Joe Rogan Experience #1591 - Jordan Burroughs

Jordan Burroughs 0:00 (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music) Jordan, pleasure to meet you, man.

Jordan Burroughs 0:15 Yeah, good to meet you, bro.

Joe Rogan 0:16 Really, uh, really a pleasure to meet you.

Jordan Burroughs 0:17 It's good to be here.

Joe Rogan 0:17 I'm a, I'm a big fan. I, I think what you're doing... First of all, I think it's amazing that no one's talked you into doing MMA. (smacks lips) It's incredible.

Jordan Burroughs 0:24 I've been close.

Joe Rogan 0:25 (laughs) How close?

Jordan Burroughs 0:25 But, uh, mostly, the lady outside, my wife, Lauren-

Joe Rogan 0:28 Really?

Jordan Burroughs 0:28 ... is the one that's talked me out of it.

Joe Rogan 0:30 Really?

Jordan Burroughs 0:30 Yeah, bro. Like, when I graduated from college in 2011, University of Nebraska, wrestling was still on the brink of... It was in e- in its infancy of marketing and branding and really making it a professional career. So MMA was the new kid on the block, and it was growing and expanding, and we had a lot of our guys transitioning in, Henry Cejudo, Ben Askren, Daniel Cormier. And so I really thought about it. I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna wrestle in the Olympics in London 2012, win the gold, and then I'm gonna make the transition to MMA. I'll be 25 years old, I'll have plenty of time." And then I met Lauren.

Joe Rogan 1:05 Aw. (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:05 And she's like, "Listen, you're doing well in the sport. Stay here. You're comfortable." It's just a different... It's a different sport, MMA, in comparison to wrestling, but it's a good thing.

Joe Rogan 1:14 It i- it is a different sport, and it a- also has a lot more head trauma, and there's a lot of things to consider.

Jordan Burroughs 1:21 100%.

Joe Rogan 1:22 You know?

Jordan Burroughs 1:22 That's what I think about all the time. I s- why I s- (laughs) listen, I think about going to MMA until I see a guy like "Platinum" Mike Perry get his whole thing split-

Joe Rogan 1:32 (clears throat)

Jordan Burroughs 1:32 ... nose crooked.

Joe Rogan 1:32 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:32 I'm like, "Eh, I'm good." It's... Like, in wrestling, you lose, you get taken down, pushed out. You know, you get pinned. In fighting, you lose, you get something broken, choked out, tap. You know, it's unconscious. It's a very, very different sport. Wrestling, it's much ea-... It's a... You score as many points as possible wi- doing the least damage as possible.

Joe Rogan 1:53 W-

Jordan Burroughs 1:53 And MMA, I feel like it's, it's different.

Joe Rogan 1:55 It's a shame that there's not more attention put on the professional... Like,, eh, like, at one point in time, professional wrestling was actual wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 2:05 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:06 It wasn't like WWE Entertainment. It was professional wrestling, and it was done-

Jordan Burroughs 2:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:11 ... for prom-... Why can't they do that? I know they tried to do that a few years back.

Jordan Burroughs 2:15 That's an good question.

Joe Rogan 2:15 There was, uh, uh, an organization. I think, was it Kevin Jackson that was doing it?

Jordan Burroughs 2:20 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:20 Yeah, he was doing something-

Jordan Burroughs 2:21 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 2:21 ... where he was doing... a professional wrestling organization.

Jordan Burroughs 2:24 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:24 But it just didn't catch on for some reason. But yet, golf is on TV.

Jordan Burroughs 2:29 For sure, so-

Joe Rogan 2:29 Baseball and all these-

Jordan Burroughs 2:31 Crazy.

Joe Rogan 2:31 ... things that are just-

Jordan Burroughs 2:31 Bags, bro. Cornhole.

Joe Rogan 2:33 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 2:33 I was watching the Cornhole (laughs) Championships on ESPN-

Joe Rogan 2:36 Really?

Jordan Burroughs 2:36 ... the other day. I'm like, "Bruh, this is wild." Like, Cornhole is on ESPN more often than wrestling.

Joe Rogan 2:43 But isn't that just now because of there's no crowds and COVID and there's all the weirdness, and there's a lot of shit that's on... Like, if you follow-

Jordan Burroughs 2:50 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:50 ... SportsCenter on-

Jordan Burroughs 2:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:51 ... Instagram, like, 1/2 the shit they do is, like, people in their backyard, like, doing crazy-

Jordan Burroughs 2:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:55 ... dunks and stuff.

