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March 27, 2015 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:27:14
Joe Rogan Experience #631 - Josh Barnett
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joe rogan
38:54
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josh barnett
01:42:11
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john wayne parr
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brian redban
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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
Yee-haw, ladies and gentlemen.
International man of leisure and the first ever, the youngest ever, UFC heavyweight champion, Josh Barnett, ladies and gentlemen.
josh barnett
I highly stress leisure.
joe rogan
They can't take that from you.
josh barnett
No, they can't.
Because I'm laying on top of it right now with a bag of Oreos and my feet propped up on a lovely lady.
joe rogan
Unless some Mike Tyson-type character comes around and wins it at 20. You got that shit locked up.
josh barnett
I don't really see that happening.
joe rogan
It's weird, isn't it?
The heavyweight division is weird.
josh barnett
Well, ever since a lot of that drug testing came into play, you're not going to see an 18-year-old roll up into the UFC at over 200 and some odd pounds and just start laying into people.
joe rogan
Isn't it possible, though, like one of those freak athletes that would normally make it into the NFL? Maybe he's got a dad that's been a martial arts instructor his whole life, that kind of thing?
josh barnett
Sure.
I could see it, but then again, The pull is, if you could make it into the NFL, you're almost, okay, I'm going to take all that money now and play in the NFL, and then if I feel like being a fighter, I'll do that.
joe rogan
Right.
Like Herschel Walker did.
josh barnett
Like Herschel Walker did.
Although, I mean, he is a freak of freak of freaks.
I mean, when you look at Herschel...
He shouldn't be in the kind of shape he is at his age.
joe rogan
Yeah, and he says he eats like a bowl of soup and a salad every day.
josh barnett
And a Snickers bar or something, yeah.
joe rogan
He's got some weird thing going on too, though.
He has multiple personality disorder that's trauma-induced.
josh barnett
Maybe one of those personalities eats while the other one doesn't know about it.
The other one's working out all the time.
And so you're getting all your caloric needs from one guy, and the other guy's doing all the working out.
The other dude jerks you off.
Then you have the one dude that does your taxes.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
It could be a useful thing.
joe rogan
It would definitely be a useful thing for your mind.
If you compartmentalize like that, you could really pretend you don't jerk off and really pretend that you don't eat and you just have a bowl of salad and a soup and you're fucking Superman.
I barely even lift weights.
Meanwhile, you got fucking white powder all over your hand from chalk, from Olympic lifting, your fucking calluses.
Where are you getting those calluses from, man?
I don't know what you're talking about, man.
unidentified
That ain't me.
joe rogan
That's Mike.
josh barnett
A bunch of engine blocks out in the front yard all overturned.
joe rogan
Mike lives.
This part of my brain, back here.
josh barnett
Mark did it.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was like 48 or 49 in his last fight in Strikeforce, and he just looks like a fucking Greek god.
josh barnett
Yeah, that's the kind of guy that I don't even think science could be that well.
You know what I mean?
There are guys out there that...
Like, I have a buddy, Mike O'Hearn, right?
He's 40, I don't know, 46?
Something like that?
And he's a family friend from way back in the day.
He's from Juanita, Redmond, Washington, originally.
He's friends with my brother-in-law.
Everybody, we all know him.
We've known him for a long time.
Ridiculous shape.
He can get up to, I don't know, 285, still fairly lean, pull 700 pounds off the floor, 800 pounds, just ridiculous amount of strength.
Then he can go ahead and shred down to 244 or something because of 242 to do some photo shoot.
Mr. Olympia, a little, here I'm here for this supplement company or that supplement company or guest thing here.
And still in training do, I don't know, 600 for reps squatting.
And you're just looking at him going, you know, his whole thing is being a natural bodybuilder his whole life.
But there's nothing you could say that could ever diminish his...
What he's done because there's nobody else out there.
I don't care what you shoved in him or what you didn't shove in him.
You can't be that guy.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
He's just that sick, strong, and he still looks like he's like 30. So you're just like, you won the genetic lottery.
joe rogan
Unless you have some sort of crazy, radical genetic engineering down the pipe, which probably is going to happen within a lifetime, maybe.
But yeah, there's some dudes, no matter how much steroids they take, you're never going to compete with some ridiculous freak athlete.
josh barnett
No, Mike is one of the most genetically gifted and hardworking, of course, too, people I have ever seen.
He also has a world record for running through plate glass windows.
Yeah, no shit he does, right?
How many people were competing in that race?
Football gear and a helmet, and they line up these plate glass windows in this huge, long line, like a two-line or three-line deal.
joe rogan
Like dominoes?
josh barnett
No, no, no.
Each one is individually set up, and he smashes through the first, the second, and he keeps going, you know?
And sometimes you run into him, it bounces you back, and you just got to keep driving.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
josh barnett
He's also got a black belt in judo.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ.
josh barnett
He was on the American Gladiators.
He was on Battledome.
joe rogan
Battledome?
josh barnett
Battledome.
joe rogan
I kind of remember that.
Who was Battledome again?
josh barnett
I think lower rent American Gladiators.
It was meaner and people got hurt more.
joe rogan
Oh, that's right.
josh barnett
Everybody had a very...
Obnoxious or ostentatious, very gregarious character, very over the top.
And so he was Mike Odell, like the perfect Greek god.
Although Odell, come on, that's not very Greek.
But then, you know, who else was on there was...
God, I can't remember his name.
He played in the NFL. He's incredibly funny.
Terry Crews.
Terry Crews.
Terry Crews is on Battledome.
joe rogan
Was he really?
josh barnett
Yeah, he was.
I don't remember.
And then there was another guy.
You know, Eric Paulson used to train them.
And Eric even did the psycho guy gimmick, the Hannibal Lecter deal.
And they had an event on there where you'd have to get a guy off this platform over the lines.
And Eric used to just murder everybody in that event.
And then one of our guys who is one of our CSW dudes, he actually went on to Battle Dome at one point, Jay Martinez, way back in the day.
And he wrecked all the dudes that he saw who got onto the platform, the push-out one.
He just fucked them all up.
And they hated him so bad.
Because there was another event where it was football-esque.
You know, Terry Crews and Mike would just practically take people's heads completely off their body.
It was really bad.
joe rogan
I'm surprised that when they redid that, they redid not this one, but the other one, Gladiators.
Why didn't that take off?
It seems like that would take off.
They had Hulk Hogan, Leila Ali, Gina Carano was one of the ass kickers.
josh barnett
What channel was that, though?
joe rogan
NBC, I think it was.
josh barnett
It was during the writer's strike.
joe rogan
Was it during the writer's strike?
That's right.
josh barnett
Yeah, writer's strike.
joe rogan
Yeah, but it's still a reality show.
That seems like it would be an easy one to do.
That Wipeout is kind of similar, but no one kicks your ass.
josh barnett
Right.
joe rogan
People love that kind of shit.
josh barnett
American Ninja Warrior.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
That's another one.
josh barnett
I don't know why it didn't actually continue as well.
I figured, well, it has a little bit of distance in it.
Two seasons and that shit was done.
joe rogan
Whenever you have people that you have hired, like you hire a Josh Barnett and you have to smash some dude who's competing, it gets kind of weird.
You're not competing against another person, you're competing against a hired guy.
If the guy gets hurt, if someone gets hurt and you hurt him, it could be pretty easy to sue the company that makes that show.
Like you're an employee.
If some dude makes a run at you and you fucking clothesline him and he's paralyzed.
Yeah, but waivers, man, they fight those things.
And when you fight them, if a lawsuit is strong enough, it's got enough power behind it, enough legal power behind it.
I wonder if that was it.
Probably not.
It's probably just ratings.
josh barnett
I think it was just ratings.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
I think it was just ratings.
joe rogan
It's interesting when you think about what guys are capable of, like, physically, with maximizing your genetic potential.
Like, there's a certain level that you can't get past.
And it's one of the reasons, like, when everyone talks about, like, steroids and performance-enhancing drugs and what's fair and what's not fair, one thing that's 100% not fair is nature.
josh barnett
That's true.
joe rogan
It's not fair at all.
josh barnett
Nature's a bitch.
Nature will murder you, will drown you, will set you on fire, and will also just let you show up, you know, the proverbial gene pool that's been pissed in, you know, get born with stubby fingers or half a leg or, like, Down syndrome.
Like, well...
Good luck!
See how that works.
joe rogan
Yeah, and if you're an athlete, no matter what you do, like there's certain guys, you know, the Herschel Walkers, there's certain types of dudes that just are always going to have that giant advantage, no matter what you do.
josh barnett
And yet, Herschel was a fan, he was a really...
Well-versed.
He had a good career in the NFL, but he never was the guy more than anyone else.
He had some years, and you always knew he was solid, but he never was the top dude.
unidentified
Really?
joe rogan
I didn't know that.
josh barnett
No, he was never the number one guy.
And often, later on in his career, he was usually the backup guy or the dude who got brought in for all the all-purpose yardage.
Because Herschel could run and catch.
I bet if you threw the ball to him, he could throw a pass downfield.
He could probably play defensive end.
And then they would do those NFL... Off-season competition things, right?
Where they'd take all these different players on NBC or something, and they would all compete against each other in little events.
Throwing the football through hoops and through tires and sumo and the beach sand.
All this different stuff, right?
joe rogan
Battle of the Network Stars, right?
josh barnett
It was like that kind of thing, but just for NFL players.
The NFL would do it.
And Herschel Walker won every single one of them.
Really?
Every time.
But he was not the best running back in the NFL during his entire career.
He was not the best fullback.
But he could play fullback, running back, quarterback.
He didn't get fucked up either.
Bo Jackson's out there crushing everybody, just eating yards up.
Boom, his hip goes out.
Or Steve Itman taking interceptions and running him back 90-some yards as a defensive tackle at the end.
And boom, his knee gets blown out.
Stuff like that.
Not Hershel Walker.
He doesn't get hurt.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's weird, right?
josh barnett
Yeah, he's a specimen.
But he never was, like I said, he was never the number one guy.
joe rogan
Right.
Did you see that thing recently about Jeremy Horn?
Jeremy Horn...
josh barnett
He said zero injuries?
Zero injuries.
Over 117 fights or something?
unidentified
That's...
josh barnett
Insane.
I have no idea.
He must be made out of fucking flubber or rubbermaid or whatever.
You know, he just bounces back out.
joe rogan
Yeah, they call him Gumby.
That's always been his nickname.
josh barnett
Right.
joe rogan
You know, he just says it's just he focuses only on technique and he's never a strong guy.
josh barnett
Well, he he's got a point and it's something that I've stressed a lot when we talk about fighting and that is so many guys have Learn how to be stronger and faster with or without drugs and learn how to defend certain positions and hit hard, but they don't have a full, well-rounded skill set.
They've all got these plan A's and their plan B sucks.
And their plan C isn't even a thing.
And then when they slow down a step, they lose a little bit.
They come up across a guy who's either stronger and faster or just a little better striker or too good at something that will derail their plan A. They start losing.
When they start losing, they just nosedive.
They lose four fights, five fights.
These guys that would go out there and mop these dudes up.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Turns a corner.
joe rogan
Pfft.
josh barnett
They can't sustain a career because they have no technique.
They do not have the finesse, the touch, the feel.
They don't own it.
They never developed it.
They just became really strong, really fast, hit hard, overwhelmed, out-athlete their opponent.
joe rogan
Would you call a front-runner?
josh barnett
Yes, for the most part.
And watch, you know, you watch these fights and how, oh man, this fight's going to be so good!
And then it's...
Whoever skits out first, oh, that guy wins.
Whoever's plan A starts first, wins the fight.
joe rogan
It's interesting.
When you look at MMA, too, it's so few guys are what you would call durable.
You know, it's very difficult to, like, you see, like, Stipe Miocic versus Junior Dos Santos.
One of those crazy fucking five-round wars.
There's so few guys that can engage in those kind of wars.
And...
josh barnett
Yeah, that's true.
And honestly, especially as a heavyweight, with all that power and strength...
You go through that, what's your next fight going to be like?
And your next one, and your next one, and how many of those do you really want to get involved in?
joe rogan
Yeah, like when you see a guy like Junior, and you see those wars that he had with Kane, and, you know, you knowing your...
I mean, you've had a long career, man.
You knowing, like, the toll that a fight like that takes on your body.
Do you see him diminished at all?
Do you see him slowed down?
josh barnett
Yes, he's a step.
He's a step slower.
Junior is a step slower.
He's not quite as durable.
He doesn't react the same way to getting hit as he used to.
unidentified
Uh...
josh barnett
And here's the thing, someone might get on Twitter after this and go, oh, Josh Barnett says that you're not as good as you used to be, Junior.
Nah, that's not an insult.
What it's saying is that What you have been through, what you have done through to yourself in training, and what your body is and isn't willing to accept or isn't willing to or is able to do just by the natural string of how things went in terms of your career to this point, this is what it is.
Take what you have now and adapt it.
In the end, it's up to you to decide whether or not what you're going to do is going to be successful.
If you're so set in your mind that it can only be done one way, then when that way is no longer what is best for you to do as an athlete, prepare to have the shit kicked out of you.
If you're willing to adapt, reapply the things that you've already done well, add some new things in, just do them a little differently, make small changes, well then now you can go ahead and you can have 19 years of career instead of 7, 6, whatever.
You know what I mean?
If you could run out there and double leg everybody in the beginning, but now you can't do that anymore, but instead you were able to set your double leg up...
It makes people react, hit them on the way up, or hit them and then get a body lock and finish that way.
How is that any fucking worse than what you were doing before?
Just because you didn't do it how you used to, but you're still getting to where you want to be?
To me, it's still success.
joe rogan
It's an interesting situation where you see there's some guys that still have a single-minded pursuit.
They have a single-minded skill set.
They just want to wrestle and box.
That's it.
They never throw leg kicks.
josh barnett
And those guys are going to get their fucking shit pushed in once they come over that imaginary line.
You don't know when that's going to be, but it's going to happen.
And then they're going to fucking nosedive.
They're going to be washed-up has-beens.
joe rogan
So it seems like in this day and age, especially, you kind of like, okay, like it's certain divisions.
Like there's certain divisions.
Like say if you want to fight flyweight, you better be able to do everything.
You know, Mighty Mouse is just so goddamn good.
You want to fight that guy, you better be able to do everything.
josh barnett
And he's a rarity.
Most guys are not going to be him.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
And I've known DJ since he was...
Just this kid up at the gym who was too small to really get any fights in a weight class that he really belongs in.
And he trained diligently.
Even when he knew he wasn't going to get fights, he was in the gym day after day, training and training and training.
Training hard, training easy, training fast, training slow, training.
And doing what Matt told him that he needed to do.
And that's why he is the way he is now.
When I trained under Matt, I did the same thing.
I trained constantly.
I trained when Matt wasn't around.
When it was my own free time, I spent that going over what was working, what wasn't working.
Why was this working?
Why wasn't this working?
How can I make these better?
Shadowboxing, figuring things out, altering, and the things that Matt would say, well, I need you to do this.
I don't really understand why or what.
Can you explain it to me?
Well, because I need you to do this so that you can do this.
Create, elicit this reaction, whatever.
Well, I still don't get it, but I know what you want, where this is supposed to lead to.
I'll figure it out.
I will play with it and play with it and play with it and play with it.
Not talking about my cock.
But in addition to that, I will keep playing with it until it makes sense to me.
And then I can come back and now I can ask a question that has purpose to it.
Instead of just, I don't get it.
Of course you don't get it.
You're not going to get it.
Lots of things you're just not going to get the first time until you live in it.
Until you wrap it around you like a skin and understand it.
And then you might even make a decision to go...
What you want me to accomplish with this, it isn't that effective for me to do it this way.
But if I just make a little change to it because of the way I'm built, because of my own natural tendencies, what have you, I can get that.
I can get what you want and do what you want until the weekend end of that end point.
We can get there.
But you can't understand that until you've taken the time to make that thing yours, to fully understand it.
And there's some things, there's some techniques of math that he's shown me over the years that I can teach others.
I can't pull off worth of shit.
It's just not my move.
I'm not really built for it.
He was built for it.
He made it work better.
And the same was with Paulson, you know, just sitting there and taking all this information in and understanding.
And Paulson's background is even more varied than Matt's.
So he'll come at me and go, okay, hey, do this.
I'm like, that's really from left field.
Okay.
But there's a reason.
I'll figure it out.
I'll figure that out.
joe rogan
Is that one of the more frustrating things about being an MMA fighter when you try to talk to people that don't know fighting?
There's so much complexity and so much technique involved.
And the person on the outside, it seems to be like a brute sport involving strength and weight.
josh barnett
And it does involve those things.
joe rogan
What's that?
josh barnett
Aliens.
joe rogan
But it's not.
We've had alarm issues in this fucking building.
josh barnett
I saw them all trying to get in.
I had to fight my way to the front door.
joe rogan
Glad you made it through, dude.
A lot of people don't understand how many different techniques are involved and how many variables are involved in training.
josh barnett
I can't be too angry at the ignorance of the casual fan.
It's not their job to be that first.
The fan that does go that extra mile and learn about the history, learn about why this technique would work and who these people are and where they come from and what this is and what that is, that's awesome and amazing and I really appreciate that.
I don't begrudge the person that doesn't.
I don't like it when they say really ignorant, mean-spirited stuff.
You know what I mean?
But that's a different thing altogether.
That's somebody trying to be a dick on purpose to try and cut somebody else down.
That's a whole different animal.
But just not understanding, it's okay.
Personally, when I get into something, I do want to fully understand it.
But that's just the kind of person that I am.
joe rogan
I don't even mean people that are into it.
I mean the casual person that is not aware of MMA. It's a fascinating thing that so many people...
josh barnett
Yeah, that person is...
You know what?
It could be anything.
And fighting is something that is available and exists within every human being.
The ability to fight.
Everybody has the ability to fight.
joe rogan
You've never seen Brian fight, obviously.
josh barnett
I didn't say fight well.
joe rogan
He doesn't even have the ability.
