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March 17, 2026 - The Joe Rogan Experience
02:42:14
JRE MMA Show #176 with Dustin Poirier

Dustin Poirier and Joe Rogan dissect MMA's evolution, critiquing dangerous weight cuts that risk kidney failure while debating the need for more weight classes. They analyze fighter longevity, contrasting explosive styles with endurance fighters like Nate Diaz, and discuss the psychological toll of retirement versus the financial realities of the UFC model. The conversation highlights forgotten legends like Rico Rodriguez and Gagard Musasi, examines the impact of streaming on pay, and reflects on the sport's chaotic early days compared to modern regulations. Ultimately, they argue that while exposure drives revenue, preserving fighter health and legacy requires structural changes beyond simple contract negotiations. [Automatically generated summary]

Participants
Main
d
dustin poirier
52:00
j
joe rogan
01:24:35
Appearances
j
jamie vernon
00:35
|

Speaker Time Text
Weight Cutting and Dehydration Risks 00:05:14
joe rogan
Dustin Poyer, the light heavyweight.
dustin poirier
It's Thick Boy Summer.
joe rogan
You're looking healthy, son.
dustin poirier
Yeah, like 190, man.
joe rogan
You look good, man.
dustin poirier
I feel good, dude.
It feels good to eat and not count carbohydrates and calories.
joe rogan
Yeah, we were talking about that.
Where you like still, like a little part of you is like looks at meals and goes, oh.
dustin poirier
Well, I mean, for the last 20 years, I've been macro and, you know, I knew I had a fight coming up.
Even if I didn't have a fight, I had to be in striking range from 155.
Right.
So I was always looking at the back of every label, being real cautious of what I eat.
It's like ingrained in my daughter now.
When we go to Whole Foods, she'll grab something off the counter and say, Dad, it only has three ingredients.
Like, she knows what's up.
joe rogan
Well, it's good to think that way anyway.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
Especially with the ingredients.
dustin poirier
Yeah, that's the first thing she goes to.
Like, if she wants some chips, it only has five ingredients.
That's like a thing for her when we're shopping.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, that's smart, man.
That's cool.
You're raising them right.
dustin poirier
Trying to, bro.
I'm trying to put the stuff I learned in fighting, you know, all the years to good use.
joe rogan
It is kind of crazy.
I think it's the worst thing about fighting is the weight cutting.
Can you imagine if everybody just, first of all, tell me if you agree, but I think the UFC needs way more weight cutting.
dustin poirier
I do too.
joe rogan
Way more.
dustin poirier
I do too.
Because the gaps are so big.
I mean, just if you look at boxing compared to mixed martial arts, the jumps in weight are so big from each weight class.
But also, all the shows they're putting on, they'd have more titles, more belts, more big fights.
But also, man, with that, there's going to be a lot of people trying to cut a little bit extra, trying to be double champ in every weight class.
I think it does cause more confusion.
joe rogan
Yeah, but that's better than the extreme weight cuts.
The extreme weight cuts are terrible.
You saw that dude a few, like, I guess it was about three events ago, who faceplanted and got removed off the card.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
That is crazy.
You're getting someone to the brink of death 24 hours before they have an MMA fight, which is the most, if not the most dangerous sport, one of the most dangerous sports in the world for sure.
And you're doing something to your body to extremely weaken it 24 hours before you fight.
It's bananas.
dustin poirier
Dude, I did it so many times.
You preach it to the choir.
unidentified
I know.
dustin poirier
There's been so many times I felt like that, like stand up too quick after a weight cut, and I'm like, you know, I might go down.
joe rogan
Oh, dude, I mean, I can only imagine when you see someone like Pereira that's cutting like 25 pounds and more when he was 185.
I mean, that guy was fighting inside the octagon at 225 and weighing in at 185 24 hours before.
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
And even when he's big, he's lean.
You know, it's not like he's fluffy.
joe rogan
Well, they say that when you're muscular, it's easier to cut weight.
dustin poirier
More water.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, which is counterintuitive.
You see a fat guy, you're like, oh, that guy can cut weight.
But you really can't because you can't deplenish your fat.
dustin poirier
Right.
Not in a training camp's time, eight weeks, 10 weeks, you can't lose like 30 pounds of fat, but I said deplenish like it was a real word.
You can dehydrate yourself.
joe rogan
I don't think it is a word.
Deplenish?
jamie vernon
Well, if you can replenish.
joe rogan
Right, but no one says deplenish.
unidentified
Can you plenish?
joe rogan
No, you say deplete.
But I just threw it out there like it was real.
I don't think deplenish is a word.
Is that a word?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It is?
I don't think I've ever used it that weight.
Oh, okay.
dustin poirier
Nice, man.
joe rogan
Nice.
I got lucky.
That was just luck.
But I talked to Hunter about it, Hunter Campbell, and we're trying to figure out a way.
Without, it has to be more weight classes.
I mean, California instituted a bunch of different weight classes.
I think they were doing it every 10 pounds.
dustin poirier
I think California also did like a percentage of your body weight.
Like, I don't know, what was it, 15, 20%?
You couldn't dehydrate more than that.
joe rogan
That guy, Andy Foster, is on the ball.
dustin poirier
And I think that's good, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
20% or whatever, some kind of rule where guys aren't cutting 50 pounds or 45.
joe rogan
That's still crazy.
Yeah, it's still crazy.
dustin poirier
I mean, if you're tough.
Yeah, you're right.
200 pounds, 40 pounds.
joe rogan
I mean, it's a lot of weight.
Well, that's another thing that freaks boxers out when I tell them that there's a weight limit at heavyweight.
dustin poirier
265.
joe rogan
That doesn't make any sense.
I go, I agree.
Why is there a weight limit for heavyweight?
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
Dude, that gap, too, like 205, anything over that, you can be 210 to 265.
That's crazy.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
A 50-pound gap.
joe rogan
Well, heavyweight in boxing, like, look, Mike Tyson, when he was in his prime, was only like 220, 215, 220.
You know, that's where he, when he was dominating, that's where he kind of fell in that weight limit.
dustin poirier
I wouldn't, I think it would be a good idea.
Anything past like 230, 235, super heavyweight.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, well, the difference in boxing, though, is the grappling.
The grappling in MMA, the gap, if a guy gets on top of you, is immense.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
If you got a, like Ngana, when he was in his prime, was weighing over like 300 pounds and then cutting down to 265.
He was a 300-pound natural.
dustin poirier
He's a guy who's like a knockdown power for sure, but grappling, like if you get a big guy who's 265 and knows how to grapple very well, wrestled his whole life, they get inside control or half guard, you're not getting up.
That's the end of the round.
Heavyweight Limits and Fighter Health 00:15:12
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Also, if they did do a super heavy, the fights might be either awesome or it's completely sucked.
joe rogan
Well, I think it should be heavyweight should be unlimited.
And then you'll scam down.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because like Kane Velasquez, no one's holding that dude down in his prime.
Even when he was 240.
When he was 240 and he fought Lesnar, Lesnar was gigantic, but it didn't matter because the cardio that Kane had and the speed and his technique sort of it was ahead of his time.
dustin poirier
He was ahead of his time.
He was like a hybrid, can do everything, great cardio, good athlete before MMA got to where it's at now.
joe rogan
Yeah.
The one fight that I always say that we missed is Kane and Fedor in their primes.
Because they were both in their prime at the same time and they never made that happen.
dustin poirier
When UFC absorbed the Pride roster and stuff, I was crazy.
It's crazy that Fedor never fought in the UFC at all, man.
joe rogan
Well, they tried.
The UFC tried, but Fedor's management were a bunch of very dangerous dudes.
dustin poirier
Yeah, you don't mess around with those guys.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
It was like tense negotiations, and they wanted a percentage of the promotion.
They wanted a lot more than just a big purse.
dustin poirier
Yeah, UFC's not playing that game.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
They were like, look, we'll give you, you know, a very healthy purse.
We'll bring Fedor over here.
But the problem was when they purchased Pride, they thought they were getting everyone's contracts, but the contracts were all bullshit.
dustin poirier
Well, some guys came over on crazy, crazy money contracts.
I think Dan Henderson might have been one.
I was a young fighter one time and I was making, this might have been 2013 or something, 2014, I don't know.
And they came to give me my check.
This is back in the day before they wired.
They used to give us checks on fight night.
And they were going through the checks, and I saw Dan's, and I saw the number, and I couldn't believe it.
This is before people posting online fighter pay and all that.
And I saw the numbers he was making.
I was like, no way, guy's rich.
joe rogan
Does it make you angry?
dustin poirier
Nah, nah.
Because the future, myself looking back or looking forward when guys are going to be fighting for belts and stuff, the money they're going to make in five years, I'm going to be that guy.
Like, damn, you know, I got out too early.
You know how it is.
The next generation always gets more.
Right.
Mike Brown tells me that all the time.
I was fighting for the belt in WEC defending it, making this.
You guys on the prelims are making more than I was making, you know?
joe rogan
Yeah, there's a weird that sort of discussion about fight or pay.
You know, I've always been of the opinion that fighters should be making more money, period.
Because the same way I feel about the way I run my comedy club, the comedians make 80% of the money.
Because I feel like that's who you're paying to see.
You're paying to see them.
We make plenty of money, like with drinks and 20% of the ticket sales.
It's like it's enough.
If we had a comedy club and there's no comedians, no one's coming, right?
No one's going to pay just to sit there and buy drinks.
The whole idea is they're paying to see someone's work.
If you fight, that's what people are paying to see.
They're paying to see fighters.
dustin poirier
Without the fighters, there's no show.
Without the comedians, there's no show.
I understand.
But I think the big thing with the discussion of fighter pay is the percentages.
When you look at other major organizations like NFL, NBA, the percentages are so different.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's not good.
dustin poirier
But dude, at the end of the day, I'm all for fighter pay too.
I've been fighting my whole life.
But you sign the contract, you agree.
This is how business is done.
Push for, try to get more of what you're worth.
You know, you can't sign a contract and complain.
joe rogan
Right.
That's true too, but also it's like the reality of MMA is if you're not in the UFC, people are not paying attention.
That's unsure, but it's reality.
Yeah.
You know, and I think there's some really good fighters that fight in the PFL and really good fighters that fight in one, but they don't, no one knows who they are other than the hardcore dudes.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I got a buddy Johnny Eblin, who was the Bellator champion.
joe rogan
Awesome.
dustin poirier
I've been training with him since he started MMA when he got out of college wrestling and stuff.
Like right now, he can go to the UFC and give the top five guys a run for their money.
There's no doubt in my mind.
He's only getting better.
Just because you fight in the UFC, that's a great organization to fight for, the biggest, the most known worldwide.
But dude, there's great fighters everywhere.
You know, like on the mats at American Top Team, there's a dozen guys you've never heard of that can make a run in the UFC right now.
joe rogan
That's what I heard is a nightmare about training at American Top Team.
dustin poirier
Because it's a revolving door, man.
There's like 100 professional fighters on the mats at all times.
Different camps.
They have dorms.
So guys are from Russia, guys from all over the world are just in.
You never know who's going to be there.
And it's tough rounds.
Every practice is tough.
joe rogan
Well, not only that, but I've heard there's like guys coming in from Russia and they'll throw oblique kicks at your knees and you're like, hey, man, like, what are we doing here?
We're getting ready for fights.
We're not in a fight.
dustin poirier
Right.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Like, some of these guys are trying to make their name off of a name guy.
And so you have to be very selective in who you spar with.
unidentified
For sure.
dustin poirier
And that's any, not just American Top Team, especially guys who are established.
Like, if I go to any gym here in Austin and it's open mat or something, I have a target on my back.
unidentified
Of course.
dustin poirier
You know, that's everywhere.
joe rogan
Of course.
dustin poirier
But those guys, man, like at a big gym like American Top Team with the knowledge and the good coaches, those guys get weeded out.
You know, you won't stay there long if you're doing that stuff.
joe rogan
The problem is if you're one of the guys that has to weed them out, like you find out early on, this dude's, you know, throwing wheel kicks full blast.
dustin poirier
And that happens all the time.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Well, just, you know, makes sense.
I mean, you're from Dagestan or Chechnya or whatever, and you come to America.
It's like, this is your big chance.
dustin poirier
And I do like to train hard to prepare for a fight.
You got to fight.
But, you know, you got to take care of each other.
We're professionals.
We're feeding our family with this.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
And injury can ruin everything.
joe rogan
Well, there's so many fighters that get concussions in training.
And then, you know, they get chinny when they get into the fight.
It happens all the time.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Especially the early days.
There was a lot of guys who got hit.
dustin poirier
Me.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Like the early days, we didn't really have classes that were organized, man.
It was just sparring and choking each other out and with four-ounce gloves sparring.
Like we didn't know.
We didn't know.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy?
dustin poirier
Like 2006, dude, we used to beat each other up every day.
That was MMA training.
And then it wasn't these super gyms where everything was under one roof.
I would drive to a boxing gym, drive another 45 minutes to a jiu-jitsu gym.
You know, it was put everything together on fight night, but you would train everywhere else because there wasn't mixed martial arts gyms back then, really.
I would drive to a kickboxing gym, boxing gym, wrestling, jiu-jitsu.
It was all separate.
joe rogan
Well, also, you were in a place that didn't have like a high volume of MMA fighters in your state.
dustin poirier
Right back then, like Rich Clementi, Melvin Gillard were the big guys from Louisiana, you know.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Then Tim Crater came and got crazy Tim got on the Ultimate Fighter, and then I went to his gym once he got out of the TV show.
And me and him trained for years and years.
He still has a gym in Life Air, Louisiana.
joe rogan
I love Tim.
I've known Tim since I first worked out with him in like 98 at Machado's.
dustin poirier
Well, he was in maybe the Navy, so he was in California station there, and I think that's when he started Jiu-Jitsu.
He was Louisiana's first black belt.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I knew him from that.
And then he was fighting and he was fighting in the UFC.
dustin poirier
He was always around the MMA scene.
Him and Eve Edwards were good friends.
They opened a gym maybe in Houston or something.
He was cornering Eve in Pride.
And then I met Eve through Tim.
And it's just, it's a big family, man.
joe rogan
Eve's a guy that I always say there was a time where he was the best 155-pounder on earth.
dustin poirier
When he beat Josh Thompson.
Yes.
He's the uncrowned champion.
joe rogan
He should have been the uncrowned champion.
dustin poirier
There wasn't a belt.
joe rogan
I know.
Isn't that nuts?
Isn't that nuts?
That's so hard for people to understand how crazy it is.
dustin poirier
Like being through the lineage of Thug Jitsu, man, it sucks to say that he can't say he was a champion, but I know he was.
unidentified
He was.
He was.
dustin poirier
He was the best man.
joe rogan
He was the best.
At one point in time, he was the best.
dustin poirier
He lived out here before he moved to LA.
So before I moved to South Florida to train an American top team, I used to drive six hours here and stay with Eve.
He always had wrestlers down here.
This is like the beginning of my WEC days.
I would drive down here and train with Eve, man.
He was another guy who was ahead back in the day.
unidentified
Yes.
dustin poirier
Because he comes from NHB, like hook and shoot.
The crazy days.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yes.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
And he was doing it all.
Good jiu-jitsu, good kickboxing.
He fell in love with wrestling.
I was such a big fan of Eve, man.
joe rogan
He invented some moves too.
You remember that one thing that he would do where guys were on a single and he hit a dude with a flying knee, a jumping knee?
dustin poirier
That was, dude, I'm an MMA historian, bro.
That was Elite XC, I believe, maybe.
joe rogan
Was it?
dustin poirier
And you know, that was Edson Berto.
joe rogan
Was it?
dustin poirier
I think Andre Berto's brother, the boxer.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
But that he had a single leg.
He was hopping and then jumped up and out cold.
joe rogan
Yeah, it was crazy.
It is Elite XC.
Look at you, bro.
I mean, pray that again.
Look at this.
This move is brilliant.
That's brilliant.
dustin poirier
That's Edson Berto.
And I believe Andre and Edson's dad was a mixed martial artist.
joe rogan
Oh, wow.
That's such a slick move.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he's so crafty, man.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
Well, that head kick that he landed on Josh Thompson in the middle of that wild, crazy scramble, jumping roundhouse kick to the head.
dustin poirier
Dude, and they still play it every opener at the UFC.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They still play it as they should.
I mean, it was incredible.
joe rogan
Absolutely.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I gotta, you gotta give credit to Eve.
He's he was one of the real pioneers.
dustin poirier
For sure.
And way before this was cool.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Way before.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But to be stuck at like 155, like that was his weight class.
And then there's no title.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They were the two best guys in the world at that time, him and Josh Thompson.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Josh Thompson's another one.
Doesn't get the credit he deserves.
That's it.
unidentified
Boom.
joe rogan
Like, what a slick move, man.
But that was Eve.
Very creative, you know?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Man, Josh Thompson, like, peaked Josh Thompson for me.
What was it, Strike Force when him and Gilbert Melendez, maybe were going back and forth?
Didn't have to be a good idea.
joe rogan
Oh my goodness.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They might have had a trilogy.
It might have been two or three fights, but every fight was amazing.
joe rogan
Gilbert Melendez, the other guy doesn't get the credit he deserves.
dustin poirier
Dude, legend.
Legend, man.
joe rogan
Legend.
All those guys, they were the groundbreakers.
You know, a lot of these young kids coming up, you bring up Gilbert Melendez.
They're like, who?
Like, bro, you need to know your history.
You need to know how this thing got started.
dustin poirier
Going back.
Even more newer stuff.
Go watch him and Diego Sanchez.
unidentified
Right?
dustin poirier
Slug it out.
joe rogan
Diego Sanchez is another guy that I say is a tweener, right?
dustin poirier
Welterweight.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, he really wasn't really a welterweight.
And he, you know, and lightweight.
I mean, he tried to get down to 45 for a while, but that was just brutal.
He was killing himself, getting down to 45.
I remember seeing him making weight for 45.
I'm like, oh, this ain't good.
dustin poirier
This ain't going to last long.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
But if there was a 165-pound weight class, Diego Sanchez might have been the champion of the world.
dustin poirier
Right.
Honestly, man, like when I was competing, if they had a 65, I might have entertained it.
70s, just too big of a gap because I trained with 70s in the UFC and I know they're 200-something pounds.
And my heaviest, I was like 182, 183, maybe.
They're just too big, man.
joe rogan
Well, you got guys like Rumble Johnson when Rumble was alive.
Rumble got up to 230 pounds in between.
dustin poirier
No, he was huge, man.
Huge.
Huge.
I can't believe he made 170.
He was living in South Florida, so I see him every now and then.
He was huge.
joe rogan
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He was the ultimate weight cutter.
Like he cut more weight than anybody.
When he was fighting at 170, it was bananas.
Like, how are you doing this?
I remember running into him at a hotel.
I was like, bro, how big are you?
And he was laughing.
He's like, I'm 230 right now.
dustin poirier
And muscle.
Jack.
joe rogan
Yeah, muscle.
Like a heavyweight.
And he went up to heavyweight.
dustin poirier
He beat Orlofsky.
joe rogan
Which is crazy.
He was a legit heavyweight.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Andre's still fighting.
joe rogan
I know.
And winning.
dustin poirier
The bare knuckle champion.
Winning.
joe rogan
He's a bare knuckle champion.
Like, how durable is that motherfucker?
dustin poirier
For the years and the miles that that guy has, I have to say, like taking shots, receiving damage.
I don't know if he takes it like he, obviously, he doesn't take it like he used to.
But his mobility and his movement for all the wars he's had and the years he's been fighting.
When I watch him in the gym, dude, he's light on his feet, flexible.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
He moves so well.
joe rogan
And enthusiasm.
Still has enthusiasm for the game.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Which is crazy.
dustin poirier
He loves it.
joe rogan
He clearly loves it.
I mean, he was what?
UFC heavyweight champion in 2005?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Was it like 2005?
dustin poirier
2005 or 2006.
I think he beat Tim Silvia maybe.
joe rogan
When he was the champ, first of all, that motherfucker had a piston for a right hand.
I remember when he KO'd Paul Buntello?
Oh my God.
dustin poirier
That's a Texas guy.
joe rogan
Paul Buntello, another dude.
dustin poirier
I believe he's from Galveston area or Corpus Christi or something.
He's from Texas.
joe rogan
Well, if you think Arlaski from 2005 and he was a top 10 heavyweight as recently as like 2023.
dustin poirier
Well, when he came back to the UFC after that long gap, he went on a streak.
He had a bunch of great fights.
I think he knocked out Travis Brown.
Beat Travis Brown, which is crazy.
Did he fight Bigfoot?
Did him in Bigfoot?
jamie vernon
He was 161 is when he went in.
joe rogan
2005, February 5th, 2005.
That is bananas, man.
That really is bananas.
dustin poirier
Man, back in the day, Tim Silvia used to train at ATT when I first got there.
He was the most uncoordinated, unathletic guy.
I couldn't believe he was a UFC champion, man.
joe rogan
I know.
He was like goofy.
Pigeon-toed.
dustin poirier
But down to fight.
joe rogan
Oh, down to fight.
dustin poirier
Down to fight.
Yeah, for sure.
Pigeon-toed.
His knees were weird.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, they went in.
I tried to talk to a trainer about that.
He goes, that's learned.
Like, you can correct that.
dustin poirier
I was like, what the knee?
The knee?
joe rogan
Yeah.
The knees bowed in like that.
Was he said that's a learned thing?
You could correct that.
I was like, really?
How do you what?
dustin poirier
I never heard of that.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They didn't understand how it seems like something they would do maybe when you're born surgery, like reposition the bones or something, no?
joe rogan
Well, I don't know if it is, I don't know.
I mean, I'd have to, I don't want to speak out of turn.
Like, I'd have to bring in that guy and have him explain to me how you could correct that.
But he's like, that's something that could be corrected.
That's like learned behavior.
It's just from being so big.
dustin poirier
But, dude, watching him with his toes pointed out doing the ladder drills and stuff, you know, the ladders on the mat in and out.
Like, it was.
joe rogan
Well, big guys have their toes pointed out like that.
Like, Jellyroll went from 500 pounds and he's down to the, he's in the low 200s now, which is crazy.
Correcting Knee Issues in Combat 00:15:17
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
I saw pictures of him.
It looks completely different.
joe rogan
Bro, he's lost like 300 pounds.
And he did it the right way.
No Ozempic, just like diet, exercise, runs all the time.
But he has a problem when he walks, his toes are pointed out and he's trying to correct it.