Jordan Burroughs 2:57 Mm-hmm. I think the, the invention of the internet has definitely changed the game for our sport. We are in an epic time where anyone can be famous. All you need is an iPhone-

Joe Rogan 3:08 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 3:08 ... cellphone, period. Like, if you can film footage and upload it, and it's funny, it's inventive, it's disruptive, like, you have an audience, and people are gonna follow it. So, people that are going viral now and becoming superstars aren't even the most particularly talented people in society. They just have a niche-

Joe Rogan 3:26 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 3:26 ... and they know how to stay consistent with it.

Joe Rogan 3:28 Well, sometimes, it doesn't even make sense.

Jordan Burroughs 3:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:30 Like, if something just catches... Like, remember the dude that was on the skateboard, uh, d- d- doing Fleetwood Mac?

Jordan Burroughs 3:35 With the cranberry juice.

Joe Rogan 3:36 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 3:36 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:36 Like, just for whatever reason, everybody's like, "That guy looks like he's having fun."

Jordan Burroughs 3:40 Get this man a truck. Get him more cranberry juice. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:42 A- and now, he's on... I looked. He's always on podcasts. He's all over the place.

Jordan Burroughs 3:46 He's the man.

Joe Rogan 3:46 He bought a house. He bought a car. I mean, it's really incredible.

Jordan Burroughs 3:49 But that's the beauty of it.

Joe Rogan 3:50 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 3:50 That's the beauty of it, is it gives people an opportunity. There it is right there. Yeah, so it was, it was a professional wrestling league that they established and... You know, when people reference what we do, I call it Olympic wrestling. Honestly, I don't even call it professional wrestling 'cause that is kind of an ode to the WWE and old-time WWF. So it's a, it's a unique thing that we had at this time. This is Tommy Rollins, Daniel Cormier, both extremely competitive, both, uh, great wrestlers, Oklahoma State-

Joe Rogan 4:17 What year is this?

Jordan Burroughs 4:18 ... Ohio State. This probably was around '04, '05-ish.

Joe Rogan 4:22 Hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 4:22 Um, so I was still in high school. Real Pro Wrestling, that's right. So they had different cities across the country that had their own teams. It was almost like XFL-esque. It kinda had that vibe, and you had-

Joe Rogan 4:34 So this is Rulon Gardner-

Jordan Burroughs 4:35 Yeah, Rulon Gardner.

Joe Rogan 4:36 ... and, and who's the-

Jordan Burroughs 4:37 Tim Johnson in the middle. He works for the Big Ten Network and also for ESPN. He does commentary for the, uh, NCA Championships yearly. And then the last guy is Nate Carr, who was a NCA champ, world medalist.

Joe Rogan 4:51 And Rulon is another guy that made the transition. He made the transition to MMA and-

Jordan Burroughs 4:55 Did he?

Joe Rogan 4:55 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 4:55 I didn't know that.

Joe Rogan 4:56 Yeah, yeah, he fought a bunch of times over in Japan, and actually-

Jordan Burroughs 4:59 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 4:59 ... I think what stopped him was he lost a toe in a frostbite-

Jordan Burroughs 5:03 That's right.

Joe Rogan 5:03 ... accident.

Jordan Burroughs 5:04 He's a former Cornhusker.

Joe Rogan 5:05 Is he?

Jordan Burroughs 5:06 So we went to the same university, and I got a chance to kinda spend some time with Rulon, but he was out when I was kinda transitioning in.

Joe Rogan 5:12 Oh.

Jordan Burroughs 5:13 And so he's an interesting cat, and he is one of those guys that's like shrouded in this mystery, but there's so many, like, m- epic stories about who he was, what he's done, how much he's eaten. You know, it-

Joe Rogan 5:25 He's a gorilla, dude.

Jordan Burroughs 5:27 Massive, massive man.

Joe Rogan 5:27 In real life, you see the size of that guy-

Jordan Burroughs 5:29 Massive man. Um, and then, obviously, him beating Karelin, which is pretty-

Joe Rogan 5:33 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 5:33 ... much considered the most legendary victory in wrestling history.

Joe Rogan 5:37 D- s- that's a weird victory, right, because it's like Karelin, all he did was get Karelin to break his grip.

Jordan Burroughs 5:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 5:43 And it was a new rule, right?