He just starts falling down.
unidentified
I'll just try to kiss you or something.
josh barnett
Yeah, just make it really awkward.
unidentified
Make it awkward so you just want to leave.
joe rogan
Just put his mouth open so you don't want to punch his tongue.
josh barnett
Just hold on to your belt loops and just...
Offer his shoes up to you.
You would look really good in these.
joe rogan
What's been the biggest change over your career?
I mean, because you've been around for, you know, I think the first time I saw you fight was 96 or 97. Something along those lines.
What year was Super Brawl when you were fighting Super Brawl?
99. 99. That's what it was?
josh barnett
Yeah, 99 was the tournament.
2000 was Dan Severin.
And then 2001 was my first UFC fight.
joe rogan
So what was your first MMA fight?
Your first ever MMA fight?
josh barnett
My first ever MMA fight was probably...
It was 1997 of January.
I was on winter vacation from the University of Montana.
And I got a call from an old wrestling coach.
Because he knew I was training.
He knew I was into it.
And at the time, he was actually doing Matt Hume's website.
And so he goes, hey...
Would you be interested in fighting?
Uh, sure.
I go, alright, who?
Chris Charnos.
Oh, that guy's fighting Superball, right?
He's like, yeah.
Okay.
Uh, when?
He's like in 11 days.
Okay.
What do I need?
When do I need to be there?
And I just...
I trained with an old training partner of mine, this guy Edwin Romorosa.
We used to do Kali and some Thai boxing and self-defense stuff, knife fighting, all kinds of shit, right?
But we're all neophytes at the time.
But we did the best we could.
I would run up the hill from Ballard to Finney Ridge.
I would meet him.
We would either go to the park and he would have me do stuff like...
bag, the big army duffel full of gear that we had, I'd throw that on and I'd hit tie pads on an incline because it was fucking hard as shit, right?
So I had to kick up and I had to walk up this hill and kick these pads.
And then he would have me do stuff like we didn't have mats and things like that, so I would just be on the carpet.
I'd just sit there and take a position.
He'd blindfold me and just fucking jump on me for making sure.
joe rogan
He'd blindfold you and jump on you?
josh barnett
He'd just jump on me and I'd have to figure my way out of whatever was going on.
I had to feel it.
I couldn't...
Tab A, slot B, I had to figure out what was going on and get to where I needed to be and then finish.
joe rogan
It's like some Pink Panther type shit.
Kind of.
Kendo would just jump out at him.
josh barnett
Yeah, just come out of the closet with a fucking Kendo stick and take me out.
I mean, it wasn't far from it.
But...
In the end, it was about sharpening the mental aspect of it and just being like, all right, you're going to go out there and you're going to destroy this guy no matter what.
And I choked him unconscious in two minutes.
joe rogan
Well, it was about sort of like making up the training as you go along, trying to figure it out, being creative.
josh barnett
Real MMA gloves.
We had to make them out of Harbinger bag gloves.
We had to cut the bar out of the palm and cut something else off.
And there you go.
There's an MMA glove.
And then we didn't have real trunks.
We didn't have...
We didn't have anything.
I mean, there was no MMA gear that you could just...
I went to a sporting goods store to get some of my other equipment.
And they're like, what do you need this for?
Fighting.
Huh?
What are you talking about?
And even most of the time...
So my first fight was 97. Then I would fight guys...
Whenever I could.
On mats, here, there, whatever.
It wasn't like I was dojo storming.
Back in college, I would just, hey, I see you're doing martial arts.
That's pretty cool.
You trained a while?
Yeah.
Oh, I did American Kempo.
Oh, that's great.
What do you think of the UFC? You ever watch that?
Oh, it's fucking badass, man.
I love it.
It's cool.
Awesome.
Want to fight?
unidentified
What?
josh barnett
We'll just negotiate the rules and we'll just fight right here.
Okay.
And I just back off, you know, no gloves, no nothing.
Like, let's go.
Boom.
I remember picking up this dude from the East Coast and shooting in on a double, picking him up, skying him, boom, slamming the shit out of him.
And we had this big cargo net hung down because there was all these full courts.
There was like three or four full court basketball courts that went...
Perpendicular to this whole thing.
So you're running up and down on the other side, cargo nets to keep balls from flying over onto the matted area.
And also there was a rock climbing wall and some other little stuff.
So to keep the basketball stuff in the basketball area.
And then there was like a little room that they had built for a women's workout room.
So there was little cardio machines with little windows that they could look out across the mats and onto the basketball courts.
People would stop playing basketball and hang on the cargo net thing and just cheer and talk shit and whatever.
joe rogan
That's Mad Max shit.
That's Beyond Thunderdome.
josh barnett
Two men enter, one man leave.
It wasn't a lot of people, but I remember I skied this big old dude, slammed him, wham!
He turns over, and I throw my hooks in, I splat him face first on the mat, and I'm just 12 to 6 elbowing him in the back until he quits.
You know, just stuff like that.
And...
The best was always you'd see a guy talking to his buddies about how tough he is, hitting a heavy bag downstairs, and that would be the dude I'd always like, oh, hey, man, I see you've got some experience.
You ever fought before?
And he's like, oh, yeah, sure, whatever.
Want to fight?
Uh, okay.
Palau, just starting.
joe rogan
So that's how you got your training in?
josh barnett
Yeah, because I had that first fight, and Matt goes, that was really cool.
We want you to come back and fight again in the summer.
And at this point, I was just the dipshit who had showed up and was like, who the fuck is this guy?
joe rogan
And how old were you back then?
josh barnett
19. 19. In fact, this dude in line is talking to me, just making conversation, because I'm this new face around.
And Chardos trains at AMC, and he's already a pro, and...
He'd been known.
So I'm just this kid from Montana in their highs, even though I'm from Ballard.
And he's just asking me, oh, where do you train?
I go, well, you know, I used to train, you know, church basement with this other dude and whatever.
And I train at Jim Harrison's Bushido Kakarate in Missoula.
And I was like, oh.
Okay, well, cool.
Because everybody thinks I'm going to get murdered.
Fucking trains in church basements?
What fucking idiot is this guy?
Where'd they find this moron?
He's going to get murdered.
I can't believe, even the guy sitting next to my mom filming it is cheering for Chris.
Kick his ass back to Montana.
My mom's like, oh, come on.
It's my son right now.
He's like, oh, I know.
I'm just playing around.
Chris won't hurt him.
joe rogan
What was your motivation back then?
Did you think that this was going to be a career, or were you just enjoying yourself?
josh barnett
No, I intended fully to...
This was a point.
I told the people that I trained with back at Jim Harrison's place, which is, by the way, that is a put up or shut up.
No bullshit.
If you come in trying to be a big shot, you will get your fucking...
Teeth knocked out.
And that's not the place to try and be a tough guy.
And Jim Harrison is about as tough and as mean as they come.
He was a big help towards me developing who I am as a fighter.
He was the first U.S. light heavyweight kickboxing champion.
He was a judo champion.
He fought the bare-knuckle karate back in the day with Chuck Norris and all of them.
He was Superfoot Wallace's trainer.
This dude is...
Legit.
And so we'd get guys that come in the gym and they'd start doing all this stuff and acting pretty cocky and we'd just take turns like, hey, who's going to kick the shit out of this guy tonight?
So I'm out there training and I said to the junior instructor there, I said, well, you know, hey, my goal is by the time I'm 24, I want to be in the UFC. And the dude just kind of chuckled and he goes, by the time you're 24, you're going to win the UFC. There you go.
Fuck, yeah.
joe rogan
You were correct.
So you thought there was a career in this from the very beginning.
josh barnett
Yeah, I watched the tapes in Japan.
I saw the U.S. I just thought, with this, I don't know what kind of a living one would make.
I imagine you could probably sustain yourself.
But I knew that I would get a chance to see the world and beat up its people.
joe rogan
So that was your actual approach.
From the very beginning, beating up these guys in a basketball court, you were thinking, well, this is just training towards my ultimate goal.
josh barnett
I need to fight.
All these guys are showing up with 250 and 0 records and all this crazy shit, and I'm like, I don't have 250. I better get to...
I'm way behind.
I better start fighting people.
What am I going to do when I fight the guy that's got at least 95 fights?
joe rogan
You should really write a book about all this shit.
If you really think about it, you were one of the real pioneers.
You were around just a few years after the beginning of the UFC, and you won the UFC title, what was that, like five years after you first started fighting?
josh barnett
From 97 to 04. Was it 04 that you won?
Yeah.
unidentified
Hmm.
joe rogan
Wow, why did I think it was over?
josh barnett
Nope, sorry.
joe rogan
2002. Yeah, 2002. So five years.
Because I wasn't working for the UFC when you won.
josh barnett
Five or six years of training with three years of wrestling, two years of judo.
joe rogan
That's pretty crazy, man.
I mean, if you really stop and think about it, that is a really crazy path.
You really should write a book, man, because to go through that and to be around today...
josh barnett
I'd like to, but I worry about all the people that would get thrown under the bus.
Not on purpose, just, man, I've seen some shit.
I've heard some shit.
I've been around some shit.
joe rogan
I prefer to keep that on the DL. Well, that brings us to one of the things we were supposed to talk about on this show that we need to talk about.
John Wayne Parr was on the show, and John Wayne Parr, who is a great guy, I love him to death, I really enjoyed talking to him, but he had one particular story that pissed you off.
And it was a story about training with you.
It was before you fought Minotauro in the New Year show.
Yeah.
And, well, let's just play it, and we'll get you a reaction to it, because I know you really want to talk about this.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
He's got all that catch-wrestling.
unidentified
It's a few-hour drive.
Do you want to hear a funny story?
joe rogan
Sure.
unidentified
Should I tell this one?
I was going to say it.
john wayne parr
So I meet Cub Swanson, and Cub Swanson's a cool dude, and we're hanging out.
And then my first day at Eric Paulson's gym, it's Muay Thai day, okay?
unidentified
And I'm the new guy.
I know nothing.
No one knows who I am.
And then Eric Poulsen's like, okay, Muay Thai guys, put your gear on guys.
john wayne parr
Okay, so Josh Barnett, you spy this way.
unidentified
He points to me.
john wayne parr
So we start, and I'm moving around.
Inside kick, jab, and then...
Josh throws something, I'm like out, and then I'm in, boom, boom, boom, and I'm going again.
unidentified
He throws a kick, whoa, air.
I like the sounds.
He's a big dude.
joe rogan
He's quite a big dude.
john wayne parr
I'm in and out, in and out, fearing for my life, just tapping away.
And then we do two rounds.
After two rounds, he takes his glove off, and he throws it across the room.
He takes his shin pad off, throws it across the room.
unidentified
He packs his bag, he storms out.
john wayne parr
And then they're going to Tokyo the next day to fight on the New Year's Eve Pride tournament.
I forget who it was against.
And then about a week passes.
unidentified
Josh loses his fight.
john wayne parr
I get a phone call from Eric Paulson about three or four days later, once I get back.
unidentified
I said, oh, hey, this is Eric.
How are you going?
john wayne parr
I just want to let you know that we blame you on Josh's loss because he was...
unidentified
Fine.
john wayne parr
Right up until he spired you and then some kid that he'd never seen before owned him in the sparring and took away all his confidence.
So when he got to Japan, he was a mess.
joe rogan
No way.
unidentified
This is a true story.
I kid you not.
joe rogan
Well, first of all, how ridiculous are they to take a guy like you where they don't, you know...
john wayne parr
I was just that new guy in the gym.
unidentified
It's like, oh, yeah, you spy him.
joe rogan
You can cut it off there.
So...
The fight that you fought in Japan for the New Year's show was the Minotauru-Noguera fight, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That was a very close fight, and you actually had a leg lock locked down.
josh barnett
No, no, that was the second time I fought him that year.
I had a nasty front choke on him, then he managed to just barely escape.
I picked him up and slammed him on his head.
I whacked on him a bit up top and down below.
But he pretty much stalled me out.
He tried to hold me down most of the fight.
And in the end, they gave him the decision.
In my opinion, what they wanted was a trilogy.
So I think it was a bullshit decision.
But if I don't finish a guy and that the judges make a shitty call, oh well, that's my fault still, not the judges.
joe rogan
But that's neither here nor there.
josh barnett
Right.
joe rogan
This story really pissed you off, so express yourself.
josh barnett
Well, first of all...
You could say, oh, if this guy came in, and I even made sure to go back through my mental Rolodex about this, because I'll be honest, I had a pretty vivid memory about training with John Wayne Parr, because I knew absolutely who he was when he showed up.
I know he was not unknown to all these people at the gym.
And not to mention, Eric Paulson will make sure to introduce, if somebody of notoriety came in, if you showed up right now, Joe, if people have been living in a cave, he would talk, he would say, this is Joe Rogan, he did taekwondo, he did this, and now you may know him.
He always makes sure that everybody who shows up gets their due respect and is introduced properly to everybody.
Yeah.
John Wayne Parr, I watched him fight at the Sands before he came and trained with us.
I watched him fight Muay Thai.
I'd seen him fight Muay Thai before.
I knew who his wife was, Angie Rivera.
I'd seen her fight before.
I knew all about John Wayne Parr before he'd ever gotten to our gym.
And he shows up.
And I'm going, oh fuck, that's so fucking cool.
And I made a point to come up to John and tell him, I watched you fight at the Sands.
I was there.
I've seen you fight.
I know all about you.
And I deliberately spent time training with John as much as I could.
As much as I could.
So, here's the thing.
John had a MMA fight coming up against Tony Bonello.
So, he's at our gym to try and figure out this whole MMA game.
I even put extra time into John trying to help him out, trying to teach him about defending the takedown and try to be more defensive as a grappler.
Everybody there was really kind and helpful to him, especially myself.
And I tried to spar with him as many times as possible while I was at the gym, because he is such a good fighter, but at the same time, he's a lot smaller than me.
So I'm not trying to win.
I'm just trying to learn.
I'm not trying to take 250 pounds and kick him and hurt him and bust him up and make this a competition about who's better.
If anything, I would just play, play, play, play, play.
You know his striking is so unorthodox versus a state of boxing rhythm and even what you might consider sometimes a standard Thai boxing rhythm He punches on on on weird timing and weird timing signatures and weird rhythms and his elbows are super high Which normally people would be like that's shitty, but he makes it all work And he's got a great kick and good reactions and good footwork So we played a lot and But there was never any ass-kicking on my part.
I never chucked my gloves across the room because this new guy just showed up and beat me up.
It's like, that's all fucking bullshit.
joe rogan
Why do you think he would say that?
josh barnett
Maybe he's been punched in the head too many times.
Maybe he sees that as his opportunity to get some sort of fame.
I guess he's got a documentary out, which, you know, I don't know what he's lying about in that.
But clearly, this guy is delusional.
Yeah.
And even still, there's like that unwritten rule about training, right?
You don't talk about it.
And, you know, that being said, when we did spar, there was at least, there was one time where I put him on the floor by accident, just timed a right middle kick against his right hand and it just clunked him right in the right spot, down to the floor he goes.
And we laughed.
Because we thought, huh.
I go, I didn't throw that hard.
He goes, man, that was just a hellacious, that was really well placed.
And we just, what did we do?
We figured out how to repeat it.
Because we thought, huh, if one could land that kick just right, It'd be a great thing to have in one's arsenal.
joe rogan
Especially if you're not even trying to hurt someone, they get hurt so bad they drop down.
josh barnett
Well, and you know, I got a big, big heavy leg, you know, so I don't fault him for that.
It's not like we're trying to win.
joe rogan
How many times do you think you sparred him?
josh barnett
Fuck.
Six, seven, eight times, whatever.
I mean, he was there for a good bit, and then he disappeared, which I guess he took off to Thomas Denny's.
I don't know why, but...
It's not like he was having to pay to be at CSW at the time.
But when it came to MMA, he got murdered on the feet and on the ground.
And not because he's a bad striker, it's because he didn't have the rhythm yet.
joe rogan
The rhythm of stopping takedowns.
josh barnett
Being able to pay attention of the takedown distance, the clinch distance, which doesn't end.
All kinds of little things that change the way you pattern your shots, the way you would angle, the way you would footwork.
So, you know, just in a straight Thai boxing scenario, of course he's very relaxed, but with MMA, with everything that comes with it, he's not so relaxed, which is no fault of his.
joe rogan
Yeah, he talked about not pursuing MMA because he was such an expert in Muay Thai and he didn't like the fact that, like, when he would do jiu-jitsu or wrestling or anything, he just was so out of his element.
He didn't like being a beginner again.
josh barnett
What is that?
Well, you know, but that's...
That's quitting.
That's what that is.
He wasn't fucking good at Muay Thai to begin with either, I promise you.
joe rogan
Right, but he was by the time he started, and that's hard for people to start over.
It's like taking a guy who's...
josh barnett
Here's the thing.
By the time he started MMA, he was already good at one thing.
He got so used to being good at one thing, he couldn't stand to be a white belt again.
Well, then it definitely wasn't for you.
Right.
And I guess you don't like potentially learning new languages or reading new books.
That's fine.
You could stay in your little hole.
And clearly, MMA wasn't for him.
joe rogan
Some people, though, they get a little bit of success.
I mean, not a little bit.
Obviously, he got a large amount of success.
josh barnett
Which money do you think he made Thai boxing?
Very little.
Very little.
He probably thought MMA was going to be a way to get more notoriety, more money, more whatever.
And then when he realized it wasn't going to happen the way he thought it was, he quit.
joe rogan
Well, you see guys that have really decorated Muay Thai careers and they struggle to make it in MMA. Sure.
Cyril Diabate is a good example.
And he's a guy who's pretty successful in MMA, too.
josh barnett
He was pretty successful.
joe rogan
But really good at Muay Thai.
josh barnett
Yes.
joe rogan
You know, I mean, a world champion at Muay Thai.
And that transition is...
It ain't easy.
If it was easy, everybody would do it, right?
josh barnett
That's true.
But as far as kicking my ass, that man's never kicked my ass in his entire life.
joe rogan
That's weird.
josh barnett
You know what's even so weird is I was a John Wayne Parr fan.
I meet the guy at my gym and make a point to not only help him, but to train with him, to learn from him, to have that experience, to be there.