He's trying to be aware of it.
When he runs, he runs the right way, like feet pointed forward.
dustin poirier
You see it too on the bigger guys' shoes.
The corners of the shoes are always flat, like flat times on the outside.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They just walk that way, man.
joe rogan
Well, you got to think.
You have so much weight.
You kind of kind of stretch out to kind of balance yourself.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But I always point to Tim Silvia when he knocked out Rico.
Rico Rodriguez.
That Tim Silvia was a beast, dude.
That was back when all the Mexican supplements were allowed.
There was a lot of dudes who are very juicy.
dustin poirier
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
And Tim had giant traps and huge fucking shoulders.
And I remember he struggled to get down to 265 for that fight.
dustin poirier
Yeah, back in the day with the juice was just free-flowing, man.
I just worked the UFC desk with Bisming in Vegas when Max and Charles fought.
And we started talking about the same thing we're talking about now.
And he was like, oh, I fought Vito.
I fought them all in the height of TRT.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
You know, he's fought legal juice, which was bananas.
dustin poirier
I mean, Alistair.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
That was the juiciest fight of all time.
Alistair versus Brock was the juiciest fight of all time.
dustin poirier
I recently watched the Mark Hunt documentary, and he's trying to push back and do a lawsuit against the UFC for all the juicing and stuff.
I mean, it's such a.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a tough, that's a tough road because how much can the UFC do?
dustin poirier
And it's on the Athletic Commission as well, right?
Wouldn't the lawsuit be against the state, not the UFC?
joe rogan
I think his position is that the UFC knew that Brock was juicing.
I don't know.
dustin poirier
This is before random drug tests, I believe.
joe rogan
Yes, it was before.
dustin poirier
So that would, I feel like that would fall on the state athletic commission.
joe rogan
Maybe it wasn't before because he did get popped.
But it wasn't random.
They weren't going to show up in camp.
dustin poirier
No, no, that back in the day you would get tested on fight night.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
You know, they would knock at your door.
joe rogan
Well, it was super clear that Brock was doing something.
It was super clear.
Like he was like in his late 30s.
He's built like a fucking like the side of a barn.
dustin poirier
I mean, there's a bunch of guys back then.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
A bunch of guys.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
But it wasn't frowned.
It was okay.
Everybody was doing it.
joe rogan
But it was, and it wasn't, right?
Because it was illegal, but it was like when you have fight day drug tests, that's an intelligence test.
That's all that is.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
That's whether or not you have good people in your corner.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And whether or not you have a chemist.
dustin poirier
It's going to take this amount of weeks to get out of there.
Or this many days to get out of your system.
joe rogan
Well, there are certain camps that would employ scientists.
And these scientists.
dustin poirier
The crooks are always going to be ahead, you know?
They're always going to be coming up with something new, trying to stay ahead of the curve and get away with stuff.
And I still think they're probably doing it, man.
joe rogan
Yeah.
There's probably something that we don't know right now, and it's going to come out in the future.
That's why they hold on to the drug tests for a prolonged period of time.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
They ask you your consent.
You have to do an extra signature if you let them test it or use it for.
joe rogan
What happens if you say no?
dustin poirier
I don't know.
I never said no.
I always give it to them.
joe rogan
Well, it's good for you because you're clean.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I competed my whole career clean, man.
Nothing.
Nothing.
I was even scared of certain creatine.
Like, I got the trusted by sport on everything because I was so scared to be one of those guys.
Because every time I see it, tainted supplement, yeah, sure, buddy.
But, you know, sure, tainted supplement, but it could be.
You know, I don't want to be one of those guys.
joe rogan
Well, for sure, there are tainted supplements.
That's a real thing.
And, you know, I know that for a fact because as one of the owners of Onit, when we were doing, when we were doing third-party testing of some of our supplements, we would find stuff in there that's not supposed to be in there.
And so we'd have to contact the distributor, the manufacturer, and the people that mixed our stuff.
So the way Onit would work is like Alpha Brain has a bunch of different ingredients that enhance your, you know, your mental focus and clarity.
And we would give them the very specific numbers of what's supposed to be in each batch.
And then we would third-party test.
We'd find a bunch of shit in there that's not supposed to be in there.
And it's because, you know, if you're getting it done overseas, they have these vats where they mix all the stuff in and they don't even clean the vats, right?
They dump it out and then they dump the new stuff in there without cleaning it.
dustin poirier
There's residue in there and then also the level of drug testing, how high these things can sense anything.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Even if there's a tiny bit, they'll find it.
joe rogan
Right with John Jones, right?
It was picograms.
We got introduced to the term picogram.
dustin poirier
Picos.
Like a grain of salt in a swimming pool they can find.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
So the testing is legit.
And I'm glad, you know, we're fighting.
We're kneeing each other in the face.
If we were running track or something, I would.
joe rogan
Exactly.
dustin poirier
But we're fighting.
You can get seriously injured, man.
joe rogan
Exactly.
dustin poirier
I've always been against doping.
But I'm retired now, Joe.
I'm retired now.
Now you can get the truth.
joe rogan
Yeah, I love when guys get, well, cowboy got real jacked too afterwards.
But then he talked about coming back and then he got off of everything.
dustin poirier
That's the thing, though.
Like, always back in the day, all the TRT guys, like, if you change your body's natural production of testosterone with exogenous testosterone, you have to be on it for the rest of your life.
joe rogan
Well, you don't have to because there's things called HCG and HCG and clomaphene can restart your body's production of testosterone.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Because I know your testicles will stop producing once you introduce foreign testosterone, right?
joe rogan
Well, for a period of time, especially when you're a young man, you can restart it.
But, you know, my production, I've been on TRT since I was like late 30s.
Like, it's not coming back.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
I'm shooting blanks on papow.
dustin poirier
You're good.
joe rogan
But two of my daughters were born while I was on TRT.
So it does work.
I just had a limited amount.
I had soldiers, just one fucking special ops guy.
dustin poirier
The only one was marching.
joe rogan
But he got through.
dustin poirier
Black ops.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So if you think about like all of the time where people were allowed to dope, it is a giant percentage of the history of MMA.
Like pride.
dustin poirier
The further you go back, for sure.
joe rogan
For sure.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
Pride, it was juicy as juice.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, like Ensign, anyway, when he was on the podcast, told me that in the contract, it said in all capital letters, we do not test for steroids.
dustin poirier
We aren't looking.
And I've heard other people say that as well.
We aren't looking.
joe rogan
Thumbs up, green light, let's go.
dustin poirier
Shoot up the juice.
Come fight.
We'll pay you cash.
Get out of here.
joe rogan
They wanted you to juice.
dustin poirier
They wanted you to fight better, which is like it becomes a spectacle, but man, people can get seriously injured.
joe rogan
You can, especially, but then also the thing is, like, does it make you more durable?
dustin poirier
I think it does.
joe rogan
Prevent you.
dustin poirier
I think it does, man, because just one that right off the top of my head, when Bigfoot Silva was TRT or whatever he was on, he was so durable.
joe rogan
So durable.
dustin poirier
Him and Mark Hunt had those crazy fights, but when he got off, he started getting knocked out.
joe rogan
Right.
dustin poirier
You know?
joe rogan
But there's also the switch.
There's something that happens when you've had a certain amount of concussions where that's.
dustin poirier
Another guy that comes to mind.
Remember Eric Silva?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Welterweight?
He was huge.
Dude, whenever they started doing the USATA stuff, he was getting knocked out and just wasn't himself.
joe rogan
He didn't look the same.
dustin poirier
He melted.
I wonder what the medical reason for that is, but I think it has something to do with confidence and self-belief with the testosterone.
They just, I think that's a big part of it.
joe rogan
It's definitely a part of it, but also there's a part of it, your vitality.
You're just more durable.
I mean, when you're jacked up on testosterone, it's just more fucking durable.
Everything about you is more durable.
Aleister's a great example of that.
dustin poirier
Like animal mode, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
Dude, I think Aleister Overem, when he was Uberim, I think that is the best argument for TRT ever.
dustin poirier
Looked like a superhero.
joe rogan
Bro, when he was in K1 and he was shelling up.
How are you getting through that?
How are you getting through that shell?
dustin poirier
Remember how small he was, though, back in K1?
He was like a 205 or something like that.
joe rogan
Well, not even pride.
dustin poirier
Pride.
joe rogan
Pride when he was fighting at Light Heavyweight.
When Chuck knocked him out.
Liddell knocked him out when he was a legit light heavyweight and he was skinny.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
Young and skinny.
joe rogan
He just decided time to get big.
Look at him back then when he fought Shogun.
dustin poirier
Still pretty jacked, though.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, man.
He was shredded.
He was shredded, but he was a shredded light heavyweight.
You know, I think he's a vegan now.
dustin poirier
Look at that.
joe rogan
Come on, son.
Come on, that's a rib eyes.
dustin poirier
That ain't vegan right now.
joe rogan
Go back to that other one.
That's what I'm talking about.
I mean, that's what a UFC heavyweight champion is supposed to look like.
dustin poirier
Hell yeah.
joe rogan
Come on, son.
I mean, put that on the White House car.
Not just that, but highly skilled.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
He wasn't just jacked.
He was highly.
I mean, there's a K-1 Grand Prix champion.
I mean, that dude was the cream of the crop at kickboxing.
He was the cream of the crop in MMA.
And he even won the Abu Dhabi European Trials as a pure grappler.
dustin poirier
Yeah, people don't know about that about Alistair.
His grappling is high level.
joe rogan
He had one of the best guillotines in the game.
Like, Aleister in his prime, when he went over and he fought Brett Cooper over in, was it Burt Cooper?
No, who did he fucking fight in Strike Force?
dustin poirier
Brett Rogers.
joe rogan
Brett Rogers.
That's right.
dustin poirier
Sorry.
joe rogan
I'm thinking of the heavyweight boxer, Burt Cooper.
dustin poirier
Burt Cooper.
joe rogan
Who fought, he had some crazy wars with Evander, Evander Holyfield.
dustin poirier
I think Vander's down in South Florida too now.
I don't remember Cooper.
joe rogan
He was a really, he was a tank.
He was a tank.
He was a super jack guy.
But Brett Rogers, when he fought Alistair, Aleister immediately hit him with a low kick, and you could tell he was like, what is this?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, it was a different kind of low kick because you're dealing with the tree trunks of Aleister with perfect technique.
And that guy was as good a kickboxer as has ever entered into MMA.
And when he was saucy, he was a problem.
He was a real fucking problem.
dustin poirier
Speaking of kickboxers from that era coming to MMA, dude, didn't Gokansaki come over?
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
dustin poirier
I thought he was going to do so much better, but he was older.
joe rogan
He was older, and he was at a time where it's like, you know, he had had so many fights in K1.
You know, he had so many wars.
And he fought Khalil.
You know, Khalil's fast as fuck.
dustin poirier
And, I mean, good kickboxing.
joe rogan
Real good kickboxer.
dustin poirier
Tie style.
joe rogan
Khalil cracked him in the first round and knocked him out.
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Which was a big fight for Khalil because, you know, Gokan was the Turkish Tyson, was coming over here.
You know, he was one of those guys like Mirko Krokop was like an elite kickboxer who's entering into MMA, and everybody always gets excited about that.
Obviously, Pereira is the best example of that.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
But he was a guy I knew.
I told everybody, I was like, that guy's going to be a nightmare for everybody because there's something about him, man.
I don't know what the hell is going on with his bone structure, his DNA, and his intelligence.
Like, he figures shit out that other people didn't.
Like, the way he threw that low kick, like the way he throws that calf kick with zero towel, no turning of the hips.
Like, he fucks up guys' calves better than anybody on the planet.
dustin poirier
We had like a huge rush of the calf kick.
I saw it for like a year and a half, two years.
Everybody was doing it.
Now it's kind of fading away.
I've noticed that.
joe rogan
It is, but not with him.
It's not with elite guys, guys that are really good at it.
dustin poirier
It does so much damage, man, so quickly.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
dustin poirier
And it's so much, it's less commitment.
So you're not giving, you don't have to turn your hips over as much.
So wrestlers aren't grabbing singles as easy.
joe rogan
I remember your fight with Jim Miller.
dustin poirier
It's just like, oh, dude, tore me up.
joe rogan
Yeah, that was that was one of the first examples of calf kicks being really fucking dangerous.
dustin poirier
And I've never felt it before.
And I'm a South Paul, so they land good calf kicks.
You'd have to fight another South Paul, right?
And that doesn't happen too often, especially with one who's throwing those.
So I didn't know what kind of black magic he was doing, bro.
I was like, I got a flat tire.
What is going on?
What is this?
joe rogan
I know.
You know, isn't it crazy that it took that long for people to figure that out?
dustin poirier
Ben Henderson was a guy doing it early, but it wasn't that effective for some reason.
Yeah.
joe rogan
He was doing it, but it wasn't having the devastating damage.
dustin poirier
I'm trying to think of who's the first guy to really Edson Barbosa.
Would do it every now and then.
Trying to think of somebody who really brought it over.
joe rogan
Bro, it's made its way into kickboxing now.
It's because they were saying, like, the Muay Thai guys are not susceptible to calf kicks.
And everybody was saying that.
I was like, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
They are light on their front foot, so that front foot is they are, but there's times where they have to plant, like when they're throwing a right kick.
There's a guy named Yuki Yoza, Yuki Yoza, who fights for one.
He's a Kyokushin guy, and he is fucking everybody up with calf kicks.
Yeah, he fights like high guard, tight inside, and again, no pivot of the hips.
He's essentially throwing his calf kick almost like he's kicking a soccer ball straight up the middle.
dustin poirier
That's the way I like to do it as well.
Just clip the top of the calf.
There's no commitment.
You don't have to pivot your hips or plant to turn.
You can just snap it out like a jab.
joe rogan
Yeah, well, a great example of the changing of technique was you in that Connor fight.
dustin poirier
Yeah, calf over and over and over.
joe rogan
And it was also South Paul versus House.
dustin poirier
South Paul.
joe rogan
Same thing.
You just destroyed that calf.
And you could tell he didn't know what to do because, as good as he was and as many fights as he had, two division world champion, he hadn't been calf kicked.
Right.
Which is a crazy transition when you see like the history of the sport.
That is one of the clear differenti, the like the differentiation.
That's another word that's fake.
That's the clear line in the sand where the techniques changed.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
And it's one of those things like before it happened to me.
I saw it and I was like, ah, it might be uncomfortable.
And but until it happens, then you have a different respect for it.
So Connor probably learned a lot that fight, man.
Like, this is for real.
Calf kicks are for real.
joe rogan
What's fucked that it's just one shot?
That's what's crazy about it.
Because a thigh kick, like you can get a hard thigh kick and your leg goes dead for a couple seconds, but it comes back.
Yeah, calves don't really come back that quick.
dustin poirier
They explained it to me at the hospital after the Jim Miller thing.
Apparently, your calf doesn't have the chambers for the fluid to drain.
So that's why it gets compartment.
joe rogan
Oh, compartment?
dustin poirier
That's why it's so painful because you can't like go out through the swelling can't go out through your whole leg.
So it sits in one pocket and fills up and it's just uncomfortable.
It can stop nerves.
joe rogan
Do you ever see what happened to Austin Hubbard?
dustin poirier
Dude, that's what they wanted to do after the Jim Miller fight.
They wanted to cut me at the way.
unidentified
No way.
dustin poirier
Fillet you to release the pressure.
joe rogan
Another guy, Uriah Faber, when he fought Jose Aldo, his leg blew up like a balloon.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
Apparently, if it gets that bad compartment syndrome and the swelling's bad enough for long enough, you can lose function of your ankle and foot.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Which is crazy, right?
dustin poirier
Right, right.
joe rogan
Well, Uriah was one of the first guys to implement going into what can't I think of it?
The fucking chamber, oxygen chamber.
Hyperbaric Therapy for Injury Recovery 00:07:30
unidentified
Hyperbaric.
joe rogan
Hyperbaric.
What's wrong with me today?
I'm making up fake words.
Can't come up with things that I know.
But he was using the hyperbaric exclusively to recover from that and documenting it.
And I was like, bro, that's interesting.
dustin poirier
A lot of good brain benefits for hyperbaric.
I don't have one.
I've done it before, but it's never been like a routine thing.
joe rogan
Well, you have to have access to it.
dustin poirier
And also the tints.
joe rogan
You need a lot.
dustin poirier
The tints, the zip-up tints at home.
joe rogan
Not as strong.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
You need a solid.
joe rogan
You know, you need like one of those propane tank ones, those big, thick, walled ones.
dustin poirier
The glass, like it's really good high pressure.
joe rogan
Yeah, yeah.
And then, you know, you got to be careful in those things.
You can't, no sparks.
dustin poirier
Yeah, dude.
I saw a story that a kid was in one, and you saw that?
That was a couple years ago.
Horrible.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Horrible story.
Yeah.
But hyperbaric is awesome for recovery.
It's also, it lengthens, there's a protocol that developed, one of the universities in Israel developed it, where you do 60 sessions over 90 days, and it lengthens your telomeres that's commensurate with, I think it's like a 20-year difference in your biological age.
dustin poirier
Wow.
joe rogan
It's nuts.
It's super effective.
Like when you get a lot of oxygen into your system like that, it just helps everything recover.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
Like if you have an aura ring or a whoop strap and you go into one of those things, it shows you.
It's like, oh, you have an amazing recovery day.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man, the metrics we can track now with all the wearable devices is pretty awesome, dude.
joe rogan
Well, it gets you to understand.
I think you can get a little addicted to those things.
dustin poirier
For sure.
So when I was competing, I stopped using them because every day wasn't ready.
Need to rest.
Red, red, red every day.
So when I retired, I got back to it.
Now I'm using them.
But like when you're training for a fight, you can't take two days off.
I need to train.
And the fight's coming up.
If I'm in the red zone, I still need to train.
joe rogan
I know.
Isn't that interesting?
Like, there's a wearable device would tell you you're not supposed to train, but yet you know in order to reach MMA peak physical condition, you have to push when you're not ready so that your body's forced to recover quicker.
dustin poirier
I know this guy's training.
That's why I got rid of it.
During camp, I don't use it or didn't use it.
joe rogan
Well, it's weird because like, what if you listen to it?
Like, some people say, like, Terrence Crawford was talking about like there's times where he wanted to push where his coaches told him not to, and then he realized they were right.
dustin poirier
Yeah, maturing through fighting, man, pulling back got easier as I got older.
When I was a younger fighter, I didn't want to take any time off.
I needed to be as many reps, as much time on the mats as possible.
But as I got to like mid-30s, 36, I was like, you know, this is, I got to take days off.
Complete days.
Complete days.
Not just an easy day or a technique day.
I just need to be out of the gym.
joe rogan
Just relax.
dustin poirier
Yeah, reset my mind to where I want to be there.
joe rogan
Just hard for fighters because you operate on momentum of the conditioning and the training and the discipline.
It's like you're in there.
And then to have a day where you're not, you feel like you're slipping backwards.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
And you show up to fight week with that momentum.
Like, I did everything I could.
I busted my ass every day.
Like, it just gives you so much energy and so much confidence going into fight week.
joe rogan
You've turned over every stone.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, the worst thing, though, is seeing a fighter fight flat because you know they overtrained.
And the one thing that I always point to is when Tim Kennedy fought Kelvin Gaslam and he had gone through two solid camps in a row.
So he went through one camp, peaked, got ready for the fight, and then the fight got canceled, and then went right back into camp to train for gastolum and didn't give himself the chance to recover.
And, you know, he's too tough.
Yeah.
Too tough, too disciplined, and his body broke down.
dustin poirier
You're redlining that engine over and over and over.
I mean, we just saw it with Murab, I think.
You know, not that taking anything away from Jan, but you stay that busy.
Those kind of fights, those training camps, I mean, it's hard to do.
That's what makes things like John Jones could be so impressive to me, man.
To get on top and stay on top that long, you know.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I know.
It's nuts.
There's so few guys have been able to do that.
dustin poirier
Especially in MMA.
Too many variables, too many ways to slip on a banana peel, get caught in something.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
I kind of love that Khabib went out on top.
dustin poirier
And never came back.
unidentified
Respect.
dustin poirier
That's awesome.
joe rogan
And they offered him a lot of fucking money to come back.
He's like, nope.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Nope.
dustin poirier
Good for him, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, good for him.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's the way to do it.
And then you go out, all your faculties, everything's fine, undefeated, go down a legend.
dustin poirier
Right.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Like, I think Floyd should have done it, you know, like that.
Now he's fucking fighting Mike Tyson, dude.
Come on, man.
joe rogan
I know.
There was some rumors around that Floyd was going to have a rematch with Connor, which is crazy.
But I think Connor would probably do it, especially if there weren't any drug testing involved.
dustin poirier
I wonder if he's going to come back for sure.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
But, man, to heal from an injury like he had, you probably need a bunch of stuff to, I don't know the ins and outs of that, but you probably need some help to heal.
joe rogan
He definitely needed some help to heal.
The problem is once you get used to that help and you enjoy it.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I'm getting used to the help.
joe rogan
I know.
That's what I thought about Cowboy when he got jacked and then he was like, he's going to, he slimmed back down again.
He said he was going to fight again.
But I think he might have abandoned that.
dustin poirier
I got hooked up with Brigham and Ways Too Well.
They did all my blood when I retired and got me.
I turned down no testosterone for me.
So I'm not on any testosterone.
I just don't want to mess up my natural production because mine wasn't high, but it wasn't low.
I'm just scared to mess with it.
joe rogan
Yeah, you don't need it.
And it's peptides.
dustin poirier
I'm 37.
joe rogan
It can do a lot for you.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I'm on a bunch of peptides.
joe rogan
Yeah, peptides are the way to go.
dustin poirier
And I feel great.
Honestly, I wish I could have been on this shit when I was fighting, man.
joe rogan
I know.
dustin poirier
You know, especially like the growth hormone releasing stuff.
joe rogan
Like tessamoralin.
dustin poirier
Exactly.
Like I could have pushed hard every day, man.
As I got older, it got harder, man.
joe rogan
I know, and all it does is help your body recover.
It's not like it gives you some sort of a performance-enhancing boost.
dustin poirier
I know it definitely helps with like fat mobilization and stuff like that, but just being able to push hard every day is huge in fighting, man.
joe rogan
But just BPC 157, which offers no performance enhancing, but would help you heal soft tissue injuries.
Because you're getting injured.
You're just getting small injuries every day training.
