't do anything about it.
joe rogan
It's insane because they're hiring the most insane district attorneys and they're making it easier and easier for people to get out of jail who've committed violent crimes.
I mean, they've lost their fucking minds.
And I don't know how it comes back, other than they have to get some hardcore Republican governor who starts cleaning things up and just cuts back on all the waste and cuts back on all the bullshit and just puts their foot down.
royce gracie
It's gonna take a long time, but I have hope.
But I have hope.
joe rogan
Well, that's beautiful.
I kinda have hope.
royce gracie
I got time.
I got plenty of time.
I'm not going anywhere.
joe rogan
I hope that you're right, but I don't have that much hope.
I just see that they're indoctrinated into this liberal ideology and they just believe that this is the only way to think and behave.
And until it bites them in the ass.
I've met a lot of people there That I knew that were really hardcore liberals who've now completely turned around.
And now they're Republican.
And now they've moved out.
They moved to Tennessee.
They moved to Florida.
They moved to Texas.
And like, no, no, no.
I see where this is going.
royce gracie
But then it's like, sometimes I keep thinking, what's the end game?
What's the goal for the people that are doing this?
joe rogan
Well, the real question is who's funding it?
royce gracie
More power?
joe rogan
It's not even necessarily more power.
More money?
royce gracie
Do you see?
It's like, what's the end?
What's the goal?
joe rogan
It's very confusing.
But I think, generally, there are people, genuinely, there are people that are funding this that want to see Western society collapse.
royce gracie
Like, my daughter was going to school in University of Vermont.
Beautiful over there.
But she already had it.
She's moving to Tampa now.
joe rogan
Really?
royce gracie
She's, like, to be closer to us.
It's, like, so...
People are doing all these protests against American army.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Against, it's like, she's like, we have a son, one of my sons is in the army.
And she's like, no.
So she put an army shirt, sweatshirt, and walk right through the protest.
And now the girls would come over and give her looks and she would just look at them and people would go, yeah, silence is violence.
Flip them the finger.
unidentified
It's like, how about that for violence?
joe rogan
Silence is violence is one of the dumbest fucking things.
Silence is not violence.
Violence is violence.
If you say silence is violence, you've never seen violence.
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
Unless someone's being quiet while they're beating the fuck out of you.
Silence is just silence.
It's not violence.
Violence is violence, you fucking idiots.
royce gracie
It's like, my God.
So she had her over there.
She spent one year.
She's like, man, I can't put up with this anymore.
The teacher was talking Trash.
She's like, I didn't pay to hear the teacher.
joe rogan
And the political beliefs.
Yeah.
royce gracie
So she would get up and leave class.
She's like, I had it.
I'm done.
I'm moving.
I was like, all right, let's go.
joe rogan
It happens everywhere.
I mean, it even happens here.
There's certain teachers that just feel that they have this ability to enforce their political beliefs on kids.
And they'll be very angry at you.
One guy got kicked out of school here because he had a Make America Great Again hat on.
Whether or not you support Donald Trump, the sentiment behind making America great, everybody should be on board with that.
The idea that making America great in a hat is offensive to people.
It's like, what?
How?
Help me out!
You're not saying anything bad.
You're saying, make America great.
Wouldn't it be awesome if America was great?
Who disagrees with that?
How could you disagree with that?
Great means everybody does well.
Your family does well.
The streets are clean.
Everyone's safe.
There's less crime, less violence, more jobs.
That's great.
Why would you be against that?
How could you be against that?
And how could you think that that sentiment is offensive?
That's what's so twisted about the world that we're living in today.
royce gracie
And that's why sometimes I keep thinking again...
joe rogan
What's the end game?
royce gracie
What is in for whoever is behind all this?
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
More money?
More power?
More than what they have already?
joe rogan
I don't know.
royce gracie
To destroy society for what?
What's the purpose?
joe rogan
I don't know.
royce gracie
That's why I keep thinking.
joe rogan
I wish I knew.
I wish it made sense.
It doesn't make sense to me.
I think a lot of it is influenced by foreign governments.
