Podbit · The Louis Theroux Podcast
A German journalist told Lineker that Thomas Tuchel is 60% genius and 40% psychopath. Lineker's response: that might be exactly what England need. Tuchel himself disputes the psychopath figure — he reckons it's more like 35%.
Where this was said
At 26:00 · chapter starts 21:35
Theroux frames England's problem as misplaced entitlement since 1966 and asks whether the Premier League's foreigners dilute English talent. Lineker dismisses the xenophobia angle but agrees the problem is the sheer number and intensity of Premier League games — players are physically knackered by summer. He then offers a nuanced defence of Gareth Southgate: when Southgate took over, England had just lost to Iceland at the Euros and failed to get out of the group at the previous World Cup. He transformed the squad's mentality and got England to multiple tournament semi-finals and finals. The criticism of his caution is fair, Lineker says, but Southgate's own argument was that most tournament winners play conservatively — a claim Spain's 2024 European Championship win somewhat undermined. The Jack Grealish subplot surfaces here too: Theroux jokes that Grealish 'runs in circles' when brought on, a line he later apologises for in the outro. [1] — Louis Theroux "England last won a major tournament in 1966: England's only major international football tournament win was the 1966 World Cup, and they ha…" 21:35
England's only major international football tournament win was the 1966 World Cup, and they have not won one since.
The Premier League is widely considered the world's strongest domestic league, but its intensity and volume of games means English players are physically exhausted by the time summer tournaments arrive. Lineker says it lessens England's chances without making winning impossible.
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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