Every time you get leg kicked, every time you get punched in the stomach, arm bars, shoulder bars.
Everything.
unidentified
Everything.
dustin poirier
Your joints are always messed up.
joe rogan
Always.
Always.
And if you wanted fighters to perform better, something that would allow them to heal better is only good.
And it's not going to make you run faster.
It's not going to make you jump higher.
It's not going to make you an Uberim.
We're not talking about that.
dustin poirier
And I'm not even sure if that's banned.
I haven't checked.
It is?
joe rogan
BPC 157 is banned.
unidentified
Wow.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
That's unfortunate.
Yeah, creatine, protein powders, that's the same stuff.
You just recover better.
joe rogan
Well, creatine.
unidentified
I don't understand why.
joe rogan
Creatine's not banned, thank God.
But creatine in the 1990s was thought of the same way as steroids.
dustin poirier
Right, yeah, yeah.
I remember.
joe rogan
People thought like creatine's cheating.
Oh, my God, you're taking creatine.
They literally put it in the same category as steroids.
Then they realized, oh, it's actually a part of food.
dustin poirier
Great for your test.
Praisine, good for you.
Great for everything.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
I just talked my wife into starting creatine.
Women need it more than men, I was reading.
unidentified
Right?
dustin poirier
You know, my wife's just starting.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I think the key is to make sure you're hydrated, too, and to make sure you're not taking too much of it and make sure you get your blood checked and so you're not putting a lot of pressure on your kidneys.
But like dehydration and kidneys, that like that is one of the big things that happens to a lot of fighters that cut a lot of weight.
They start getting kidney stones.
Creatine Misconceptions and Kidney Safety 00:08:23
joe rogan
I mean, Jose Aldo dealt with that.
DC famously got pulled out of the Olympics.
dustin poirier
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
Because he was having kidney failure.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Your kidneys, man, they don't like you being drained out like that.
dustin poirier
I've had a few weight cuts where I felt pain in my back.
And I think that's kidneys.
joe rogan
100%, man.
Kidney shots.
dustin poirier
Didn't happen often, but I've definitely had it.
Tightness.
It feels kind of like cramping in a weird place you never had before in your back.
joe rogan
Isn't that spooky?
You're drying out your organs.
dustin poirier
And then fighting for your life.
joe rogan
Crazy.
dustin poirier
24 hours.
It was nice, though, when I started making it to the top of the cards, co-main event, main event, because then you have like 30-something hours to rehydrate.
If you're fighting early prelims in Vegas, two or three in the afternoon, you know, it's not too long.
Especially back in the day when weigh-ins were at 5 or 6 p.m.
There wasn't a morning and ceremonial.
The real weigh-ins were at 5, and you were going to fight at 2 the next day.
joe rogan
Yeah, those were nuts.
That was crazy.
Yeah, it was crazy when guys would like shuffle to the scale for the real weigh-in.
You'd see them all like a skeleton.
dustin poirier
And you're facing off of your opponent trying to be tough, like both dying.
joe rogan
Well, I always remember Jose Aldo versus Connor.
Connor looked like he was one of the walking dead.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
He looked like a zombie.
He was so skinny.
dustin poirier
His face bones.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
See if you can find that.
And he was also crazy.
unidentified
Ah!
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, like flexible.
dustin poirier
He's always crazy.
joe rogan
He's always hyped up with no body fat, no water, just completely dehydrated.
Like, look at that.
Look at that.
unidentified
The eyes.
dustin poirier
Eyes sunken in.
joe rogan
That is nuts.
That guy weighed 145 and he probably weighed 170 or at least 165 when he got into the actual octagon that day.
dustin poirier
If he does come back, I wonder what he's going to come back at.
Lightweight or Welter?
joe rogan
Well, the real key is if.
dustin poirier
If.
joe rogan
I mean, he's had a lot of opportunities.
And I don't know.
dustin poirier
I thought the Chandler fight was a layup for him.
joe rogan
That's the fight.
dustin poirier
A great matchup for him.
joe rogan
Great fight technically.
It's a great fight stylistically.
It's a great fight age-wise.
Chandler's got to be, what, 39 now?
dustin poirier
He's up there, 38 or 39.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, and then that was the hype of the ultimate fighter.
dustin poirier
True, but it's just a layup for Connor.
Chandler's hittable, covers distance, not that technically, you know, huge movements.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
You jump in, you get carried out.
Connor's a sniper, man.
I just think that's a great matchup for him.
joe rogan
It's also a great matchup for Chandler because he's tired.
dustin poirier
And he gets that, you know, because he sat out for two years waiting on Connor.
joe rogan
It's also like, remember him with Olivera?
Even in the fucking third round, that dude is carrying Olivera up and throwing him through the air and body slamming him while he's on his back.
Like the dudes have, he has incredible durance and incredible discipline.
He's always fit.
And that's been Connor's Achilles heel.
It's that Connor, he's so explosive and so fast that if you're sprinting in that first round, guaranteed you're not going to have that same kind of energy in the fifth round.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
But some guys are just designed like that.
You know, you saw Tyron Woodley's a guy who has huge explosion, but they don't necessarily keep that for 25 minutes.
But on the opposite side of that, you got a guy like Nate Diaz who would keep that same pace from round one to five.
joe rogan
Round 30.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
That dude could lombard out of a cannon, you know, and then slow down.
Just the way muscles and fibers are put, you know, connected.
I don't know what does that to a human.
joe rogan
Well, the only guys that figured out how to fight with all that bulk and just is like Yoel Romero.
He fought very smart.
He was just like, still fighting.
Still fighting.
dustin poirier
Dude's still fighting.
50 years old.
Jacked.
More jacked than ever.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
48 years old, 49 years old with abs, looking like a fucking super athlete.
dustin poirier
I think he's doing bare knuckle, maybe.
joe rogan
Yeah, he did bare knuckle.
He did dirty boxing.
There's a fight where he had in dirty boxing where he's touching the dude up and then out of nowhere, he just leaps up into the air.
He does like a vertical.
He's like a five-foot vertical, lands on his feet and just starts putting it on a dude.
He's like, I'm tired of this.
Let me show you what I can really do.
dustin poirier
I've had fun.
No play with the food.
joe rogan
I've had fun.
dustin poirier
He's a crazy.
He's been on the mats a bunch of American top team as well.
And just a freak athlete, man.
unidentified
Freak.
joe rogan
He's the freak of all freaks.
dustin poirier
Just a freak athlete.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, he came out of that Cuban.
dustin poirier
They build him different over there.
joe rogan
Yeah, they build him with science.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But he also figured out how to pace himself.
You know, he figured out how to like explode out of nowhere, but not explode the entire time.
Like he had this casual, almost he would lull you into a false sense of security and then just pounce on you.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Like that knee he hit Wideman with.
joe rogan
Dude, that was a perfect example.
Perfect example because you get used to this kind of pace.
dustin poirier
You're getting into the rhythm and then you just break it up.
But also, he didn't fight like, obviously, he's a wrestler.
He didn't wrestle too, too hard and really gas himself out.
He fought smart to do what he's good at.
joe rogan
Explode.
He barely used his wrestling in MMA, which is so crazy.
It's really crazy if you think about how good of a wrestler he was.
Because he was one of the best wrestlers to ever compete in MMA.
I mean, that dude was elite as a wrestler.
And in MMA, he's just starching people.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Luke Rockhold starched Luke.
Like, that was crazy.
dustin poirier
Luke's another guy still fighting.
I think.
joe rogan
I think he might be done now.
You know, when he got knocked out by Darren Till in the boxing, I think that might be it.
I think that might be it.
And Darren Till's got a resurgence, man.
As a boxer, he looks fucking fantastic.
dustin poirier
I saw the highlights of that, but I haven't seen a whole lot.
joe rogan
Bro, he looks real good.
dustin poirier
He looks real because he's always been a good striker.
joe rogan
Very good striker.
And his Achilles heel has been his knees.
You know, he's had some serious knee problems and it really impeded him from being able to train hard.
He wasn't the best grappler in the world.
And so that was always his problem.
But as a striker, I mean, that guy was very, very good.
And you're seeing him now in boxing.
Like, he's making a real run.
I think it's very interesting because if you watch him box Rockhold and you realize like Rockhold's a really good striker, but against Darren Till, he looked like he had no business in there.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
That's something I would like to do, man.
unidentified
Box.
joe rogan
Still?
dustin poirier
I always wanted to have a couple before I, you know, but I'm still under contract.
Even though I'm retired, I'll still have a contract with the UFC.
joe rogan
Do you think the UFC would let you out or they have Zufa boxing?
dustin poirier
Dude, so they don't, trust me, I already pitched it to him.
joe rogan
Did you?
dustin poirier
Me and Nate Diaz, Zufa boxing, let's go.
joe rogan
Let's go.
dustin poirier
170, whatever.
168, super middleweight.
Let's do it.
They don't want any crossover.
joe rogan
What?
dustin poirier
I think Zufa wants to be taken as a serious.
joe rogan
They hate money.
dustin poirier
They must hate money.
joe rogan
Do they hate money?
dustin poirier
They hate money.
joe rogan
Why do they hate money?
dustin poirier
I don't know.
They want to be taken by the boxing world serious.
And I think if you open that door of an MMA guy fighting under Zoofa boxing, every guy on the roster, every girl on the roster is going to want to do the same.
It just becomes a mess, I think.
joe rogan
I don't know about that.
I don't think it's a mess.
dustin poirier
I think there are some really fun MMA boxing matchups you can make.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
Fuck yes.
Especially when guys get older and you don't want to go through the training camp with wrestling and leg kicks and all that shit.
dustin poirier
That's the thing.
Like thinking about a boxing training camp, dude, with no grappling, no wrestling, just run, condition, and box, it would be insane.
unidentified
I love it.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Isn't that funny?
dustin poirier
I'm on the beach.
joe rogan
As tough as boxing is, like, for you, like, oh, this is going to be fun.
dustin poirier
I only have to box.
That's great.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Honestly, man, in training camp, those are my favorite days.
Striking, sparring is my favorite days.
Like the wrestling class is two-hour Mako on Monday.
It's like brutal, bro.
joe rogan
Well, it'd be great for you because you've always had great hands.
Like for you, that's a perfect.
dustin poirier
I started boxing before mixed martial arts.
joe rogan
That would be a perfect way for you to get some other fights in.
I don't understand, Zufa.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
I would just love to lace them up and box professionally once.
joe rogan
I know they want to redo boxing, and I know they want to like, and I think there's probably some real merit there.
Obviously, what the Saudis have done with Riyadh's season has been amazing, you know, making matchups that no one can make.
dustin poirier
I'm a big Connor Bent fan too, man.
I'm excited to see him fight in Zufa.
And the guy he's fighting is from New Orleans.
Like, I know the guy.
Like, you know, it's fun.
joe rogan
It is exciting.
And it will definitely, I think they will elevate boxing.
And Dana is throwing all of his cards into that.
So I'm sure it's going to work.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I'm glad we're seeing more boxing, Zufo boxing, and less power slap on my feed whenever I go to online stuff.
Zuffa's Impact on Boxing Markets 00:03:47
joe rogan
Yeah, I'm not a big fan.
dustin poirier
I've never been to one, but man, it's just fucking not my jam.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
When I fought my retirement in New Orleans, Mike Brown went to the power slap they had there, and he said it was awesome in person.
joe rogan
Oh, sure.
It's awesome to watch someone get slapped, but like, I'm not interested.
I'll watch it on my fucking phone every now and then.
I'll see.
dustin poirier
I mean, the highlights are good enough.
You see the knockouts and the crazy stuff.
joe rogan
It's great TikTok content.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
You know, you watch someone get slapped and they go forward and their head hits the desk and they fall backwards.
But it's like, it's a concussion.
You're watching.
dustin poirier
And you can't, there's no defense.
There's no flinch or you get it's penalty if you do that.
unidentified
That's crazy.
joe rogan
That don't make any sense to me.
I don't get it.
But I think they've missed out on the opportunity to have a Muay Thai league.
That's what I think.
dustin poirier
America just doesn't buy into it that big.
joe rogan
I don't think that's true.
dustin poirier
No?
unidentified
No.
No.
joe rogan
I just think they have to do it.
dustin poirier
Well, I mean, one is doing it on Amazon.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
But it's like, who's watching Amazon?
That's the problem.
You have a show on Amazon?
I know guys who've released comedy specials on Amazon.
Like, good luck finding it.
Nobody cares.
That's just the reality of this platform.
I mean, look, Amazon is a phenomenal platform for buying stuff.
I love it for buying things.
unidentified
Oh, dude.
joe rogan
I use it all the time.
dustin poirier
Every week.
joe rogan
It's great for buying books, audiobooks.
It's great for buying products.
But for watching content, it's kind of a mess.
I had a couple big shows like the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Terminalist.
Those are great shows.
And those brought a lot of people over there.
But I mean, you know how big the Terminalist would have been if it was on Netflix?
As big as it was on Amazon?
More people watch Netflix than are ever going to watch anything on Amazon.
dustin poirier
That's why what Jake's doing with the Netflix and bringing boxing MMA there, like it's big, man.
It's big.
So many people are going to be watching this.
joe rogan
100%.
But I think that if one was somewhere else, I think it would have been better.
dustin poirier
There you go.
jamie vernon
On the way here today.
unidentified
What?
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, that got announced this morning.
joe rogan
An MMA fight?
jamie vernon
Yeah, it's the third fight on that card.
dustin poirier
That's the Rousey card, yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
Interesting.
That's very interesting.
That's very interesting.
That's a good fight.
dustin poirier
Dude, you said a lot of people don't go to Amazon to watch TV.
I just went down a rabbit hole for weeks because I have a newborn at home.
So I did the night shift and I ran out of shit to watch on Netflix.
joe rogan
You ran out of shit to watch on Netflix.
dustin poirier
Dude, staying up till 4 a.m. every night with a baby boy is like hours of documentaries, hours of stuff.
I switched over to Amazon and it was like a whole new world, man.
joe rogan
Well, there's a lot on there.
It's just they don't have the same viewers.
Like our podcast is on Amazon.
The numbers that we get from Amazon compared to everywhere else is so small.
It's just the reality of the way they've sort of marketed it.
And Amazon Prime Video just doesn't have the audience that everything else does.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
And it's such a big platform.
You'd think it would be crossover from.
joe rogan
I think it's a mistake on their part because the product side is so big.
Amazon for buying stuff is so big that it's almost like an afterthought.
And then there's some money in it, but not the same sort of focus.
Also, the interface, when I've gone to it, is a little weird.
It's hard to find things.
It's not as simple.
The interface on Netflix is like the algorithm's great.
It's really good at recommending you things.
It knows what you like.
It shows you things.
It's easy to find things.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
Amazon's like a little tricky.
You go there and you're like, what?
But see, the 1 FC thing faces the same problem that PFL has.
Like, look, PFL is on ESPN Plus.
So you would imagine PFL would get the same sort of audience that the UFC got, but it doesn't.
dustin poirier
No, of course not.
joe rogan
Because the UFC brand is like NFL.
dustin poirier
The machine.
It's just.
Yeah, they own that space.
Streaming Interfaces: Netflix vs Amazon 00:15:00
joe rogan
But the fights on 1FC are fucking amazing.
Like, especially the Muay Thai fights.
dustin poirier
With the small gloves?
joe rogan
Oh, my God, man.
And I was trying to pitch this to Dana.
So I started sending Dana.
He goes, send me some.
So I started sending him all these high-level Muay Thai fights and high-level kickboxing fights.
And they're fucking phenomenal.
Look, he didn't like the Charles Olivera, this Max Holloway Charles Olivera fight.
He didn't like it.
The BMF fight, the fight wasn't that good.
I was like, I thought it was a great fight.
dustin poirier
It was impressive if you were a fan of technique and a fan of how hard it is to do that to somebody like Max.
Like, super impressive.
joe rogan
And I was a fan of Max's defense.
I mean, Olivera was on his back in the first round.
A lot of people would have finished.
dustin poirier
First minute and a half, I think, you know, dry.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
I got finished there.
joe rogan
Yeah, I mean.
I think Olivera is one of the greatest submission artists that ever competed in the sport.
If not the best.
dustin poirier
I mean, numbers prove it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And against elite guys like you and like Justin.
And like he's fucking.
dustin poirier
And then Gamrod.
Dude, Gamrod is.
I trained with him for years.
He's a wrestler, but his grappling is incredible, man.
joe rogan
No, he got tied up in knots with Olivera.
Olivera's a nightmare.
dustin poirier
I knew it could happen, but I didn't think it would be that.
joe rogan
I was stunned too.
I was like, God, he's good.
He's so good on the ground.
So like props to Max for surviving.
But if Data didn't like it, so I started sending him.
dustin poirier
I mean, when you have the title, the BMF, like you want to see some violence.
joe rogan
I understand, but it's still just a fight.
You can't fight outside of your just because a BMF belt's on the line.
dustin poirier
You can't go out swinging for the fences.
joe rogan
I get it.
I get what you're saying.
But I mean, on the feet, I think Olivera was winning on the feet.
dustin poirier
Dude, he hurt Max in the first.
I think he hurt him in the fifth.
joe rogan
Well, he definitely hurt him in the fifth when they did the point down ground thing, and then he cracked him and rocked him.
Olivera fucking cool.
dustin poirier
He is, man.
He is.
He's just known we put the label on the grappler because he's finished so many guys and so many bonuses, but he can strike, man.
joe rogan
He's good everywhere.
Like with the Chandler fight.
He almost gets finished in the first round, comes back and hits it with a clean left hook in the second.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Even fucking good, man.
dustin poirier
Yeah, knocked him out.
Even when I fought him, like he did a good job of picking where the fight happened.
He wouldn't fight me in boxing range.
It was either all the way in clinch or out where he was teeping my body, staying long.
Kicking range or clinching range is kind of where he fought me.
The times I did have success was in the boxing range, but he didn't let that happen.
joe rogan
Well, it just shows you how fucking good Ilya DiPoria is.
unidentified
Fuck.
joe rogan
God damn that dude.
dustin poirier
Dude, I love Justin.
I'm a fan.
I don't like this matchup for him.
joe rogan
Well, you know what?
I mean, Justin knows what he's getting into, and it's hard to count that dude out.
He's such an animal.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he can land the shot.
joe rogan
And it's in the White House.
Who knows?
Who knows what's going to happen?
But that dude has the touch of death.
He has the touch of death.
dustin poirier
And he's not a big guy.
I've never seen him in person, but I was talking to somebody recently and they said, no, he's 5'7.
joe rogan
He's small, man.
He's not big.
I mean, there's a photo of me standing next to him when we did the podcast.
We're standing next to you.
He's much smaller than me.
And, bro, he puts people into the shadow realm.
It's just technique and confidence.
His confidence is crazy.
He had a victory party for the Olivera fight the night before.
dustin poirier
Drinking wine.
joe rogan
I don't think he was drinking wine.
I think he was drinking water the night before, but he has drank wine in weigh-ins when he's getting ready to weigh in or what do the weight cut.
He only did that for two camps, he told me, though.
He said, it's too much.
I was just like fucking hungover the next day.
Like, what am I doing?
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
And you're about to get your brain beat up.
You're dehydrating.
unidentified
You're drinking.
Come on.
joe rogan
Well, I think he's dehydrating himself, and he said the wine actually helps you get dehydrated.
dustin poirier
Yeah, alcohol definitely does.
joe rogan
Yeah, which is, but it's nobody does that.
Nobody drinks wine for the weigh-ins.
unidentified
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
No, bro.
And, like, I'm so not drinking anything.
I'm so depleted by that time.
joe rogan
I know.
And he's getting hammered.
unidentified
Lucky.
dustin poirier
And winning world championships.
joe rogan
Well, it was only two fights he did that for.
So it became like something where people are pretending he does it every way.
dustin poirier
He's got all these young fighters out there in the world drinking on the other day.
I'm going to be like the champ, man.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But he's crazy talented.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
In a weird way.
dustin poirier
Whatever it is, he has it.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
He has it.
joe rogan
He's got it in his mind.
He's got it in his technique.
His grappling's fun.
I watched a video of him grappling with Murab, and he was all over Murab.
dustin poirier
And that's crazy.
That's what they say.
His grappling's just as good, if not better, than his stand-up.
joe rogan
That's where he started.
He started as a grappler.
dustin poirier
I've never seen him grapple, though.
joe rogan
Well, he finished Bryce Mitchell on the ground, and he's finished a few people on the ground.
He does clearly have phenomenal submission ability.
What are you showing me here?
What is this him?
jamie vernon
He says he's done it for a long time.
dustin poirier
You can see his face was already sucked in a little bit.
joe rogan
He said that when he was on the podcast, though, that he only did it twice.
jamie vernon
Three years ago.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
Look, he's all tipsy and drunk.
dustin poirier
Look, I tell this to young fighters.
There's no right.
I mean, obviously, don't smoke crack before a fight.
There's no right or wrong way.
Everybody's different.
Whatever makes you feel comfortable to perform and compete, like everybody's different.
If there was a cookie cutter perfect way to work, everybody would do it.
joe rogan
Well, look at Carlos Pratez.
dustin poirier
Yeah, exactly.
Smoking cigarettes.
joe rogan
Smoking cigarettes, like the day of the fight.
He's sitting there smoking marshes.
Dart reds.
dustin poirier
Darts.
Who was the boxer?
joe rogan
Fucking everybody up back in the day.
Oh, yeah, Majorga.
dustin poirier
Mayorga.
joe rogan
Cardamorga.
unidentified
Yes.
Yes.
dustin poirier
He was big.
joe rogan
Smoking cigarettes.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Drinking fucking Carlos drinking whiskey, smoking sigs.
joe rogan
He's like, during a party, you know, he's going to fuck people up.
dustin poirier
Respect.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, he's going to fight.
Is he fighting Jack de la Maddalena?
Is that the fight?
I believe that's the fight in Perth.
That is a very good fight.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
A tough one for Jack to come back to, man.
I was in MSG when Islam took the belt from him, dude.
Complete domination.
joe rogan
Well, that's another guy.
dustin poirier
Complete domination.
And Ilya was talking about fighting him too.
You know, the size difference would be so big.
joe rogan
So big.
dustin poirier
Islam is huge.
unidentified
He's huge.
dustin poirier
He's huge.
joe rogan
He's too big for 55, and then you see him at 170.
Like, how did you ever make 55?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Because he's so dominant at 170.
dustin poirier
Yeah, Hunter from the UFC.
I was in his office not too long ago, and they keep record of all the weights fight night.