They'll be like, oh, when am I going to get a chance to train with John Wayne Parr again?
joe rogan
I want to have the both of you on a podcast next.
It's going to be so fucking weird.
josh barnett
All that could happen is that he's just going to go, well, no, it happened this way.
And I'm just like, shut the fuck up.
unidentified
All right?
josh barnett
You know what I mean?
Knock me out right now, then.
If that's what you want to go on with.
But it's just dumb.
And then recently someone dug up the whole Hector Lombard stuff again.
I'm like, oh, why?
unidentified
Why?
josh barnett
And I thought that was done because we have a mutual friend through the gym and he says, oh, you know, Hector, he's sorry.
He apologized for all the crap before.
And I'm like, that's cool.
You know, we never had a problem with Hector at CSW, really.
And even the night that Hector called me out at Bellator...
The day before weigh-ins, I'm, Hector, how you doing, man?
I think you're going to do really great.
Still, backing him up.
And then only to have him say, oh, I want to fight this guy.
I'm like, what the fuck, man?
joe rogan
He said that at the weigh-in?
When did he say that?
josh barnett
After he won his fight at Bellator.
joe rogan
And this is when he was the middleweight champion at Bellator?
josh barnett
Yeah.
Who do you want to fight next?
He's like, I want to fight Josh Barnett.
I'm like, what?
What do you want to fight me for?
What the fuck, dude?
joe rogan
Josh, you ruffling people the wrong way?
You ruffling feathers?
What are you doing, man?
josh barnett
You know what?
Maybe.
I will accept that I ruffle feathers.
I rub people the wrong way.
joe rogan
You're a feather-ruffling motherfucker from way back.
josh barnett
I will ruffle feathers, especially in the case that I will call things like I see it.
I don't let bullshit slide.
And I have absolutely no...
I do not suffer fools.
So if you come at me with a bunch of just ignorant, stupid, whatever, if you've built your whole life this whole construct around who you are and what you do based on a lie, based on something false, something bullshit, I'm not going to accept that and I'm not going to respect you.
If you don't have to be the best, you could be the worst.
But if you're an honest person, you're a real person, then I don't give a shit.
I'm not really impressed by people that can try to portray being something that they aren't or make themselves into something that they aren't.
I'm more interested in people who are exactly who they are.
And that's fine.
And understanding that they have weaknesses and strengths and being able to grow and be a person of integrity and being a person that is true to who they are and true to me.
So...
That will cause a lot of issues with folks.
Especially the fact that I deal in entertainment.
Whether it be fighting or acting or anything that I do.
There's a lot of false bravado.
A lot of made up...
joe rogan
Machismo.
Posturing.
josh barnett
Right.
So Hector, the first time...
So he says the reason that we had beef was because he broke my nose the first day of sparring and I hated him ever since then.
And that's not fucking true either.
The first day he ever showed up at CSW, he had come up from Team Quest.
He wasn't going to train there anymore.
And...
I think he still hates Dan Henderson.
joe rogan
Why does he hate Dan Henderson?
josh barnett
I don't know.
Whatever.
I never asked.
I just, oh, he sucks man.
He's a jerky.
Whatever.
I didn't get into it.
But the first thing he came and sparred was actually one of the best days we ever had with sparring because he got in the ring.
He wasn't trying to murder everybody.
And I fucking hit victor rolls on him and took his knee.
And he's just like, Holy shit, that's crazy.
We're all having a good time, but I'm tapping them out and taking them down.
Whatever.
But there's no animosity.
Everybody's training and training and training, and he's always amping it up now.
And then at some point, I show up at practice late, and everyone's on the floor.
Hector doesn't have a partner, so I just threw my shit on real quick.
No hand wraps, no nothing.
No one's going hard.
I'm like, I'm just going to jump in and start warming up.
All right.
Touch, touch, tap, tap.
He throws the biggest fucking punch he's got and tries to knock me out.
Starts my nose bleeding.
I'm just going, what the fuck?
So then it's on for like 20 minutes, and I put a giant egg on the side of his head and shit, and Paulson's just letting it go.
joe rogan
So you basically had a fight.
josh barnett
Yeah, we just brawled it out.
And with, you know, boxing, kickboxing.
And Paul's finally called an end to it.
That's fine.
And then, later on, at some point, he's sparring Mighty Mo, and Mighty Mo drops him.
Boink!
And Paul's like, alright, alright, alright.
So, you know, lighten it up, lighten it up.
Fuck, man, I ain't scared of him.
I ain't scared.
And Mighty Mo's like, man, fuck you.
What?
I don't need this.
I'm here to help you out.
I already got...
X amount of cars, two houses, whatever.
You know what?
I don't need this shit.
I've already made money.
You're the one who's down here trying to crawl up the ranks.
What are you going to get out of this?
And so then things started getting a little worse.
He started beating up on civilians, which is what I call people that are not pros, and And we would still spar and things like that here and there, but I always knew that with Hector, he was always going to go hard.
He never had a light.
Not because he couldn't, but he wouldn't.
joe rogan
And you guys, after you'd gone hard for 20 minutes, you basically fought it out for 20 minutes.
josh barnett
I was done with it.
I wasn't mad at him.
joe rogan
So you were perfectly fine with sparring him after that?
josh barnett
He made it clear who he was going to be in the gym.
Oh, that's fine.
I mean, one time we had a grappling tournament.
I drove him out with me so we could all hang out.
Everyone could be together.
He came out to this fight out in Palm Desert where we had some guys fighting.
He was a part of everything, part of the team.
But we knew that he was...
But we knew what to expect.
Babalu beat up on him one time in the gym.
He didn't like him at all because Hector would take liberties with people.
Babalu felt like, well, you shouldn't do that.
But then the last time we sparred, I get on top of him and I'm working him over pretty good, but I'm not trying to kill the guy.
And he freaks out and he's like...
I'm good.
I'm good.
You know, I'm tired, man.
It's like, what do you mean you're tired?
Every day you go hard and try to kill people.
And the one day, you don't want to go hard.
You don't say anything, but everybody just expects that's what it's going to be.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
And so he says, oh, and this one day I got on top of him and beat him near within an inch of his life.
And I'm like, I didn't do that.
I know I didn't do that.
Yeah, I did.
I pinned him and, you know, I was leathering him, but not hurting the guy.
And, you know, he thought he was going to die or something.
I'm like, I'm not going to I'm not going to do that to you.
It's just training.
And now it's like this thing again.
It's like, you know, you didn't beat my ass in the gym.
You're an incredible fighter.
In fact, you're a better fighter than you even understand.
Hector Lombard, if his head was right, would be untouchable.
He is one of the most gifted, strong, fast...
Throw aside the fact that he just got popped for steroids.
Even with it...
You could find his fucking peers and give them all the same shit or different shit.
Doesn't matter.
They're not going to move, have the strength and the speed like Hector is.
Hector's unreal.
Hector should be undefeated.
But Hector's a head case.
And that's why he'll never fully ascend to the top of the throne.
Or really keep it if he can get there.
Because he doesn't understand what it is that he has and how to use it best.
But he is amazing.
Don't get me wrong.
That dude?
Gnarly.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's a super athlete.
There's no doubt about that.
I've never seen anybody ragdoll Jake Shields like that.
josh barnett
He could do that to anybody in his weight division.
Could somebody have a counter for something?
Yeah, I'm not saying he's invincible, but I'm saying that what he possesses in athleticism and skill sets.
He's actually a good leg locker, too.
You won't see him necessarily go for it, but he is a good leg locker.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a video of him in a grappling tournament.
josh barnett
Oh, he breaks that guy's leg, yeah.
It's loud, too.
joe rogan
Carrot.
josh barnett
He's got even more skills than he displays.
But, again, you know, you've got to be able to put it together.
joe rogan
But isn't that part of the beauty of MMA, is that it is this weird thing that you can't just be a super athlete, because there's other super athletes, too.
You can't just be a technical guy, because there's other guys that are technical, too.
There's so many variables.
josh barnett
That's true.
And you could be the best athlete out there.
I know I fought people that were bigger and stronger than me and faster, and I've beaten them before.
And it wasn't because I went and I fought their speed with my speed or used my strength against their strength.
It was I found a way to bypass those things or to put them in such a way that they wouldn't even apply...
Strength or speed where they should.
They don't even understand that it's still available to them.
It's just that they don't understand the position.
They don't understand what's going on.
They don't even realize What opportunities are there for them?
joe rogan
Well, isn't it almost impossible, unless you spend decades in martial arts, it's almost impossible to have all the skills and all the knowledge at your disposal?
josh barnett
Of course.
joe rogan
It's such a deep pool of information to draw from.
josh barnett
It is.
But, you know, if you want to have the biggest toolbox out there, then you have to spend the time to do it.
When the coaches are done coaching you, and you've left practice, how do you spend your time?
Are you watching video?
Not just on your opponent, but just watching video on things for fun or to take a look at something and break it down and make it yours in a very highly technical aspect?
Or are you shadowboxing to make sure to work on keeping that jab inside?
Or are you thinking about the things that you've been working on?
Are you thinking about mentally drilling, like Gable says?
Are you sitting there going through shot after shot after shot, set up after set up after set up in your head?
Are you having a garbage truck come through in the signal right now?
Do they have Wi-Fi in garbage trucks right now?
Is that what's popping in the hood?
joe rogan
Most people can't even hear that.
josh barnett
They're up there like, I got a fucking hot spot, motherfucker.
Bring me your trash and your recyclables and check your email.
joe rogan
If you were going to start someone...
josh barnett
That's where spam goes.
joe rogan
I know you train with a bunch of young fighters now.
You train a bunch of young fighters right now.
josh barnett
Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir, Victor Henry, Shohei Yamamoto, Colleen Schneider, Shayna.
joe rogan
And if you wanted to start, say if you were going to start from scratch, if you were going to develop a program and take athletes that had never fought before, never had any martial arts experience whatsoever, and turn them into professional mixed martial arts fighters, if you had a curriculum, as it were, how would you start that off?
josh barnett
First things first.
What do you possess up top?
joe rogan
Your brain.
josh barnett
Exactly.
If you don't have the type of mind that can be that dedicated, that obsessive, that can be easy going and you need to be easy going and be completely unmovable when you need to be.
That unshaking and unfettered confidence.
joe rogan
And how would you develop that in a person?
Is that something you either have or you don't have or is it something that you could develop?
josh barnett
You can develop it, but I truly believe that for the most part it's something that you are born with, the ability to do.
You give them adversity right off the bat.
You give them struggles.
You give them things that will confuse them on purpose.
And you see how do they deal with that.
Do they quit?
Do they fold it in?
Do they throw a fit about it?
Do they throw a temper tantrum?
Because what you have to do to get to the end goal is really irrelevant.
Getting to the end goal is what's important.
So if you had to fucking do coffee runs for two weeks in a row, if that was all...
I mean, come on, what is that?
In the length of what your career would be, in the length of what your training would be...
joe rogan
Coffee runs, what do you mean?
Like someone said, hey, Josh wants you to go get him coffee.
How the fuck is that going to help anybody?
josh barnett
I just made it up because I've been drinking coffee.
But if that was it, just to see them be like, I want to go train, I want to...
See what they do.
joe rogan
Well, don't you think, though, in that case, you're dealing with people like, okay, some people will come to the table with a certain amount of mental toughness, a certain amount of discipline, a certain amount of the ability to overcome adversity, and some people won't.
And you're only going to take the ones that will.
Is it possible to take someone who's almost essentially a blank slate athletically and turn them into someone who could understand what's going on in their mind?
Do you believe in mental training?
unidentified
Yes.
josh barnett
It is possible.
But again, they would have to exhibit those characteristics, not through an athletic window per se, but just through a determination standpoint.
Just through...
You know, it's like the reason why pro wrestling gyms back in the day, or even currently, in Japan especially, and the Lions then, and they had tryouts.
I had to go through a tryout.
I beat two pro fighters my first two fights, and I still had to go through a tryout.
I still had sparring.
I had to have a meeting with the coaches before I could join AMC's fight team.
Because just winning, just even being a good fighter wasn't enough.
They needed to see, what is this guy made of?
Is he coachable?
Does he have the mental capacity to be in this environment and excel?
Can he be one of those people that what we instill in him will stick?
joe rogan
Well, that was what I was kind of getting to.
Is there a way you could develop a mental curriculum?
Because it seems like that is one of the biggest parts of competing, one of the biggest parts of succeeding, and of not tripping over your own dick, which a lot of people do in all sorts of things in life.
You see it with stand-up comedians, you see it with musicians, you see it with authors.
There's people that just don't fucking do the work, or they fuck up, or they don't follow through, or they take too much time off, or what, you know...
The mental aspect of success, the idea of finding a goal, figuring out how to get to that goal, and then avoiding anything that trips you up along the way.
josh barnett
Yeah.
I don't know about building a curriculum that's one size fits all, because everybody's a little different.
But of the...
Difficulties that you named.
Failing or, you know, not doing the work.
Distractions.
Some of these...
joe rogan
Pussy.
josh barnett
Yeah.
Pussy.
unidentified
That's a big one.
josh barnett
But sometimes it is.
Sometimes it's very tight and small.
Sometimes you just never know where you're getting.
unidentified
That's not what I meant.
joe rogan
I meant like what Mickey said in Rocky.
josh barnett
Yeah.
Well, here's the thing.
Some of those things are okay.
Failing is okay.
joe rogan
As long as you learn from it.
It's one of the best motivators ever.
josh barnett
What's not okay is distractions, not doing the work.
There's a difference between not being successful Because it just isn't learned yet.
You haven't developed the capability yet.
Maybe you're just not quite strong enough, quite fast.
Things like that.
Things that in time can be learned and understood and grown from.
And then there's shitting the bed by not putting the work in, by having the wrong attitude, by showing up trying to win all the time, letting your ego get in the way, things like that.
And that's what you want as a coach.
Okay, not even just as a coach.
Let's take the coaching aspect out of it because this applies to life.
As someone that's going to have somebody else apprentice under them.
As somebody that has the ability to instill knowledge and understanding towards something that somebody else wants to work towards that person Who needs to learn this stuff has to have the right head.
My old coach, Billy Robinson, said you need to learn how to learn.
And that's a fucking fact.
And so one of the mentor's jobs is to try and help guide this person to teach them how to learn.
Because once they learn, it's the stupid old analogy of give a man a fish, he'll eat today.
Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime.
It is fucking that simple when broken down to its smallest pieces.
You have to learn how to fish.
And you learn how to fish, it doesn't matter if I tell you, okay, well I want you to use your jab to score on this guy's chin.
You will figure out the way you need to use your jab to score on that guy's chin.
You will make the jab that you possessed the most effective jab you have ever known.
Because you understand.
You know how to fish.
You're not sitting there getting pissed off because you don't like the fact that you didn't hit him every time.
You're focusing on the wrong thing.
You're too busy trying to win instead of trying to learn.
Once you learn, you'll win.
If you try to win all the time, you're going to fail eventually.
joe rogan
That's a big problem in Jiu Jitsu.
Marcelo Garcia talks about that a lot.
He says that you have to open yourself up in training and you can't worry about being tapped.
josh barnett
Nope.
joe rogan
Being tapped is a part of the game.
Get tapped and just move on.
Don't worry about it.
josh barnett
That's right.
joe rogan
What's most important is that you open up your game and instead of being super defensive and never taking any Always trying to win.
You don't learn.
Because you don't get tapped, but you don't learn jack shit.
And there's always those guys.
Every gym has that guy that's almost impossible to tap, but doesn't fucking tap anybody.
josh barnett
Right.
That's true.
And that's another thing that as a mentor, as a coach, or whatever you want to call it...
That you have to look for is not the person...
There's always the person that's just fresh off the boat.
You know, they just fell off the turnip truck, whatever.
Just getting into it.
joe rogan
Turnip trucks?
josh barnett
Turnip trucks.
joe rogan
That's that old one.
That's old-schooly.
josh barnett
Well, no, I mean, there's turnip trucks that go through Los Feliz all the time.
joe rogan
Really?
josh barnett
Oh, they're all about turnips over there.
joe rogan
How many people are buying turnips?
josh barnett
Turnip trucks and beet trucks.
unidentified
Is there one turnip truck for the whole entire state of California?
josh barnett
Well, it's organic.
It is organic.
joe rogan
Probably two turnip trucks.
josh barnett
It's gluten-free.
joe rogan
Gluten-free turnips?
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm not worried about gluten anymore.
unidentified
No?
josh barnett
Me neither.
Back on board.
unidentified
Sugar.
joe rogan
You know, yeah.
josh barnett
Sugar is worse than gluten.
joe rogan
But that's what the gluten issue is.
It's not a...
Like, the real issue, I believe, with gluten is that gluten is all sugar.
Like, when you're...
Not gluten, but gluten-containing products.
If you have a lot of bread, if you have a lot of pasta...
josh barnett
There's a lot of sugar in it.
joe rogan
The real issue is sugar.
josh barnett
High glycemic carbs.
joe rogan
That's the real issue.
It seems to be, and I've talked to nutritionists about it, and they're like, well, some people are more sensitive, and some people aren't.
josh barnett
The people that are most sensitive, it's usually because their patchouli is interacting with...
unidentified
Ah.
joe rogan
Their karma.
josh barnett
Their chakras.
It's a...
You know, crystals and gluten, they are the ones where the intolerance is within that combination, not the person themselves.
joe rogan
I get it.
josh barnett
Yeah, the body is okay with gluten, but if you have crystals on at the same time, depending on what harmonies they're vibrating at, that gluten could be an issue.
joe rogan
Harmonies, very important.
I knew a girl named Harmony.
Boy, was she annoying.
Oh my goodness.
josh barnett
What color was her aura?
joe rogan
It was kind of a purple-ish.
But that whole thing, that gluten thing, there's something to it.
You're not really supposed to be eating bread all the time.
You're not really supposed to be eating pasta all the time.
Obviously, some people have a harder time processing all kinds of different foods.
josh barnett
Everybody's diet's going to be different to the person.
joe rogan
But the one thing that will help everybody, everybody listening to this, if you hear all this gluten frat, cut the fucking sugar out.
