Podbit · The Joe Rogan Experience
Gane started as a basketball player — all plyometrics and agility — and that athleticism translates directly to his striking style. At 248 pounds, he moves like a welterweight. Pereira may have paid the price for putting on too much weight while transitioning from MMA to boxing.
Where this was said
At 1:40:20 · chapter starts 1:38:20
Gaethje lays out his case against Mike Beltran in the Chandler fight: after an eye poke, Beltran asked 'are you good?' rather than stopping the fight and giving Gaethje his five minutes. Gaethje said no and then said yes in the same breath — because the question was wrong. The right statement is 'you have five minutes,' not 'are you good?' That distinction cost Gaethje time to recover and led to him absorbing a major clean shot. Beltran has never acknowledged wrongdoing, which is what still infuriates Gaethje. Then comes the Khabib story: Gaethje tapped three times before going unconscious, and a referee later told him — multiple times, in different conversations — that he knows Gaethje would never tap. Even with Gaethje insisting 'I tapped,' the referee wouldn't accept it. Gaethje shrugs: at least being choked out doesn't carry the same TBI risks as a knockout. But still.
Gaethje said he tapped three times in his fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov and was choked unconscious, contradicting a referee who insisted he would never tap.
Gaethje has earned 17 post-fight bonuses across just 16 UFC appearances, a historically unprecedented rate of performance bonuses.
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.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.