They don't release them all, but they keep it.
And we were talking about the Islam fight when I fought Islam and he was telling me his weight.
I was like, that's exciting.
What is 192 or something?
I think.
joe rogan
The day of the fight?
dustin poirier
I think so, yeah.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
Something more 190, 191.
Something around there.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
I was 176.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
But it looks like it in the cage.
Like, whenever I go.
unidentified
I know.
dustin poirier
I looked across under those spotlights and they had veins in his shoulders and shit.
I'm like, fuck, this guy's huge.
joe rogan
The ones where I'm like, how?
Gregory Rodriguez is the one where I'm like, how?
unidentified
Yeah.
How?
joe rogan
How?
How are you 185?
unidentified
How?
joe rogan
You're 6'3.
You're built like a Greek god.
How?
How do you ever weigh 185?
How is that even possible?
Whenever I interview him, I'm like, how?
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Because I'm standing next to you, and I'm like, that doesn't make any sense.
You're not a 185-pound guy.
You're huge.
dustin poirier
Like in his prime when Luke Rocco was a champion?
He's huge, man.
unidentified
Huge.
joe rogan
Yo, Romero.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yo, At Romero is the best example.
Like, how?
How are you 185?
dustin poirier
Built like an Anvil, dude.
Solid all the way through.
joe rogan
When he came in to do the podcast and Joey Diaz translated for him, he was like 230.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just like his neck starts at the top of his head.
Just a tank.
dustin poirier
And shredded always.
No jiggle.
Dude, shredded always.
Veins in his abs, like crazy.
joe rogan
Yeah, and he was talking about the Cuban program.
I'll never forget.
It was like talking about how they have the lower-level guys only eat twice a day, but the top-level guys eat three times a day.
And so everybody is competing literally for food.
dustin poirier
Crazy, you say that in Angola prison in Louisiana, there's a boxing league.
If you're on the boxing league and get accepted into it, you get more meals and stuff.
So the same thing, these prisoners are trying their best to stay on this boxing league.
You get more meals, more time, more free time.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
They actually fight other prisons, man.
joe rogan
Whoa.
dustin poirier
I was thinking this would be a great documentary to come out with.
joe rogan
That would be a great documentary.
dustin poirier
And it's CCTV to the other prisons, so other prisons can watch in their cells.
joe rogan
Whoa.
dustin poirier
They bus them to Angola.
Other prisons in Louisiana, they box.
They put out a schedule every year.
If you ever want to go to one, it's invite only, but I can't.
joe rogan
I'd rather watch at home.
dustin poirier
Bro, it feels illegal, dude.
It feels illegal.
joe rogan
Well, it might not be legal in other states.
dustin poirier
Yeah, it might not be legal in Louisiana.
I might be getting in trouble saying this.
joe rogan
Is anybody any good?
dustin poirier
Hell yeah.
joe rogan
You think Bernard Hoffman came out of jail?
dustin poirier
I mean, the guy, obviously, Tyson beat him, but the Black Rhino was an Angola boxing prisoner who got out or pardoned to fight Mike Tyson.
joe rogan
Really?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
I did not know that.
So do they have a program where they have coaches?
dustin poirier
They have to.
joe rogan
Do they have equipment and everything?
unidentified
Wow.
dustin poirier
And different, according to the schedule, they'll bus them to the other prisons to fight, and it's played through all the prisons in Louisiana.
joe rogan
Man, you find a highly skilled guy who's in that program.
dustin poirier
And they let him go, bro.
The refs, they're legitimate refs, but they let the fights go, man.
joe rogan
What kind of nutrition are they getting, though?
They're getting prison food?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Are they getting any better food?
dustin poirier
No, prison food, but they get more meals.
They get to eat extra.
joe rogan
Still terrible food, right?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
Yeah, Angola's a crazy, crazy prison, man.
Grow all the food there, make all the clothes there.
joe rogan
They grow their food there?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
unidentified
Awesome really.
Self-sustaining.
joe rogan
It's not bad.
dustin poirier
Self-sustaining.
I'm sure they ship a bunch of stuff in, but they do have crops.
And it's such a big operation that the guards and the staff live on the prison grounds.
There's an elementary school.
Really?
Yeah, the guards, kids, and stuff go to school on the grounds.
It's wild, man.
joe rogan
Oh, that can't be good.
dustin poirier
It's wild.
Every October, they have the rodeo there.
jamie vernon
Article about that boxing association from 2011.
joe rogan
Wow.
jamie vernon
I was in an interview with some people, I think, that were part of it.
joe rogan
Well, you want to focus.
You know, women weakened legs ain't no woman in there, dog.
dustin poirier
Hell no.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
Yeah, serious business, man.
joe rogan
I did not know that.
That's nuts, man.
Yeah, how come no one's done a documentary on this, or have they?
dustin poirier
I know.
Well, B-Hop was a prison boxer in Philly, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, this would be a great documentary, man.
Interesting.
joe rogan
Yeah, Bernard learned, I mean, I mean, learned like real discipline in prison and also learned that he never wants to go back.
dustin poirier
No.
joe rogan
You know, which is as important.
dustin poirier
And I think Angola is like maximum security.
So you don't go there if you have less than like 25 years or something.
So these guys are in there for a long time just trying to find things to do and boxing, eating extra, getting more free time.
Why wouldn't you do it?
joe rogan
Awesome.
dustin poirier
Get in shape.
joe rogan
Keeps you focused.
You have something to concentrate on other than the fact that you're in jail.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
It was wild, bro.
They set up a ring like in a cafeteria.
I went there once to watch it.
It was insane.
unidentified
Wow.
dustin poirier
It felt like I was doing something wrong.
It felt like I was doing something wrong.
joe rogan
Were the guys good?
unidentified
Fuck yeah.
dustin poirier
Some of them were good, man.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
Really good.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
Fuck.
joe rogan
That's interesting.
They pardoned that guy.
dustin poirier
There's titles, too.
They have belts.
The Black Rhino.
Clifford, maybe?
joe rogan
ATN.
unidentified
Yes.
Yes.
joe rogan
That's right.
That's right.
dustin poirier
So he was in prison boxing in Angola and he fought Tyson.
unidentified
Wow.
joe rogan
No shit.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, why not, man?
At least it gives them something to focus on.
The idea is like, oh, you're going to make a more dangerous felon?
Bro, they're dangerous.
They're dangerous.
They're in there for murder.
What do you think?
What do you think?
They're in there for armed robbery, murder.
Like, let them fight.
dustin poirier
Right.
Doing life.
joe rogan
Right.
Exactly.
Like, also, we're trying to pretend that that's not going to improve the quality of their life and improve them as a human being.
Like, doing something difficult, even if it's difficult and violent, like fighting, will make you a better human being.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
Will make you tougher, smarter, more disciplined, more focused.
Also, release all the aggression there so you don't have aggression in like regular altercations nearly as much.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
That's where I'm at right now.
Like leaving fighting in the rear view is like, what do I do with my life now?
joe rogan
It's days along.
dustin poirier
Dude, I've been traveling so much twice a week, maybe.
If I'm home on Friday, I do open matchups.
A couple kickboxing classes if I can make it.
But I've just been traveling so much, man.
joe rogan
Why have you been traveling so much?
dustin poirier
Sponsors, appearances, cornering buddies, like just saying yes to everything that I couldn't before.
I'm more busy now, I think, because before I would shut everything down, like I got to get ready for this fight.
I have to focus on this.
No, I can't do anything.
Black out these dates.
Now it's like.
joe rogan
You're really good on the desk, man.
dustin poirier
I enjoy it, man.
I really do.
joe rogan
You can tell.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that's one of the best things that the UFC does with former fighters is they give them this opportunity to do stuff on the desk.
I think that's huge.
dustin poirier
I hope they keep bringing me.
I just signed a contract for the year.
When it was ESPN, I was kind of doing like independence contractor stuff.
They would ask me.
I would say yes, but I'm on contract with the UFC for a year.
So hopefully they keep bringing me, man.
All the people behind the scenes, just being around the event that I've, you know, I've fought at for so long, it just makes me feel good.
Yeah.
And I get nervous because it's live TV.
You can't fuck up.
You know, live TV is different.
joe rogan
Well, I would like to see they allow more of you guys to take the spots doing fights in commentary.
dustin poirier
Oh, like color?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I mean, right now it's just Dominic Cruz, Paul Felder, Michael Bisping, and DC.
That's essentially it.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, those are only former fighters from the UFC that are doing it.
And I really think there's room for more guys.
Dan Hardy was great.
dustin poirier
Yeah, for sure.
joe rogan
He was awesome at it.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he was.
joe rogan
I don't know what the fuck happened with him in the UFC.
They had some sort of a squabble and he left, but he's fantastic over at PFL.
dustin poirier
He's still with them?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, he does that.
He's really good, man.
dustin poirier
He breaks stuff down.
joe rogan
Very good.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Very good.
And he's a great guy.
I've known him forever.
He was a 10th planet jiu-jitsu guy, so I've known him since like, fuck, I must have met him 20 years ago.
dustin poirier
Wow.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
I didn't know that.
joe rogan
Yeah, before he was fighting GSP, before he's fighting any of those guys, I knew him.
He would come over from England to train in America.
dustin poirier
He was such a knockout artist.
We never really get to see him do jiu-jitsu.
joe rogan
Yeah, no, he was good at jiu-jitsu too, man.
I mean, he trained hard.
And he's just a very smart dude who knows a lot about the sport.
dustin poirier
Yeah, it seems like when he's breaking down stuff, you can tell he's studied.
joe rogan
He's also just like a very skillful commentator because he's very intelligent.
And the way he describes things, it's exciting.
I mean, I think they, I don't know what happened with them.
dustin poirier
And when I'm on the desk with those guys, I try my best to not break things down too much.
Muay Thai Rules and Elbow Damage 00:07:39
dustin poirier
Like on the stats side, I try to make it seem like a conversation, sitting on the couch watching fights with your boys where I talk about experiences that I've had and stuff because they explained it to me.
Like that's what fans want to see.
If they want to look up stats, they'll go look it up.
They don't want to hear you talk about submission attempts and exact stats.
They want to know your experience.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
So like each rep, I think I'm getting better, you know, opening up and being more myself.
I'm trying to do a good job, man.
I really, really enjoy it.
joe rogan
I think stats are interesting sometimes, but what's really more important than that is like a technical breakdown of abilities.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Because stats, it's variable depending on who you're fighting.
Like, you take Charles Oliveira's stats, and then you say his fight with Islam Makachev, and you say, okay, well, where's the stats?
Like, it's like, it's really dependent upon skill sets, who's your level of competition, who you're competing with.
You know what I mean?
dustin poirier
That was a quick submission, though.
The stats are one submission attempt, one submission.
joe rogan
Bro, he's got a crushing squeeze.
dustin poirier
It's different to that.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he strangled me.
And the way he did it, I think he Moikano filled in last minute to fight Islam and got caught with the same choke.
It's kind of like a Darsh choke, but he locks it on his forearm.
He doesn't go to the bicep.
joe rogan
I know.
dustin poirier
And the squeeze is different.
He's pulling to his chest.
It's not like an angle squeeze.
It's different.
So the defense is different.
When I got my legs out and tried to walk around, he hooked my leg, but the squeeze is completely different.
Completely different.
You know, you belly down and kind of get some space to breathe.
You can't the way he does it.
joe rogan
Craig Jones broke it down.
dustin poirier
It's like a front choke, almost like a squeeze to your chest.
It's not an angle that you use for a normal Darsh choke.
joe rogan
I know.
I was shocked the first time I saw him do it.
I was like, maybe he just couldn't cinch up the bicep.
And then I saw him do it a second time.
I was like, no, This guy's trying to do it that way.
He grabs right here.
Craig Jones pulls to his chest.
He has some breakdown of it on YouTube where he explains why it's effective and what's so good about it.
dustin poirier
And when he gets the grip locked in, it's complete, immediate blood shutdown.
You know, usually you feel it slowly fading away.
It was like right away.
joe rogan
Wow, so that dude's got a background-through movie on.
dustin poirier
The darkness started coming in as soon as he got the grip.
joe rogan
Really?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
He's so fucking strong, man.
There's like something about those Dagestan guys, man.
Like the discipline those motherfuckers have.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, there's Dagestan guys that are making their way into Muay Thai now, too.
There's this dude, Asadullah Iman Ghazaliv.
I talk about him all the time, but I can't talk about him enough.
He's one of those one FC guys that is fighting in Muay Thai from Dagestan.
And this fucking kid is 22 years old and he's knocking out like multiple time world tie champions.
dustin poirier
I've never seen him.
joe rogan
Bro, this dude is a freak.
I mean, he's just putting people into the shadow realm every fight.
dustin poirier
Dude, it's so wild to fight four-ounce gloves in Muay Thai.
joe rogan
I know.
dustin poirier
But I mean, you could throw elbows and stuff in knees.
joe rogan
It's perfect.
It's like four-ounce gloves.
I mean, look, you're throwing elbows, knees, everything else in the clinch.
It allows you to grapple better.
dustin poirier
It just makes it so much more dangerous for the blocking.
You know, you don't have the gloves covering all the space around your ears.
joe rogan
But this cat is special, man.
He's special.
dustin poirier
Nasty man.
joe rogan
And he's from Dagestan.
It's like, okay, imagine this motherfucker gets into MMA.
Everybody's fucked.
If this guy can wrestle at all, which you know he can if he's from fucking Dagestan.
dustin poirier
Well, they do a lot of kickboxing sambo, right?
joe rogan
Yeah.
This dude's something, though.
He's something new.
Oh, my God.
Because he's 22 years old.
And he's like world Muay Thai champions.
He's sleeping them all.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's nuts, man.
dustin poirier
What weight is that?
joe rogan
145.
I think he's 145 or 35.
145.
dustin poirier
Probably tall, taller than me.
jamie vernon
132.
joe rogan
132?
Is that what it says?
jamie vernon
This thing right here says on screen.
Weight limit, 132.7.
joe rogan
Interesting.
dustin poirier
510.
joe rogan
Interesting.
jamie vernon
60 kilograms.
dustin poirier
22 years old, man.
joe rogan
Well, at that weight, well, and then you think about one has some crazy thing.
Look at this.
Win, knockout, win, knockout, win, knockout.
He's a freak, man.
And that one dude that made it to the unanimous decision is just this kid from Morocco who's just tough as shit.
But goddamn, he took a beating.
dustin poirier
They have such a great product, man.
I wonder how many viewers and how the ratings are.
joe rogan
I mean, it's big in Asia, but they have financial struggles.
I don't want to speak to it because I don't know enough, but there's a lot of talk.
dustin poirier
I know they wanted to start doing shows in America.
joe rogan
They've done a few.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
I know they did one in Colorado.
They maybe have done multiple.
I'm not aware.
But it's a great product.
That's the thing.
It's like I love watching their kickboxing fights on YouTube.
And that kid, Yuki Yoza, that I was telling you about that throws calf kicks, he's fucking everybody up with calf kicks.
And there's another guy from a lot of these Kyokushin guys, especially in kickboxing.
So like they have different rule sets over there in one.
You can fight kickboxing where they use big gloves, or you could fight Muay Thai, where they use little gloves.
And I think they've had Muay Thai fights where they have big gloves too.
So in the kickboxing, you're not allowed to clinch, not allowed to throw elbows.
But you can throw knees, but you can't clinch and just continue to throw knees.
And you can't sweep and can't take guys down.
It's a little confusing.
I think Muay Thai is the way to go.
But the thing about kickboxing in Japan is like they just wanted to, that's what K1 was.
They're like, let's just take out all the clinching and make this as exciting as possible.
What's the best way to do that?
And the elbows, elbows are very effective, obviously, and knock a lot of guys out, but also cut a lot of people open and stop fights prematurely, which is why Pride didn't allow elbows, which is really crazy when you think about that.
Because soccer kicks and stomps.
dustin poirier
But you were fighting multiple times.
joe rogan
True.
dustin poirier
Cuts, you know, if you get cut in the first fight, it could change everything.
I think that makes sense.
joe rogan
I kind of, but I mean, soccer kicks?
Stomps and soccer kicks?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
No elbows?
It's hard to say because for-let knees to a grounded guy.
Yeah.
Ground and prown elbows are so effective.
It's so important.
I mean, it really, like, guys that think they're comfortable and safe in the guard, you're not.
You're not when a guy can still bust you up with elbows from a short distance.
It's a very effective technique.
dustin poirier
Yeah, very damaging cut.
Yeah, very, very damaging technique.
joe rogan
Well, there's a real problem with the cage, and the problem is the wall.
Like, the fence is an artificial structure that keeps you from being able to move.
And I've always said this: that I think it should be an open mat.
It should be a large mat.
And you should not.
dustin poirier
Like a wrestling mat?
joe rogan
Yeah, like a big wrestling mat.
Like, think about a basketball game.
Like, think about how much space is on a basketball court.
And you still get 16,000 people in there to watch a basketball game.
dustin poirier
Guys would be, I would think, running, running around a lot of.
joe rogan
You know, maybe you get penalty.
Penalty for moving too much.
Maybe you have a pride.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You have a red zone.
dustin poirier
Yellow card?
joe rogan
Well, you have a center that you're supposed to stay in, and then you have a red zone outside of it.
And then you have a black zone outside the red zone where you get points taken away.
You enter into the red zone too many times.
You get a warning for the first time, another warning for the second time, third time, you get a point taken away.
So you could use it once or twice to evade, but then you got to go back into the area where you're supposed to fight.
dustin poirier
I think that would be cool.
How big of an area are you talking about?
joe rogan
Basketball court.
dustin poirier
That's too big, man.
That's too big.
joe rogan
How about football?
How about football fucking field?
unidentified
Meeting.
joe rogan
Meet the center.
dustin poirier
That's too big.
joe rogan
They're doing that with no rules fights.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, I watch a lot of no rules fights.
They're hard.
No-Rules Fights and Arena Sizes 00:13:28
dustin poirier
The Russian stuff?
joe rogan
They're so scary because guys just mount guys and gouge their eyes out.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They're mounting people and just shoving their fingers in there, and guys are screaming and tapping.
dustin poirier
I run across some pretty crazy stuff on IG sometimes.
joe rogan
But they're fighting in parking lots.
They're fighting on booths.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Cars, upside down, underwater.
They're fighting everywhere.
joe rogan
They're fighting everywhere.
dustin poirier
I saw them on a cargo container floating on top of water where you get knocked off.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
It's so ridiculous.
dustin poirier
American Gladiator.
joe rogan
KO'd and you fall into the water and you just breathe water and they don't rescue you in time.
dustin poirier
Just fight with those kid floaties on.
If you get knocked out, you just float to the top.
joe rogan
Instead of those Muay Thai things, Blow them up.
dustin poirier
Your corners blowing them up.
joe rogan
Yeah.
But I think the cage.
You know how the UFC BJJ does that sloped surface?
A perfect karate combat.
dustin poirier
Karate combat.
joe rogan
Karate Combat does that sloped surface.
That's a good one.
dustin poirier
And that's a big space they fight in karate combat.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Something like that, I think, would be good.
joe rogan
It would be better.
There's something about the, but the problem is then you're backing up and you hit that ramp and you fall down.
dustin poirier
Or what was the old karate?
It was like, I don't think it was Chuck Norse.
joe rogan
Chuck Norris.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Chuck Norse.
dustin poirier
His league, something like that.
joe rogan
Yeah, I think it was World Combat League or something.
I went to see that one.
dustin poirier
WCF.
joe rogan
Yeah, something like that.
World Combat Federation.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think the first guy to do a slanted thing, though, was Frank Shamrock.
You know, a lot of people don't realize that Frank Shamrock had an organization for a while.
And they fought in like this sloped sort of thing.
dustin poirier
Fucking Kumite.
joe rogan
I think he might have been the first guy.
Frank was way ahead of his time.
Way ahead of his time.
And he's another guy that got erased from, because he had a falling out with the UFC.
And he got kind of erased from the lineage of elite fighters from the past.
dustin poirier
Fighting older in Strike Force, like still bodied up.
joe rogan
I know.
dustin poirier
He was a student of martial arts.
Yes.
joe rogan
Yes.
But by the time he got to Strike Force, his kind of best days were behind him, like when Nick Diaz beat him up.
He wasn't the same guy.
When he fought Phil Baroni, it wasn't the same guy.
He had a lot of knee problems, and it's like, it's just not, after a while, it's like, he might have been like 40s in Strikeforce.
I don't know how old he was.
dustin poirier
Late 30s, 40s.
joe rogan
Late 30s for sure.
But when you go back to his fights in the UFC, I mean, he was a pioneer, man.
When he fought Tito or Ts, he was nowhere near Tito's size.
And he just beat Tito with cardio, just cardio and defense.
And then eventually wore his ass down and beat him up and changed Tito's entire strategy for fighting after that.
dustin poirier
He was one of the guys early who was like super fit, super, you know, really focused on his health and nutrition and supplementation and everything.
Back then, you didn't see a whole lot of that, but he was one of the guys for sure.
joe rogan
Well, the Lions Den, you know, Ken Shamrock's, the thing that they put guys through, this gauntlet that they put guys through in order to make the team, to make the fight team, was hell.
It was just hell.
They wanted guys to break.
And so extreme conditioning, extreme mental toughness, like all that was emphasized.
And so Frank was the best example of that, though, because he was elite everywhere.
He was taking guys down.
He had great submissions.
He had great striking.
And, you know, he fought some wild fights, man.
He fought Ensign.
I don't remember where that was.
Was that in K1?
But he beat Ensign with knees.
He had fought in multiple organizations.
Obviously, he started out in Pancrease.
But he had only been training for like a year or something like that when he fought boss rooting in Pancrace.
He was super fucking talented, man.
dustin poirier
They let him wear boots, right?
Or some kind of leg.
joe rogan
Yeah, you had some weird shin pad deal.
You had wrestling shoes with shin pads and open-hand slaps.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah.
It was always Palm.
joe rogan
Uh-huh.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
So what is this in?
Does it say what it's in?
dustin poirier
2011.
joe rogan
This says UFC.
It's not UFC.
Oh, it's Valley Tudo Japan.
dustin poirier
Yeah, this was before 2011.
jamie vernon
Yeah.
joe rogan
Okay, so this is Valley Tudo Japan.
So Valley Tudo Japan, I wonder if it's the same Valley Tudo that Hickson fought in.
So Hickson was the champion of Valley Tudo Japan early on.
Well, that was like in the documentary Choke.