Just cut it way back.
Eat fruit.
If you want some sugar, have a peach.
Have a pear.
It'll make a giant difference.
josh barnett
We're totally getting off top.
We're digressing.
joe rogan
But we're not, because we're talking about learning.
josh barnett
Right.
Learning, true.
And one of the things even about the whole concept of this gluten stuff, right?
And bread and pasta.
How refined is the shit you're eating, too?
Like, if you had bread that was almost as least refined as possible...
I mean, it's going to be refined to some degree because you made it into fucking bread.
But the least refined as possible...
joe rogan
Like sprouted grains.
josh barnett
...is way different from cheeseball, white bread...
joe rogan
Wonder bread type shit.
It's all sugar.
josh barnett
Yeah.
I'm cheeseball white bread, and I've been known to be unhealthy to people.
joe rogan
You're a little cheesy, but it's amusing.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
I love sprouted bread.
I like Ezekiel bread and stuff like that.
My body doesn't seem to react to that bad at all.
josh barnett
Well, it does tend to burn a little bit on initial touch for me, but that's because I'm just so unholy and satanic.
That's the problem.
joe rogan
Oh, the Ezekiel bread.
josh barnett
Yeah, no, it just starts glowing hot.
joe rogan
I didn't know you were unholy and satanic.
josh barnett
Yeah, all of the above.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
How long have you been unholy?
josh barnett
I think since the day I was born.
joe rogan
Are you born on a bad sign?
josh barnett
I've been down since I began to crawl.
joe rogan
On the night I was born, I heard the moon turn a fire red.
josh barnett
So you get these new guys with their sprouted grain bread and their beets.
And you get them to a certain point, right?
And then here's the real trouble.
They experience some success.
They get to some point of understanding and they feel like they know what their game is and they know where they can win.
Getting that motherfucker out of that hole, out of that shell, that's hard.
And that's unfortunately where a lot of times you just got to turn to a guy and be like, alright, I'm done with you.
That's it.
You have set your own limitation at this point.
You have created your own roadblocks and you don't even understand it.
joe rogan
Sort of like what you were talking about with John Wayne Parr.
Like John Wayne Parr not wanting to learn how to grapple because he was so good at Muay Thai.
He'd already crossed the gulf and become an expert and didn't want to become a beginner again.
josh barnett
Exactly.
John Wayne Parr decided he was going to be a failure in terms of grappling and MMA. He decided that.
It wasn't a matter of whether he could be successful or he could be mildly successful, greatly successful.
Who knows?
But he decided that he was going to not be good.
joe rogan
I had this conversation.
I had this conversation with a guy once about this guy who's an MMA fighter.
I don't know if to name his name, but he's a really good kickboxer who got into MMA and kept getting tapped out.
And this guy said, well, he just doesn't have any talent for jujitsu.
And I said, that's crazy.
I go, it's not that he doesn't have any talent for jujitsu.
I go, I'll tell you exactly what happens because I know those guys.
They are so good at kickboxing, they don't want to do jiu-jitsu.
Because if they do jiu-jitsu or submission wrestling or whatever the fuck it is, they're going to get tapped out.
And they don't like getting tapped out.
So they spend as little time doing that as possible and as much time hitting the pads, hitting the bag, working on their strengths, not working on their weaknesses.
josh barnett
No one likes to feel like they're failing.
It's a hard thing for people to do, to go back to sucking again in some way.
And I just started training Kyokushin Karate in LA. One of my students, Shohei Yamamoto, is a junior world champion Kyokushin.
He's taken third and fourth in the weight category world championships.
He is also the youngest guy to ever compete in the world open weight.
He was like 185 pounds or so at the time, 19 years old or so, and he made it to top 32, whatever.
He fought like Glaube or someone and lost, something like that.
Fucking kid.
I know karate has a lot to offer.
I know all martial arts have something to offer.
And I've always thought that Kyokushin was a badass art and would be fun to do.
And so what I do, I show up.
Guess what?
I got a white belt.
I had to go buy a karate gi.
I have to sit there and sit in the back of the line with everybody else and be nobody.
And that's okay.
Because...
People go, I don't understand.
How come you're here with a white belt, training karate, doing forms?
Because I like being a white belt.
I like learning.
And in a way, it's kind of like my yoga because I can throw a sidekick, but if you make me do sidekick from that with the heels, it's just a different way of doing it.
I don't know these forms.
I don't know...
Some of these positions to do these sort of things.
So it makes my body stretch and adapt.
And all I'm doing is getting better, learning more.
It doesn't mean that I have to go out there and sanchin with my knees in and whatever and give somebody a karate chop to the neck.
joe rogan
You're just learning new movements.
Yes.
It's always good to learn new movements.
You were here once and you were saying that after you left here, you were going to go train Savat.
josh barnett
Yep.
Yeah, I've trained Savat for about a couple years, too.
joe rogan
Well, I've never done any Savat training.
josh barnett
You would love it.
joe rogan
Would I love it?
josh barnett
Okay, here's the simplest way I can describe Savat.
Think of Savat as like the Western boxing equivalent of kickboxing.
You're more Floyd Mayweather than you are...
You know, Mike Zambidis.
Hitting and getting hit.
The idea of Savat is to touch and not get touched.
Lots of footwork, using your lead, leg, lead, hand.
Tons of footwork.
joe rogan
So just not a lot of emphasis on power?
josh barnett
No, I mean, you develop power and you have your kill shot opportunities, but really it's about being scoring, off-balancing, angling.
There's a great fight.
Raymond Deckers versus Panacchio.
This Italian Savat guy.
It's a good fight?
Yeah, a fight with low kicks.
joe rogan
Pull that shit up, Jamie.
josh barnett
Jesus Christ.
And Panacchio beats Deckers.
joe rogan
What are we waiting for?
Get the fuck out of here.
josh barnett
And you're watching it.
joe rogan
Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.
This dude beat Ramon Deckers?
A savant guy beat Ramon Deckers?
josh barnett
Yep.
joe rogan
How old was Deckers like five?
josh barnett
No, he was...
joe rogan
A little kid?
josh barnett
No, he was at least seven and a half.
I think John Wayne Parr had just beat him up really bad in practice and his confidence was shot.
So, uh, Pinocchio beats Deckers, but how he does it is by scoring more, by being elusive, and you watch the two fighters, and you can see it.
Absolute difference.
unidentified
Oh, here we go.
Look at this.
josh barnett
Pinocchio's a real boy.
joe rogan
It's Pinocchio, bro.
It's not Pinocchio.
unidentified
You don't even know.
josh barnett
You watch Deckers, and Deckers is full of power.
Tons of power.
And when he kicks, you can see this just bone-shattering type stuff.
joe rogan
What year was this?
josh barnett
Uh, early 90s?
joe rogan
So this is why Ramon was still in his prime.
josh barnett
Oh yeah, Ramon was still knocking out ties over in Thailand.
But the thing is, Pinocchio is almost never there to get hit.
The other thing is, when he's taking these shots, he slides and moves with them.
He always takes the power out of it.
And there's quite a few times he kicks Decker's legs out from underneath him while he's trying to wind up on him.
joe rogan
Really?
josh barnett
And tags him with a lot of shots, up top with the hands.
joe rogan
This is very interesting.
josh barnett
And it's not that Deckers is a worse fighter than Panacchio.
Don't turn it into that kind of thing, listeners.
It's about style right here.
This is what it came down to.
It was a guy using a different tactic against...
He's not going to match power with this dude.
Who could?
Raymond Deckers was...
Just a destroyer.
Too much power.
joe rogan
Kicked in the dick right there.
Now, they're wearing those shoes.
Why are they wearing the kickboxing shoes?
josh barnett
Some sort of fucking, whatever, European League's thing about, you know what I mean?
This is back in the day when kickboxing was different everywhere you went.
joe rogan
And this is kickboxing.
There's no clinch, there's no elbows, no knees.
josh barnett
No clinch, no elbows, no knees.
joe rogan
What do you think about that?
Like, the glory rules as opposed to full Muay Thai.
josh barnett
Muay Thai has a tendency to get boring as shit when they get in the clinch, and they're just throwing side knee after side knee, and no one's really landing anything, and they're hanging on each other.
I understand why they want people to be at that mid-range or long-range just tagging each other, because it looks more exciting to the casual fans.
joe rogan
I kind of get it from that perspective, but I don't like it as far as a...
josh barnett
Well, he just axe kicked in my face.
Do you see that?
No, yeah.
Lead leg hook kick and then evaded his return low kick at the same time.
joe rogan
It was barely...
It was more like an axe kick.
It looked like a slap, like a foot slap.
josh barnett
Inside low, high again.
joe rogan
He's just moving a lot.
josh barnett
Constantly.
And look, he's spinning off of his kick.
joe rogan
Sliding away as he's kicking, yeah.
josh barnett
Panacchio also beat...
Or...
Yoan Vos fought in some matches too and lost.
joe rogan
Wow.
josh barnett
So, I mean, it's just...
joe rogan
Yeah, hook kick to the face.
josh barnett
I love the distancing, the speed.
You know, one of the things I like to use, if at all possible, and teach to people is that, you know what, how much do you think your leg weighs?
Oh, like 30, 40 pounds.
If you just got it up there as fast and as quick and to the point as possible, if you score as clean as possible and as quick...
I don't need to throw hard.
I mean, force is mass times velocity squared.
So let's work on the velocity squared and not trying to generate more strength into that movement, but just speed.
joe rogan
Right, so more Kyokushin style than Muay Thai style.
josh barnett
Well, Kyokushin has a tendency to try to really...
You know, kick the baseball bats apart, too, at times.
But with Savat, I mean, if you can even watch some of the old American kickboxing stuff back in the day, and those guys were so adept at going from foot to hand to hand to foot and foot to hand.
Obviously, it was tailored to the game.
But if you thought, you know, just watch Guy Mezger, what's his, Arona.
They're out there, and there's just a nice little kick, lead leg, high kick, and just whack, and all of a sudden, Arona's on roller skates.
And it didn't even look like much.
joe rogan
Yeah, you're seeing that sometimes today.
You're seeing more of a karate style, like Machida is a perfect example.
There's no wind-up, there's no step before he throws the back round kick.
He just throws it right from there.
Pettis does that as well.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
You're seeing a lot of guys that are doing that.
josh barnett
Front kicks taking people out as if that was never a legit technique, you know what I mean?
And there's a bazillion ways to throw front kicks.
You can throw a Thai style push kick.
You can throw the Taekwondo one where you, like Victor Webster has one of the nastiest push kicks ever.
And he'll fucking...
He's out here and he steps in.
He rides into it.
And then he hits you right in the hip and makes you sit on the floor.
It's like, fuck, dude.
That sucks.
And he just stomps right through your hip.
And then you've got karate style.
We pick it up and fold it and then punt, as Jim Harrison would say, with the ball of the foot.
And you get him right in the chin, the solar plexus, diaphragm area.
You could turn it over like Savat likes to do.
Or even Kyokshin has it, too.
That's...
Kikuno's kick, the Mikazuki-geri, and punt it right into the liver.
And it's, you know, ball of the foot.
How much surface area is that?
It's just the end of the hammer.
The head of the hammer hitting right into the point.
joe rogan
Yeah, there was a lot of old-school Taekwondo guys that would throw round kicks, but they would throw it and land the ball of the foot like a front kick.
josh barnett
Sure.
joe rogan
That was a big thing they used to do back in the day.
josh barnett
Eric Paulson always holds this camp every year.
It's a big, full-on, there will be multiple instructors teaching all this stuff, and all these people come from all over his affiliate gyms, and they pile into our gym during our training time.
So he just integrates everyone together.
And I always just tell Paulson, I go, don't stick the newbie fucking goofballs in there with me.
If I've got a fight coming up and these dudes are in here, they're going to get wrecked.
This is not my job to help this dude have a good time at camp.
I'm getting ready.
Please just don't do it.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
No, no, you can just take it easy.
I'm like, no, they're not going to go easy on me, for one, because I'm me.
And they want to, either they're excited, scared, or want to prove something.
So I don't want it.
I don't even want to deal with it.
But if I have to, I'm burying them.
So that's just the way it is.
So anyways, we're in there, we're kickboxing with this kid, and fuck, he turns it up.
I'm like, goddammit.
So what do I do?
I step up, throw a left high kick off the lead leg, but I turn it over and I hit with the ball of the foot.
I just stabbed him right in the jaw with it.
He stuns, puts his hand up, quits for the whole day.
He's done.
I'm done.
Forget it.
joe rogan
That's probably a good idea, isn't it?
josh barnett
Probably was a good idea.
joe rogan
Probably got a concussion.
Whenever you're stunned, whenever you're like...
That's my problem with tournaments.
Like, especially those kickboxing tournaments they're doing.
A lot of these guys, they're getting essentially knocked out in their first fight.
They recover.
You know, they get dropped or stunned or fucked up.
And then they have, like, you know, 20, 30 minutes for everything to cool down and really hurt.
And then they get back in there and do it again.
josh barnett
Yeah, I hear you.
And I was just having this conversation with somebody the other day about...
I was with a referee, actually.
And I go, you know...
We need tournaments back in MMA. You think so?
And they go, well, we can run tournaments.
I go, no.
I know the fucking stupid ruling where they say, oh, as long as you don't exceed a five-minute round in a night.
If I'm fighting pro boxing, I'm out there for 36 minutes.
You're telling me that an MMA fighter can't go 36 minutes?
If you gave me 36 minutes, then you could go two fives and three fives in a final.
And he's like, well, there's guys that can barely get through one five now.
I go, well, fuck, good.
Hopefully they get the shit kicked out of them and they fucking figure out either A, how to be able to go past a five, or B, this ain't the sport for you.
I mean, we're not supposed to make it.
So when you're a professional, everybody doesn't need to be able to compete.
When you're an amateur, I have some understanding everyone should be able to get in the ring with a modest amount of training to go out there and do it, but not pros.
joe rogan
Why do you think that they should bring back tournaments?
josh barnett
Every combat sport in the world has tournaments.
joe rogan
Kumite.
josh barnett
Everything.
unidentified
Hmm.
josh barnett
And we love it.
We love the shit out of tournaments.
Japan loves everything fighting and going to tournaments so much they'll have a TV show and it's battle and there's a piece of celery versus a yam.
I don't even know how you compare those two or how you make them fight.
They didn't even give them little knives or anything.
But for a shield and a trident...
joe rogan
A lot of pro fighters don't want to do tournaments because they feel like, say if there's a four-man tournament, you have a fight in the first round, and you win in ten seconds by a knockout, and then they go two rounds, and there's a draw, so they go to a third round, and it's brutal, they're all banged the fuck up, and then they have to fight you in the finals, and you went through ten seconds of fighting, and they got the fuck beat out of them, and they're all banged up.
josh barnett
It's not fair.
They should've been a better fighter, I guess.
joe rogan
Is that really what it is?
What if the draw is?
What if you got Fedor, and your opponent got Willy the Wimp?
Willy the Wimp in his Cadillac coffin, and Willy the Wimp got KO'd in the first round, and then you went three hard rounds.
josh barnett
And then the other guy gets Vanderlei, and he's Krokop.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, you did do that.
josh barnett
So what?
Fuck it.
You know what I did?
I laid in the back.
I had IVs.
I had ice on me.
And honestly, the biggest problem wasn't even the fighting.
It was getting heat exhaustion before I even showed up for the tournament because dead summer of Orange County and we had no air conditioning whatsoever, no breezeways in that old gym.
And I started off doing 10-minute rounds just going through...
Name pro fighters, owning them.
And then all of a sudden, eight minutes.
Then six minutes.
Then four.
Then I can barely get a two-minute round off without falling apart.
And I'm just going, what the fuck is wrong with me?
And then people start packing me with ice bags in between rounds and in between sessions.
And all of a sudden, my energy would start to come back some.
I just go, oh, well, this is fucked.
But oh well, let's get over there and do it.
joe rogan
So you were training, and as you were training, you had no air conditioning in the gym, and you were getting heat exhaustion.
josh barnett
Yeah.
It was fucking 100 degrees outside of time.
joe rogan
And that fucked with your conditioning when you actually went to fight because you never were able to push.
josh barnett
By the time.
I could push, but I mean there were things like when Noguera mounted me, right?
I gave him my arm on purpose because I couldn't get him off a mount because I couldn't expend that kind of energy.
It just wasn't there.
So I know if he goes to try and armbar me, that shit ain't gonna happen.
joe rogan
So this is just because of all the time that you spent in the gym under heat exhaustion.
josh barnett
Yes.
joe rogan
So you were never able to do those 10-minute rounds, those long rounds in the gym, because it just got too hot.
Why didn't you guys put fucking air conditioning in your gym?
josh barnett
Not my gym.
Not my decision.
joe rogan
God damn it, Eric Paulson.
Is it his gym?
josh barnett
Yeah, it's his gym.
joe rogan
Cheap fuck.
josh barnett
Just kidding.
joe rogan
I love Eric Paulson.
josh barnett
I struggled to get back.
It took me about until next year before I really finally fucking felt better again.
When I fought Nastula, I was still just...
Struggling.
My CNS was shot.
Central nervous system.
joe rogan
Really?
All just from the heat exhaustion?
josh barnett
Oh, dude, it was so bad.
joe rogan
Wow.
What about Cronk Gym in fucking Detroit?
They would crank up the heat and everybody would box up.
josh barnett
I hate that shit.
unidentified
120 degrees.
josh barnett
And everybody is...
I'm more susceptible to it, I think, than others.
Because I'm so white, Viking-like, that if, you know, a little bit of cold probably would have done me some good.
joe rogan
Right, if you had some African dude in there sparring with you, he'd have an advantage.
josh barnett
But some people don't take the heat as well as others, and some people do.
You know, it's just a matter of fact.
And here's the thing.
I got over there.
I fought my ass off.
I was exhausted.
I could have been bowed out and been like, oh no, Krokop is just going to walk over into the finals and everybody was going to be like, oh, he had a really tough fight with Noguera.
