Referees standing fighters up when one is controlling from top position is the single most backwards rule in MMA. If a guy earned top position, let him stay there. Muhammad Ali didn't get told to start punching during rope-a-dope.
Where this was said
At 1:03:50 · chapter starts 49:10
The show takes a tactical turn as Joe and Tony watch Khabib Nurmagomedov highlight footage, dissecting the specific details that made him impossible to escape — triangled legs, collar-tie uppercuts, weight distribution. Joe makes his clearest argument: referees should never stand fighters up, comparing passive ground control to Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope. Strategy is strategy. He goes one step further and proposes that each round should begin in the position where the last round ended, forcing fighters to actually earn the stand-up position. [1] — Joe Rogan "Wrestling doesn't just score points — it psychologically destroys opponents. When you're pinned on the mat under a superior wrestler, stari…" 58:00 The Merab discussion (his catastrophically deviated septum, visible via X-ray, hasn't been fixed because surgery requires a year off) underscores how badly elite wrestlers earn their advantages. The conclusion: if you want your kid to be a great fighter, teach them to wrestle first.
Wrestling doesn't just score points — it psychologically destroys opponents. When you're pinned on the mat under a superior wrestler, staring at the logos on the canvas while a world champion rains punches on your face, there is nowhere to go and nothing to do.
Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from MMA with an undefeated record, dominant through elite wrestling that neutralized world-class fighters.
Thomas's wife deferred her CrossFit career — she's in the global top 1% of athletes — to put him through law school debt-free. He wants her to chase the dream now; she wants the emergency fund and house down payment first. On a $200K lawyer income with no debt, the opportunity cost is just a few months of slower saving.
Underground calisthenics battles are exactly like UFC meets a rap battle — 150 people crowded around a circle, fighters walking out with masks and chains, nicknames like 'Extra Money' vs 'Calisthenics the Prince,' and people throwing money and betting. The battle set: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell. This is the next big spectator sport.
Rico Verhoeven controlled the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for approximately 10 rounds — and had his appeal upheld when officials admitted the fight was stopped after the bell. The result was never overturned. Rogan calls it either incompetence or corruption, and argues the money behind Usyk made an upset politically inconvenient.
Rogan lays out a blunt case: boxing's 3-judge system is structurally broken, and the judges know who the promoter wants to win. Glory's 5-judge format is the right model. Corruption doesn't have to be conscious — just knowing Usyk is the cash cow is enough to tilt the scales.
With the Usyk-Wilder fight stalling and Fury-Joshua coming too late, the real fight the world wants is the rematch. Rico is a free agent. Usyk vacated his belts. The story is unfinished and both Rogan and Rico know it. His Excellency Turki Alasheikh already called for it ringside — the question is money.
Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. When Joshua pulled out, Rico pitched Usyk himself — Undisputed vs. Undisputed. Usyk said yes in two weeks. The whole thing started with one text.
Every heavyweight who faced Usyk tried to move to the right — straight into his power hand. Rico and Peter Fury identified the obvious solution: move left, away from the left hand, and smother him with size. It sounds simple. Nobody had done it. That one adjustment was the foundation of 10 dominant rounds.
MMA fans boo when fights go to the ground. They love stand-up. Kickboxing is pure stand-up. Yet it barely exists in America while boxing and MMA are enormous. Rogan's diagnosis: no promotion machine. If the UFC got behind kickboxing the way they've built MMA, it would explode. The talent is there — the storytelling machine is not.
A nation of 17 million people gave the world Ramon Deckers, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Melvin Manhoef, Rob Kamen, Ernesto Hoost, and Rico Verhoeven. Rico's theory: the country is so small that every gym shares knowledge freely. In the US, you need a flight. In Holland, you drive 40 minutes and spar the national champion.
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