I think foreign governments influence universities by supporting people with very ridiculous ideologies and then making sure that those people with ridiculous ideologies enforce those things in children.
And then you have social media, which social media is also propped up, especially TikTok, which is essentially owned by China, and they promote All these ridiculous things, and these things get into kids' heads, and they're on TikTok every day, and then they start thinking that this is the only way to think and behave.
royce gracie
But the way I... Sometimes it's like the way I think in the martial arts business.
If your school has 100 students or 1,000 students, it doesn't make a difference to me.
I prefer that you succeed and have a thousand students.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
What would be the goal for me to make you have no students, you see?
It's like, I want you to go, because if you grow, I grow.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
But then it's like on the world society and people trying to destroy one country, trying to destroy the other, for what?
joe rogan
Well, you're thinking logically.
royce gracie
To have more power to have...
joe rogan
It's also people are trapped in an ideology.
They're trapped in this woke mindset.
You can call it woke, whatever you want to call it.
But this ideology of what we're seeing with these young, ridiculous kids in universities today.
It's like they're trapped in this way of thinking.
And they don't think about the end game.
First of all, because they're very young.
And they don't know anything.
And they want to rebel against society, which all young people want to do.
They want to rebel against the people that are older.
And they want to think that they know better than the people that are older.
And then eventually they get older.
And as they get older, they start to realize, you know what I think the problem is?
People are fucking lazy.
You know what I think the problem is?
People don't have discipline.
You know what I think the problem is?
People don't plan for the future.
People don't work hard.
Everybody should have the opportunity to work hard and get better and move ahead and try to better your life and better the life of your family.
And if you think that way, You're gonna have a good society, but if you think that society is evil and it's all colonists and that we've got to destroy it and take it all down and capitalism is evil, okay, what are you gonna replace it with?
They didn't even thought this thing through.
What are you gonna replace it with?
Communism?
You ever been to a communist country?
It's fucking hell.
And you know what happens in a communist country?
You have to enforce it.
How do you enforce it?
With the military.
And if nobody's armed but the military, now you have a dictatorship.
Now you have a brutal military dictatorship that decides what you can and can't do.
That's what Cuba has.
royce gracie
Decides for you.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's what Venezuela has.
royce gracie
You have no say whatsoever.
joe rogan
No say.
No say.
That's what China has.
That's what North Korea has.
Like, good luck.
Good luck with that.
There's plenty of examples of that.
None of them are good.
There's no examples of communism working anywhere where it's for the betterment of everybody.
royce gracie
One thing that come into America from Brazil, it was...
Like in Brazil, they put you down a lot.
I remember when I won the UFC. There's a thousand guys that will do better than him.
This is nothing.
Everybody was like, it's not.
A lot of people were like, his accomplishment is not that big of a deal.
Different than America, they push you up.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
You see?
They change their mentality now in Brazil.
joe rogan
Oh, really?
royce gracie
But back then, it used to be like this.
joe rogan
That's interesting that the mentality changed.
Why did the mentality change in Brazil?
royce gracie
Don't know.
But the change, I can see that now.
People trying to push you up now instead.
But back then, when I won, it was like, nah, it's no big deal.
These are guys that will do much better than him.
And they came over and they got beat up over here badly in the UFC. But that's one thing that attracted America.
Culture was like, they're trying to always push you up.
It seems like that changed now.
They're trying to push you down now.
joe rogan
In some places, in some circles.
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
But there's still quite a few people in America that still believe that.
royce gracie
Oh yeah.
joe rogan
I think that's more prevalent here than anywhere else in the world.
This attitude that we want people to succeed and we celebrate success.
royce gracie
But then this whole thing that's going on right now, it's almost like they want to crash.
It's like, why?
joe rogan
It's usually losers.
Losers who don't have anything going on and they want other people to be losers as well.
They don't want people to succeed.
And also they connect success with the worst examples of success.
Like, they connect the idea of financial success with people being oppressed.
Obviously, people being oppressed is terrible.
But all financial success is not oppression.
That's ridiculous.
Like, if you have a school.
Like, for example, if you have a jiu-jitsu gym.
If you have a jiu-jitsu academy and you have a thousand students.