You've seen that, right?
dustin poirier
A long time ago, yeah.
joe rogan
Documentary rules.
Yeah, man.
That documentary rules.
That's how Hickson became a legend.
dustin poirier
Back in the real NHB, no, no rules days.
joe rogan
Well, the first UFC that I went to was UFC 12 in Dothan, Alabama.
And you could wear wrestling shoes.
You could punch guys in the nuts.
Hair pulling.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Grab their clothes.
dustin poirier
No weight classes.
joe rogan
There was two weight classes back then.
Like, because Vitor won the heavyweight tournament back then.
I think they had two weight classes back then.
So they still recognize that there's some smaller guys and some big guys.
The smaller guys are real talented, but they're never going to beat the big giant guys.
So let's have a weight class for them.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
I remember written VHS tapes with my dad or the old UFCs, dude.
joe rogan
What got you into the sport?
Like, how old were you when you first started martial arts training, period?
dustin poirier
17.
joe rogan
17.
That's late.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
If you think about it, right?
dustin poirier
Well, I mean, if you want to call it wrestling, I wrestled for two years when I was 10 and 11 for a private club.
Did like traveling, Texas a lot, Louisiana, small club meets.
But other than that, no combat sports, no martial art experience.
joe rogan
How'd you get into it?
dustin poirier
Boxing when I was 17, I wanted to box.
Always wanted to box.
Started going to a boxing gym.
Met some MMA guys there.
Didn't know they had MMA where I was from.
Then went to the MMA gym and never went back to the boxing gym.
joe rogan
So what year are we talking?
dustin poirier
2006, maybe?
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
So this was right when the UFC first started.
dustin poirier
This is like, I remember when Stefan and Forrest did the big thing.
This was like beginning around the time I was training.
Boxing and mixed martial arts.
So that wave, like, I just never stopped.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man.
What was it?
The World Combat, like Chris Horodecki was over there.
Ben Rotho was over there.
Remember, what was that called?
The team organization.
That was big at the time.
joe rogan
Right.
IFL.
dustin poirier
IFL.
Yeah.
Everybody had teams and stuff.
That was weird.
That was real big around that time.
Yeah, I didn't know.
joe rogan
That's where Dan Miller, Jim's brother, landed the grossest guillotine I've ever seen in my life.
Have you ever seen this one?
dustin poirier
I think so.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
It's the worst guillotine of all time.
He gets this guy in a guillotine, traps his head in his chest, and bends his chest so his head is connected to his own chest sideways.
So like this.
His head went all the way down and touched his chest.
I don't even know how he stayed alive.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Watch this.
Watch this.
Watch this guillotine.
dustin poirier
There it is.
joe rogan
Check this out.
No, watch this guillotine.
Look at that.
Look at that.
Bro.
dustin poirier
Jesus.
joe rogan
Bro, how's that guy alive?
Look at that.
Look at that.
How is he alive?
Have you ever seen that before?
Ever?
Like, that's crazy.
That is the craziest guillotine I've ever seen in my life.
That's so crazy.
dustin poirier
Looks like his neck's broken, bro.
joe rogan
How's he alive?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, first of all, why did it take so long for the referee to stop?
Who's the referee?
dustin poirier
Steve Mazzigati.
joe rogan
I don't know who it is, but you could have probably stopped that a couple of seconds earlier.
But I mean, it's just hard to imagine that a neck can go in that direction.
Like, it's so that doesn't show it.
The other angle that you showed is really what showed it.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
The other angle where you see it from the side, where you see his head.
Like, when he cinches it up here, that is crazy.
That you're not supposed to bend like that.
You know, your ear is never supposed to touch your chest.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
I don't know how it does.
I don't know.
It just seems like everything would break.
It seems like you would never walk again.
dustin poirier
He's not, Dan's not fighting anymore, aren't he?
No.
joe rogan
Jim's still fighting.
dustin poirier
Jim's still rolling, man.
joe rogan
Jim's still fighting.
dustin poirier
Still rolling.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
dustin poirier
Most fights in UFC history.
joe rogan
And still fine.
No surgeries?
No, nothing.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Still durable.
dustin poirier
Did get beat up.
Was his last fight, Bobby Green?
That was the last time I think I saw him fight.
joe rogan
I don't know if that was his last fight, but he definitely got beat up.
dustin poirier
That was the one.
joe rogan
He's definitely lost a step.
I mean, he's 40 years old.
unidentified
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
But man, dude still loves it.
Still loves it.
dustin poirier
Respect to him, dude.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
I mean, he sent me a cookbook.
He came out a cookbook.
He's a big cook and hunter and stuff.
He said he had a cookbook and a spatula.
joe rogan
Oh, that's hilarious.
dustin poirier
Captain Redbeard or Jimmy Redbeard on the spatula.
It's like engraved into it.
Fuck yeah.
joe rogan
He's quite a character.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I like him.
I like him, man.
joe rogan
I like him a lot too.
He's a very fun dude.
And also, complete wits about him.
Doesn't have any problems mentally.
dustin poirier
Seems like a hard worker.
He's always on his farm doing stuff.
Like, you would never think he was a fighter if you didn't know.
joe rogan
I know, right?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, he's a fascinating character.
Well, the thing about this sport is that exceptional humans are exceptional at fighting.
Like to be an exceptional fighter, you have to be an exceptional person.
There's really no way around it.
There's like, it's too hard to do.
You have to be a very unique kind of human being that can get through those camps, that can perform under the big lights, that can figure out how to keep getting better and evolve.
dustin poirier
For sure.
And that type of stuff is like the last time I was on a show, I was talking about it.
It's like a gift and a curse, man.
It's like you have to be all in at something.
Those kind of people who are built like that, whether it's fighting or drinking or whether it's good or bad, you're going all in.
It's dangerous.
joe rogan
That's the problem.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
The problem is like what you see with Connor, when they don't have the fighting, then they go all in with the other things.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
dustin poirier
Fighting was always, for me, always pulled everything together.
You know, that's why like retiring is scary, man.
Days are long.
I have a lot of time.
I don't have to get ready for a fight.
I don't, you know.
joe rogan
You're still a young man, too.
You still have a whole lot of life ahead of you.
dustin poirier
37, man.
joe rogan
Yeah, so it makes you think, like, what do I do now?
What do I do with my future?
What do I do?
What do you want to do?
dustin poirier
Dude, I kind of got like for a week or so, I wouldn't say depressed, but I kind of got into like a funk.
Like, what the hell am I going to do with my life?
Every day I would wake up for the last 20 years.
How can I be a better fighter?
How can I, what's new in fitness?
How can I push myself?
I want to be the champion.
And then, boom, you lay the gloves down and you wake up and you're a fucking civilian.
Like, it feels crazy.
You know, it's like I'm relearning who I am.
Like, I always knew fighting was just something I did.
It wasn't who I was.
But after 20 years of doing it, even though you know that and you think that, like, it, fuck, I don't know who I am without fighting.
joe rogan
How long did it take you?
unidentified
I'm a father.
dustin poirier
I'm a husband.
I'm a lot of things.
But like, fighting was a cloud in my mind that never went away for 20 years.
Right.
And now I wake up and it's gone.
Like, what do I do?
I'm still trying to find out, Joe.
I don't know.
joe rogan
Did you still get nervous when you would go to events?
You know, that feeling that you get like you competed?
You couldn't be competing.
No, no, no.
dustin poirier
Yeah, dude.
joe rogan
When you go to other events for other people.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Just feeling like you might have to compete.
dustin poirier
Dude, my hands are sweaty.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's weird, right?
dustin poirier
For sure.
I mean, obviously, it just happened to me last couple weeks when Max fought Charles.
I was nervous.
I had armpit stains.
joe rogan
My hands were sweating.
dustin poirier
I'm like, dude, I hope those people don't see this.
joe rogan
Right, because you feel like you're still there.
dustin poirier
You're connected to both these guys for some reason.
joe rogan
Well, you are forever.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's the thing.
That's what's so interesting about watching old fighters, even old boxers when they go to like Hall of Fame ceremonies and they've seen each other and hugging.
Like those guys are connected in time forever.
dustin poirier
Yeah, Max came up to the desk and I was like, we spent an hour of our lives fighting each other as hard as we could.
And he didn't even know.
He's like, no, wait, an hour?
I'm like, yeah, dude.
We went to two decisions, two five-round decisions, and we fought the first fight was one or two rounds.
So it's an hour a fight.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
We spent an hour beating each other up.
joe rogan
That is crazy when you think about it.
dustin poirier
An hour is a long time.
An hour is a long time to fight another man.
joe rogan
Especially burying your soul in front of the world.
It's not a regular hour.
Just being out at the beach.
dustin poirier
It's the biggest hour.
joe rogan
And it's an hour you're prepared for for months each time.
dustin poirier
But because of that, like you were saying with the boxers, like we know, we have an unwritten thing we know about each other.
Something we never spoke about, but we know each other better than a lot of people do.
joe rogan
Yeah, you know when a person breaks and who doesn't break.
dustin poirier
Max doesn't break.
joe rogan
He doesn't break.
I mean, you see it in that fight.
I mean, how does he go through that whole round and not get submitted dry with Oliver on his back and got close a few times?
Like crushing his face.
dustin poirier
Like that old Shinyayoki where you go the angle and you can choke through the jaw.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah, man.
Guys go to sleep.
dustin poirier
Neck crank, it'll choke you to sleep too.
joe rogan
Well, even just a rear naked across your face.
I've seen guys go to sleep.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
They just go to sleep.
You try not to tap and you just wake up and you're like, how did he choke me out over my face?
dustin poirier
Because it's like if you get enough torque and crank, it'll cut off the vein or whatever.
You know, it'll put you out.
joe rogan
It's enough, which is nuts.
dustin poirier
And it's so much pain on the jaw, too.
joe rogan
Oh, it's horrible.
dustin poirier
Choking, getting lack of oxygen to the brain is one thing.
Like the jaw binding up against the bones.
Like, you know, that sharp pain you get when somebody's face cranking you in your jaw.
joe rogan
It feels hell.
dustin poirier
Yeah, it feels like it's going to dislocate.
Neck Cranks and Submission Sleepers 00:14:55
joe rogan
Yeah, well, that was the thing with Khabib and Connor, where he did that torque, that torque crank where he got his neck and he cinched it up with the forearm behind the neck and pulls back like this.
That is hell.
dustin poirier
And those guys squeeze is different, man.
joe rogan
Those guys squeeze is different.
Well, there's something about lifelong grapplers.
There's like a density to them that's just different.
dustin poirier
The density, the strength, and just like the knowing of where to put the pressure and what angle to turn your hips to make a big difference.
You know, people outside don't even see it, but it's so, so crucial in the moment when somebody's on your back and they just turn a little bit toward the elbow, you know, rather than just squeeze straight on.
Small things like that or, you know, what win fights.
joe rogan
I'll tell you the fight that I'm really looking forward to, really looking forward to, because I don't know what's going to happen is Hamzat versus Strickland.
I'm very interested in that fight.
Strickland is a fucking nightmare standing up.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
He's a nightmare.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
What he did at Fluffy Hernandez, I was like, holy shit, man.
dustin poirier
The body shot, the finish.
But he made Fluffy fight.
You know, he fights at a slower pace.
He has his own pace in there, and he kind of forces the other guy to fight.
His opponent has to fight this pace with him.
I think the best chance is to blitz him, do unorthodox things, because he wants to jab, circle, throw a kick, jab, circle.
He keeps a very slow pace.
He's not sprinting or trying to blast you out of there.
He just chips away high guard.
Good show.
joe rogan
Yeah, very good show.
His defense is extraordinary.
He, you know, one of the things he was telling me is like, I spar more than anybody, and I get hit less than anybody.
And that is true.
Like, if you think about how much that guy spars, it's a giant part of his training.
dustin poirier
Look at James Toney.
He was hard to hit and all he did was spar.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
You know?
Right.
joe rogan
Perfect example.
dustin poirier
There's something taught in that, in those homes.
joe rogan
100%.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Understanding of distance, timing, pattern recognition.
You're constantly in there, moving around.
It's like, and then there's also the cardio that comes from sparring.
It's different.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, because his cardio is almost entirely based on sparring.
And man, that motherfucker doesn't get tired in there.
And the Fluffy fight was like, I thought Fluffy was going to be a problem.
I'm like, Fluffy's really good, man.
You think he submitted Adolfo Vieira?
He's got all this fucking crazy cardio.
He puts a pace on guys.
And Strickland made it look like he just did not belong in there.
dustin poirier
He's so heavy on that front foot, though.
I can't believe guys aren't smashing that calf, man.
joe rogan
I know.
Well, he's hard to hit, man.
And he also knows how to do that fucking hacky sack thing where, you know, like you're bending your knee upwards.
You know what I mean?
dustin poirier
To check it?
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Well, you don't even check it.
You just kind of like relax your leg and lift it up.
You know who showed me that?
Is Alex Pereira?
He's like, instead of checking it, it's like, if you check it, it still hurts you.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
But he just lifts his leg up.
He just goes heel to knee on the opposite side.
And so like a hacky sack man.
dustin poirier
Right, right.
I've seen guys take thigh leg kicks like that.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Kind of let it swing a little.
joe rogan
But he does it with the calf.
So it's like he sees it coming.
Instead of doing that, stepping out and checking it, he just like, look at this.
unidentified
See that?
joe rogan
Yeah, that's it.
Well, that, I think, in this instance, I think that was probably the, I don't know if that was the first fight of this hecken fight, but Izzy's calf was already done.
He was really happy.
He told me after that fight, he goes, when he got stopped in the first fight, he goes, dude, I wasn't even that hurt.
It wasn't that.
He goes, I couldn't move.
He goes, my calf was curved.
dustin poirier
It doesn't go away.
joe rogan
Yeah, that one's crazy.
dustin poirier
That's hard to do, bro.
joe rogan
That's kind of silly.
jamie vernon
Soccer movie.
dustin poirier
That's hard to do.
joe rogan
That's kind of silly.
I don't think he really does that.
dustin poirier
Block it with the bottom of your feet.
joe rogan
He could, though.
I'm very interested in that fight, too.
Him versus Cyril Gon.
That's very interesting.
dustin poirier
For sure.
For sure.
And I know the power is going to translate over to heavyweight.
That's not going to be 100%.
He'll be able to flatline heavyweights.
joe rogan
100%, especially with zero weight cut.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
He's probably 230, 240 walking around.
230 something, maybe.
joe rogan
He's 240.
dustin poirier
Yeah, dude, come on.
joe rogan
He's 240 walking around.
dustin poirier
That's a legit heavyweight.
joe rogan
He's a legitimate.
Fucking guy, what?
unidentified
85.
dustin poirier
So is Cyril, man.
joe rogan
Cyril's good.
dustin poirier
An athlete heavyweight.
Not just a big guy fighting at heavyweight.
He's a legit heavyweight.
joe rogan
It is a crime in the sport that that fight with Aspinall got stopped the way it did, that he eye-poked him.
It's a crime.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because that fight was playing out in a very interesting direction because Aspinall was having a really hard time touching that.
dustin poirier
He was bleeding.
He was getting touched up.
joe rogan
He was dusted up.
He was getting touched up a lot.
Cyril's jab is legit.
dustin poirier
And that's what I was most excited for.
I wanted to see Tom have to come back, lose around, and come up.
I've never seen him.
Obviously, I've seen him fight, but I've never seen him in a real fight where you have to fight your way back into it.
joe rogan
How many times has he seen?
Has he even been in the second round?
dustin poirier
Twice, maybe?
Something crazy like that.
unidentified
Nuts.
dustin poirier
And that's why the fan base kind of blew me away.
I was like, these guys are so high on Aspinall right now.
Like for a few months, everybody was talking about Aspinall, how good he is.
I've never seen it.
Not that he's not.
He might, I mean, he has to be good to be where he's at.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
But I haven't seen it.
joe rogan
Well, my thought was the real problem that Aspinall is going to present is in the grappling.
He's a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
He's a big fucker.
He's fast.
He's got a power double.
I mean, he explodes.
But when he's standing there and trying to stand with Cyril Gon, this is the first time that he was ever in front of a guy who was agile and quick and very technical.
Cyril Gon was doing a lot of sneaky shit.
One thing he does is he keeps his hand low and they pops that jab out.
So you don't know where it's coming from.
dustin poirier
Up jab.
joe rogan
He does a lot of weird shit with his front leg, too.
dustin poirier
He's pretty quick for his size.
Real quick.
joe rogan
Real quick.
dustin poirier
Good mobility, good hips.
joe rogan
Yeah, man.
Cyril's a great athlete.
Like, it's not just that.
I've seen him dunk basketballs and shit.
Like, he can move.
But it's just the fluidity of his striking is so efficient.
Like, that's his world.
If you just want to strike with him.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
I mean, John Jones is so smart.
John's like, fuck all this.
dustin poirier
Guillotine.
joe rogan
Even Francis.
Francis, well, he had a broken out knee in that fight.
But Francis just took him down every round and beat him up.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man.
joe rogan
But that's a different Cyril.
That's a Cyril that wasn't concentrating enough on his grappling and probably never thought that Francis was going to employ that tactic.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
And then really worked with a lot of wrestlers and tried to evolve his game.
dustin poirier
And Francis is on that Nate J card as well, right?
joe rogan
Right.
He's fighting Philip Linz.
dustin poirier
As an A to T guy.
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
How good is he?
dustin poirier
I've never really watched him train that much.
I know he made it to the UFC for a stint.
Then he maybe went PFL.
I'm not sure how good he is.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
I've seen him at the gym, but I've never watched him train.
joe rogan
It's fortunate that there's not another big name for him to fight.
Like, I was hoping they could get a big name.
dustin poirier
Bob Sapp.
joe rogan
I mean, who would be the big name?
dustin poirier
Like, who's at heavyweight?
joe rogan
Yeah, at heavyweight that's still talented.
No one.
Yeah.
Heavyweight is the most shallow division in the sport.
Period.
dustin poirier
Kane's out of jail.
Get him in shape.
joe rogan
Well, Kane's got crazy back surgeries and knee surgery and shoulder surgery.
Jane Kane was like too tough for his own body.
dustin poirier
And all the years of wrestling, man?
Wear and tear.
joe rogan
Wear and tear.
Well, also, just never giving his body a break, just constantly grinding and pushing.
And that's why he was so good.
dustin poirier
I think in his prime, the best.
I think he was the best.
joe rogan
Well, he was certainly in the argument.
In my mind, it's him and Fedor.
But honorable mention always I give to Fabricio Verdum.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because Fabrizio Verdum, people want to think about losses.
Think about peak performances.
Fabricio Verdum tapped everybody.
He tapped all the legends.
dustin poirier
Great trying.
joe rogan
He tapped Minotaro, he tapped Fedor, and he tapped Kane.
Like, just that.
Just that alone.
He tapped all the legends.
dustin poirier
I don't know why he's named it.
Like when I was thinking about heavyweights, why his name doesn't come in?
joe rogan
I just want to give him respect.
I always put it out there because the same way I do with BJ Penn, because people forget, they only want to think about BJ Penn maybe when he fought Frankie Edgar or when he fought Yair Rodriguez.
Go back to BJ Penn when he fought Sean Shirk.
Go back to BJ Penn when he fought Diego Sanchez.
That BJ Penn was a motherfucker.
dustin poirier
Joe Stevenson.
joe rogan
Yes, Joe Daddy Stevenson.
You got to think about the guys when they're in their prime, when they're redlining for X amount of years at peak performance.
When you're talking about like all-time greats, I get it.
All-time greats, you got to think about guys like John Jones and Khabib.
He never lost.
They stayed flawless their entire career.
You're right.
But for peak performance, when they were at their best, how good were they?
I put prime time BJ Penn at 155 against almost anybody.
dustin poirier
Yeah, you're right, man.
joe rogan
Bro, he was so good, and his jiu-jitsu was so good.
And he could knock you out, and he was an animal.
And when he was training with Marv Marinovich, when he went over there and was like really learning how to get in insane shape, and he would come there with carrying rocks underwater and stuff.
All that shit.
I think the carrying rocks was him.
Marinovich had him doing a lot of like crazy plyometric stuff.
And the Marinovich's strategy was: you already know how to fight.
Fuck all this fighting.
You know how to fight.
What we're going to do is just give you the most insane gas tank.
So your fight training is like secondary.
What's really important is just having the most spectacular gas tank so you never get tired.
But he hated those camps, man.
He hated it.
And he only did it.
dustin poirier
Even in the peak of his shape, he was still a little soft.
He was never shredded.
joe rogan
He was pretty shredded when he fought Joe Stevenson.
Yeah, he had a six-pack.
He looked good.
I mean, it was different.
But at 55, it was different.
dustin poirier
And everybody's body type's different.
joe rogan
Well, at 70, he was never really a 170.
You know, he was never.
I mean, he was much smaller than you.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
He was never really a 170.
He was just so tough that he went up to 170 and beat a primetime Matt Hughes.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
He stuck around longer than he should have.
joe rogan
He definitely did.
unidentified
He did.
joe rogan
And he definitely fought without training well sometimes.
And that's the thing people remember.
dustin poirier
Yes, I hate that, though.
joe rogan
They remember that one fight we fought on his tippy toes.
Remember that fight?
dustin poirier
Yep.
Yep.
joe rogan
Crazy.
Weird shit.
But you got to think about him in his prime.
That's what I always say.
Don't look at it.
Like Fabricio Verdum.
Don't look at all the fights.
Look at the fights when he was in his prime.
dustin poirier
When he was putting it all together.
joe rogan
Fabricio was a nightmare.
He was a nightmare.
dustin poirier
Like when they hit their stride.
That's what I was scared about staying around fighting too long.
Like, I retired at 36.
I'm like.
joe rogan
Perfect.
dustin poirier
How much more athletic am I going to get?
How much faster am I going to get?
How much, you know, power is the last thing to go, but durability, speed, reaction time, everything that I need.
Like, and if I'm not right in line for a title shot or knocking on the door of it, like, what am I doing?
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
I'm fighting just to fight for HR.
joe rogan
Isn't that crazy?
dustin poirier
That's when I had to look myself in the mirror, you know, like, okay, this is it.
I'm going to.
joe rogan
You did the right thing.
dustin poirier
Be healthy.
Leave my faculties for the most part.
joe rogan
The age that you retired was the age that Yoel Romero entered into the UFC.
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Isn't that nuts?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
It really is crazy if you think about it because that's really what happened.
And there's a few outliers out there in the sport.
