Podbit · The Joe Rogan Experience
The entire game plan was built around one insight: Topuria is front-heavy and devastating going forward, but can't sprint laterally. Move left constantly, jab outside his rear shoulder to put him on his back foot, and place the left foot outside his rear foot before throwing the right hand. That right hand you heard land — that was the plan working perfectly.
Where this was said
At 1:43:50 · chapter starts 1:41:30
Gaethje and Wittman reveal they were in an isolation room during Gane vs. Pereira and heard almost nothing — just the horn ending rounds. They heard 'and new' and knew Gane had won. Rogan takes the lead analyzing the fight: Gane started as a basketball player, meaning his entire athletic foundation is plyometrics, direction changes, and agility. At 248 pounds, he moves like a welterweight. Pereira couldn't set his feet. The feints into takedowns kept Pereira guessing. And a perfectly timed jab dropped one of the most dangerous knockout artists in MMA history. There's also the question of whether Pereira paid a speed tax for putting on too much weight transitioning from MMA to boxing — a discipline with shorter rounds but different demands. Wittman notes that for a heavyweight, Gane carries his power, but Pereira's frame just couldn't sustain the movement required against this opponent.
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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