There's nothing oppressive about that success.
That's all beneficial.
It's beneficial to your students.
It's beneficial to you.
Because if you have a thousand people, then you have a place that's run well.
And you have...
You have staff.
You have people that are employed there.
And also, you have plenty of classes.
So I can get a class at 6.30 in the morning before I go to work.
6.30 a.m.
unidentified
class.
joe rogan
I'm done by 8.00.
I shower up.
I'm in the office at 9.00.
I feel good.
I got something done today.
And I'm getting better at jiu-jitsu.
Like, whew, this is amazing.
And then you have classes all day long, and everybody's getting better, and the level is high, because there's guys that are good in the gym, so you get excited, and you're thinking about your game, and you're thinking about constantly improving.
There's nothing oppressive.
And the person who runs that gym, they're making a good living, and they feed their family, and they have a nice house.
There's nothing oppressive.
royce gracie
And employing other people.
joe rogan
Yes!
There's nothing oppressive about that success.
We're not talking about the success of like the military industrial complex or like, you know, the oil companies polluting the ocean.
No, you're talking about there's a lot of people that work hard and their success is not even remotely oppressive.
So when people connect all capitalism to degradation of the environment and controlling of people and oppressing people, that's ridiculous.
That's just a foolhardy way of looking at the world.
royce gracie
Yeah.
Like I said, if your school have no students or a thousand students, I don't make any more money.
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
But I want you to have a thousand students.
It's like, because if you have a thousand students, if I come to teach...
If you don't have any students, I'm not going to come over.
unidentified
Exactly.
royce gracie
But I want you to succeed.
joe rogan
Yeah, exactly.
royce gracie
So I want to fill up your school.
joe rogan
Are you primarily doing, do you do like seminars now?
royce gracie
Seminars, but I'm building a school in Sarasota.
joe rogan
Oh, nice.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Nice.
royce gracie
I haven't had a school.
I used to teach with Horton.
Until 2000, then I stopped teaching at the school, at the Academy, at the Gracie Academy, and just went to do seminars.
But now I'm building a school for my son and I. Oh, wow.
joe rogan
That's great.
royce gracie
I love to travel, to see the world.
But I'm going to build a place.
We've got to place a location already.
Just waiting for permits.
joe rogan
Oh, that's great.
royce gracie
Be my first headquarters.
joe rogan
That's great.
That's going to be awesome.
Boy, that's going to be successful.
royce gracie
And the location is awesome.
joe rogan
Boy, a Hoist Gracie School in Florida, poof, that's gonna be big.
Right away.
I mean, every first day, you'll be full.
royce gracie
Yep.
We got a lot of students already just on the standby.
joe rogan
Ready to go.
royce gracie
Waiting for us, yes.
joe rogan
How long do you think before you're open?
royce gracie
About a good eight months.
joe rogan
Nice.
royce gracie
We're just waiting for the final permits.
joe rogan
And then you start building.
royce gracie
We're going to tear down the building and then build up.
The build up is fast.
It's just a permit that takes forever in Florida.
joe rogan
Yeah, it takes forever in a lot of places.
And how big is this place going to be?
royce gracie
Big enough.
joe rogan
Big enough?
royce gracie
Very big, yes.
We're talking three floors.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
So is it going to be different things in there?
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
What is the plan?
Do you want to give the full details?
royce gracie
Not yet.
joe rogan
Not yet?
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
Well, you let me know.
unidentified
Not yet.
joe rogan
Let me know when you're about to open.
We'll let everybody know.
royce gracie
The location is awesome.
joe rogan
That's great.
royce gracie
Five minutes from the beach.
joe rogan
Oh, that's beautiful.
That's exciting.
That's very exciting.
That must be really exciting.
I look forward to something like that.
Five minutes from the beach, too.
Beach in Florida, a lot of fucking sharks.
royce gracie
My son...
joe rogan
No?
royce gracie
Sharks on the East Coast, right?
joe rogan
Oh, are they?
royce gracie
I'm on the West Coast.
There's no sharks?