Like in boxing, Usik is the great outlier.
Terrence Crawford is another great outlier.
dustin poirier
Dude, what about Usuk and Rico?
joe rogan
Crazy.
dustin poirier
Rico's a super nice guy.
I love Rico, man.
Super nice guy.
joe rogan
He's a nice guy, but without leg kicks, the fact that he's going to just box and he's going to box maybe the best technical heavyweight that's ever lived.
I don't know, man.
dustin poirier
I learned my lesson, dude.
I bet $5,000 on Fury.
joe rogan
Did you?
Yeah.
The second fight?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Interesting.
If anybody can beat him, it's Tyson Fury.
If anybody can beat Usik, it's Tyson Fury.
Because Tyson Fury was beating him in the first fight.
He just got clipped.
He got clipped in the, I think it was the ninth.
He got really badly hurt.
I don't remember what round it was, but he got really badly hurt and dropped.
But Uzik is just so slick.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man.
joe rogan
His footwork, his movement.
And the fact that he's essentially a blown-up cruiserweight and he's beaten all these giant heavyweights like Du Bois.
Like Daniel Du Bois is terrifying.
What he did to Joshua?
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Just charged forward and just put fucking leather on his face.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Rico's a real heavyweight, but he's not a pure boxer.
joe rogan
No.
I mean, he can hit hard.
I mean, there's that.
dustin poirier
But he's such a great kicker.
You're taking a weapon away.
It's interesting.
It's a spectacle.
I'm watching for sure, but I just.
joe rogan
I'm sure he's boxed with a lot of like really elite boxers in the gym.
I mean, but over the years, for sure, yeah.
The payday is probably bananas.
unidentified
I'm sure.
joe rogan
And they're fighting in Giza.
dustin poirier
In front of the pyramids?
joe rogan
Nuts.
unidentified
Crazy.
joe rogan
Who's putting this together?
Who put that together?
dustin poirier
I have no idea.
joe rogan
Yeah, aliens.
That's where they're going to land.
dustin poirier
Do they need to do a Coliseum fight, MMA or boxing, where they set it up either in the Coliseum or right in front?
You know, that would be crazy.
joe rogan
Well, they were talking about doing that with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
They were talking about the fighter.
dustin poirier
A real fight.
unidentified
I know, that's so crazy.
joe rogan
Dude, that would be so crazy to have those guys be the first fight in the first place.
dustin poirier
Do that one at Meta headquarters or something.
Don't do that at the Coliseum.
Don't disrespect the Coliseum.
No, no.
joe rogan
I know.
That's silly.
So who's live at the Pyramids of Giza?
WBC World Heavyweight Championship, DeZone.
But I wonder who the promoter is.
dustin poirier
WBC.
I don't.
joe rogan
Is that their faces?
That's so ridiculous.
Look at their fucking with their circular golden gloves on.
Glory in Giza.
dustin poirier
It's going to be interesting, man.
I'm excited about it.
joe rogan
I wonder who's going to buy that.
How much is that going to cost?
I'm going to buy it.
But I mean, how many people are going to buy that?
you know what i mean like i'm gonna buy it because it's i love rico I've had Rico on the show.
I mean, I think he's the greatest heavyweight kickboxer of all time.
dustin poirier
For sure.
I feel like the way combat sports has kind of intertwined all different stuff, boxing, MMA, how big mixed martial arts is now, you're going to get a lot of crossover.
Before you'd get a lot of hardcore boxing fans buying this pay-per-view, but now you're kind of going to get a little bit of everything.
Kickboxing, MMA, boxing fans.
joe rogan
Glory has such a small audience, unfortunately.
And this is the argument that Dana has said to me about kickboxing in America that they tried with Glory.
I just don't think they got the right promotion.
I think if the UFC was behind it.
dustin poirier
I mean, it's nonstop action.
It's highlights the whole time.
Why would you say?
joe rogan
I feel like if the UFC got behind kickboxing in America, it could be gigantic, especially kickboxing with MMA gloves.
That Gazaliev guy was fighting in the octagon.
You know how fucking gigantic that would be?
Or Yuki Yoza, there's another guy, Masata Nori.
There's a bunch of guys.
There's a bunch of guys that are really elite that are fighting.
unidentified
Yeah.
Knee Surgeries and Joint Preservation 00:15:36
dustin poirier
A bunch, man.
joe rogan
A lot.
unidentified
A lot.
joe rogan
Yeah, Masaki Nori.
Usik open to fighting John Jones in crossover MMA fight.
What?
Wait.
Okay, now you got me interested.
unidentified
Dude.
joe rogan
If the UFC comes up with the cheddar.
dustin poirier
You better start wrestling.
I'm going to chill in now.
joe rogan
Yeah, you better start wrestling.
dustin poirier
Wrestling right now.
joe rogan
Is that real?
Did he say that?
Rico is first.
Second is whoever wins between Wardley and Dubois.
And the third fight is my Fred Greedy Belly Tyson Fury.
So he's not.
A rematch with Dubois is a tough sell.
He just starched him.
The Tyson Fury fight is the big fight.
Because Tyson Fury is the only guy that, in my eyes, makes sense.
It says a fight with Jake Paul and MMA at this stage is not being considered, but we're always open to creative and interesting collaborations in the future.
If we were talking about crossover fights, a very interesting matchup could be against John Jones in the United States.
Whoa.
dustin poirier
I don't know what John's going to do, man, with all the stuff going on with the UFC.
He might be done.
Who knows?
joe rogan
He doesn't want to be done.
I know he got stem cells on his hip.
I know because I helped him get it.
He got it over at, he's talked about it.
I wouldn't have talked about it, but he talked about it.
He got it at Waste Well.
And so he's feeling a lot better.
He does have arthritis in his hip.
It bothers him, but it doesn't bother him enough where he can't fight.
And, you know, he's the greatest of all time.
Period.
dustin poirier
I did stem cells and PRP in my hip.
I didn't notice anything from that.
joe rogan
Well, it really depends on where you're getting the stem cells, what technology they're using.
There's a bunch of different kinds of stem cells.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
Talk to Brigham about that.
He can explain it.
dustin poirier
I got maybe one.
joe rogan
You had a labrum tear, right?
It was pretty significant.
dustin poirier
Yeah, and I had to get the head of my femur reshaped.
Like a resurfacing.
It was kind of egg-shaped and didn't need to be rounded.
So it tore everything off the inside of my hip.
joe rogan
So how do they do that?
dustin poirier
They take your leg out of socket.
They shave the top rounded, and then they micro, they put like a bunch of small holes in it to where it cracks.
And then stem cells leak out of your body to create a new surface, out of your bone.
joe rogan
How long did that take to recover from?
dustin poirier
I couldn't put pressure on it for eight weeks.
joe rogan
yeah because it's like so you're just walking around on one leg for two months solid yeah And then once you start walking on it, how weird was it?
dustin poirier
Very weird because I had to sleep in like a motion machine where my leg wouldn't stop moving at night.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
dustin poirier
Because your hip capsule is like tricky.
If it heals up too tight, your leg won't have any range of motion at all.
So while it's healing, you need to be in perpetual motion, I guess.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
And every week, they would send a new code for my wife to type in the machine, and it would be a little bit different angle.
joe rogan
Whoa.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
So my nightmare.
For those eight weeks, I was sleeping in this metal brace that moved my leg all night.
joe rogan
How did you sleep?
dustin poirier
It was horrible because it went up to like your junk inside your leg and outside of your leg.
So it's like you had a wedgie by this machine and your legs just motion all night.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
dustin poirier
It sucked, man.
joe rogan
That's terrifying.
dustin poirier
But it healed up.
I'm fine now.
It healed up good.
joe rogan
That's crazy that it worked.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
dustin poirier
Resurfacing.
unidentified
Whoa.
dustin poirier
The guy actually who did it in Vale, Colorado, invented the surgery.
GSP's had hip surgery there.
unidentified
Really?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
He invented this surgery.
joe rogan
And GSP had to do the same bullshit?
dustin poirier
I don't know if he had exactly what I had, but he had surgery there on his hip.
joe rogan
God, that sounds like two months of no sleeping.
How'd you sleep?
Did you get used to it?
dustin poirier
Well, the first week with pain medicine and stuff, you're on all that stuff.
It was after, like, when I stopped taking all that.
joe rogan
Pain medicine must have been fun.
Do, do, Triple Z, dude.
dustin poirier
I was having dreams and getting the best sleep of my life.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's a time where it makes sense to take that shit.
Like, you're in a fucking crazy brace.
Let's party.
dustin poirier
Yeah, for sure.
joe rogan
Watch Netflix and not give a shit about my leg.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I'm sleeping in this machine.
joe rogan
Hamster wheel.
dustin poirier
For real.
joe rogan
Whoever the hell's happening with my legs?
I was on one of those where I got my knee reconstructed.
dustin poirier
You had a bunch of knee surgeries.
joe rogan
Yeah, but my left knee, I had a patellar tendon graft, and they put me on one of them things where it does this.
Like when I was in the hospital, that's morphine drip.
So you could press the button to get more morphine.
I was like, boink, boink, boink, boink.
Dude, it's lying there.
dustin poirier
I had the same thing on my hip.
They put an epidural, and then they had a nerve block through my stomach.
So I was like completely paralyzed from the waist down.
But I had the button thing.
I don't think it was working anymore because I revved it up.
It was.
joe rogan
He red lines.
dustin poirier
He was shooting blanks, man.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
It is weird, though, to see your knee constantly moving forward, but I only had to do it like a couple of nights.
I can't imagine.
dustin poirier
I did it for weeks.
joe rogan
I can't imagine.
That must have been so hard to sleep, man.
dustin poirier
Yeah, the motion wasn't so bad because it's kind of slow.
joe rogan
Oh, okay.
dustin poirier
It was the metal in my groin.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
It probably rubbed it raw and shit.
Oh, God.
unidentified
Yeah, man.
joe rogan
Fuck, man.
dustin poirier
But, like I said, I was on the pain medicine.
joe rogan
It's crazy that it all worked, though.
Yeah.
Shout out to that doctor.
Shout out to all these doctors.
I say that all the time.
Like, both my knees would be fucking completely useless if it wasn't for amazing doctors.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
Shout out to these people.
I was just talking about figuring shit out.
dustin poirier
I worked with Paul Felder at that Vegas show, and he just had a hip replacement.
joe rogan
Yeah, he had the real deal.
dustin poirier
Yeah, no, he had a replacement replacement.
joe rogan
Why did he have to do that versus what you did?
dustin poirier
I'm not sure exactly.
It's something to do with the spacing, I think, inside your hip, how much spacing you have.
Because my spacing was good.
I wasn't a candidate for a replacement.
joe rogan
Well, Paul went full nutty after he stopped fighting and started doing Iron Man's.
dustin poirier
Yeah, dude.
was telling me he travels with a bicycle he does like still does that Cycling for five hours, like in a hotel room, like crazy.
joe rogan
That's not good.
unidentified
That's not healthy.
dustin poirier
That's crazy, man.
joe rogan
That's unhealthy.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Why are you doing that, Paul?
dustin poirier
Five hours, he told me.
joe rogan
Well, the same kind of drive that made him a great MMA fighter made him want to be the best Iron Man dude in the world.
dustin poirier
You need something like that, man.
jamie vernon
Way before the surgeries a couple years ago when he first got diagnosed, I guess, with some injury.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
So range of motion in my right hip.
Reached out to Heather and Dr. D from the UFC to help with an MRI.
Long story short, I have the hips in an 80-year-old man.
No soft tissue left, grinding bone on bone.
Ooi.
The problem is, once they put an artificial joint in you, you have that artificial joint forever.
It's never going back.
And as biologics get better and stem cells get better, they're better and better at rehealing or healing that actual tissue.
And if you could just hang in there, this is the kind of the conversation that I had with John because if you could just hang in there, they're so close.
They're injecting stuff into discs now and making the discs larger.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So like people with back problems where the doctor's like, look, we got to take some of your disc out.
Hang in there.
Hang.
And also look into other therapies, decompression.
There's a lot of different things that you could do that can create space where your disc is pushing against your nerves.
You can alleviate a lot of that.
dustin poirier
Surgery is the absolute last.
joe rogan
Especially with your back.
dustin poirier
Absolutely last.
joe rogan
Especially with your back.
Look, if you have a blood.
dustin poirier
Of course, they're going to cut you up.
They'll do it anytime.
It's good business.
Cut you open.
That's the medicines, the hardware, everything.
It's a racket.
That's the last step.
joe rogan
That's the problem.
When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
And when doctors get paid for doing surgery, they want to do surgery because that's where they make their living.
And it's a real problem with stuff like the back because I don't know anybody that's had a back surgery and been better.
dustin poirier
The only big one I could think of, I remember Nate Corey was a big advocate for some company.
Remember, he had a big skin.
joe rogan
He had an artificial spacer.
Yeah.
He had artificial discs put in his back way back in the day.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he's the guy I think about back surgery.
joe rogan
But he also was in intense pain because of that.
And I think it wound up becoming a problem later on.
Like, I know guys that initially had some relief because of back surgery, and then it started getting way worse after that.
dustin poirier
And then that's the same thing.
joe rogan
Follow-ups.
dustin poirier
Always the same story.
Like, same thing with necks.
Like, you lose strength.
It's always bothering you for the rest of your life.
Like, Mike Brown has a fusion where they went in through the front.
joe rogan
Fusions are rough.
dustin poirier
My buddy Alan Jobin had a neck surgery where Kayla Harrison just had one.
Like, once you have that, something Kayla have done.
I don't know exactly.
joe rogan
I don't think she's telling anybody.
dustin poirier
I know that.
I'm pretty sure they went in through the front.
joe rogan
Right, but I don't think she's telling anybody what exactly happened because, like, Al Jamaine had a disc replaced, and he came back and beat Pyotr Jan in the rematch and looked fucking great and fought really well with that neck issue.
dustin poirier
And you don't hear him complaining about that?
joe rogan
No, I mean, he said it's great.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think the new artificial discs that they're putting in the necks, a lot of them, it works out really well.
I know quite a few people that have had those.
dustin poirier
I've been fortunate, man.
I haven't had any neck.
joe rogan
She had a repair her knee to discs in her neck.
Right.
See, the thing is, what they usually do is just take some of the disc out, and then you have less disc.
So it's not bulging anymore, but you have less disc now.
So now you have more degenerative disc issues.
I just think there's other options.
And one of the options is decompression.
I don't know if anybody ran that by her, but I have a fucking neck harness that's attached to a chin-up bar, and I put it around my neck.
It straps under my chin, and I put my weight on it.
I just like stretch my neck out.
It works.
You know, relieving.
I hear it pop.
Pop, pop.
jamie vernon
Replace the disc.
joe rogan
Oh, she had to replace.
Okay, so she got that thing that Al Jamain got done.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
How's she going to fight that quickly?
Look at that.
Oi, yoi-yo-yoi.
dustin poirier
I wonder what her turnaround time is.
I mean, International Fight Week, maybe her.
Her and Amanda.
joe rogan
What she's fighting isn't.
She was supposed to be fighting at the White House.
dustin poirier
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But her and Amanda were supposed to.
joe rogan
They decided not to do that.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
So maybe this summer?
joe rogan
Maybe.
dustin poirier
Because it's going to be, I mean, that's a big fight, her and Amanda.
joe rogan
It's a big fight.
But I mean, there's a possibility that you do something like that and you're never the same again.
So she might not have.
dustin poirier
Oh, the surgery, yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
It's like you're, whenever you're dealing with your spine, it's very tricky.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, it's just one of those things.
dustin poirier
It's like, shoulders, knees.
There's some things, man, you don't want to injure.
joe rogan
I don't think anybody's ever come back from a knee replacement and fought MMA.
I've never heard of that.
I've heard of disc replacements.
I've heard of a lot of knee surgeries.
Guys come back.
Modestus Bukakis was the worst.
Remember that he fought Khalil and Khalil side-kicked his knee sideways?
dustin poirier
And he hyperextended it?
joe rogan
Oh, it went sideways.
dustin poirier
John does that knee stomp thing too.
I don't know how I feel about that, man.
joe rogan
Well, Ian Gary did it to Shavcot.
dustin poirier
I don't know how.
joe rogan
You fucked Shavcott's knee up.
I know.
It's kind of fucked because, look, yes, it's a legal, but so is eye pokes.
dustin poirier
I feel like that's what I was about to say.
I feel like it's kind of dirty.
Like legalized eye pokes.
joe rogan
It is dirty.
I mean, so are nut shots.
Like, nut shots are effective too.
Are we going to allow those?
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
I mean, why are we allowing someone to do a technique that you have to do?
dustin poirier
We do have 12 to 6 elbows now, so that's at least we're getting someone.
joe rogan
Yeah, I like that.
But I'd rather have knees to a grounded opponent than kicking the knee sideways.
It just seems like it takes a year off of your career, at least.
dustin poirier
So can a knee bar, so can an arm bar.
joe rogan
Yeah, but you could tap.
dustin poirier
True, true, true, true.
joe rogan
You get a knee bar, you could tap.
Inside heel hooks is the scariest because you only got a couple of microseconds to tap.
When you get that one, that one's so nasty.
The knee across, you have no time.
You just gotta tap.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You just gotta know when you're done.
You gotta know when he got you and not let it.
Did you ever see when Mike Imusamichi fought some cat in?
dustin poirier
I think I know what you're talking about.
joe rogan
And the dude would not tap.
He was just ripping his knee apart.
And Mikey was talking about it afterwards.
It was so gross.
I was like, why did you make me do that to you?
Why didn't you just tap?
He mangled that guy's leg.
dustin poirier
I think I saw a highlight of that.
joe rogan
It was horrible.
It's so horrible to watch.
You got it?
Yeah, show me.
dustin poirier
Yeah, let's see this.
joe rogan
Here it is.
Like, look at this.
Look at his leg.
Bro, bro.
That is almost as nasty as watching that arm bar or that guillotine from Dan Miller.
Look at this.
This dude won't tap.
It's so crazy.
And Mikey is just a master at destroying your knees.
Any normal human being would have tapped.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, for sure.
joe rogan
And he does this like seven times in this match where he rips this guy's leg sideways, left way, right ways.
The guy's knee's destroyed.
Like, look at that.
Look how nasty this is, man.
This is so nasty.
Look how sideways.
dustin poirier
Right, that angle, too.
joe rogan
That angle is so awful.
The fact that this dude is just tolerating it, like right there, that's destroyed.
That is destroyed.
I don't know if that dude ever competed again afterwards.
dustin poirier
He might never be the same.
joe rogan
No, he won't be the same.
He won't be the same.
He'll never be 100%.
Like, you get your shit ripped apart like that.
For sure, there's some meniscus.
dustin poirier
MCL, ACL, meniscus.
joe rogan
MCL, everything.
Fuck that.
Heel hooks.
That changed.
dustin poirier
I've been fortunate, man, with my knees.
I have a torn meniscus in my right knee, but never needed surgery.
Had a partial tear of my ACL when I fought Islam.
He pulled me off against the fence and my knee slid, and I felt it, Terry.
It felt like fire in my knee, you know.
And when you feel pain in a fight, you know it's bad because you usually don't.
joe rogan
Right.
dustin poirier
But I felt it burning like fire.
joe rogan
But you didn't need surgery?
dustin poirier
Didn't need surgery.
Did a bunch of physical therapy.
I had a partial tear.
There's something called maybe a ligamentum or something that connects where your ACL is.
Every time you tear your ACL, the ligamentum is completely torn always.
And mine had a partial tear in that.
So I must have took the weight off or we switched a position right before it tore my ACL.
unidentified
Oh.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
But I had like bruising.
You know, back of my leg was all bruised up.
Couldn't bend it for a little bit.
joe rogan
But now it's 100%?
dustin poirier
Yeah, I feel great.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's interesting.
Like, Arnold.
No, who was it that was telling me that?
Like, there's different people that have had different levels of tears.
And then in those levels of tears, like some of them you can come back from 100%, but some of them.
Okay, this dude.
dustin poirier
A broken ankle, too.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
So this dude that try saying his name.
How do you say his name?
dustin poirier
Gentamer.
joe rogan
So this is the guy, Mikey Musumichi.
He was torn ACL, torn MCL, torn meniscus, and a broken ankle.
That's crazy.
That's crazy.
dustin poirier
He did like a toe hold or something.
How'd he break his ankle?
joe rogan
So was it Brendan Allen?
Brendan Allen was in the podcast.
He was telling me this.
He tore his ACL completely and never got it fixed, and it reattached.
dustin poirier
Wow.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Like at a slightly different angle, but reattached.
Like it tore off, but it was still hanging in there and it rehealed.
I was like, that's not.
I never even heard of that before.
But I know some people that have had like a three-quarter tear and it heals, but it's not really the same.
dustin poirier
Right.
joe rogan
It's still a little funky.
dustin poirier
You know, Brad Pickett fought his whole career with the torn, no ACL in one of his legs.
joe rogan
I think Justin has that situation.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Like Brad would sit on the ground on the mat and then grab his shin and slide it forward and you could see like the movement.
joe rogan
How does that not chew your meniscus?
Bellator Contracts and Fighter Pay 00:15:39
dustin poirier
He fought so many fights like that.
joe rogan
Oh my God.
Well, Rico Rodriguez did too.
Rico always had a blown out ACL.
And he fought.
dustin poirier
Rico was down in Louisiana for a while, man.
Rico Rodriguez was.
joe rogan
Oh, he was one of the first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belts.
dustin poirier
I trained with him at Tim's Gym before.
joe rogan
Yeah, he was really good on the ground, man.
Rico was really good on the ground.
And he was a UFC heavyweight.
dustin poirier
I know.
I know.
joe rogan
People forget.
dustin poirier
Dude, I didn't even know who he was.
I was sparring him.
Tim was like, wasn't a heavyweight champion to use.
I'm like, no way.
joe rogan
I know, isn't that fun?
dustin poirier
He was out of shape.
You know, I was like, who's this big tattooed guy?
Let's go.
joe rogan
There's a lot of guys that people forgot they slept on.
It's interesting when you think about that.
dustin poirier
He was running a gym in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
I don't know if he's still in there.
joe rogan
Nico was?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
He had partnered with Baton Rouge.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
He took over an LA boxing.
They turned it into a UFC gym now, but he was part owner or something.
He was running it.
unidentified
Wow.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's a hard road when guys retire and people don't even remember them.
Like, at least you have a giant name.
Like, you're always going to be able to do seminars.
People are always going to want to bring you into events.
