In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC's highest-rated and most in-demand commentator joins us to talk about bare-knuckle boxing and why it's the perfect sport for him. He also talks about why he thinks he'd be a great UFC fighter if he ever got into the sport, and why he doesn't want to go back to MMA. We also talk about his favorite fighters in the sport and how he feels about the current state of bareknuckle fighting, and what he thinks about the state of the sport as a whole, and how it compares to the other sports he's been in over the past few decades. This episode is a must-listen, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it! -Joe Rogan -The Joe Rogans Experience -Bare-Knuckle Boxing -Michael Venom Page -Turtleback MMA -Cris Cyborg -J.J. Jones -Gris Lavelle -Lorenzo Gracie -Andrei Arguello -Kiramitsu -Dillian Whyte -Manny Pacquiao -Francis Ngannou -Chad Mendez -Carlos Carvajal -John Alvarado -Roddy Piper -Vladimir Chisora -AJ McCarty -Justin Edwards -Jake Roberts -Timothy Ochs -Shawn Stanko -Sergio Vieira -Brandon Orthoger , we talk about the future of bare knuckle boxing - and much more, and much, much more! -and much more. - we hope that you enjoy this episode, we'll see you in the next episode! We look forward to hearing back from you in a few weeks! Thank you for tuning into the show! . Cheers, and keep up with us on the next one! , ! -Jon Soriano - & Thanks, Jon <3 ( ) ~ Thank You, Jon Rocha :D "The Journey - John Mikey The Journey John - Tom @ Jake JOSEPH Love, -Mikey - Ben
00:00:40.000You are particularly well-suited for that, and I find it so fascinating.
00:00:48.000Because there's a certain, and I really wanted to ask you about this, because there's a certain something that applies to bare-knuckle fighting.
00:00:58.000It's like there's a pain, and there's a danger, and there's a wildness of it.
00:01:03.000That even some very great fighters, they're in there and they're like, I don't like this.
00:01:08.000They're too used to gloves, they're too used to whatever they're used to.
00:01:12.000They don't want that experience once they find it, once they're in there.
00:03:42.000You think about a guy like him who applies this full, wild range of things, especially with Michael Venom Page, because he's so good at closing distance and kicking you and kneeing you, and the knee, the timing of that knee, I mean, magnificent, right?
00:03:57.000And when you take all that away and you only have these, it's a big difference.
00:04:15.000I'm still 0-1 as a professional boxer.
00:04:17.000But then I did that triller thing in the triangle, and I fought Michael Seals, who was 27-3, in a mixed boxing match with turtleback MMA gloves.
00:04:58.000Another time I got hit in the back of the head and the ref saw it and I went down a little bit, but I got right back up.
00:05:04.000So what is the biggest difference about bare knuckle for you?
00:05:09.000I've learned though, so like when I fought Julian Lane his little f***ing head hurt my hands because a lot of time with boxing gloves on your hands are like open and you try to close it at the right time but you know it's if you do that bare knuckle Because you know how if you're squeezing your fist, it's a little harder to move.
00:11:04.000I feel like, to be honest, I feel like it was September 15, 1991, the day I was born.
00:11:11.000But 11 years old, I was on YouTube doing videos, watching Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., going to school, bringing gloves, or fighting kids on the block, in the grass, you know, with gloves on, busting kids up, older kids, kids my age, it doesn't matter.
00:12:47.000Because, like, why do we protect the knuckles of the hands when you don't protect all these other weapons?
00:12:54.000You don't protect elbows, you don't protect knees or shins, which are harder.
00:12:58.000It's kind of crazy that the one thing that's padded is the one thing you're kind of padding it because it's vulnerable.
00:13:04.000Well, you figured out a way to fight really at your best Without that I feel like I don't I don't want to use the glove as an excuse either though Because I feel like in ways you can punch harder with the glove.
00:13:17.000You can throw a bigger shot with the glove.
00:13:19.000No, no for sure No, no argument at all.
00:13:21.000It's definitely protects your hands and it's definitely safer for the fighter But is it is it realistic?
00:14:04.000I want to, you know, why would you make us a sport where you utilize your whole body and And then you're gonna cut off one of the biggest weapons.
00:15:15.000It looks like you can't hit the guy when he's down, but you can throw elbows and headbutts in combination, and everything's bare knuckle.
00:15:26.000Yeah, you know, like I was saying, I want to challenge because, I mean, the bare knuckle is still challenging, but I made it so easy last time.
00:15:34.000Luke Rocco didn't have a chance, and it seemed like I could have beaten him in MMA. Do you think that...
00:18:48.000You know, we're growing up in this sport.
00:18:50.000We've been doing this shit for, honestly, I'm 31. I've been doing this shit for 20 years.