No, we're in the Gulf.
joe rogan
Aren't there sharks in the Gulf, too?
royce gracie
Sharks don't like Brazilians, man.
joe rogan
No?
royce gracie
Maybe they're sharks for you.
unidentified
But Brazilians, they look at the Brazilians and go, nah.
joe rogan
They're like Italians, they don't like Brazilians?
That's hilarious.
I don't think they can tell the difference between us, buddy.
unidentified
And they look at me like, hold on, there's too many bones on this one, man.
royce gracie
I'll choke on this one.
Let me get that meaty one over there with all the muscles.
Look at that.
joe rogan
That's a fucking shark.
That's Sarasota!
Jesus Christ, hoist!
That's a shark in Sarasota!
royce gracie
It's not a shark!
That's a pet!
unidentified
Oh, my God!
royce gracie
Look, you came to eat on the boat, man!
joe rogan
You came to eat your fucking head!
royce gracie
We hand-feed those, man!
unidentified
Look at that!
joe rogan
Jesus Christ!
royce gracie
We swim with those across Tampa Bay!
unidentified
What is he doing?
joe rogan
What is that thing doing?
Just pulling up to someone's boat?
Oh my god, saying hi.
royce gracie
Those are pets.
joe rogan
Look, sharks.
Do you surf?
royce gracie
No, not like Hoyler, no.
joe rogan
Hoyler surfs a lot.
Is he in San Diego still?
royce gracie
Hoyler's in San Diego, yes.
joe rogan
Yeah, a lot of surfing down there.
royce gracie
He surfs a lot.
He goes to Bali every year, spends a month over there.
joe rogan
There's sharks down there, bro.
royce gracie
Yeah.
joe rogan
A lot of sharks down there.
San Diego.
royce gracie
Yeah.
There's sharks everywhere, man.
joe rogan
There was a group of people that were training for a triathlon and they were in the ocean doing a swim and one of them got killed by a great white.
And my friend went swimming there the next day.
Because he had to prepare for the swim that he was doing.
royce gracie
The shark was already stomach full, so...
joe rogan
I don't know if I get full that easy.
I think they keep eating.
And I don't think he probably told his friends.
Hey, I got a swimmer the other day.
A lot of swimmers over here.
royce gracie
A lot of swimmers over there.
joe rogan
Yeah.
That scares the shit out of me.
Sharks scare the shit out of me.
royce gracie
Oof.
joe rogan
Like, bears, to me, are not as scary as sharks.
If there's bears, you got a gun, you got bear spray, you know what you're doing, you're careful.
I think you probably, you know...
royce gracie
Hey, the bear's hunting you, too.
joe rogan
That's true.
You could.
Well, it depends on what kind of bear, too, right?
If you run into a polar bear.
royce gracie
And they move so quiet, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, I know, for such a big animal.
royce gracie
200 pounds, 250 pounds.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
You don't hear them coming right behind you.
joe rogan
When you were bear hunting, were you using bow or rifle?
royce gracie
This one was rifle.
I haven't done a bear bow hunting yet, because that's a very close shot, man.
As far as I can go, it's like 30, 35 is pushing for me.
So I'm not as proficient on the bow yet.
joe rogan
Do you have a range in your yard where you can practice?
royce gracie
No, I don't.
joe rogan
Do you have a yard?
It's big?
How big is your yard?
royce gracie
It's not that big.
joe rogan
How far?
royce gracie
Gotta pull.
joe rogan
Like how much distance do you have that you could shoot in your yard?
10. Oh, 10 yards?
10, yeah, 20.
royce gracie
It's like, it's Florida where I am, the yard's open.
joe rogan
I see.
unidentified
So the neighbors will be like, hey, hey, hey, don't point that boat to us.
royce gracie
I see if it's Florida.
It's like, yeah.
joe rogan
Is there an archery range near you?
No.
royce gracie
I haven't found one yet.
joe rogan
So where do you go to practice?
royce gracie
When I go, man.
joe rogan
Oh, only when you hunt?
Oh, that's crazy.
Yeah, that's why you can only shoot 30 yards.
royce gracie
I'll get there and I'll practice shooting for like two days a day, two days and practice and let's go.