That's acceptable.
We'll give him a pass on that.
But I wouldn't give me a pass.
Fuck that.
So what did I do?
They put ice bags on anything.
It was banged up.
Doctors came back, gave me an IV and some vitamins, and hung it off the locker door.
And I just laid on the ground.
And I had Megumi Fuji with me and my ex-girlfriend at the time and Eric and Hiro Yukiabe, my friends with me.
And I just was there with them.
And the officials come back and go, so are you going to fight the last fight?
I'm like, yes, I am.
Damn right I am.
Because that's what a man does.
I fought.
joe rogan
That's what a man does is in a tournament.
josh barnett
That's what a man does is in a tournament.
joe rogan
Let's get the fuck out of here.
josh barnett
But, you know, I didn't show up to take second place.
I showed up to take first or die trying.
And fuck it, you know?
joe rogan
But why do you think that that's better to have a tournament?
Like, what is it about it?
Just because the public anticipates having those fights, watching how it plays out?
josh barnett
It's so interesting to see.
I mean, come on, look at March Madness.
It's one of the biggest things ever.
And if it wasn't a tournament, people would not be as excited.
joe rogan
Right, but that's a tournament over a long period of time.
They're not playing a bunch of games in a night.
That's actually a perfect example why it doesn't apply.
josh barnett
But, I just mean the concept of tournaments.
And even doing tournaments over time is still great too, but the one night tournament is...
Let's see who comes out on top.
Plus, it's a great way to try and re-establish orders.
So, let's say you have a whole bunch, a pool, you got a handful of all these guys and you don't know who really fits where.
Boom.
They go through this one-night tournament.
Bah, there's a winner.
Someone was able to gut it out and come out on top and come out with all that, dealing with all that adversity.
And then you look down the line, like, who did what?
And then even the guy who did the worst in the tournament, let's say all of a sudden, non-tournament style, they start racking up the wins, and it's like, oh, wow, you know, look at that story.
That person's coming back from what we would consider to be a disaster, and now they're Phoenix rising from the ashes.
You know, it gives such an opportunity to...
To show human spirit.
To show overcoming adversity.
And it's an instant trade-off.
joe rogan
I think it's a great idea for grappling.
Eddie Bravo had the Eddie Bravo Invitational, the EBI, last week.
And it was a tournament.
And it was really exciting to watch.
Watch guys make it to the finals.
And watch guys, you know, you see the brackets play out.
I think it's great for grappling.
What I worry about it is with head injuries.
I worry about guys fighting the first round.
Getting their bell rang.
Having some internal bleeding, perhaps.
josh barnett
I don't think that the medical observations should be overlooked.
I think that's important.
But I really think tournaments would help bring some excitement back to MMA. But then, here's the other thing.
I think five-minute rounds are not long enough.
I think we need ten-minute rounds at the very least.
joe rogan
Brian, you agree?
unidentified
Yes, I do.
joe rogan
I see you nodding your head over there frantically.
josh barnett
Let's not even talk about how the 10-point must system doesn't belong in MMA at all.
Terrible.
And I understood why they use the 10-point, because it's to try and keep people honest.
Oh, you can see that they scored the round.
No one's sitting.
That hasn't been explained to me.
joe rogan
Well, they just borrowed it from boxing.
josh barnett
It doesn't need it.
I liked it in Japan where they just look, okay.
In Pancras, it used to be two judges on the outside and the ref.
Their judgments at the end.
If they decide, all three of them convene, he won.
joe rogan
See, I disagree with that, using the ref, because I think a referee should...
I think that's a very singular job, and I think the referee's job should be making sure that...
josh barnett
I can see the argument there.
I'm just saying how it used to be.
But even still, no matter what the idea was, and back in Pride, you had your criteria.
Matt would sit ringside with a piece of paper, one name and then another name, and a line down the middle for each side.
And he would sit there and he would put hash marks in each box.
And those hash marks meant something along those criteria that were...
That were important.
That he could look back and it would help him remember how this fight went.
joe rogan
Well, Matt's an excellent referee.
josh barnett
And this is just him as a judge, too.
So, I agree.
I'm more towards that side.
But even still, now you see guys just gaming a five-minute round.
Stifling, doing this, doing that, and then petering off to the fucking stool, coming back out and just trying to run the same thing or win two out of three.
And then they walk out, look at me.
It's like, well, you didn't even really try to kick that guy's ass.
Well, I won.
Have fun with that.
joe rogan
What do you think about stand-ups?
Do you think that stand-ups should be a part of MMA? Yes.
You do.
josh barnett
But that has to be with...
The other thing with MMA is it needs to be more...
Attention to stalling.
If you're not trying to finish your opponent and damage them, take them out, you're stalling.
joe rogan
What do you think about if they do have rounds?
Like, say if you go a 10-minute round.
At the end of 10 minutes, you're on top of the guy mounting him.
Start right back with the mount on the second round.
josh barnett
That's an interesting concept, but I like standing him back up on the feet again.
joe rogan
But why?
That gives a striker a big advantage.
josh barnett
You need to be a well-rounded fighter.
joe rogan
Right, but if you work so hard to get a guy to the ground, he didn't earn getting back up to his feet.
Why should he be able to get back up to his feet?
josh barnett
Well, that's the whole concept of rounds, is the restart of the contest.
Right.
joe rogan
Restart of you getting a chance to get back up.
josh barnett
That's true, too.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
So if he can survive the round, what does that mean?
If it is that dire to you, that you cannot...
Afford to have that guy ever get back to his feet, either by the round ending, or by him escaping, or the referee standing you up for inactivity.
Well, one, you're fucked as a fighter anyways.
You have a huge deficit.
Number two, you better finish him.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
You better finish him.
That also goes to so, hey, if you're the greatest grappler submission guy in the world and you have no takedowns, enjoy getting your ass kicked.
joe rogan
Well, there's a few fighters that are really good at holding guys down.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I don't think there's anything wrong with that because I think it's important to know that a guy can hold you down.
Like, Ben Askren's my perfect example.
Ben Askren is such a good fucking wrestler that he gets a hold of guys and he puts them on their back and they can't get back up.
And if that's the case, like, standing a guy, giving a guy a free shot to stand back up because...
Ben Askren may or may not be as active as he would like, but still, the guy who's on the bottom wants to get up, but can't.
josh barnett
Right.
But, you know, you've got ten minutes to work, I see.
And I think, honestly, with ten minutes, I don't think Askren would have as many decisions as he does, because while Askren has kept a lot of people on their back, I've seen him work a lot, too, looking for submissions, punching.
He's not a power puncher.
He's a pillow puncher.
joe rogan
But 1FC allows him to do knees to the head on the ground.
josh barnett
That's another thing I would change.
I think knees to the head, soccer kick, stomps.
I'm all for all that.
But at the very least, knees to the head change things.
And a lot.
Especially even for the grappler.
But with 10 minutes, you want to call Ben Askren boring, I think in 10 minutes he's got finishes.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
I think that a lot of guys would have finishes, but the other thing that changes that is when a ref is standing over the top going, action, action, action.
Okay, get up.
You're stalling.
You know when a guy is stalling, you know when a guy is not.
joe rogan
Yeah, but I think a guy who's stalling, if you can't get that guy off you, fuck you.
josh barnett
Well, that's a different fight then.
joe rogan
Is it though?
Because the guy, you're on the bottom, you're still fighting.
josh barnett
No, no, I hear you that way, but we're talking about prize fighting, entertainment.
If it's the fight that you're talking about, that's not for entertainment.
No one wants to pay to see that.
You know what that is?
That's catch wrestling in the 1800s.
That's pro wrestling in the 1900s where three hours plus of guys trying to get an advantage and can't.
Because they're so well versed of each other.
They're so tough.
They're so skilled.
One guy getting stuck on the bottom.
He can't get up.
There's no restarts.
There's no nothing.
There's no...
There it goes.
Let's see when that first fall comes.
But that died out.
It didn't work.
joe rogan
If you look at what they were doing with Elite XC, that's the worst case example of trying to make it entertaining.
unidentified
Sure.
josh barnett
Sure, sure.
And I'm not suggesting that you just...
joe rogan
Well, explain what they used to do.
josh barnett
They used to stand people up for like 15 seconds.
joe rogan
15 seconds on the ground, they'd stand you back up.
They stood up big country.
He was on top of Orlovsky, inside control, working at Kimura, or what you would call a double wristlet.
josh barnett
I don't know if he was ever going to get it, but he was in an advantageous position.
He was working for a finish.
He should not have been stood up.
joe rogan
And he's an expert in that particular style of fighting.
He's a submission expert.
josh barnett
He's a ground guy.
And he wasn't just laying on him.
He was trying to submit Arlovsky.
And, of course, with anything, even as the sport sits now, we need better referees.
And we need better judges.
joe rogan
Yeah.
unidentified
That stoppage last week.
joe rogan
Oh, that was awful.
They reversed that.
unidentified
Oh, did they?
joe rogan
They reversed it.
Yeah, it's a no contest now.
josh barnett
Or, you know, even when Faber is down there getting walloped on his shoulder, and it's like, show me something.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
One, you couldn't see his thumbs up, I got it.
But on the second hand...
You can tell he's not getting his ass kicked right now.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
Let it go.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
Let it fucking go.
joe rogan
When a guy's turtling and the guy's just hitting your gloves and arms and then the fight gets stopped, that is very frustrating.
unidentified
It is.
I have a problem with that.
josh barnett
I watched all these fights back in the day.
I'd seen dudes getting shell-shocked on top.
Just artillery dropped on them and surviving it.
Then reversing the fight, dudes all totally, totally petered out.
joe rogan
Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin.
josh barnett
And just kicking the shit out of them.
joe rogan
Yeah, it happens.
josh barnett
And Brock Lesnar and Carwin, that's a good example, too.
But no one wants to let that happen anymore.
Oh, that's too brutal.
Well, we're fighting.
We're not doing patty cake.
joe rogan
Well, there's always that thing about trying to make it more appealing to the mainstream.
It'll be better for everybody.
josh barnett
And yet, it's not better for the people that are actually doing it.
joe rogan
No.
It's definitely not better for someone who gets stuck in a position and they, you know, intelligently defend yourself.
Well, guess what?
There's some positions where when a guy's wailing on you, it's intelligent to just cover up.
josh barnett
Sure.
Remember Tank and Severn?
Severn kept palm striking him and just throwing all these shots, and Severn wasn't palm striking him because he didn't know how to punch.
It's because he didn't want to break his hand.
joe rogan
Right.
josh barnett
No gloves, no wraps.
So he's smacking Tank, but Tank, he tries to get up, but he can't.
Now...
One of these modern refs will probably stop that fight.
Oh, you're not intelligently defending yourself.
He's not going to go out.
He's not getting his bell rung.
He's not getting the shit kicked out of him.
He just can't get up right now.
joe rogan
You hear what Frank talked about?
Oh, when Tank talked about it?
josh barnett
Uh-uh.
joe rogan
He said, I have nightmares getting molested by Freddie Mercury.
unidentified
Yeah.
josh barnett
And if Tank tried to get up, he was just getting controlled.
He couldn't get up, but Severin didn't have the ability to really finish him either.
joe rogan
It is what it is.
josh barnett
That's what it is.
The fight needed to keep going.
joe rogan
But I don't think that should be stood up.
josh barnett
No, not in that case, because Severin was incredibly active.
He was trying, he just didn't really have the skill.
Submission ability.
Yeah, and here's another one.
Ruan Potts getting punched in the ribs and them stopping it because he's stuck there.
joe rogan
Anthony Hamilton, yeah.
josh barnett
Do you see him tapping?
No.
Do you see him saying, I want out?
No.
joe rogan
Yeah, I didn't agree with that either.
josh barnett
I don't care how much he's getting punched in the fucking ribs.
Let him get punched in the ribs.
joe rogan
They stopped that fight just to rescue everybody from how boring it was because he was just on top of them punching them in the same spot.
Everybody's like, we've seen enough.
josh barnett
Ooh, look at that bruise.
So what?
joe rogan
It is bruised.
This is a bruise.
josh barnett
It's a very bad bruise.
He's going to be so sore tomorrow.
joe rogan
He's going to have a black and blue spot.
Yes!
A real black and blue spot.
josh barnett
Oh my god, I might even turn yellow and purple at some point.
joe rogan
It could very well turn like an orangey-greeny kind of a thing.
josh barnett
Oh god, we can't allow that.
joe rogan
That's what I'm saying.
josh barnett
What if...
joe rogan
Stand them up.
josh barnett
Yeah.
Or stop the fight altogether.
That's not intelligent defense.
You're not an intelligent ref.
joe rogan
There's certain guys that fight in the UFC where you gotta go, man, who the fuck let you fight in the UFC? Well, they need a lot of fighters.
josh barnett
They have so many events.
So, so, so many events.
They gotta fill them up.
joe rogan
Do you think there's too many?
josh barnett
Yes, there are.
They have a plan for what they're trying to accomplish, and this is what they see as the path to doing so.
joe rogan
You know what I think there should be?
I think there should be an A-League and a B-League.
josh barnett
I agree.
joe rogan
I think there should be a UFC and a Strikeforce.
josh barnett
I agree.
If Tuesday Night Fights should have one headliner-type dude or one main-card-type guy and the rest are just up-and-comers.
joe rogan
Yeah, why not?
I mean, and then those guys will graduate to become, you know...
josh barnett
Right.
Well, can you imagine, even this, what if they kept Strikeforce and UFC, and let's say Strikeforce went Pride style, and UFC was UFC, and then they had a Super Bowl match every year, and each year it would switch.
This year it's Pride rules.
This year it's UFC rules.
Oh, God, I can hear it now!
Oh, but the difference in that...
If you can't fight...
And one or the other, if it is that dire to you, as an athlete, that you can only be successful in one arena, you're just not that good.
joe rogan
Well, you're not that well-rounded.
josh barnett
Well, for sure.
But, I mean, anything you can do in one, you can do in the other, really.
joe rogan
Right, but we did see big differences between guys fighting in the cage and guys fighting in the ring.
josh barnett
That didn't have anything to do with it, no.
joe rogan
You don't think Crow Cop was talking about how big of a difference it was?
Elbows on the ground was a big difference, too, as well.
josh barnett
That definitely changes some things, but no, I don't think that was it.
joe rogan
So you think it's just a lack of preparation?
Proper preparation?
josh barnett
I personally don't have a perfect answer for that, but I don't believe it was that.
joe rogan
Well, obviously he did much better after that.
josh barnett
Yes, he did.
joe rogan
He got better at figuring out the cage and the elbows on the ground and the defense.
josh barnett
Yes.
joe rogan
So it's probably just a lack of the proper preparation.
josh barnett
Maybe.
joe rogan
There's only a few places.
If you really looked at young athletes today that want to compete in MMA, is there a dozen places in this country that you could go and get a proper education as far as being a real professional MMA fighter?
Is there even a dozen?
josh barnett
You know, I can't say I've done all the research to say...
Conclusively, one way or the other.
I know that AMC, CSW... One of the best.
joe rogan
AMC is...
I mean, Matt Hume is about as knowledgeable as anybody who's ever lived.
josh barnett
Well, and look, Matt Hume and Eric Paulson are kind of cut from the same cloth in that their lineage comes down from Carl Gotch, from Sayama and Funaki, and well-rounded, full-meal-deal dudes.
They could do everything.
joe rogan
Yep.
josh barnett
And...
So, there's that.
But, I mean, I don't know.
I mean, I imagine Greg Jackson's could probably make you a...
joe rogan
For us, a hobby.
josh barnett
Yeah, maybe.
I mean, I've never trained under these people.
I knew that I was very...
When I moved from Matt's gym to go train somewhere else...
It was really hard for me to find.
There wasn't very many people back then that I felt like I could go there and learn, where I wouldn't be the one dictating all the training all the time.
I would be somewhere where I could learn and be trained.
joe rogan
What made you decide to go from Seattle and then live in Southern California?
How come you don't stay up there and train with Matt?
josh barnett
At the time, it just wasn't really feasible.
I didn't have the sparring partners, and Matt wasn't really around that much, so I was ending up having to do a lot of my own training.
Because he was going to Pride to He had a lot of stuff on his plate, and especially, like I said, I had no sparring partners.
I had nothing.
Reese Andy was my main dude, and we would do a lot of training together.
Somewhat Jeff Munson, but a lot of the time I'd end up teaching Jeff, and even teaching Reese, and they were great guys, and I learned a lot from them.
They were very, very, very helpful, but I didn't have sparring partners.
And then I just thought, well, this isn't the place to be.
Barnon's favorite place in the U.S. One of my favorite places in the whole world.
I think it's an amazing city.
joe rogan
Do you like clouds?
josh barnett
I like clouds.
I like flannels.
joe rogan
Depression?
unidentified
Suicide?
josh barnett
I'm into depression and heroin altogether.
joe rogan
Coffee?
josh barnett
Yep.
unidentified
Stinky pussy.
josh barnett
Lost.
unidentified
Hey!
josh barnett
Hey!
joe rogan
Where'd you come up with that?
josh barnett
Yeah, what the hell?
Why do you have some Seattle stinky pussy stories or what?
joe rogan
Yeah, what are you talking about?
unidentified
They just never clean it.
They're just all in bed, sleeping, crying and shit.
joe rogan
That's not true at all.
josh barnett
No way.
joe rogan
First of all, you're not really supposed to clean your pussy.
josh barnett
Yeah, it's okay.
joe rogan
It's a self-cleaning organ.
josh barnett
They have a lot of probiotic stuff up there, like yogurts and kimchi that they made from the farmer's market.
They're good.
joe rogan
It's actually important for women to not do that.
Like douching and stuff, that's like super bad for you.
unidentified
Super bad.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
Isn't that amazing?
We used to promote that all the time.
Girls thought they had to do it.
unidentified
My mom did it all the time.
joe rogan
How do you know this?
unidentified
Because when I was a kid, when I was a kid, I used one of the- Ma!
josh barnett
What's that vacuum noise?