You have a career no matter what.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I've been doing a lot of watch parties where I get with the fans and watch the fights.
It's fun, man.
I enjoy it.
joe rogan
That's cool.
dustin poirier
It's sometimes a little awkward because the fans will stick around too long.
Like I'm watching the fights with you, but you come sit at my booth and like we run out of things to talk about.
It's like, okay.
joe rogan
Hey, man, let me get your number.
Like, hey, bro.
dustin poirier
Oh, hey, my buddy's on FaceTime.
Can you talk to so-and-so?
Like, dude, just chill.
joe rogan
I know.
Some people just can't hang.
dustin poirier
Dude, but I fought, like I said, 19 years.
I say 20, but it's 19 years that I fought.
Until that Connor fight, like, that's when things changed for me recognition-wise.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Wow.
That's interesting.
dustin poirier
That's crazy because the door opened for seminars, for appearances.
That changed.
Changed.
joe rogan
That's so weird.
dustin poirier
And I had been in so many UFC main events.
I had fought for the belt.
I've done all this stuff.
But that guy's name, Jan.
joe rogan
Isn't it nuts?
A just personality got him so, well, obviously, very skilled.
unidentified
For sure.
joe rogan
The Eddie Alvarez fight.
That's Connor in his prime form when he was in the Aldo.
unidentified
Yes.
dustin poirier
Eddie.
joe rogan
The Aldo fight was great, but because it was one shot.
dustin poirier
And nobody's done that to Aldo ever.
joe rogan
Ever, ever.
And since that was amazing.
But the Alvarez fight was him in the Matrix when the punch is moving up.
He's touching his nose and he's firing back those combinations.
He was just in the zone.
That was funny.
And Eddie's Connor.
dustin poirier
Walk in the park.
unidentified
No.
joe rogan
Eddie's good, man.
He's tough as fuck.
When Eddie beat Dos Angelos, I was like, holy shit, man.
dustin poirier
I was always a big Eddie fan.
joe rogan
Oh, he was.
unidentified
Always.
dustin poirier
His dream.
joe rogan
Fights with Chandler.
You want to talk about taking years off your life.
Those fights that those two had that nobody was watching other than the hardcore guys, those were to this day.
I tell people, you want to watch some chaos?
Watch Eddie Alvarez and Michael Chandler in Bellator.
There's some of the best fights of all.
dustin poirier
Knockdown, drag out, both guys.
joe rogan
If you're a fan of chaos, watch those fights.
Those fights were fucking bananas.
And so that's what we anticipated when Chandler came over.
And then we knocked out Dan Hooker in the first round.
I was like, oh, shit, he's here.
dustin poirier
Same card.
Same card as me and Connor.
joe rogan
But I think that it was too late.
I think he had already suffered so much punishment.
If we got a hold of Michael Chandler, like six, seven years before that, when he was fighting in Bellator, this is the problem with PFL.
This is the problem with Bellator.
And I don't think it's a problem because I think these guys are prize fighters.
You know, like, I think Francis Ngato said it best when he was talking about this Netflix card.
They're saying, someone said to him, Do you think this fucks with your legacy?
He goes, legacy?
Who's legacy for?
For you?
He goes, fuck, keep your legacy.
Give me my money.
Give me my pay.
This is what I'm supposed to be getting.
I'm Francis Ngano.
And I think he's right.
But he's Francis Ngano.
He's already the UFC heavyweight champion.
Left as the UFC heavyweight champion.
But for a lot of these guys that are starting their career, their best years are in these other organizations and not enough people know.
Like Johnny Eblin, perfect example you were talking about before.
He knocked out Leon Edwards' brother.
I mean, he's fucking beat.
dustin poirier
He's beat Musasi.
I cornered him when he beat Musasi.
Dude, Musasi's a legend.
I grew up watching him, a legend.
joe rogan
There's a guy, another one, good guy that people forgot about.
Gagard Musasi was a fucking guy.
dustin poirier
By the time he made it to the UFC, I was already such a big fan, but like the casuals didn't know who he was.
joe rogan
Oh, he was so good, dude.
Gagar was so good, so smart.
dustin poirier
Right.
joe rogan
Just so smart and unassuming.
dustin poirier
Was it him who upkicked Jakara?
unidentified
Yeah.
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Into a triangle.
unidentified
Yep.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man.
unidentified
Yep.
Yeah.
joe rogan
I think that was in.
unidentified
Dream?
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
Yeah, Gagar was a beast, man.
He was a beast.
dustin poirier
Eddie Alvarez in Dream was a bunch of good fights.
joe rogan
And Gagard stopped Wideman in the UFC.
dustin poirier
Really good fundamental boxing, great jab.
joe rogan
Yeah, great everywhere.
dustin poirier
Yeah, good wrestling.
Good wrestling defense.
joe rogan
Just super smart, too.
Just a very, very intelligent guy.
He got put on the shelf with that Bellator deal.
He got put on the shelf, and I don't know what's going on with him.
What was the last time?
unidentified
I don't know.
joe rogan
I don't know when Gagas had Musasi last fought.
dustin poirier
He might not even still be under contract with PFL or whatever.
joe rogan
Well, I think he's 40 now.
dustin poirier
He was old in the UFC.
joe rogan
Yeah.
He's got to be close to 40, if not older.
Where's Gagard Musasi these days?
jamie vernon
He got drafted in the Global Fight League.
Canceled, I think.
joe rogan
Oh, that thing.
dustin poirier
I knew that was going to fall apart from the jump.
Whatever thing was weird.
When I was talking to coaches at American Top Team, and they were telling me, like, all these ex-UFC fighters, what their contracts were with this company, I was like, dude, they haven't even put on one show and they're signing guys to these kind of contracts.
I mean, the money was crazy.
joe rogan
So 2023 was his last fight.
How old is he now?
So he lost to Fabian Edwards, the same guy that Eblin knocked out.
unidentified
40.
joe rogan
40.
dustin poirier
Yeah, cornered Eblin.
joe rogan
Dream catcher.
dustin poirier
In that fight, dude, he got cut so bad with an elbow.
Like, I can see the vein in this.
I have it in my phone.
It was crazy.
I have it in my phone.
The vein's still intact.
It didn't cut the vein, but you can see it.
unidentified
Oh, boy.
dustin poirier
Oh, it's pretty gnarly.
joe rogan
And then he stopped him.
dustin poirier
Yeah, elbow.
We were in Ireland.
joe rogan
Yeah, Eblin's a tough guy, man.
And I think he's like one of those guys that's like at the very top of the heap at 185.
But again, I know about him, but how many people do?
That's unfortunate.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, because he's been fighting NFL for how many years now?
dustin poirier
Well, he was Bellator.
Bellator, and then they bought him.
joe rogan
For how many years now?
unidentified
A long time.
dustin poirier
I mean, I think he might have had one or two fights when Bellator signed him.
He got in early at Bellator.
But he's a student, man.
He's going to keep getting better.
He's pretty young still.
jamie vernon
Submitting Mark Hunt's crazy.
joe rogan
That's crazy.
unidentified
Right?
joe rogan
And you think how small he is?
He fought at 185 in the UFC, and he submitted 260-pound Mark Hunt.
Gagard Musasi was a fucking beast.
He was a beast.
dustin poirier
Just technique.
joe rogan
Yep.
dustin poirier
Just technique.
joe rogan
Technique, toughness, and intelligence.
Just so crafty.
Just so good.
Everywhere.
Good on the ground.
Good standing up.
dustin poirier
And super patient, man.
Methodical.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I've always been a fan of him.
joe rogan
There's a lot of those guys that just people forget about.
They forgot.
dustin poirier
Yeah, a bunch.
joe rogan
I always tell you people, one guy that people underestimated because they didn't get to see him when he was in his prime or they just forgot is Masvedal.
People forgot how good Masvedal is.
Masvedal knocked out Eve Edwards with a head kick.
dustin poirier
Remember that?
joe rogan
Bowdog.
dustin poirier
Yep.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Bro, Masvedal in his prime was a motherfucker.
He was good.
When he knocked out Darren Till, remember that shit?
dustin poirier
That switch step.
joe rogan
Oh, my God.
dustin poirier
Yeah, of course.
joe rogan
Switch step, I think, caught him with a left hook.
dustin poirier
Knocked him out cold.
unidentified
Cold.
joe rogan
Head kicked.
dustin poirier
And he was a dog.
Like, when he started focused on his wrestling, he was a dog in Strike Force, man.
At 55.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
dustin poirier
He was a dog back then.
joe rogan
No, Masvedal was a beast, man.
dustin poirier
And he's good everywhere, man.
He's good everywhere.
He has good jiu-jitsu, good wrestling, good kickboxing.
He's good everywhere.
joe rogan
I mean, when he went off the 170, that's not really his weight class.
His real weight class was 55.
dustin poirier
Yeah, but I think as he got older, he's a big guy.
joe rogan
He's a big guy.
dustin poirier
He has really thick legs, and he's a little bit taller, taller than me for sure.
joe rogan
But like when he was really competitive, I feel like it was at 55.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
But I mean, like, he gave guys problems at 70.
Like, the Darren Till fight was at 70.
He fucked a lot of guys up at 70.
dustin poirier
Cowboy.
joe rogan
Yep.
Cowboy.
Was that at 70?
dustin poirier
Body shot at 170.
joe rogan
Damn.
Yeah.
No, Mazado.
People forgot.
And then, you know, he was having those backyard fights in the Kimbo Slice days.
Which is crazy.
The bare knuckle Kimbo fights, Kimbo Slice fights.
dustin poirier
Yeah, man.
Kimbo used to come to the American Top Team, used to bring his kids and stuff.
It was crazy talking to him because I grew up watching his fights, you know.
joe rogan
Well, he was like the first guy to become a legend on YouTube.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
Yeah, everybody knows who he is.
joe rogan
Pussy looks so cool.
The bald head and the beard and the hair in the back.
Everything was crazy.
dustin poirier
The braids in the back.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Super jacked.
And just fucking people up in the backyard.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like they were moving around like satisfaction.
dustin poirier
I think he was a bodyguard or a driver for a guy in Miami who started a porn company and that's how it started.
joe rogan
Exactly.
And they organized these fights where they would just no warm-up.
Just all right, let's go.
dustin poirier
No, he would get out the car in the front driveway and walk to the back and just start scrapping.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
It's crazy.
dustin poirier
But as a kid, like when that stuff came out as a kid, that was such a big thing to watch, you know, that we had to download it illegally on like LimeWire or something back then.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
You know, that was wild times.
And then to see him in the UFC and the ultimate fighter, dude, what a journey that guy had.
unidentified
I know.
joe rogan
What balls it took for him to do that, to enter into the UFC with like basically zero grappling.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like really just kind of learning the sport.
dustin poirier
But, you know, so good boxing, but I don't think like Jim, not trained boxing, just natural ability.
joe rogan
Well, he definitely had some training, right?
dustin poirier
The way he moved was even in the bare knuckle, the way he moved was like a boxer, a shell, you know?
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Like a Mike Tyson movement.
joe rogan
Yeah, but it was like rudimentary.
Remember when he fought Seth Petruzelli?
dustin poirier
Yeah.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like last minute, Petruzzelli comes in last minute.
Like Ken Shamrock had some sort of a dispute with them and maybe got cut backstage or something instead of how to cut.
And so like last minute, they swapped out Seth Petruzelli.
dustin poirier
And he knocked him out.
joe rogan
Yeah.
I called that one.
I called that one camera.
No, I wasn't doing it.
The commentary.
I think it was Elite XC.
dustin poirier
I think that bankrupt them or something.
I don't know how.
joe rogan
That fight bankrupt them?
dustin poirier
I don't know if it bankrupt them, but after that happened, they didn't have many more shows after that.
joe rogan
Well, I think they were going under anyway, unfortunately.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I don't know how that fight would have bankrupted.
joe rogan
Well, they had some guy who was a boxing guy who was running the whole thing.
Was his name Gary Shaw?
dustin poirier
I don't know back then.
joe rogan
I don't remember either.
But, you know, like, it's hard to make money in these things, man.
Like, those things are hard.
Like, the UFC doesn't get the credit it deserves in terms of the promotional machine.
Like, that's a smooth-running machine.
dustin poirier
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
That machine's been around for a long time.
It's so polished between the production, all the guys in the truck, the directors, the producers.
dustin poirier
Oh, they're the best of the best.
joe rogan
Yeah, they're the best.
It's hard.
And then you got all the best fighters.
And it's like the product.
So when they have a fight like Holloway and Olivera and like, oh, this fight wasn't good.
Like, that's a great fight, man.
You can't be a casual.
dustin poirier
People are just bloodthirsty.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, like, listen, to do that to Max Holloway is crazy.
Do you not appreciate that?
Go watch baseball.
dustin poirier
Wrestlers, great grapplers have never done that to him.
joe rogan
I know.
It's nuts.
It's nuts if you think about it.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
It's exciting, man.
The UFC is definitely the best at it.
With this whole Paramount thing, I was kind of, we'll see how it turns out.
I was kind of worried.
Like, if you take pay-per-view off the table, how much is UFC going to put the biggest fights together?
Because they don't need to sell pay-per-views.
They're guaranteed money.
You know, I was just wondering if that would not water it down, but we would get a bunch of weaker cards, and I'm still waiting to find out, man.
joe rogan
Well, it is weird, right?
Because with pay-per-view, you're always building it up so that people buy it.
And then also points.
Like, the fighters get paid points.
So how are fighters getting paid?
dustin poirier
I've been asking every show at work.
I ask everybody.
I want to know because my last few years in the UFC, nobody's telling you.
Nobody's telling me anything.
joe rogan
They're keeping you in the dark?
dustin poirier
Keeping me in the dark.
joe rogan
What the fuck is that?
dustin poirier
Keeping me in the dark, man.
Because, you know, I was a pay-per-view partner multiple fights with the UFC.
If there's, and that was always the thing they kind of in discussion about contracts and about future fights that they kind of held over you.
Like, you win this fight.
One day you're going to fight for the belt.
You're going to get pay-per-view.
Your life's going to change.
That was always a carrot they hung to make, you know, to do anything.
That was the goal.
To one day fight for the belt and get the pay-per-view money.
But now that that's gone, I mean, Connor's not going to fight.
Even Justin at the White House.
There's no way these guys aren't fighting with that backdoor money.
So they must be just guaranteeing them a bigger per I don't know.
joe rogan
Well, I think Justin would fight no matter what, because it's for the title.
This is his last fight.
dustin poirier
Well, that, yeah, the title, the title.
joe rogan
But any pay-per-view that's at the White House, he's a patriot.
It's the last fight.
You know, I think he would fight no matter what.
But, like, you know, Rhonda Rousey, you know, she's promoting the Netflix fight.
She made, I don't know if you saw what she said, but she had this big, long speech about the UFC selling for $7 billion.
These fighters aren't making enough money.
And, you know, look, she made some good points.
And the most important thing is that she gets the conversation out there and it puts pressure on the UFC to pay people more.
You know, and if Netflix can become successful at MMA, if they can become successful at putting cars together and pulling fighters away, like right now, they're doing a one-off, right?
It's one-off and it's kind of a gimmicky thing.
dustin poirier
And listen, this payroll is going to be crazy.
joe rogan
It's going to be crazy.
dustin poirier
You got Rhonda, Francis, Nate, everybody's getting crazy money.
The payroll is going to be nuts.
joe rogan
But if anybody's got that kind of money, it's Netflix.
They throw around a lot of ridiculous money.
They make so much money.
So they can kind of do that.
The question is, are they going to do that more than once?
So if they do that more than once, then what happens is it's all about the name of the fighters, just like boxing.
Like if boxing, no one cares if it's Golden Boy, Rob Aram.
dustin poirier
Nobody cares about that.
joe rogan
What they care about is who's fighting who.
Is it Benavidez?
Who's he fighting?
Is he fighting Bival?
Let's go.
That's a great fight.
So if Netflix can kind of do the boxing thing on Netflix with like big name stars, they can be a major player.
And that will elevate everybody's pay scale.
So as a lot of people are like, oh, Rhonda, how could you turn her back on the UFC and talk shit like that?
If what she's saying doesn't make any sense, she can't say it.
Right?
So if what she's saying makes sense, then you have to go, she's got a point.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
She's got a point.
She's got a point.
They sold it for $7 billion or whatever it is.
They got this $7 billion deal, whatever the fucking deal was with Paramount.
Not even selling it, sold rights to it, right?
That makes sense.
She's making sense.
And so if she's saying this and Netflix listens, and if someone comes along, they're a shrewd businessman, they go, look, there's a lot of people, their contracts are coming up.
And when these people's contracts are coming up, let's get into negotiations.
And then all of a sudden, some people start drifting over.
So if like, you get like an Islam Makachev who starts leaving and they leave and go fight in Netflix.
And then they can talk four or five top major contenders into doing, look, it's a big ask.
Seven Billion Dollar Fight Deals 00:06:23
dustin poirier
Look, I love the UFC.
Spent most of my professional career there, but I love seeing these other organizations come up and people making money.
Like you said, it rises everything.
It's more places for people to work.
It's great.
It's only good.
joe rogan
Olivier Alban Mercier.
A million dollars in the PFL.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
And I think he did it more than once, right?
Didn't he win the tournament twice or something like that?
dustin poirier
I'm not sure.
joe rogan
He definitely won it at least once.
dustin poirier
A Canadian gangster?
joe rogan
Right.
A guy who's not in the top 10 of the UFC goes over to another organization and makes a million dollars.
Okay.
I don't know if that's sustainable for them.
I don't know how they came up with that money.
dustin poirier
They got to be bleeding money out.
joe rogan
They have to be bleeding money.
Nobody's watching it.
dustin poirier
Or even guys like Pettus, who was a former world champion, who, you know, his contract was good in the UFC.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Didn't chose not to re-sign with the UFC and he went to PFL.
They had to be paying him big money.
joe rogan
They have to be.
So it's all competition ultimately is good for the most important thing, which is paying the fighters.
So I'm happy.
dustin poirier
And places to work.
Like if the UFC cuts you or something, back 10 years ago, there's the only place to make money.
They cut you.
Now you got to get a job.
Maybe fight.
Try to get back in part-time fighting.
Now you can pivot and still have a career.
joe rogan
Well, this is the thing with Francis.
When Francis left the PFL, everybody's like, well, now he's fucked because he can't fight in the UFC.
I wanted him to come back to the UFC.
And I was like, come on.
Can we figure out a way to do this?
This happened.
But Dana just does not want to have anything to do with him.
Apparently, they did not get along very well.
Which is like, I'm like, come on.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Can I help?
Can I fucking get you?
Can you guys in a room together and fucking calm everybody down?
But the most important thing is.
dustin poirier
He's still a guy I want to watch.
joe rogan
Oh, yeah.
dustin poirier
He's still a guy I want to watch.
joe rogan
I mean, he's the legit heavyweight champion, if you think about it.
He never got beat in MMA as a heavyweight champion.
And then he fought Hennan Ferreira in PFL.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
That's another ATT guy.
joe rogan
But it's another one where it's like, who's watching that?
I mean, and if you're watching it, you're just watching it with Francis.
unidentified
Me and you.
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, I mean, I wanted to know, like, what were the numbers for that fight?
It was probably the biggest fight they ever put on.
dustin poirier
I don't think I've ever seen any numbers from PFL.
joe rogan
And I think if he was getting 20 million a fight and he wanted his opponents to get a huge amount too, I forget what the, he had like a minimum amount his opponents would get in his contract.
unidentified
Respect.
dustin poirier
That's that.
Yeah, that's cool.
joe rogan
That's part of his contract.
I forget what the number was, but it was substantial.
So Hennan Ferreira got a giant payday for that fight too.
It's like, how are they, where are they getting?
I guess they have Saudi money.
dustin poirier
I think they did for some of the shows because they went to Saudi to do some shows.
But I don't know if they're backing them the whole company.
joe rogan
You're going to need something like Netflix.
And Netflix can kind of pull it off because Netflix has a massive promotional machine.
But they need big names.
So now that they have Nate and Mike Perry on the card too, like, okay.
unidentified
Okay.
joe rogan
So you got Nate, Mike Perry.
You got Francis Philip Linz.
You have Ronda and Gina.
Okay.
Now you have three interesting fights.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
You're going to need a few more.
dustin poirier
And it's on Netflix, so it's going to be free.
But even if Nate and Mike Perry was the headliner, I would have bought that paper for you.
joe rogan
100%.
When you don't have to buy it, it's on Netflix.
So this is what gets interesting.
So if this fight goes on Netflix and gets 50 million views.
dustin poirier
It's going to get a lot.
joe rogan
Yeah, it could get more views than any fight ever.
It could.
It's very possible.
Because Netflix is bigger than anything.
If they got more views than anybody ever, that would be fucking – and then YouTube might come along.
dustin poirier
Oh, you're like a mixed martial arts event.
joe rogan
Hey guys, we're YouTube.
We're even bigger than Netflix.
YouTube is bigger than fucking Netflix.
YouTube is everywhere.
And if they come up with some crazy, if more players get involved in this and more people become free agents, it could get very interesting.
dustin poirier
Dude, it's crazy to see how far the sport has come because all these big companies wouldn't want to touch this human cock fighting back in the day.
unidentified
I know.
dustin poirier
Now everybody wants a piece of the pie.
joe rogan
I know it's cool.
dustin poirier
It's cool now, they know.
joe rogan
Yeah, it's cool.
It's cool now, right?
That cage fighting became something that like corporate America wants to get involved in.
dustin poirier
Dude, I'm in the airport.
I'm in the grocery store.
Grandmothers, old ladies are walking up to me talking about fights, which is insane.
joe rogan
Insane.
unidentified
Insane.
joe rogan
Because 15 years ago, it was loves it.
dustin poirier
Bearded guys with tattoos would be in the grocery store.
We'd whisper about it, you know?
It was frowned upon.
We'd talk about Fight Club, you know?
Now it's like soccer moms.
Did you see the fight last week in the arm bar?
I'm like, what are you talking about?
joe rogan
Well, that's all the UFC.
The UFC, with that one deal, the Fritidas have such huge balls because they were down $40 million when they made that deal for Spike TV to do the Ultimate Fighter.
And they were like, we're fucking hemorrhaging money.
And they were talking about selling it.
dustin poirier
And just a perfect storm.
Stefan and Forrest.
The world was watching, man.
And it felt special.
I remember being at my mother's house.
I knew I was watching something special.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Like, this is special.
joe rogan
I know.