I jump first and I figure it out later.
joe rogan
That would freak me out because I have to practice.
When I go hunting, say if I'm like five weeks out, I'm shooting hundreds of arrows every day.
For five weeks.
I want to make sure.
Because I've shot like...
royce gracie
It's kind of like the swim.
I swim about maybe 10 times and then swim across Tampa Bay.
joe rogan
But I want to feel confident.
Like if I have a 75-yard shot on an elk, I want to be confident that I can make that shot.
royce gracie
75?
joe rogan
Yeah, I've shot an elk at 75 yards.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I've shot an elk at 80 yards.
royce gracie
We saw some elk last year about 89 yards, but I was like, nah...
You finally came 30 yards.
joe rogan
If they're not moving, if you know they're feeding, and they're not moving, and there's no wind, and you know you practice at 100, and you know you can make it, but you have to be like...
You know what it's like?
It's like when...
I'm like a...
High-level purple belt, brown belt in bow hunting.
I'm not a black belt.
royce gracie
I'm a white belt.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, 30 yards is good for a white belt.
royce gracie
White belt with one stripe.
unidentified
Yeah, I found the spot.
joe rogan
Sarasota Archers, look at this.
unidentified
You can go too.
joe rogan
Look at that.
royce gracie
I don't know how good it is, but you could- Send me that address.
joe rogan
Private club, requiring membership.
Hey, Sarasota Archers, why don't you let in the goat?
Horace Gracie needs a place to practice.
That's nice.
I'm sure they will now.
Yeah, I'm sure they'll let you.
That'd be great.
There you go.
Now we got your spot.
So now you just go there.
You only need a few hours a day.
You just need that muscle memory.
You need that feel.
That feel of the relaxed shoulder.
Just no anticipation of the shot pulled through.
To me, I have to get that ingrained in my head, that technique.
It has to just be over and over and over again where it's ingrained in my head so that when I'm drawing on an animal, I know exactly what to do.
There's no questions.
royce gracie
Sometimes it's almost like shooting.
I shoot quite a bit.
Sometimes I've done some competition.
And I see the guys studying and looking at the target and shoot is ready and they're concentrating on the target.
When they say shoot is ready, I look away.
So, set, go.
I look up and shoot it.
Just pick it up and find it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But don't you think that because you've fought so many times and because of all your years of jiu-jitsu and things like shooting and things that involve technique and concentration, they come naturally?
royce gracie
I think so.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think so too.
royce gracie
I think so.
It's like a...
I'm very patient.
I know how to control my breeding.
I don't get excited.
You see, like when I draw for the elk, it was a cow.
I draw.
It was the last day of hunting.
We were like four days hunting the elk, man.
I draw on the cow.
A ball showed up, so I just turned fire on the ball.
It was like, but I was going to shoot a cow.
I was like, I got to take some meat home.
It's been four days chasing.
Nothing came close.
And that cow came close 30 yards.
And as soon as the cow got in front of me, I draw.
In the bokeh move, I just turn.
joe rogan
Just perfect.
royce gracie
Shot, bam, done.
joe rogan
What kind of broadheads are you using?
royce gracie
Oh, that was the local guy at the farm where I was gave me the broadheads.
I can't remember.
joe rogan
Mechanical or is it a fixed broadhead?
royce gracie
It was mechanical.
joe rogan
Rage?
Was it a Rage?
royce gracie
It was the blade one.
joe rogan
Yeah, probably a Rage.
Yeah, I like those.
John Dudley has his own broadhead now.
He made like a better version of a Rage.
Like a more durable, sharper version of a Rage.
G5's making them.
It's called the T2. It's a new mechanical that he designed, that John designed, that they're just starting to release now.
I think they just started to sell them.
But he sent me some prototypes.
I like it a lot.
It's a great broadhead.
Yeah.
royce gracie
The guy that farmed where I was, he supplied, that was last year.
joe rogan
Where was that?
royce gracie
Montana.
joe rogan
Oh, nice.
royce gracie
Yeah, Great Falls.
Yes.
joe rogan
A lot of elk in Montana.