Who opened up the Hoover Dam?
joe rogan
The gates of hell.
brian redban
When I was a kid, I saw one of those empty bottles in the trash can, and I used it to drink Kool-Aid out of, because I thought it was a cool bottle, because it had that cool straw thing.
josh barnett
I believe every minute of this.
brian redban
And my mom caught me, and she never told me what it was until years later.
josh barnett
And then when he found out, he thought it was even cooler.
joe rogan
Yeah, you were walking around the house, sucking on your mom's douche bag.
unidentified
I swear to God.
And she was like, go ahead, Brian, play outside.
joe rogan
See those power lines?
Go climb them.
josh barnett
Here, have this lead paint sandwich right now.
It's a true story.
All that douching has now reversed.
It's come full frontal where people wear it now with all the dragons and fucking fleur-de-lis and velour on their shirts.
joe rogan
How's that douching?
Oh, they're outside douching.
josh barnett
I get it.
External douche.
External douche.
You know, I wanted to go somewhere where, one, I knew there would be no issues in trying to find people to work out with.
And SoCal is still, in my opinion, the mecca of MMA. And jiu-jitsu.
joe rogan
You need big guys, right?
For a guy like you, it's important to have heavy guys to train.
josh barnett
Heavy guys, quality guys, you need a whole lot of different kinds of guys.
joe rogan
Yeah, you need both, right?
josh barnett
Guys that shave, guys that don't shave.
Really?
Sure.
Why not?
joe rogan
But for you, it really is important to have heavy good guys, right?
For a guy like you, say if you were working out with a bunch of really good middleweights, it's not good enough, right?
josh barnett
Depends on what I'm trying to work on.
If I'm just going against a guy, just working on passing somebody's guard or something like that, sure, fine.
Or just catching a leg, fine.
But if I need to have someone to push me, I need someone to be able to match me with strength and weight, all that kind of stuff.
And then Eric was down here.
Also, everything...
Anything else that you could jump off from fighting as an entertainment commodity into anything else.
Acting.
joe rogan
That's why you keep bringing that up.
Is that what you're trying to do now?
You're a smart dude.
You think about your athletic career.
You know you can't do this forever.
josh barnett
Everybody's athletic window is a very small portion of their life.
It's important, but you need to not just be the best athlete.
You need to grow as a person, and you need to be able to.
It's not about setting up plan B. It's about evolving as a person.
It's about opening new doors and doing new things and growing and having new opportunities.
And so I've been acting.
I've done commentary.
I'm doing commentary on New Japan Pro Wrestling on Axis right now.
And that's not new to me.
I've never done pro wrestling commentary.
But I've done tons of fight commentary.
I did commentary for Pride.
I did commentary for some other events from Pancras.
And...
It was like, cool, I can do this, and that's no problem, even though...
And people keep hitting me up.
Why don't you do UFC events?
Why don't you do this?
Well, no one...
They're not hiring me.
So that's why I'm not doing commentary there.
And then I got the Steven Seagal movie coming out, Absolution.
It should be out relatively soon.
joe rogan
Do you have to spar with Steven Seagal in this movie?
josh barnett
I did not have to spar with Steven Seagal.
My balls are perfectly intact.
I didn't have any fight scenes with him.
joe rogan
Did you have scenes with him?
Acting scenes?
josh barnett
Not really.
He was in a scene where I'm in the background.
I just end up getting into a fight with his sidekick guy anyways.
So I give that dude his hero moment.
Byron Mann, who did a great job.
And I've got another movie that should be coming out sometime this year called Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins.
It's an indie film.
It's fucking completely insane.
joe rogan
So how do you balance that between training?
Are you leaning more towards that area now?
You haven't fought since the Travis Brown fight, right?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
How long ago was that?
josh barnett
Last year, 2014, December.
joe rogan
Do you have anything on your plate right now?
josh barnett
I'm hoping, at some point, to get a word on whether or not I'm fighting Roy Nelson.
Someone brought up the idea of Roy and me doing Matamoros.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's what I had for you, too.
josh barnett
And I was like, oh, okay, really?
And then Roy said, nah, that sounds cool, but we fight first.
It pays better.
And I went, well, if you're willing, I'm willing.
And he said, good, let's make it happen.
I said, well, I guess that's that.
If we say we're willing to fight and we're ready to step up and go, then you know it's legit.
joe rogan
And have there been any conversations with Joe Silva or the UFC? I imagine my manager's dealing with all of that.
Oh, so you haven't?
josh barnett
No.
joe rogan
So your manager was informed of all this stuff and, hey, go deal with that.
josh barnett
Yeah, pretty much.
unidentified
I gotta act.
josh barnett
Pretty much.
I gotta hit acting class.
joe rogan
Now, you wouldn't be opposed to doing a Metamorris with him, though.
josh barnett
No, I'm not opposed to doing a Metamorris with anybody.
I don't think I'll ever get a chance to finish the rubber match with Noguera.
But I could at least probably get him on the mat in Metamorris.
joe rogan
Do you think so?
josh barnett
I think so.
I mean, I don't see why he wouldn't want to do it and why people wouldn't want to see that.
But I've already got Abreu Cyborg coming up May 9th for Metamorris 6. That's very interesting.
joe rogan
That's very interesting, especially after you just submitted Dean Lister.
That's very huge, dude.
Submitting Dean Lister is a gigantic accomplishment.
josh barnett
Hadn't been done in 16 years.
joe rogan
That's amazing.
josh barnett
Not since the Clinton administration had anybody tapped Dean Lister.
joe rogan
And the way you got him with that choke, I mean, that is some old-school shit.
josh barnett
That's high school wrestling, practically.
joe rogan
Yeah, and with wrestling shoes on and old school spandex, sexy spandex.
josh barnett
Oh, man.
joe rogan
Pull out the photo of Josh Barnett.
Now, did you wear this, Josh Barnett?
josh barnett
Ladies and gentlemen, more eyes.
Please.
Lest you'd like your panties to catch fire.
joe rogan
Prepare your vaginas for a fury of hormones.
Did you wear this like an homage to pro wrestling?
josh barnett
Absolutely.
It's an homage to my trainers, Billy Robinson, Carl Gotch, and also to Eric, because that's from his roots, and Matt Hume, but from my training, my roots, my heritage, my catch wrestling training, and to Antonio Inoki, who is one of my trainers for professional wrestling.
So...
I had the towel around my neck, the robe, even the way I took the robe off.
All that, the black boots, it's all black.
It's all in homage and respect to my catch wrestling roots and my trainers.
joe rogan
Well, I think it's important to highlight those roots, too, for just the lineage of MMA. Because a lot of folks that are on the outside are not aware that there were several different branches of submission fighting.
You know, not just Judo, not just Jiu-Jitsu, not just Samba.
But Catch Wrestling had some really legit submissions that are still used today and a lot of really great grapplers, but Catch Wrestling eventually sort of morphed into professional wrestling and a lot of folks are not aware of the original aspect of Catch Wrestling, which we're talking about these three-hour matches and guys that would go to, they would do carnival matches where they would roll into town and wrestle anybody in the house.
josh barnett
Do you know who owned a big ol' carnival in Brazil?
joe rogan
Who?
josh barnett
The head of the Gracie family at the time.
Gustavo.
joe rogan
Really?
josh barnett
He owned a carnival, and he had professional wrestling, catch wrestling matches at his carnival.
Who should happen to come and perform in one of these catch wrestling matches but the Count Koma, Mitsuo Maeda.
He stayed in Brazil.
Carlos Gracie started training under him in judo and catch.
That is where now all of a sudden you have Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
joe rogan
So it's sort of branched off from a bunch of different sources, not just from judo, but from catch wrestling as well.
josh barnett
Right, because Maeda had been traveling the world, competing in catch matches and all that.
Kimura competed in catch matches as well.
So even the Americana arm lock...
Came from American wrestlers.
Catch.
The lute de libre background comes from Catch.
Tattoo, Euclides Hatem, he was a Catch wrestler.
He was trained to do show matches, but at the same time, he trained, even back then, even if you did works, you trained as a shooter.
You trained to do that shit for real.
joe rogan
Look at this beautiful outfit.
Look at this motherfucker.
Uh, comes out with a robe on.
This is so old school of you.
Look at this.
To do this in Metamorris, you almost had to feel like you're kind of wearing, like, a costume.
josh barnett
Yeah, I knew that people would be unfamiliar.
They wouldn't understand it.
joe rogan
Well, a lot of people did understand it, though.
A lot of people on the underground, especially, were like, look at this shit.
josh barnett
And those socks are for reference to all my time spent in Japan and, you know, the people I've trained over there.
But they...
You know, they laughed when I said I was going to wear shoes.
They're like, oh my god, you're going to wear shoes against Dean Lister?
Oh, I don't think you should do that.
joe rogan
Dean Lister is a leg lock specialist.
Shoes provide a lot of extra traction for holding on the leg locks.
josh barnett
All this stuff about, oh, I can't believe you're going to wear shoes.
Are you still going to do it up until the day of the event?
You're really going to wear shoes?
Yes.
I go out there, I tap him.
Oh, those shoes, that gave him such an advantage.
Oh, fuck, are you kidding me?
Now the shoes are not my detriment, they're my disadvantage.
Oh, and then it was, you weighed so much more than Dean.
Dean was like 240. I don't know, I was like 255, so I had 15 pounds on him.
I gave Dean a hug the day of the weigh-ins.
Well, we didn't actually weigh in, but I gave him a hug, and my fingers, I had to catch fingers and roll my grip into it to actually get all the way around him.
joe rogan
He's a big fucker.
josh barnett
He was so fucking thick.
joe rogan
He's a big fucker.
josh barnett
Thick and veiny.
Purple.
joe rogan
Whoa, easy.
Slow down.
unidentified
I got nervous.
josh barnett
You want to help me on my ground game?
Yeah, sure, sure.
joe rogan
Don't worry about it.
josh barnett
He was a big, massive guy.
joe rogan
When he fought Babalu, I was really shocked that he was, like, allowing almost Babalu to lock up Darces on him.
Like, Babalu's a really good submission guy.
josh barnett
Yeah, he is.
joe rogan
He's excellent.
josh barnett
But Dean's just so wily at getting out of all that stuff.
joe rogan
Yeah, I was shocked.
I was shocked that he was allowing that.
But it also looked like he didn't have the gas to go a full 20. Hmm.
Like, you know, Babalu at the end of the match was in way better shape than Dean was.
josh barnett
I agree.
joe rogan
He's carrying around all that muscle, all that mass that he carries.
You're a bigger guy.
Like, he might be 240, but a lot of that is Mexican supplements.
There's a big difference between your 240 and his 240. You know what I'm saying?
unidentified
I don't know.
josh barnett
I mean, I think avocado hot sauce, you know, that stuff has done wonders for endurance.
joe rogan
I am speaking of different supplements, sir.
josh barnett
Love the green sauce.
joe rogan
He's so skilled and talented, too.
I mean, it's not just all the extra muscles.
josh barnett
He was strong as shit when I wrestled him, and apparently his guys and him, Dean said he wrestled a lot of big dudes.
He wrestled against guys for pressure from top, and it's just that I was able to apply it that much better.
joe rogan
Did you think that you were going to be able to catch him with that choke?
Was that something specifically that you had saw before?
Did you game plan?
josh barnett
Well, yeah.
Well, Rico Rodriguez was the last guy to tap him.
Before that.
And how would he tap him with?
joe rogan
Same choke.
josh barnett
Exactly.
Oh, shit.
You know who taught Rico the choke, by the way?
joe rogan
Who?
josh barnett
Eric Paulson.
joe rogan
Get the fuck out of here.
josh barnett
Boxing works in Redondo Beach.
Yes.
Goddamn, man.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Goddamn.
You know, I remember first hearing about catch wrestling.
Was it Frank Gotch?
Was he the one that would drop?
No.
Who was the guy that would drop down?
It was a small dude.
What the fuck was his name?
God damn it.
josh barnett
I'm so out of the catch wrestling loop.
Frank Gotch is an American catch wrestler.
joe rogan
Was that who the guy was that used to do hangman's drops?
josh barnett
Oh, that is Farmer Burns.
Martin Farmer Burns.
joe rogan
Farmer Burns.
josh barnett
Who was Frank Gotch's coach.
joe rogan
I knew there was an F in there somewhere.
It's Farmer.
josh barnett
Yeah, he can hang himself and not go out and not break his neck.
joe rogan
Yeah, there's pictures of it.
Look up Farmer Burns' catch wrestling image.
See if you find an image of this guy fucking hanging himself.
josh barnett
It's morbid.
joe rogan
Yeah, look at that.
Look at that!
Look at that fucking picture!
The guy hung himself.
That's how strong his fucking neck was.
He would hang his whole- probably really good for decompression of the spine.
I actually do a thing in my house where I put- No, I wear a wetsuit.
There's a black dildo.
I have this thing that I bought, a spinal decompression setup that hangs from a door.
You put it on a bathroom door.
It's like this bolt.
It screws in place.
It has an arm, and then you ratchet it.
Click, click, and it decompresses your spine.
It's like a nice little stretch.
josh barnett
David Carradine did, too.
joe rogan
I don't think that's the same.
I think what he did was different.
unidentified
How does that not just rip your door off the hinges?
joe rogan
Because you're not really putting your whole weight on it.
You're sitting down, first of all.
You do it in a chair.
Like, say this thing, it's Velcroing to your head.
Here, like, um...
josh barnett
I know what you're talking about.
joe rogan
You know what I'm talking about?
josh barnett
I do know what you're talking about.
And it's, uh...
I think if you can use it properly, uh...
It's a good thing.
Having spinal decompression is important.
Uh...
joe rogan
But what he was doing was not that.
josh barnett
No, no, exactly.
It's insane.
And, you know, catch wrestlers train fucking hard as shit.
joe rogan
This is what it's like, Brian.
No, that's not it, Jamie.
Fuck.
See this?
unidentified
Oh, wow.
joe rogan
See this thing?
unidentified
Yeah, that's craziness.
joe rogan
That's exactly what I use.
josh barnett
His face looks just like that when he does it, too.
joe rogan
Yeah, it stretches your neck a little bit.
josh barnett
You've got a jock strap wrapped around your jaw.
joe rogan
That's not what it looks like.
It's more like a bra.
josh barnett
It's more like a bra.
Oh, God.
I've pissed off so many women when I've said, oh, hey, whatever, blah, blah, blah, don't forget your training bra.
Training, training, like, training being athletic.
Yeah, nah, I didn't mean...
joe rogan
Yeah, you can't say that.
josh barnett
I just get the evil look.
I don't mean...
joe rogan
Like you have new tits.
josh barnett
Yeah, I meant the bra when you train.
joe rogan
What do they call one of those?
Sports bra.
josh barnett
Sports bra.
Not a training bra.
joe rogan
You gotta be real specific.
josh barnett
It is a bra!
That you train in, but it's not a training bra.
joe rogan
It's a very different animal.
josh barnett
No, it will get you all kinds of heat.
joe rogan
But dudes wouldn't get upset if you said, pick up your training underwear.
josh barnett
Well, if you said, go get your training bra, he's like, what?
joe rogan
Yeah, but if you told the guy, go pick up your training cup, What do you think, like, oh, my dick's growing?
unidentified
What are you trying to say?
joe rogan
Getting used to wearing a cup?
josh barnett
You need support in all the right places.
joe rogan
You know, this is a very random question, or it's very specific, I should say.
What do you think about Thai steel cups for grappling competitions?
josh barnett
Oh, yeah, sure.
joe rogan
They're getting outlawed in a lot of grappling competitions because they provide that extra leverage.
They're like a fulcrum point, like a leverage point.
josh barnett
Okay, then everybody's got a free ball.
You know, you just gotta use that third hook, wrap your dingus around there.
joe rogan
See, bring Brian on these podcasts.
Everything goes in the fucking 12-year-olds.
josh barnett
Well, here's the thing.
No, I mean, I'm here.
I'm barely 11 and a half.
So, I usually don't train with a cup.
joe rogan
You don't?
josh barnett
No, because my legs are so big that it puts bruising in the inside of my thighs.
joe rogan
Mm.
josh barnett
I personally, I have a thing I like to call combat cock.
Where everything just pulls in.
joe rogan
Sucks in.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
Do you remember those guys?
josh barnett
It knows better than to get fucking hanging out there.
Hey, how you doing?
What's up?
High five with your foot.
joe rogan
Oh, your dick is educated.
josh barnett
My dick is smart.
Just like the Shaolin monks.
joe rogan
I've known guys that have lost a ball from that.
josh barnett
Yeah, not me.
joe rogan
Yeah, there was Brian Foster, is that who it was?
unidentified
Brian Foster?
joe rogan
He was fighting for the UFC. He is in training and he got kicked in the balls and lost one of those balls.
unidentified
Yeah.
josh barnett
Did you ever find it?
unidentified
I got stupid dick.
joe rogan
You got stupid dick?
Yeah, your dick's retarded.
Yeah, his dick makes terrible decisions.
unidentified
Hey, what's going on?
How you doing?
joe rogan
Yeah, his dick is always like, what are you doing going in there?
josh barnett
Wait, have you seen where his dick has been?
Can you imagine?
His dick's lucky to be alive.
unidentified
Have you?
josh barnett
Have you?
Yes, I have.
joe rogan
I've seen, like, pictures.
unidentified
Oh, you've been in the room.
Come on.
Fuck.
This is not the same room.
josh barnett
You just want to take a whole bottle of paint thinner and be like, you need to just dip in this real quick.
joe rogan
Did you guys see that thing?
There was a fucking guy who is a scientist for Monsanto and was trying to say that...
Pull it off of my...
My Twitter feed.
This is hilarious.
I retweeted it.
This fucking Monsanto scientist was trying to say that this pesticide was totally safe to drink.
The stuff that's in Roundup, and you could drink it and nothing would go wrong.
Neonicotinoids or whatever?
josh barnett
What a fucking idiot.
joe rogan
And so he's talking to this journalist, and the journalist goes, really?
You would drink it?
He goes, sure, I would drink it.
He goes, okay, we're going to get your glass, and you drink it.
Like, watch this.
