Podbit · We Need To Talk with Paul C. Brunson
SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam fell to the 7th round after coming out, got cut, and was briefly picked up by the Cowboys — Colton says it was obviously to sell jerseys. The NFL sees gay players as distractions, and that observation locked Colton deeper in the closet.
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At 31:20 · chapter starts 29:21
The NFL locker room was paradoxically less homophobic than college — grown men with families didn't gossip the same way — but the league's institutional hostility was obvious. Michael Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and Colton's 2014 draft classmate, came out before the draft, fell to the 7th round, and was cut [1] — Colton Underwood "SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam fell to the 7th round after coming out, got cut, and was briefly picked up by the Cowboys — Co…" 31:20 . Colton watched a locker room publicly applaud diversity while privately mocking Sam, and he describes the Cowboys signing as a cynical jersey-sales exercise. For Colton, calculating the risks as a defensive end — weighing what he stood to lose — led him to the same conclusion every time: stay silent. Even now, he admits strength in numbers might have changed things, but as a borderline practice-squad player, he had none of Sam's leverage.
SEC Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam slid to the 7th round after coming out as gay before the 2014 NFL Draft, and was subsequently cut.
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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