Montana is so beautiful.
royce gracie
And deer and got everything.
joe rogan
Isn't it just so amazing being out there too in the wild?
It's just so peaceful.
royce gracie
Even if I don't hunt, if I don't catch.
I tell the guys when they take me out, sometimes I feel the under pressure of catching something.
It's like, dude, if I don't catch anything, I'm happy just being here.
unidentified
It's like awesome.
joe rogan
Just the pursuit.
And knowing that, you know, sometimes you're going to go home empty-handed.
It's difficult.
It's a very difficult thing to do.
That's what makes it good.
royce gracie
Like I said, 70% of the time, I come home with nothing.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But that's part of why it's fun, because it's hard to do.
And some people don't understand that.
They just want results.
royce gracie
But then when I eat, it's like, I got this.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I cooked some elk the other night, and as I was cooking it, I was thinking, like, yeah.
I remember where I was.
I remember where it was.
52 yards.
Shot down into a canyon.
Perfect shot.
I watched the elk go 30 yards, pile up.
I watched it die.
I went up, quartered it, carried it out.
We carried it over the mountain.
Got it into a 4x4.
Drove it back to the lodge.
Took it apart.
I remember everything about it.
So, like, being there, I have photos.
I have photos of the impact shot.
I have photos of the animal.
You know, it's like in my mind, this meal has a history.
royce gracie
And I taught all my kids.
I didn't teach.
I took them out and the local guys would teach them how to hunt from a young age.
All of them.
joe rogan
That's great.
royce gracie
How to skin a deer.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
How to stab a hog with a knife.
unidentified
Oh, geez.
joe rogan
That's heavy.
The stabbing the hog is wild.
That's good.
The hog hunting with dogs is...
royce gracie
With dogs and a knife.
The first time I took my daughter, I asked her, she was maybe 13, 12, 13. I asked her, hey, do you want to go?
She's like, no, Dad, I'm going to stay on the ATV. Okay.
So I'm over there, I'm stabbing the hog, and when I back off, I look, and she had her knife open behind me.
She's...
Waiting there, and I was like, oh, you decide to come?
She's like, nah.
In case the dog got you there, I would jump on him and stab him for you.
I was like, okay, you didn't want to do it, but you were backing me up.
You're my backup.
unidentified
Nice.
joe rogan
That's nice.
royce gracie
Well, my boys, they all did it from a young age.
Everybody started 12, 13. It's a good thing to learn.
joe rogan
And it's also the best meat that you could ever eat.
The best meat.
The best meat in terms of like the healthiness of it, how good it tastes.
It's so good for you.
royce gracie
And shooting, teaching them from a young age, they all respect the gun.
They all respect the weapon.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I think everybody should know how to shoot a gun.
Worst case scenario, you should always know how to defend yourself.
You should always know how to operate a gun.
At least you should know gun safety.
You should understand.
royce gracie
Yes.
What the gun can do.
joe rogan
Yes.
royce gracie
So they all respect that.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
They all know how to check, not to point.
And from a young age, they all learned that at home.
joe rogan
That's beautiful.
It's very important.
There's a lot of people that are scared of guns, and that's just because of ignorance.
They just don't understand.
royce gracie
I love my guns, man.
joe rogan
The laws in Brazil are very different, right?
royce gracie
You cannot buy guns very hard.
I think the max you can get is a.380 caliber.
joe rogan
So a hunting rifle.
royce gracie
No, no.
No hunting rifles.
joe rogan
Well,.380s...
royce gracie
.380s, the handgun.
joe rogan
Oh.
Oh, okay.
royce gracie
The.380s, the small...
joe rogan
Okay, small.
royce gracie
Right.
joe rogan
Smaller than a 9mm.
royce gracie
A 9mm is considered to be a military weapon.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Wow.
royce gracie
So you can buy 9mm,.45, nothing above that.
joe rogan
Wow.
royce gracie
Shotgun, if you own a farm, yes.
But no hunting rifles.
No, none of that.
No 223s and ARs.
joe rogan
That sucks.
royce gracie
Nope.
It's very hard, man.
Very hard.
It's almost impossible to buy.
