The Joe Rogan ExperienceJRE MMA Show #62 with Brendan Schaub
Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub on rogan and Schaub Breakdown Epic UFC Fights, Weight Cuts, Doping, Streaming.
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub, JRE MMA Show #62 with Brendan Schaub explores rogan and Schaub Breakdown Epic UFC Fights, Weight Cuts, Doping, Streaming Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub spend the episode breaking down the recent UFC card featuring Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway and Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum, calling it one of the greatest events and title fights ever. They dive deep into weight-cutting, optimal weight classes, and how size disparities affected Holloway at 155 and fighters like Adesanya, Gastelum, and Yoel Romero at 185. A major thread is performance-enhancing drugs and USADA—especially TJ Dillashaw’s EPO suspension, how EPO works, testing limits, and what’s fair punishment. They also discuss illegal streaming and the ESPN+ rollout, future matchmaking and divisions, the economics of fighter pay and stardom, and branch into broader topics like Amazon/Bezos, social media, comedy process, and pop culture.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Rogan and Schaub Breakdown Epic UFC Fights, Weight Cuts, Doping, Streaming
- Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub spend the episode breaking down the recent UFC card featuring Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway and Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum, calling it one of the greatest events and title fights ever. They dive deep into weight-cutting, optimal weight classes, and how size disparities affected Holloway at 155 and fighters like Adesanya, Gastelum, and Yoel Romero at 185. A major thread is performance-enhancing drugs and USADA—especially TJ Dillashaw’s EPO suspension, how EPO works, testing limits, and what’s fair punishment. They also discuss illegal streaming and the ESPN+ rollout, future matchmaking and divisions, the economics of fighter pay and stardom, and branch into broader topics like Amazon/Bezos, social media, comedy process, and pop culture.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
7 ideasSize and natural weight class matter more than fans often admit.
Rogan and Schaub highlight how Poirier’s physicality at 155 overwhelmed Holloway despite Max’s volume, and how Adesanya, Gastelum, Romero, and others show that being ‘the right size’ or truly disciplined for a division is critical to power, durability, and longevity.
Interim belts are masking a structural need for more weight classes.
They argue that divisions like 165 lbs would better accommodate fighters stuck between 155 and 170, who are either cutting dangerously or undersized; instead, the UFC has layered on interim titles that don’t solve the underlying size-distribution problem.
EPO use is a high-level, dangerous form of cheating that changes training itself.
Discussing TJ Dillashaw, they note EPO doesn’t just give more cardio on fight night—it lets athletes recover faster, train harder, and get extra rounds in, vastly compounding its advantage while introducing serious health risks like thickened blood and stroke.
USADA’s testing menu has blind spots, and testing everything is expensive.
Rogan reveals that EPO isn’t tested for every time due to cost, which shocks Dana White in a separate conversation; they debate whether retroactively testing old samples and expanding panels is worth the millions versus simply paying fighters more.
Illegal streaming is widespread and may actually boost fighter visibility.
Schaub describes ESPN+ ordering failures and being bombarded with pirated links, noting younger fans see $80 as prohibitive and stream by default; Rogan suggests while this hurts PPV revenue, it may help grow fighters’ popularity and the sport’s fanbase.
MMA’s current era is talent-dense across multiple divisions.
They frame lightweight, welterweight, and middleweight as ‘murderers’ row,’ with Poirier, Khabib, Ferguson, Gaethje, Usman, Woodley, Adesanya, Whittaker, Romero and others making matchmaking incredibly compelling and title paths extremely hard.
Controversy and authenticity still drive star power in combat sports and comedy.
From Jones and Adesanya’s trash talk to McGregor–Khabib, from The Rock/Will Smith’s social media to Louis C.K. and Bill Burr’s boundary-pushing stand-up, they emphasize that raw, consistent authenticity—despite risk—is what keeps people fascinated.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesStylebender’s face looked like he was allergic to shellfish.
— Joe Rogan
There’s never been a better time to be a UFC fan. It is murderers’ row.
— Brendan Schaub
EPO’s not a gateway drug… that’s some black belt–level shit.
— Brendan Schaub
I don’t know who’s going to beat Khabib.
— Joe Rogan
When guys get that boatload of money, we can’t get them to fight. This sport’s too hard.
— Brendan Schaub
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
5 questionsHow should MMA scoring be reformed to value rounds where a fighter is badly hurt or nearly finished more than 10–9, without making comebacks mathematically impossible?
Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub spend the episode breaking down the recent UFC card featuring Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway and Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum, calling it one of the greatest events and title fights ever. They dive deep into weight-cutting, optimal weight classes, and how size disparities affected Holloway at 155 and fighters like Adesanya, Gastelum, and Yoel Romero at 185. A major thread is performance-enhancing drugs and USADA—especially TJ Dillashaw’s EPO suspension, how EPO works, testing limits, and what’s fair punishment. They also discuss illegal streaming and the ESPN+ rollout, future matchmaking and divisions, the economics of fighter pay and stardom, and branch into broader topics like Amazon/Bezos, social media, comedy process, and pop culture.
Given the risks and structural incentives, is it realistic to expect elite fighters not to use advanced PEDs like EPO when testing is selective and careers are short?
Would adding a 165-pound division and restructuring weight classes meaningfully reduce dangerous weight cuts, or just create more belt-chasing and chaos?
At what point does widespread illegal streaming force the UFC and other sports to radically change their pricing and distribution models?
How much should past misconduct (like Dillashaw’s EPO use or Louis C.K.’s behavior) permanently limit someone’s career, and what constitutes a fair path back?
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
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