GMO Advocate says Monsanto herbicide is safe to drink.
unidentified
This is great.
That's it.
joe rogan
Glyphosate.
josh barnett
Glyphosate.
joe rogan
Watch this shit.
unidentified
Monsanto has denied any wrongdoing and that the product is safe.
And that's where Dr. Patrick Moore comes in.
The Monsanto lobbyist sat down with French cable channel Canal+.
Moore said, you could drink an entire quart of this product and it wouldn't hurt you.
josh barnett
A quart?
unidentified
You can drink a whole quart of it and it won't hurt you.
You want to drink some?
We have some here.
I'd be happy to, actually.
Not really, but I know it wouldn't hurt me.
That's when the interviewer asked Moore to put his money where his mouth was and drink the weed killer.
Okay, then it's finished.
Then the interview is finished.
That's a good way to solve things.
joe rogan
He's a complete jerk?
Did you hear that?
josh barnett
Apparently it was more to it.
A complete jerk and French is Cunard.
joe rogan
Is this the one that was on my Twitter feed?
Maybe I watched more than one version of this, but the conversation lasted a little longer than that.
josh barnett
What a fucking dickless asshole.
Lying piece of shit.
joe rogan
Isn't that amazing?
It's like I would drink it.
Okay, you want to drink it?
josh barnett
No.
joe rogan
You're a complete jerk.
Complete jerk.
Cunard.
unidentified
Cunard.
joe rogan
That guy's a doctor.
How fucking stupid can you be when you go to school, you're a doctor, you get a degree, and then you're smart enough where you get hired by Monsanto, you're smart enough where you do interviews and you're expected to be an expert, but you're so fucking stupid, you say something like, oh, you could drink it, I would drink it.
You would drink it?
We have some.
I'll drink it.
josh barnett
Do you think that's stupid, or do you think he's just being a piece of shit and trying to lie for Monsanto?
joe rogan
I think both.
brian redban
Did they go into it and go, like, we broke down the chemicals in this, it would actually be safe?
unidentified
Like, did they expand that at all?
joe rogan
No, because a lot of those things, like, the real issue is prolonged exposure.
Like, I know a dude who has bone cancer, and he got bone cancer because his family lived near a golf course, and the golf course used a lot of pesticides, and it infected the well water.
And all the kids in the neighborhood got cancer, too.
Like, his next-door neighbor got cancer, the dude who lived across the street got cancer.
josh barnett
It was so important to keep that grass nice and lush, right?
joe rogan
I don't think they knew.
I think there's a lot of carcinogens that they knew.
josh barnett
I'll give them that.
Back in the day, they didn't understand how potentially hazardous long-term effects versus short-term could be.
They didn't really know how bad cigarettes were entirely at a point, but then it came a point that they did know.
I mean, cigarettes still blow me away.
Why do you add the shit in, all the poisons and stuff?
It's okay, you're inhaling smoke, which we all know is bad.
You can die from smoke inhalations, carcinogens are in there.
Fine, we got it.
Do you have to add all the other crap that's in it?
joe rogan
They add all the other shit.
josh barnett
Arsenic and all this garbage.
joe rogan
Just to get you more addicted.
josh barnett
Why don't you just give them the fucking...
Leaf.
Be it weed or be it fucking tobacco.
Just let them smoke it and let them know what's going to happen.
But you don't have to help them.
You don't have to fucking add rat poison to it.
brian redban
Try American Spirits compared to a Marlboro Light.
unidentified
There's a huge difference in taste and everything.
brian redban
But yeah, they shouldn't do it.
josh barnett
Okay, so explain to us.
joe rogan
So you say the American Spirits taste like shit and the Marlboros taste better.
unidentified
American Spirits last forever.
I mean, you can have one cigarette, it takes like 15 minutes instead of like two.
brian redban
It's a harsher thing.
You wake up the next day, you're like spitting up goobers and it's really bad for you feeling body-wise.
unidentified
Where at Marlboro, you can smoke a whole pack and be fine.
josh barnett
What about pipe smokers?
I mean, I've known...
I mean, one, that shit usually smells good around here.
joe rogan
Yeah, it does smell good, right?
josh barnett
And two, they don't...
joe rogan
Yeah, well Bertrand Russell, didn't he live to be like fucking 90-something?
He smoked cigarettes every day?
Or smoked a pipe every day?
josh barnett
You'll find people...
Anywhere, willing to, for the right amount of money, to just fucking railroad humanity.
They just will do it.
I mean, what about all these climate change fucking assholes, climate change deniers?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Well, it's someone to find out when they're getting paid.
It's just so shocking.
josh barnett
And you know what's funny is there's actually, you can go online and find all the senators and And all the congressmen that are all climate change deniers.
You can find them all.
They've listed all their names.
joe rogan
Well, it's not just that.
How about the different doctors that are testifying against marijuana?
You find out they're being paid by pharmaceutical companies.
This time and time again, experts have been co-opted by money.
But when you see it so clear that like this fucking guy, you could drink a whole quart of it and you'd be fine.
Okay, you want to drink it?
No, you're a complete jerk.
josh barnett
I wouldn't drink a whole quart of fucking Splenda.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
And they say that's safe, right?
Which, I don't know, but I'm not going to drink a quart of it.
joe rogan
Yeah.
josh barnett
Fuck that.
joe rogan
If you did, you would want to throw up.
josh barnett
I'm sure you would.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean, a quart of...
First of all, it's a powder.
You couldn't really drink a quart of it.
You could pour a quart...
The amount of liquid you would have to have to drink a quart of Splenda...
josh barnett
Or how about just a quart of water with an appropriately dissolved solid of Splenda within it?
unidentified
I'll do it.
joe rogan
It would only help him.
josh barnett
I know.
unidentified
I know.
josh barnett
Because, look, if you've survived all the horrible encounters you've had in your life up to this point, Brian, what's that going to do, right?
I mean, you've stared syphilis right dead in the eyes and told it to go fucking fuck off, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah, it's gonna kill the AIDS inside of his body.
unidentified
Kill it.
josh barnett
Just fucking, I can't deal with this.
This is one level too far.
joe rogan
Yeah, I wonder if there's gonna come a time in our future where these kind of guys, these guys who are obviously bought and paid, just don't exist anymore.
josh barnett
How do you do that, though?
You have to make people accountable, and we don't want to seem to do that.
And then the people you would expect would make them accountable, right?
These checks and balances get put together to, well, this is to police that.
They're all fucked up, right?
I mean, how do you let the banks just rob you blind?
There's that whole LIBOR scandal where they're just fudging, fixing numbers.
And they go to Chase, and they go, well, we're going to...
We're going to fine you $12 billion.
Chase makes $45 billion a year.
It doesn't fucking matter.
You know, what they did in Vietnam was they went and they grabbed all the people, all the bankers and all the officials that fucked everybody over in terms of the banking system, and they stuck them life in prison and killed them.
Now, you have one extreme to the other.
But, nonetheless, I mean, what is worse?
joe rogan
Well, yeah.
I mean, there's been many bankers that have been caught that are doing things like they're laundering money for drug cartels.
I mean, that was one of the big ones that was recently exposed, that these guys were laundering money for Mexican drug cartels.
They just got a big fat fine.
Meanwhile, if it was you, like if Brian was busted laundering money for drugs, you'd be in jail for the rest of your fucking life, 100%.
josh barnett
They'd take all of his fucking dryers and all his whirlpools.
They'd get it, because you know he would actually...
unidentified
Laundering.
josh barnett
No, no, he would really launder it.
Come on.
You know if Brian's like, I can do that.
joe rogan
He'd have an iron, ironing board.
josh barnett
I'll turn it to super.
I can get more money out of super.
joe rogan
Are you trying to say that Brian is a child?
unidentified
What are you talking about?
joe rogan
I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to say, man.
josh barnett
I just like fucking with him because he's here.
And he never...
Every time I've been on your podcast, Brian's off in the corner doing I don't even know...
I don't want to know what...
joe rogan
That's why he's right next to you so he can't hide anymore.
josh barnett
And last time I saw him, it was at our buddy Ryan's birthday.
Or was it at the Laugh Factory or Comedy Store?
unidentified
Comedy Store.
It was at the Comedy Store, but yeah.
josh barnett
So...
I'm always like, why don't you ever fucking...
You know me.
Why don't you hang out?
Yeah, why don't you come and hang out?
Say something.
joe rogan
Because he's nervous around you.
Because you're a man.
josh barnett
I am a man.
I need you to help me with the kind of pheromones that make other men quiver.
brian redban
I need you to help me with my ground game.
unidentified
And my ground game is hopscotch.
josh barnett
Oh, easily.
We'll go from that to fucking rubber band jump rope.
And we'll do four square after that.
unidentified
That's right.
josh barnett
I got all the kids' games down.
joe rogan
Do you?
josh barnett
Oh yeah.
How am I supposed to meet anybody in this terrible world?
I mean, come on, online dating?
joe rogan
You don't online game?
josh barnett
I go out to the four square courts.
joe rogan
Online gaming seems like a better way.
josh barnett
That's when you find the athletes.
joe rogan
This fucking thing is done.
unidentified
This podcast is over.
josh barnett
Do you want to do five minutes?
I've just listened to a lot of Jethro Tull Aqualung.
joe rogan
You want to do five minutes?
unidentified
Do you ever want to do stand-up comedy?
josh barnett
I do, and here's why.
It terrifies me, Joe and Brian.
It terrifies me.
What?
You're so...
Raw and exposed up there.
When I go and I fight, I can fight for myself.
I can do it all.
My success is measured upon my end.
Did I get my hand raised or did I not get my hand raised?
When you go out on that stage, people are okay.
Make me laugh, fucker.
You're supposed to be funny, aren't you?
So, alright.
Here I am.
Or, they're like this.
I don't give a shit.
I'm talking to Brian or having a drink, whatever.
Some fucking noise off to my left.
I gotta be interesting.
I gotta do something that's going to draw their attention.
And once I've drawn it, I need to keep it.
Okay, you got me.
What?
What?
Why should I pay attention?
And so there's this necessity to be able to get a response for them, which I understand from professional wrestling because I've been out in the ring and I listen to the crowd and I see what works and what doesn't work.
And so I have an understanding, I feel, and from being around yourself and other, you know, I've...
Not like I talk about it a lot, but I've hung out with quite a few comedians and been there backstage for their shows and fucking around warming up and doing all this stuff.
But I look at it and I go, this is not just cracking jokes and making people laugh.
And it is okay to bomb because you're going to.
You're always going to fail.
But it's just such a raw...
My personal experience to a degree, to me, is just frightening.
Utterly frightening.
joe rogan
Yeah, you should definitely do it then.
unidentified
Do it tonight.
joe rogan
It's not that hard.
No, don't listen to him.
If you're going to do it, you should plan it out.
josh barnett
I agree.
joe rogan
You should definitely think about it and write some stuff down.
josh barnett
down I listen to the things that you've said before about being a comedian from documentary stuff and things that I've seen of you and I have a thing in here in my notebook all on my phone nothing but bits so you've thought about oh yeah no no I think about it I don't you do it go Go to an open mic night.
joe rogan
Don't do it at a regular show.
He's trying to get you to do one of his shows.
josh barnett
Don't do it.
Don't do it.
joe rogan
No, you should go to a regular open mic night, like whether at the Comedy Store or wherever.
You know, just do five minutes or whatever.
What do they give you, three minutes at the store?
unidentified
Three minutes, or you can do one minute on Kill Tony and we can help you out.
joe rogan
Don't do it.
josh barnett
I don't know about that.
Don't do it.
joe rogan
They'll put it on the internet.
josh barnett
And sometimes, I'll be honest, Joe, the shit that I want to say, probably not good for the rest of what I'm trying to accomplish.
joe rogan
Nah.
unidentified
I disagree.
joe rogan
I don't know.
In what way?
How would it hurt you?
josh barnett
I just...
Really dark, weird, fucked up shit comes out of my mouth.
joe rogan
Like, give me an example.
No?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Okay.
unidentified
No, but you can ask...
josh barnett
So I did this thing before MMA Roasted was anything, right?
They wanted to shoot a sizzle, send it off to Spike.
They wanted to make a show.
An actual show where you do a panel and all this stuff.
So Adam and...
Oh my god, why am I forgetting everybody's name right now?
God damn it.
T-Rex.
So T-Rex hits me up and goes, come on out.
Come out and do this thing.
All right.
What is it?
Okay.
I'll come sit around and you guys are going to probably try and talk shit to me and talk about my past and fuck with me and say steroids and whatever, but I don't give a fuck.
So I come out.
And they have this green screen thing set up in this deal, and Adam does some monologue spots, and then he gets to the panel, we talk about whatever's going on in MMA, and then we can fucking step off in any direction we want and have fun.
And then he'll do a one-on-one.
Where he and whoever the guest is of the week will sit there and Adam's just basically gonna fuck with you the whole time.
So I come in, I sit down on this panel thing and they're filming all of this.
So it's T-Rex is to my left, me, this female comedian who I don't really know, and Adam.
And then we just sit there and we start talking and I just start saying shit.
One, the female comedian immediately gets really upset.
joe rogan
What were you saying?
josh barnett
T-Rex can't stop laughing, neither can Adam.
And then I keep picking on fucking T-Rex the whole time about his clothing line at every point available.
Then we go and we do the sit-down with me and Adam, and then I take it from him, and then I just start making him laugh and saying really weird shit and completely throwing him for a loop.
And I just said to him at the end of the day, I go, that was a lot of fun.
This has never seen the light of day, right?
Yeah.
No, no, no.
It's just good.
joe rogan
Well, what were you saying?
josh barnett
Nah.
joe rogan
You didn't want to talk about it.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
But it was funny.
josh barnett
Well, they thought it was funny at the time.
I thought it was funny.
joe rogan
But I've said a lot of fucked up things.
josh barnett
You can say those things because there's an accepted...
You're Joe Rogan, the comedian.
You're Joe Rogan talks about DMT talks about marijuana and aliens and all kinds of stuff and we accept that and you're you're you're an established person within the the fan base that you have and you're a known commodity for those that are only casual Joe Rogan knowers from news radio.
No, no, I'm sorry.
The fucking the factor that but even before that.
Fear Factor.
All these other things where people will see, hey, Joe Rogan, he's a comedian, maybe we've seen some of his stand-up, maybe not, but we know him as a personality on television.
joe rogan
So you know him fucking around, whereas with you they might just think you're a psychopath.
josh barnett
No, and I'm an athlete, and I'm supposed to be this and I'm supposed to be that.
And so if I make off-color jokes that are...
It's like, oh, that's too far.
joe rogan
But what happens when you retire from fighting?
How many more years?
How old are you now?
36?
37. 37. How many more years do you think you'll be competing?
josh barnett
Ah, until I'm done.
Until you're done.
Until I'm done.
Because, like I said before about that athletic window, so...
Joe Rogan has, you know, this whole part of his whole career is stand-up.
Very stand-up oriented and specific.
And then, boom, he moves into movies.
And then maybe he goes from there into politics.
I mean, the thing is that you can enter any kind of line you want, but those things are not incumbent on your physicality.
What they are, it's your mind, it's your ability to use.
Fighting, physicality, anything athletic-wise, you have so long to do it.
And that's it.
When that opportunity is passed, you cannot do it anymore.
Now maybe, you know, you could say, okay, well, Joe went for the U.S. national team for Taekwondo to go to win that and then go win the world team trials and go to the Olympics.
Going to the Olympics is a short time.
Opportunity in life.
Once you get past that point to where you can be competitive at that, that doesn't mean you can't do Taekwondo anymore, it wouldn't mean that you couldn't do other tournaments, but trying to be the Olympic champion in Taekwondo, it's like, well, that one's gone.
That opportunity has passed me.
For me, when that opportunity for me to be a successful high-level fighter is gone, it's gone.
It's just, that's it.
It's over with.
joe rogan
So you just have to personally assess when you feel like your body's not performing the way you expect it to.
josh barnett
Exactly.
joe rogan
But right now you're cool with it.
josh barnett
Right now I'm cool.
Right now I know I can do a lot better than my last fight for sure.
joe rogan
Why did you decide to take so much time off between your last fight and now?
josh barnett
I wasn't into my last fight, to be honest.
I didn't care.
I just wasn't up for it.
I trained and I got to a point where I'm just like, I'm over this.
joe rogan
You're over it.
Burned out?
josh barnett
Who's this guy?
joe rogan
Who's Travis Brown, really?
josh barnett
Yeah, but it's just like, okay, if I beat him, what does that do?
joe rogan
Well, he's a top five fighter.
josh barnett
So what?
Then I get to fight another guy and fight another guy and fight another guy until it's like, well, where am I going with this?
I'm in the grind.
I'm not going to climb this fucking ladder to prove that I deserve to fight for a title.
I can fight for a title against anyone in any league, anywhere, anytime.
I'm a championship, world champion level guy.
I don't need to prove that I belong here.
I've fought Travis Brown's all my career.
They just had a different name at a different point in life.
They had the same type of skill set.
They're basically the same guy.
There'll be another Travis Brown when Travis Brown is done being Travis Brown.
joe rogan
So, what are you trying to say?
That the only thing that would get you up is to fight for a title?
josh barnett
Not necessarily, but just, I gotta fight when it makes sense to me.
I gotta fight when I'm motivated to do so.
I'm not looking to try and say, alright, throw me in there with all these other fucking...
Goofballs and let us just beat each other's heads in until we try to prove that we belong here.
joe rogan
Does that just signify the final chapter of your athletic career then?
Because a guy like Travis Brown, if you were coming up, you would relish the opportunity to fight a top five guy.
josh barnett
Sure.
joe rogan
So is it because you're just very established, you've been around a long time?
josh barnett
I've learned that I don't need to prove myself in that way.
I've been a top ten fighter for over a decade.
I've been top five for over a decade most of the time.
So whether or not someone ranks me wherever they rank me, it doesn't really matter.
I can step in there and do the job.
This next fight might be against Roy, which is fine.
But if the next fight is, we want you to fight Kane, or Vudum, or whoever, like, let's go.