It was crazy being there live, too.
It was so nuts.
It was so nuts to watch it evolve and watch it burst out.
And by then, by 2005, I had already been working for them for like four years.
Because I, well, I started in 97 with the old owners, and I did like the backstage and post-fight interviews.
And then I did it for a little bit, and then I had to quit.
I was like, this is costing me money.
I made more money going to a comedy club for a weekend than I would flying to Dothan, Alabama.
dustin poirier
Bosier City, Louisiana.
joe rogan
But I was happy I did it because it was fun and it was exciting.
And I remember me and Eddie Bravo back then.
We were like, man, you know what the UFC needs?
This is like literally a conversation we had in like 98.
They need some crazy billionaires that love the sport to just dump a bunch of money in it because we know it's exciting.
It's just the rest of the world doesn't know.
And along came the Frititas and they did it.
dustin poirier
Dude, they saw it and rode that vision out and it paid off.
joe rogan
It's nuts.
dustin poirier
Paid off.
joe rogan
Literally, like exactly what we said needed to happen.
And then for that fight to happen in the Ultimate Fighter between Stefan Bonner and Forrest Griffin, because it was a perfect kind of fight, it was so evenly matched.
It was so chaotic, and they knew each other so well from being in the house together.
UFC Funding and Champion Stories 00:11:32
joe rogan
They just went after it for three solid rounds at the end.
Both guys were like, oh, but dude, nothing.
dustin poirier
How could the idea of the actual Kumite idea of putting the best fighters from all over the world, whatever discipline they train in, let's find out what's the best?
That's, I mean, it has, of course, it's going to succeed.
It's chaos.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
It's everything you want to see.
joe rogan
And the crazy thing, it was really kind of invented as a showcase for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Because Horian was like, you know, like, look, Jiu-Jitsu is going to prevail.
And he was kind of right.
No, I mean, at first.
dustin poirier
Dude, Hoyce was in there against Giants.
joe rogan
Dan Seven.
dustin poirier
Dude, come on.
unidentified
Chemo.
dustin poirier
What did he weigh?
180 pounds?
190 pounds?
joe rogan
Maybe, not even.
Even 176.
dustin poirier
Fighting these bodybuilders.
joe rogan
And I asked him why they picked him.
He goes, Look at this face.
Look how beautiful I am.
I'm so good looking.
That's why they picked me.
dustin poirier
Wearing pajamas.
We even know what a gi was.
joe rogan
Well, I had no idea jiu-jitsu was that effective.
I was so confused.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
I was like, someone's going to kick him.
He's fucked.
Someone's going to punch him.
And no.
Like, you're just taking dudes to the ground that stomps.
dustin poirier
And there's no idea of anything that they're doing.
Just letting them pass guard, letting them do anything.
You don't know anything.
joe rogan
He's choking guys with the gi, too.
He's grabbing his own clothes.
I'm like, oh, this is wild.
dustin poirier
That's one thing I do.
Like, I got away from the gi.
So from white belt to brown belt, I competed at IBJJF every tournament I could do my weight class would do Absolute.
Get the reps.
I love jiu-jitsu, but probably around 2011, 2012, I stopped putting a gi on.
It was all in mixed martial arts training because I was getting before I would use jiu-jitsu to prepare for fights at a small school I was at, but when I went to American top team, I didn't need it anymore because I had such high-level guys on the mats at all times.
I was doing jiu-jitsu no gi every day.
But it's been so many years since I've put on a gi and had like a jiu-jitsu practice, man.
Even the practices I do now are all no gi.
unidentified
It's fun.
dustin poirier
I want to get back into gi.
joe rogan
Gi's fun, but Eddie Bravo said it best.
He goes, if you were a professional tennis player, would you practice for tennis by playing racquetball?
No, you wouldn't.
You would play tennis.
You would do the thing that you do.
If you want to get really good at MMA Jiu-Jitsu, you need to do no gi.
And he's right.
dustin poirier
I mean, Gi definitely helps as well, but you got to do no gi.
joe rogan
What Gi does is it teaches you that you have to be technical with your defense because you can't muscle out of things.
But the reality is, like, you should just be technical with no gi.
dustin poirier
For sure.
joe rogan
That's the thing.
Like, get out of the thing.
I always say that the best jiu-jitsu is to learn jiu-jitsu from a small guy.
dustin poirier
All techniques.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like a Barrett Yoshida, Hoyler Gracie, Eddie Bravo.
Like, learn Jiu-Jitsu from small people.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Because they're all technique.
They can't muscle out of things.
You learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from some big giant motherfucker.
Like, their game is going to be so different because they're so strong.
dustin poirier
Right.
joe rogan
But like, look at the Sambo guys.
Look at the Makachevs and Khabibs.
Like, that's the game of no Gi.
That's no Gi.
It's like their no Gi game is finely polished.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
It's not going to help them to wear a Gi.
Their game wouldn't be better.
Like Khabib's game wouldn't have been better.
dustin poirier
It's all top Gi on.
You never see those guys on their back in the guard.
It's a different speed.
It's Jiu-Jitsu, but it's a different game.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
What they do.
Small changes on the locks, like we were saying with the Darsh choke, grabbing your forearm.
They do things a little bit different, man.
Even their wrestling is different.
It's not collegiate fundamental wrestling that you would teach at a wrestling camp.
It's just chain wrestling that they kind of developed and have their own style, man.
It's different.
joe rogan
It really is.
It's interesting.
And then, you know, when I've talked to Daniel, he's like, dude, I've seen Khabib put it on like high-level amateur wrestlers in the gym.
Put it on them.
And I believe it too.
I mean, he's just, his discipline, when he was in his prime, man, his discipline was just above and beyond.
His discipline, his drive, his focus.
And there's something to be said for those guys, too, because they're super religious.
So there's no partying, there's no drinking, there's no chasing women, there's no bullshit.
It's just drive, drive, drive, drive.
Right.
You know, and that collecting the legs that he does with the triangle underneath the legs when he's in the mount against the fence.
So hard to get out of it.
dustin poirier
Everybody's doing it now.
You know, the wrist ride, the handcuff he's doing.
Everybody's doing it.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Dude, he, I mean, it's been really interesting to watch these dominant forces come along and like sort of remap the landscape of the game, you know, and we've seen it with them.
dustin poirier
Especially in such a high-stakes game.
How do you do it that many times without catching a heel to the face, without catching a knee?
You know, the guys he's fought, so many dangerous guys, he's just drowned them, you know?
joe rogan
I know.
Well, you know, Islam got caught in that one fight and got knocked out.
dustin poirier
Adriano Martinez.
joe rogan
Right, but it just shows you as a human being.
dustin poirier
Yeah, it can happen to anyone.
joe rogan
It could happen to anybody.
And the Glason T-Bow fight with Khabib.
I feel like Glason won that fight.
unidentified
Oh, man.
dustin poirier
I know a lot of people always talk about that.
unidentified
I feel like.
joe rogan
Glayson won that fight.
dustin poirier
Me and T-Bow have been training partners for so much.
We beat each other up so much.
He's such a fun guy, man.
Gleason is such a good dude.
joe rogan
He's another guy.
Like, how the fuck are you 155?
dustin poirier
So much energy, dude.
Never complains about anything.
He could have a 50-pound weight cut smiling in the sauna.
Just happy to be here.
He just hoped both teams have fun.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
That's awesome.
dustin poirier
Just a happy-go-guy, man.
joe rogan
I watched that fight again because I was like, am I talking out of school?
Should I shut the fuck up?
And I watched it again.
I go, no.
I think he won.
dustin poirier
Was it a split?
joe rogan
I don't remember.
I don't remember if it was a split.
dustin poirier
But he was stopping takedowns.
joe rogan
Yeah, and he was a tank.
That guy was a tank.
He was big.
He was big and jacked.
dustin poirier
Dude, probably 5'8, 5'7.
joe rogan
Little sausage.
dustin poirier
Yeah, maybe.
unidentified
Maybe.
dustin poirier
Maybe.
I don't know.
joe rogan
I don't know either.
unidentified
I don't know.
joe rogan
Skillful.
Super skillful.
You know, solid striking, solid jiu-jitsu.
dustin poirier
Oh, great jiu-jitsu.
joe rogan
Very good.
Everywhere.
Black belt jiu-jitsu.
Who's strong as fuck?
And just, you know.
dustin poirier
They knew from an early age because I think his middle name is Herculino.
I'm serious.
joe rogan
That's hilarious.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
Herculino.
dustin poirier
Herculino.
joe rogan
Brazilians have some of the funnest niche.
dustin poirier
Yeah, he might have eight names, you know.
joe rogan
I bet.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Gleason Tiba, Alvez, Herculino, a few other things that I'm missing, I'm sure.
Yeah.
I'm serious, though.
Johnny Gleason, maybe.
Tibau.
I don't know.
He has a few names.
joe rogan
That's funny.
dustin poirier
I mean, really?
joe rogan
He's got a bunch of names that nobody knows.
That's hilarious, man.
Well, an American Top Team, man, you probably have seen more elite talent come through those doors.
Shout out to Dan Lampert.
dustin poirier
Well, Dan's a man.
joe rogan
That motherfucker put the money in, put the time in when there was no money to be made.
There was nothing.
That guy was.
unidentified
He just loved it.
dustin poirier
It was a passion thing.
joe rogan
And just think, it's just like what we said with the UFC.
We need a rich guy to come along and just throw the money at it.
That's what Dan did with American Top Team.
I remember when he was putting together the new American Top Team facilities, and you show me we're going to have dorms.
We're going to have this.
I was like, this dude's trying to go broke.
Like, what are you doing?
dustin poirier
Dude, it's huge.
And that area is crazy expensive.
It's on a huge piece of land.
joe rogan
I need to get Dan in here.
dustin poirier
I know for sure.
joe rogan
I talked to him about it before, but he deserves, he deserves the credit because that guy.
dustin poirier
And dude, honestly, like him building the gym and asking fighters for 5%, which is crazy, unheard of.
Other gyms are taking crazy amounts.
He's giving you all these amenities, giving you a place to stay.
At one point, he had houses as well, fighter houses that he bought, and he would put fighters up in the houses for camps and stuff.
Dude, I've heard of him paying, covering medical bills that fighters didn't have money for, never getting paid back.
He's done so much stuff, man.
Yeah.
Good for the sport.
joe rogan
He's amazing for the sport.
And if he didn't put together that super gym, who knows how many of these super gyms would have ever evolved?
Because he kind of set the blueprint for what a gym could be.
To this day, that's still the best gym in the world in terms of like super gyms.
dustin poirier
There's so much knowledge, man.
unidentified
Right.
joe rogan
So much knowledge, so much equipment.
It's so big.
It's so well-made.
dustin poirier
And you never know who's going to be on the mat.
At any time you walk in and do an MMA class.
There's literally thousands of mixed martial arts about experience on the mat at any time.
joe rogan
Was Robbie his first world champion?
dustin poirier
I was there for every camp when Robbie came over.
joe rogan
I feel like it might have been.
Everybody was like, Dan Lambert deserves a world champion.
Someone's got to be a world champion.
dustin poirier
Robbie might have been the first, dude.
joe rogan
I think he might have been the first.
dustin poirier
Well, I mean, Mike Brown was WC.
unidentified
Yeah.
joe rogan
There's been UFC champion.
I guess Robbie Lawler was number one.
dustin poirier
I remember when he came over, man.
joe rogan
Hey, how was Pantoja?
Do you know how his Loja champion?
dustin poirier
I don't know how the injury is, but it has to be bad if they're skipping him and going with this other title fight.
joe rogan
I know.
dustin poirier
I was there like two weeks ago.
I went down to help some buddies.
I spent a week there.
I didn't see Pantoja at all.
joe rogan
It was so nasty, but what was really weird was like when Megan Olivi was talking to us, they were saying that he dislocated his shoulder.
And I was like, what?
unidentified
What?
joe rogan
Like, what are you talking about?
His elbow went out.
Like, I'm watching his elbow go out.
dustin poirier
It looked like the elbow.
joe rogan
I said, no, but I think the doctor had misspoke.
And I'm 99% sure that it was actually the elbow that went out because the elbow clearly moves and it caves in and gives out.
dustin poirier
Right.
And when that happens, ligaments, muscles, everything gets damaged, but I just don't know the extent.
joe rogan
Well, it's too bad because also Pantoja's older and he's older and dominant in fly weight, which is very hard to do.
dustin poirier
It sucks at any time to see a fight in like that.
joe rogan
Terrible.
Especially a title fight.
dustin poirier
Especially a title fight, especially on the streak he was on, defending the belt.
Like it just, fuck, man.
joe rogan
Not just that.
dustin poirier
And he's such a hard worker and such a quiet guy and just a good dude, you know?
joe rogan
He's a fucking savage, too.
I think he's one of the greatest of all time.
jamie vernon
The post-fight, Dana said something about the shoulder also.
joe rogan
They popped his shoulder back in.
I thought it was the elbow.
Well, it was the elbow.
It says it's not the elbow.
It was his shoulder.
It's his elbow as well, though.
It's got to be.
That's weird.
jamie vernon
Yeah, a follow-up post said there was no ligament damage, but I was trying to find updated.
joe rogan
So even if there's no ligament damage, there could be cartilage damage.
dustin poirier
Oh, yeah.
joe rogan
There could be a lot of other shit.
dustin poirier
Anytime something bends the way it's not supposed to, soft tissue damage.
joe rogan
His weight and Joshua Van's weight all on one arm posted, and that arm gives out.
But damn, dude, when he fought that Japanese cat, who was that guy?
Ran through him.
dustin poirier
When Pantosha did?
Yeah.
joe rogan
Like, you just see how good he is.
When he fought Kai Carl France, ran through him.
I was like, this dude is on fire right now.
dustin poirier
No, he's good, man.
joe rogan
He's on fire.
I think Pantoja is one of the best of all time.
dustin poirier
And dude, not loud, not flashy, quiet.
He'll walk in the gym, go be in practice, you won't notice him.
Just working, always.
joe rogan
Just does his work.
dustin poirier
Just working.
joe rogan
Yeah, just fucking focused.
Just a soldier.
dustin poirier
I love to see that, though, man, because like a few years before he was the flyweight champion, he was driving Uber or Uber Eats, like just trying to make him, you know, scrapping to get bills paid.
And you see a guy because that's what makes fighting so special, though.
You know, like Teddy Atlas has a speech about it, but it's like, where else can you be from any discipline, any creed, anything, any background, and call yourself the champion of the world?
Quiet Champions and Hot Sauce 00:06:16
joe rogan
That's true.
dustin poirier
So powerful.
On any given night, you can go against the odds and be a busted Douglas or be a Uber East driver and be the world champion, you know, a couple years later.
Like, it's just special, man.
Fighting combat is special.
joe rogan
It is special, and it is the end-all of all sports.
Like, if someone shoots a basket and they make a three-pointer on you, you're like, okay, but I could still fuck you up.
You know, no one says after you fuck them up, yeah, but I could score a basket on you.
No one cares.
Dude, it's the end of all sports.
dustin poirier
The end of all everything.
The best middle school comeback.
Somebody can be.
Can't beat me, though.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Can't beat me, though.
That was like they come back for anything.
Can't beat me, though.
Like, that's the top of the line.
The top challenge.
unidentified
Exactly.
dustin poirier
The top challenge.
joe rogan
Doesn't matter if you're better at backgammon.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
Yeah, you dunked on me, but I'll beat your ass.
joe rogan
Yeah, beating someone's ass is the that's the end goal.
That's what all sports aspire to be.
Yeah.
Is combat sports.
So do you have plans for stuff you want to do outside of fighting now?
Like now that you're retired and now you're settling in?
dustin poirier
Be a good dad, be a good husband.
That's my goals always.
But I have a few other businesses, you know, I've had for years.
I got a documentary.
joe rogan
You got a great hot sauce.
dustin poirier
Got a great hot sauce.
joe rogan
That hot sauce is legit.
unidentified
I'm good.
dustin poirier
Thank you, man.
joe rogan
It's legit.
dustin poirier
Poirier's Louisiana style hot sauce.
It's not white label.
We made this.
We developed it.
joe rogan
It's good, dude.
It's very good.
unidentified
Thank you.
dustin poirier
I'm proud of it.
I'm proud of it.
joe rogan
Yeah, when you sent it to me, I was like, okay, I'll try it.
I'm like, oh, shit.
dustin poirier
It's legit.
joe rogan
Vinegar-based.
dustin poirier
Vinegar-based cayenne fire.
joe rogan
Very good.
Very good hot sauce.
dustin poirier
Thank you, man.
I put a little celery in there.
joe rogan
You can tell you put some work into that.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I didn't want it to be.
There's so many vinegar-based hot sauces on the shelf.
You get lost in that.
And the shelf space is so hard to get.
I'm learning all this business stuff as I move forward, you know.
And now that I'm done fighting, I get to really see where the hot sauce is because every fight, every promotion, I got to talk about it.
And sales always around every fight were great.
But now we're going to level off and see what kind of stride we have.
joe rogan
Well, it's legit, man.
I recommend it highly.
dustin poirier
Thank you, man.
joe rogan
It's very good.
dustin poirier
Besides that, I have a few businesses in Lafayette, and I'm really getting excited.
I have a documentary coming out this year.
The same guys who made my first documentary, Fightville.
I don't know if you've seen it.
It came out in 2011.
It was on Netflix.
Actually, did a premiere here at South by Southwest.
Showtime picked it up.
But the same company that did that, Pepper and Bones, is doing my retirement documentary.
So they did the whole last training camp filmed.
They live in Germany.
So they would fly down, stay in camp.
They did the whole fight week in New Orleans.
Then they came back down for Thanksgiving, this recent Thanksgiving, and finished up the documentary.
And they have hundreds of hours of footage unreleased from when I was 17, 18 years old.
unidentified
Whoa.
dustin poirier
So they got the whole journey.
unidentified
Whoa.
dustin poirier
Just randomly, this guy was filming a war veteran who turned, he was doing a, him and his wife are documentary makers, and they were following this guy who just got back from the Middle East, and he happened to be a fighter.
And I met the guy at a fight show I fought on.
He was filming the other guy for a war film.
Started talking.
Then he just, man, I'm interested in you.
Let me start.
Started filming me.
And then, dude, now I have all this hundreds of hours of footage of me fighting amateur, small shows, behind the scenes at my house, like as a kid.
joe rogan
Oh, that's incredible.
dustin poirier
Yeah, so we're going to put it all into this documentary.
joe rogan
Dude, that's awesome.
That's amazing.
Well, listen, brother, whatever you do, you know, if you put the same energy that you put into becoming a great fighter, you'll be great at anything you do.
That's just the beautiful thing about doing the most difficult thing is everything else is definitely going to be easier.
dustin poirier
I want to go back to the difficult thing.
I don't want the easy path, man.
joe rogan
It's so hard to let it go, right?
dustin poirier
It's hard to be as like, like I tell my wife, I say this a lot, be a civilian, to go from fight life every day for so long to being a civilian.
It's like I'm relearning who I am.
joe rogan
Maybe a couple boxing matches.
Maybe the UFC will let you out.
dustin poirier
I would love to.
joe rogan
Do you think the UFC will let you out of contract, do some boxing matches?
dustin poirier
Nope, I don't think so.
Unless the pot was big enough to wear, I don't think so.
joe rogan
Oh, they should.
dustin poirier
But I'm not fucking fighting Floyd Mayweather.
The pot ain't going to be big enough.
unidentified
Right.
dustin poirier
You know?
Because there was a Russian company that wanted me and Nate to box.
unidentified
Oh.
joe rogan
And the UFC said no.
dustin poirier
I didn't even bring it to him.
Ariel Jawani hit me up and said, hey, any interest in this?
I have interest, but I didn't want to bring it to Hunter and Dana.
I didn't want to ask him.
joe rogan
Give it a try.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
Give it a try.
See what happens after this.
dustin poirier
I tried to do the benefit.
I tried to, let's do it in Zoofoo boxing.
joe rogan
Yeah, that's silly that they don't want to do any crossovers, but I get it.
dustin poirier
Dude, I don't know if I want any more head trauma either, Joe.
unidentified
Yeah.
dustin poirier
Yeah, I want to raise my son.
joe rogan
That's true, too.
That's true, too.
dustin poirier
I have 50-something fights.
joe rogan
Right.
That's true, too.
Maybe just let it go.
dustin poirier
It'll never be gone.
joe rogan
Keep it in the back of your head.
Just work out.
dustin poirier
It'll never be gone.
I want to take care of my head.
unidentified
I'm never going to stop.
joe rogan
I'm never going to stop.
dustin poirier
And I hope William's there tonight.
joe rogan
Yeah, he'll be there tonight for sure.
dustin poirier
I didn't message him.
joe rogan
Oh, he was there.
William Montgomery.
Shout out to William.
I didn't even catch that you were saying that when you were jumping guillotine.
I'm never going to stop.
I didn't realize.
And then everybody online told me, oh, he's doing William Montgomery.
I was like, oh, my God.
How did I miss that?
dustin poirier
I was 100% doing William Montgomery.
But also, I give you the benefit of the doubt, dude.
My delivery was kind of bad.
It wasn't the exact.
joe rogan
I was just so focused.
When I'm doing post-fight interviews, I'm just always so focused in trying to get everything out of the fighter that they want to say.
All I'm thinking of is what can I ask him that can help them better express themselves after this big victory.
dustin poirier
Yeah.
joe rogan
You know, so it's like.
dustin poirier
I was the underdog and Mike, every time I went to the corner, he's like, stop jumping guillotines.
You're giving up takedowns.
You're not going to get, cut it out.
Don't do it.
joe rogan
I'm like, was that the Ben Wallace underneath?
dustin poirier
Never gonna stop.
Yeah, yeah.
joe rogan
That was a great victory, too, man.
That was a good one.
dustin poirier
Yeah, with the streak he's on, this aging, aging well, aging well, man.
joe rogan
Very well.
Listen, brother, you're an all-time great.
It's an honor.
So cool to have you here again.
dustin poirier
Thank you for having me.
joe rogan
And congratulations on an amazing career.
dustin poirier
Thank you, gentlemen.
joe rogan
And like I said, you're going to kill it with whatever you do, whatever you do in life.
dustin poirier
Try to be copy.
I'm going to try to do the desk work and see where that goes.
unidentified
Yes.
joe rogan
And buy his hot sauce.
It's legit.
unidentified
You heard?
All right.
joe rogan
Thanks, brother.
Bye, everybody.
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