But all the bad guys have it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Great.
royce gracie
It's unbelievable.
joe rogan
Terrible.
royce gracie
They got RPGs, grenades, and...
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
unidentified
Yeah.
royce gracie
But you cannot buy guns in Brazil.
Very hard.
And take a long time, and the price is like...
joe rogan
Wow.
royce gracie
$500 gun over here in America over there will cost $2,000.
joe rogan
Wow.
So when you come to America and you have this ability to just buy guns because the Second Amendment is pretty nice.
royce gracie
Very nice.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Especially if you're in a place like Florida that really supports the Second Amendment.
royce gracie
Yeah, not in California.
joe rogan
California is nuts.
Well, in California they're starting to hand out concealed carry permits to people in Los Angeles again because the crime is so bad and they realize like...
royce gracie
But you can't...
unidentified
But if you shoot somebody...
royce gracie
If you shoot somebody...
joe rogan
You're gonna go to jail.
Yeah.
royce gracie
Even though you're inside your house...
joe rogan
I know.
royce gracie
And they walk in and they have guns, you shoot them, it's your fault.
joe rogan
What's crazy is, if you shoot them, you'll go to jail.
But if they break into your house and they rob you and beat you up, they'll get right out.
If they get arrested, they'll put them right back out on the street.
It's insane.
It's almost like it's designed to destroy society.
Like, if you wanted to destroy society, that's how you would do it.
Yeah.
It's pretty fucked up.
royce gracie
And I keep telling people, if America falls, I think the whole world will fall.
The rest of the world will fall.
joe rogan
Yeah, maybe that's the plan.
royce gracie
Where would you go?
joe rogan
Right.
There's no place that has this kind of freedom.
royce gracie
Leave America.
Where would you go?
It's tough to pick a place.
joe rogan
I used to think Australia.
Then I saw how they handled the pandemic.
I was like, oh, fuck that.
Well, that's what happens when no one has guns.
royce gracie
Yep.
joe rogan
The army just rolls in and tells you what to do and puts you in concentration camps because you have a cold.
It's crazy.
royce gracie
Where would you go?
That's the question I ask my kids.
Let them think for a little bit.
It's where in America you're going to go.
Because outside, man, it's tough.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
It's a tough world out there.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, a person like yourself that's been everywhere, you really kind of do understand that this is a special place.
unidentified
We're very fortunate to be here.
royce gracie
That's why I defended that I'm pro-police.
joe rogan
Me too.
royce gracie
I defend the cops and the army.
joe rogan
Well, it's also from Jiu Jitsu.
We know a lot of police officers.
We know a lot of army people.
We know a lot of military people because they're always training.
royce gracie
Yes.
And traveling the way I travel, I'm not home to defend my family, so who's gonna defend them?
joe rogan
Right.
royce gracie
It's the police, so I'm in favor of them.
joe rogan
Yes.
royce gracie
So I try to help them out as much as I can.
joe rogan
Yeah.
royce gracie
Who's going to defend?
Is it going to be the police, the army?
They're going to defend if some crazy country decides to invade us.
It's not going to be the average Joe next door.
They're going to come over and...
No.
You got to be Joe Rogan to get his bow and be Rambo out there.
Shooting bows at nine yards, a hundred yards.
I'll be like, I'll wait until they get a little closer.
joe rogan
Or maybe that Sarasota Arches Club, you practice your long range shots.
royce gracie
They're too far.
I'll wait a little bit.
joe rogan
Well, listen, Hoist, you're a legend, and it was great running into you at the UFC. I'm so glad we got a chance to talk to each other, because I've been wanting to make contact with you, get you on the podcast for a long time.
I'm glad we finally did it, man.
And I appreciate you very much.
royce gracie
And when the school opens up in Florida, you've got to come over.
joe rogan
Fuck yeah.
I will come.
I will come.
royce gracie
You've got to choke me out.
unidentified
Once.
royce gracie
Once.
joe rogan
Sounds good.
Thank you, brother.
I appreciate you very much.
royce gracie
Thank you.
joe rogan
Thanks for being here.
unidentified
All right.
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