I'm fucking ready to do it.
joe rogan
But did you feel that when you fought Frank Mir?
josh barnett
Yes.
When I fought Frank Mir, I was fucking pumped.
Because, for one, I've been told...
Oh, I'd hear all these people, we think it's going to be such a tough fight, and Frank Mir, he's the best submission guy.
Or back when I was in the UFC, and Frank was just coming up, they're like, oh, this guy's the future, he's the best, he's going to be the greatest.
And always hearing all this stuff about how Frank Mir is my equal or better.
And I'm just like, this shit is over with.
This is not, I'm going to show you the difference between us.
Between him and me.
joe rogan
So you were excited about him.
That was a very important fight for you.
josh barnett
Yes.
joe rogan
Travis Brown wasn't.
josh barnett
Didn't care.
joe rogan
Wow, that's kind of crazy.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
But I guess that's a personal thing, right?
Your own personal motivation.
Like, the only person who could decide what fights you're up for and what fights you're not are you.
josh barnett
That's true.
joe rogan
Would you be up for a rematch?
Like, if they offered you a rematch with Travis?
josh barnett
But here's the difference.
If I fight Travis now, I'm going to want to fucking take his head off.
Because he disrespected me in the ring after the match.
He did all this fucking shit.
What did he do?
He fucking cut his throat.
He did all this stuff.
joe rogan
But don't you do that too?
You do that all the time after you win.
josh barnett
That's my thing.
He did it to mock me for winning.
And I'm just like, dude, I've been nice to you and respectful to you from day one.
And then you go ahead and you go and you get a win on me?
Great.
This is your moment to say what you want to say and what you want to do is to try and fucking put me down after you win.
joe rogan
So you feel like by him doing the thumb across the neck thing...
josh barnett
Yeah, and apparently he was very dismissive of me in interviews and all that shit.
And I'm like, wow, that's cool.
joe rogan
Pre or post fight?
josh barnett
Post.
All post.
Everything is post.
Everything was post.
And I didn't find out about this shit until way after the fact.
I actually saw him backstage and come up and shook his hand and said, all right, you know, hey, this was your night.
Me, I don't have any reason to be a fucking prick, especially after I win.
But, you know what?
A guy wins.
He feels like he's on top of the world.
You know what?
That's when you're going to say some shit like that.
That's when you're going to act out.
And then, fuck, I'm just like, alright, cool.
If that's the way it's going to be, awesome.
If we rematch, it's not going to be the same dude you fought that night.
You have no idea.
You really don't get it.
You will get your ass handed to you.
Because now you gave me a reason to want to kick your ass.
joe rogan
And what would be the difference between the way you would perform in this fight and the way you performed in the first fight?
josh barnett
Look, for one, I would make him pay for all the big mistakes he makes all the time.
joe rogan
Like what big mistakes?
josh barnett
He's constantly whiffing, throwing the biggest shots.
That kid has no stamina because he will always go for the kill in everything he does.
Now, that makes him very dangerous to a heavyweight especially because he's athletic and he's got some power.
But that's why Verdom took him out.
Because he's missing with all this big shit and he's getting picked apart and picked apart and picked apart and hung on and hung on and grabbed and separated and picked apart and picked apart.
I mean, why is Verdun beating you on the feet?
joe rogan
Well, he broke his hand early in the first round, too.
That's one of the reasons why.
josh barnett
Well, it's also because he's trying to swing for the fences constantly.
That's why he's gassed in every one of his big fights.
Any fight that's got any kind of distance to it, he's gassed.
Why?
Because that's the type of fighter he is.
Does that make him a bad fighter?
Not necessarily.
I would say it doesn't.
It's just, that's who he is.
joe rogan
He's a fucking wild man.
josh barnett
But that's also why I think he will never be a UFC champion.
Because there's a finesse that he doesn't possess.
joe rogan
But don't you think that's something you can learn?
I mean, he's a guy who's still sort of evolving as a fighter.
josh barnett
Has he?
joe rogan
Well, he came into MMA fairly late.
He was a basketball player.
josh barnett
Well, I mean, time will tell.
It's up to him, really.
joe rogan
You've got a personal thing with him.
josh barnett
Well, but here, I'm being objective.
And that is, it's up to him.
If he wants to make those decisions, if he wants to change his game, if he wants to add different aspects to it, I mean, all fighters are the true architects of their own design.
The coaches can help.
Edmund can help him in one way and show him how to strike under these concepts or maybe show the same things that he's been taught at Jackson's or someplace else, but said in a different way so that it becomes more clear to him.
And I think Edmund is a good striking coach.
I've seen him work with Ronda.
I've seen him work with some of the girls before.
And I like what he has to teach.
I also don't believe that at Greggs that there was any lack of striking, quality striking training.
I'm not going to say that Edmonds' striking training is going to be better than whatever was Jackson's.
I'm going to say it's different.
I'm sure, and I know it's good, but I'm pretty sure that Jackson's was good too.
And to make that change, I mean, only he knows specifically why he decided to change camps.
But...
In my opinion, it's not about being here or there.
It's about what he does to affect his game.
It's what changes he decides to make in his own head, the way he approaches his training, and how he tries to take what he's learning and apply it to what he does already.
And apply it in different ways.
That's what it comes down to.
joe rogan
I think Edmund has given him more individualized attention and really focusing on him as an athlete because he only has a small, stable of fighters.
josh barnett
Maybe.
But in the end, coaches lay the foundation.
They point you in the right direction.
But athletes take that information and they make the most of it.
How much time in a day can you spend with that coach?
Only so much.
It's the time that you're not spending with them that really makes a big difference.
How do you take what they gave you?
How are you working on that when you're not in the gym?
How are you thinking about it?
How are you breaking down your strengths and your weaknesses and dealing with those?
How are you then coming back to the gym?
With that knowledge.
And then training the next day.
How are you setting your mind for training that day?
You know, you could have the worst day in the world, but if your jab got better, so what?
unidentified
Right.
josh barnett
It's a success.
joe rogan
Does it bug you, that fight, like, if you, you know, you look back and the fact that you didn't get up for it and you had that result?
josh barnett
Yes, of course it bugs me.
Just as Travis is bugged from losing his fight versus Verdum.
Because he had an opportunity to fight for the title after that, I'm sure, is the way he saw it.
And he lost his opportunity.
He may feel it was because of his hand or when he got kicked in the rib or whatever.
It doesn't really matter what it was.
We lost.
We lost in these moments.
And as a fighter, you always should...
That's something...
That I know when I don't care if I lost or not, that's when I should stop fighting.
I cared.
I cared that I lost.
I cared a lot more when I got disrespected over it, which I felt was completely unnecessary.
That just sucked.
That was like, wow, wow, why?
Why did you have to do that?
joe rogan
So if you have a hard time getting up for Travis, why do you not have a hard time getting up for Roy Nelson?
josh barnett
Because...
For one, I've had some time to just do other stuff and get that fire wanting to get back in the ring.
Two, I'm looking at fighting Roy as fighting Roy.
I'm not looking at fighting Roy as I'm fighting Roy so that I can prove that I can fight Joe Smith next so that I can fight whoever and then get a title shot.
I'm not doing that.
I'm fighting Roy because I'm fighting Roy.
Me and Roy are going to fight.
joe rogan
So you have a different mindset than you had before the Travis fight.
josh barnett
Absolutely.
And...
With Roy, he's been around a very long time himself, and so I've heard things here and there.
You know, Roy one time was on a big rant online on Twitter about people being ranked over him, and why is that?
So he's arguing with all these MMA journalists.
And then he starts adding my name into it, like literally putting my handle, and I'm just like, Why do you give a fuck about and my only response was you know fine He wants to talk about how he thinks he's better than me or whatever who cares My only response was who gives a shit what other people think about you?
Why are you even including me in this?
joe rogan
It doesn't matter with anything He's just trying to drum up fight and whatever it doesn't matter looks at the list of potential opponents feels he matches up well with you throw your name into the mix use your your at Josh L Barnett and you know at the time I don't even think I was in the UFC so it's not like we could have fought anyways Well, he probably knew you were coming over from Strikeforce, right?
josh barnett
Who knows?
joe rogan
I mean, everybody thought you were coming over if you could work out the deal.
I mean, you were always a top-level guy.
josh barnett
Right.
joe rogan
Someone that a lot of different fighters wanted to have as a potential high-marquee name.
josh barnett
It wasn't that long ago that anybody ever started actually calling me out.
Like, most of my career, no one's ever said, I want to fight that guy.
joe rogan
So what do you attribute it to?
josh barnett
Oh, I'm older.
I had a bad loss my last match.
You know, maybe they think that they see it's more worthwhile to do that.
But even guys that had gotten wins over me went through fucking hell to do it.
So they're just like, yeah, doesn't make sense.
I don't blame him.
I mean, if I see a guy, if I have a fighter and I can avoid having a fight that's winnable but it's going to be fucking really tough, I would try not to make that fight happen.
I would try to get him a fight where it may be...
A more dangerous fight, but much more skews in the way of once you get going, you can put him away, but you gotta watch out because this guy can put you away versus this guy's gonna make you fight and scratch and claw for every inch of every second of this fucking match, whether he's winning or he's losing.
He'll just never fucking quit.
joe rogan
And that's you.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
And that's you.
josh barnett
I break my hand in 23 seconds fighting Cormier, and I still hit him with it.
You know what I mean?
joe rogan
And this is the type of fight that you think would be that kind of dogfight, you and Roy.
josh barnett
Yeah.
Well, he's hard to put away.
joe rogan
He is hard to put away.
josh barnett
I'm a finisher.
joe rogan
Jesus Christ, his fight with Alistair over him was crazy to watch.
josh barnett
I didn't see it, but I heard this.
joe rogan
He'd eat those kicks to the body.
Saw walk!
Saw walk!
You know, Alistair was just laying into him.
He head kicked him.
He kicked the shit out of his legs, and Roy just keeps coming forward.
Alistair says it was like the Incredible Hulk.
josh barnett
He's got angrier and angrier.
unidentified
He's got angrier and angrier.
joe rogan
You see his eyes get crazy.
He's a wild motherfucker, Roy.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
Hard to believe that he didn't even start striking training until 2009. That's when he started striking training.
josh barnett
That's not true.
joe rogan
That's what he said.
josh barnett
Well, he had a kung fu background, too.
joe rogan
Did he really?
josh barnett
Yes.
joe rogan
I mean, but what is that?
josh barnett
Look, he knew about throwing a punch.
joe rogan
Like this?
josh barnett
I saw him overhand right a guy and knock him out in Costa Rica.
joe rogan
Really?
josh barnett
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Costa Rica?
josh barnett
Yep.
joe rogan
You guys drunk?
What happened?
josh barnett
Well, we were hired to go down there to provide protection for somebody.
No, I'm just kidding.
joe rogan
Well, what was it?
Bodog.
Oh, Bodog.
josh barnett
It was Bodog, and he was fighting, oh, 2007, 8?
joe rogan
Bodog was a fucking interesting little scenario, wasn't it?
josh barnett
I actually really liked watching it because their production, in terms of...
Setting up each individual fight.
By the way, which is funny because my buddy Clint Dahl did this thing called Venom way back in the day.
And MMA was not legal in California.
So what they did is they rented out a soundstage.
joe rogan
I was there.
josh barnett
You were at Venom?
joe rogan
I was at Venom.
josh barnett
So you remember Venom?
joe rogan
Yeah.
Explain the whole thing.
josh barnett
So it's a soundstage.
Interesting.
And so he hires John Sally and Stephen Quadros to be the announcers.
He's got all these fights set up that they're all going to film in one or two days.
And then they're going to prepackage it to go sell it elsewhere at He set up roving cams, hard cams.
He set up all this stuff.
He had all these people just show up as extras to just stand around, which I guess you were there hanging out too.
They ordered pizzas for people to eat at one point.
And they called this thing a production, you know, in terms of...
joe rogan
It's a film.
josh barnett
Yeah, it's a film.
joe rogan
It's a movie.
josh barnett
Yep.
joe rogan
So they had these people fight, pretending that it was like acting.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
Meanwhile, they were fighting.
josh barnett
For real.
joe rogan
Yeah, but they just had it...
Well, it's acting.
They're sparring as actors or something.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
They tried some wacky loophole.
josh barnett
And it worked.
And so...
joe rogan
Didn't they get in trouble, though?
josh barnett
I don't think so.
It's just that it never went anywhere.
To my understanding, Sally was supposed to get it to the Fox people...
And I don't know what happened there.
It never took off.
Either way, one, a lot of people got their start there.
And nobody even knows it.
And two, what they did is the way they filmed all the fighters.
They had all of their bios, these backstories.
They had Mike, what's his face, Mike Seal from New Mexico, who was a bank robber in Mexico.
And he got in trouble for that.
So there's all these stories about these guys.
And so how Bodog got a hold, they used the same format partially because one of the dudes that was producing Bodog had Venom from way back in the day and basically just took the whole concept of how they would produce it and used it for Bodog.
joe rogan
Well, Bodog, they would put on fights on the beach in Costa Rica with all these hot chicks around.
josh barnett
Yep.
Best ring girls just about ever.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
unidentified
It was amazing.
Was that pay-per-view?
I can't remember.
josh barnett
I remember watching.
It was on TV. They were on TV. It was on TV. So they shot it as a TV product.
They would shoot all these fights over four days, and then they would chop it up into TV episodes.
It looked really fucking cool.
joe rogan
Did they just run out of money?
josh barnett
Basically, there was a lot of people involved in Bodog that were basically just robbing the coffers while the king sleeps.
They were just running it dry, thinking it was just going to be a failure.
Just get all you can while you can and just fuck it over, and they did.
joe rogan
They used to do those billboards.
Calvin Iyer presents Bodog.
josh barnett
Bodog fights on a throne.
joe rogan
It'd be him with a beautiful suit on, his face.
Nobody's Buying the fights to look at you?
It didn't make any sense.
It was such a vanity project.
josh barnett
It was definitely retarded in that way.
But Roy was down there.
He fought Mario Rinaldi.
Knocked him out with an overhand right?
joe rogan
Well, he always could punch.
I just don't think he was training it.
Well, according to him.
josh barnett
I don't buy that.
He also used to weigh like...
220, 215, and he beat Frank Mir in a grappling contest.
Remember that?
joe rogan
Yeah, what happened with him?
josh barnett
Mir was all over him like fucking white on rice.
joe rogan
Got tired.
josh barnett
Got tired, and then Roy just outscored him.
joe rogan
But what happened?
What did Roy do that made him gain all that weight and keep it on while he's getting in shape?
That's what I understand.
josh barnett
I don't think it's not what he did.
It's what he never stopped doing, you know?
I don't...
joe rogan
I just don't know how you could be in good enough shape where you can go three hard five minute rounds and not lose that gut.
josh barnett
I don't know.
joe rogan
You gotta fuel that gut.
That gut has gotta be...
He's working on that thing.
josh barnett
Maybe there's a little fusion engine inside that.
It just keeps them going.
joe rogan
Well, there's a lot of padding, I'll tell you that.
Because he ate those fucking Alistair Overeem body kicks.
josh barnett
I don't even think that padding can make that big.
That's just being strong and tough.
joe rogan
Tough as shit.
josh barnett
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, that would be a good fight, man.
I would like to see that fight.
josh barnett
I think so, too.
I think it'll be entertaining.
joe rogan
If it'll actually happen yet.
josh barnett
I think it will, but yeah, we'll have to see once we have paperwork and we have wet ink.
joe rogan
Wet ink.
unidentified
Wet ink.
joe rogan
Wet works.
All right, we gotta get the fuck out of here.
Josh L. Barnett on Twitter.
Anything else you want to tell the fine people about before we get the fuck out about this bitch?
josh barnett
Check me out on Axis for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
joe rogan
Are you still doing your podcast?
josh barnett
No, I am not.
Couldn't do it the way I wanted to do it, so I said, if that's not capable, then I'm just not going to do it.
joe rogan
Let's just do it on your own.
Do it the way you want to do it.
josh barnett
It's a lot of fucking work, dude.
You should know.
joe rogan
Listen, man, this is all you need.
Get a phone.
Start talking into it.
Talk shit.
Upload it online.
Call it the Josh Barnett Podcast.
Take it from there.
josh barnett
Yeah, you know, I did some good things on it, but it wasn't...
There was a lot of stuff that just wasn't allowing it to really be what it could be.
joe rogan
All things in their own time, my friend.
All things in their own time.
Josh L. Barnett, motherfuckers.
Watch him.
Metamorris.
It'll be May 9th.
josh barnett
May 9th.
joe rogan
May 9th.
Really interesting.
Against Cyborg.
How do you say his last name?
josh barnett
Abreu.
joe rogan
I've only seen it written.
I've never actually said it.
Abreu.
josh barnett
I've heard it that way.
joe rogan
Either way, he's an amazing jiu-jitsu fighter.
It'll be a fantastic match.
Josh Barnett, ladies and gentlemen.
Anything going on you got?
unidentified
420 Vancouver just went on sale today.
And Secret Show next week with Tom Segura, Christina Pajiski, and Steve Agee and a bunch of people at the Comedy Store.
joe rogan
And you've got something in San Francisco and Sacramento coming up.
unidentified
San Francisco, Sacramento, next month or May.
All these tickets.
josh barnett
Is it called Sticky Icky or Purple Nurple?
Nah.
joe rogan
It's called Suck It, Bitch.
unidentified
But we're going to be at the punchline, me and Tony.
joe rogan
Oh, and I am at the Ka Theater at Mandalay Bay, or at the MGM, rather.
That is...
Is that May?
When the fuck is that?
Yes, it is.
It's May...
20...
shit.
What date is that?
josh barnett
May 22nd?
joe rogan
May 22nd.
josh barnett
It's my anniversary.
joe rogan
Tom Segura.
May 22nd, MGM, the Ka Theater with Tom Segura and Tony Hinchcliffe.
unidentified
Holla!
joe rogan
All right, my friends.
That's it for this week.
See you soon.
unidentified
Bye-bye.
joe rogan
Big kiss.
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