00:18:56.000Do you think that bare-knuckle, that there's less of a length of your career if you do bare-knuckle?
00:19:05.000Is it more likely that you could get injured, like you could hurt your hands?
00:19:11.000Or do you think that you could have the same length of career bare-knuckle as you can in regular MMA? I'm gonna keep fucking doing it every day forever until...
00:19:39.000You know, God bless my friend Michael Milmerstadt and his family.
00:22:01.000If you go back and watch Boss Rootin in the Pancrace days, Bas Rutten was the first guy to figure it out.
00:22:07.000You're calling it a slap, but Bas Rutten is pulling his hands way back, and he's palming you, and he can actually hit you and not even worry about hurting his hands.
00:22:16.000So he can kind of hit you harder in a lot of ways.
00:23:09.000With just slapping, if it's getting to the ground, you could hit somebody pretty fucking hard with the palm of your hand if you're in the top position.
00:28:41.000They put them in hotels or something because they cleaned up a giant part of it.
00:28:47.000I know there's a bunch of programs to try to teach them trades, and there's these housing options that some of the philanthropists out here have set up, where they're trying to reintroduce some of these people back to the community.
00:29:44.000How do people pull up, though, like Cubans pull up to Miami on these boats that they got a piece of wood and they oared 90 miles in this boat with like 17 family members and they pull up on the beach and they go start their life.
00:30:26.000And so in San Francisco, that's the big criticism.
00:30:29.000There's a guy named Michael Schellenberger and he wrote a book called San Francisco.
00:30:34.000Describing like what happens when progressives ruin cities like they're ruining San Francisco And he was saying like this just gets to a point where it's just It's just it's What's going on is too nuts like you're allowing these people to have these open-air drug dens It's a choice though.
00:30:54.000And you're paying them money to stay there They're paying them money.
00:30:59.000They interviewed these guys that were like camped out and they're saying one of the good things about being a homeless person in San Francisco is they give you money.
00:31:05.000They give you like a certain amount of money.
00:34:25.000Whoops Sound camera footage I have butterflies, bro Everyone thought of shooting stars and these people say there's aliens in their backyard So when that 9-1-1 call came in less than an hour later police were ready to believe it It was like a big creature a big creature Yeah, like a long time because I'm not gonna BS you guys one of my partners said they saw something fall out of the sky too So that's why I'm kind of curious.
00:34:51.000Did you see anything land in your backyard?
00:34:53.000But after a brief investigation of the yard officers closed the case.
00:34:56.000It's a whole video about nothing really Don't call us all right deal with it yourself I ain't dealing with that According to former intelligence It's funny.
00:35:08.000If I was an alien, those are exactly the kind of people that I would talk to.
00:36:16.000You can imagine being another life form that eventually gets to a place and evolves either through technology or what to what those things are.
00:36:39.000Do you think that that, I mean, that's what I've thought many times when I see that classic gray alien with the big head, the big black eyes.
00:36:47.000I always think maybe that's what we are in the future.
00:38:47.000The weirdest things about dreams is that right when you wake up, they're so vivid, but then a few minutes later, you can't remember what the fuck it was.
00:38:54.000It was so interesting to you when you wake up.
00:38:57.000You're like, wow, that dream was crazy.
00:43:46.000But I got with Julian Williams and I met this Central Florida group of mixed martial artists have been around for, you know, it feels like 15 years.
00:44:12.000I had like 20 amateur fights but I guess it was like a scattered version.
00:44:17.000There are things that are more organized and put together that I mean like the boxing like the little kids that do boxing all over the country.
00:44:34.000Before they go pro, these kids and their parents, I see that now because the boxing gym I work at, technique boxing, you know, I get to be around that type of whatever that is that...
00:44:51.000That's that deep down, the soul of it.
00:44:54.000It's about the kids, and they become great boxers over the years of doing it.
00:45:04.000I've done it too, but we were one of the first...
00:45:09.000I mean, no, fighting was already around in the 80s.
00:49:31.000Well, I think after this Rockhold fight, it's changed people's appreciation for, first of all, how difficult it is.
00:49:39.000Like when you see Rockhold's jaw fucked up, with his teeth fucked up, and you see that you've been beating guys like him and Michael Venom Page, and it's like, these are like very high-level guys.
00:49:52.000And you're doing it in this sport that's like, man, it's a completely different thing, to me at least.
00:50:00.000The way you're describing it completely makes sense about how you have to be tight all the time, but still move well.
00:52:37.000But we're not having groups of 200 people meet groups of 200 people and just running into each other on a football field and beating the fuck out of each other.
00:55:19.000There's a thing that happens to a guy when he hits that championship level where they're just coming in their own and they start to really shine.
00:57:46.000He, you know, he came from Cuba as well.
00:57:48.000And the way they were describing, you know, the system over in Cuba and like Yoel was talking about the wrestling system that he came up through.
00:58:49.000This is the most popular performance in terms of the amount of people that watched the Rockhold fight.
00:58:56.000Was that the biggest one that they put on?
00:58:59.000Um, so do they have anything lined up for you?
00:59:03.000Uh, apparently, you know, there's a couple deals on the table and I really don't know what's, you know, am I supposed to decide what happens?
00:59:14.000Um, I really, my team is trying to give me the best deal possible.
01:04:25.000To go back to 170, I've been at 75, and then my last fight was at 185. But MMA is different with 185. But in boxing, I was a good size for 185. I'm short, and you can box being short, but when you're up against the kicks, you can't.
01:07:55.000There's also the argument that you take more brain damage with gloves because you get hit more because it's easier to just hit you full blast.
01:08:12.000But only like mitts and you can't spar with anyone.
01:08:17.000No one's trying to go bare knuckle with me and we got to put 16s on and hit that way with headgear.
01:08:24.000Don't you think in that case like your previous experience in bare knuckle is a giant advantage to anybody that wants to just step in and try it now?
01:08:34.000But I fought someone with nine fights.
01:21:30.000He created this stuff called Neuro One.
01:21:34.000I was on this radio show in San Francisco back in the day, and one of the co-hosts of the radio show said, hey, I want you to try this stuff.
01:21:42.000My coach, Bill Romanowski, he was his trainer, and it was his friend or something who was getting him through workouts.
01:23:58.000I earned it after all these years of doing it.
01:24:02.000Well, you definitely earned it, and you definitely earned a large fan base.
01:24:05.000I mean, that's really what it's all about.
01:24:07.000People know when they go to see Mike Perry fight, especially now after these bare-knuckle fights, They know they're gonna see some wild shit.
01:24:13.000There's guys in the UFC that have been there much longer than me and don't have more fights than me.
01:26:10.000You know, so I've always been fortunate to have battles and hard shots are being thrown, but I've been able to keep control of my mind enough, I guess, I need to be smarter, though.
01:26:53.000Yeah, but you know podcasts, a lot of it's just, unless it's, I mean other people's kind of podcasts you can get informative stuff, but on mine a lot of it is just shooting the shit.
01:27:01.000Whereas like a book on like an audio book you can you can get like almost every book ever Is on an audiobook except some weird excuse or like, you know Obscure ones, but like what percentage of books are available in audio?
01:27:19.000I would like to know that Kind of most of them definitely got to get on that because like this is cool.
01:27:25.000This is the Joe Rogan experience and It teaches it's teaching me that like, you know This is probably one of the longest conversations I've had with a human being And, you know, and you get to, and I get to pick your brain and stuff.
01:27:41.000And, you know, I'm all about learning, man.
01:28:52.000Well, so, the mid-15th century, the etymology of the word spell is the action of speaking of and utterance, and then the meaning is putting that into letters.
01:29:06.000I mean, back in the mid-15th century, when they're talking about spells, that's So back then, just when they said spelling, so the action of reading letter by letter from the noun spell...
01:29:23.000But the noun spell, isn't that like, click on that, because would that be like how to spell things out, or was it like a magic spell?
01:29:33.000That's where, I mean, the English word spell has to be developed from wherever it came from, you know, and that's where this is going to go get into.
01:29:43.000It's a short form way to say he's right, I'm pretty sure.
01:29:47.000So maybe when they say to cast a spell...
01:29:53.000I have friends that say exactly what he was saying.
01:29:55.000Like, be careful what you say out loud because you're casting a spell as soon as you say it.
01:31:08.000Ultimately, I just feel like there's another driving force that kind of makes things happen, and I have no control over it, and it's either enjoyable or it's a lesson I have to get through.
01:37:40.000And you control the resistance in how much effort you want to put going side to side.
01:37:45.000So you're not putting pressure on the discs because you're not bending like this, which some people think could, if you do it wrong, could fuck you up.
01:37:53.000But this is different because your neck is always straight up and down and you're strengthening all the muscles while working on your range of motion with this halo.
01:40:25.000I mean, that says that he was free in that moment to do so, obviously.
01:40:31.000But it was me respectfully calling him out, which shows the The professional in martial arts that I have been for so many years, how do you call a man out in a sport that, you know, he has a family and, you know, you guys want to hurt each other and they can honor it in a fair way and promote it to be entertaining.
01:40:55.000I mean, everything he does, people watch that shit.
01:46:26.000But maybe, you know, people live on in life through their experiences and, you know, it's like we're all connected in the fucking stars and shit.