Jordan Burroughs 5:44 Yup. The rules are evolving all the time in wrestling. So it's, uh, one of those rule changes that year, in particular, which wasn't... It didn't translate well to the average fan.

Joe Rogan 5:57 Hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 5:57 So, like, the toughest thing about wrestling is that...... the, the rules change so often that a nontraditional wrestling fan can't really keep up. You watch a football game, you know, listen, you put the ball into the end zone, it's six points, extra point a point, field goal three points, right? Safety, too. You watch basketball, you know if you're behind this arc, it's three points. If you're within it, it's two points. In wrestling, there's so many different subjective rule sets that you're like-

Joe Rogan 6:20 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 6:20 ... okay, well if you unlock your hands here or if this guy gets pushed out of bounds, it's a point. But if you shove him out of bounds, it's no points. If he's grounded, it's no points. But if his knee is off the mat, then it's a point. So there's so many different, like, little nuances in this sport that make it difficult to follow. And even if you're within it, like sometimes you have to address what the rule set is before you even compete in a tournament. There are times when we're meeting with, uh, administration and referees before we compete at the Olympics, World Championships just so we can stay current on the rule set-

Joe Rogan 6:50 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 6:50 ... for that year because it's-

Joe Rogan 6:51 In just that much?

Jordan Burroughs 6:52 ... always evolving, always evolving.

Joe Rogan 6:54 That, is that something that plays in your head while you're actually competing? Do you, do you have to think, like, "Oh, wait a minute. What is, what's the rule for this place?"

Jordan Burroughs 7:01 You know, that's a good question. I think in the heat of the moment, sometimes, and I, I imagine you've seen it a lot in MMA whether it's a guy, you know, hitting someone in the back of the head or-

Joe Rogan 7:09 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 7:10 ... you know, kicking them when they're down on a knee. Like, all these little things that when you're in the battle and you're fired up and you're trying to put this man out, like, you don't even think about the rule set. You're just, you know, it has to be programmed.

Joe Rogan 7:22 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 7:22 I think experience, just, uh, multiple times within this position, there's a certain level of savviness and mental toughness that you have to have to get there.

Joe Rogan 7:31 They've had a hard time getting people to watch any kind of grappling that don't grapple.

Jordan Burroughs 7:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 7:35 I think that's, that's a part, that's a problem with jujitsu and one of the things they did with jujitsu, they've come up with this new thing called combat jujitsu.

Jordan Burroughs 7:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 7:42 Eddie Bravo came up with it.

Jordan Burroughs 7:43 Okay.

Joe Rogan 7:44 And it's basically jujitsu with slapping. (laughs) It's kinda fucking crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 7:47 What?

Joe Rogan 7:48 Yeah, man. It's cra-

Jordan Burroughs 7:49 I haven't seen it.

Joe Rogan 7:49 You gotta watch, it's crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 7:51 Like, in the face?

Joe Rogan 7:51 Yeah. Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 7:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:52 Like-

Jordan Burroughs 7:53 Or elsewhere?

Joe Rogan 7:53 But the, the, the thing is, like, in, now, you can punch to the body and you slap to the face. The thing is, with jujitsu positions, there's a lot of unrealistic positions when it comes to MMA.

Jordan Burroughs 8:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 8:04 Where, like, guys are hanging on to an ankle and the guy's right over him and he could just start blasting him in the face. It's the thing about s- like, leg lockers are much more sophisticated now than they were back in the day.

Jordan Burroughs 8:14 Sure.

Joe Rogan 8:15 But early in the UFC, you saw some cases where guys would go for leg locks and see, this is, this is combat jujitsu. So you think it's, they could-

Jordan Burroughs 8:21 Is that the... (laughs) Come on, bro.

Joe Rogan 8:23 Yeah. (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 8:25 (laughs) Stop.

Joe Rogan 8:26 But it works.

Jordan Burroughs 8:26 This is gonna look, uh, Two-

Joe Rogan 8:27 It works.

Jordan Burroughs 8:28 ... two siblings fighting over the last Rice Krispie Treat. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 8:31 That's kind of a crazy, th- well, that's Wagner Rocha who's, uh, fought MMA before and he's, he's a beast. He's a-

Jordan Burroughs 8:37 Is he tough?

Joe Rogan 8:37 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 8:37 Does he know what's up?

Joe Rogan 8:38 He's a bad, he's a bad motherfucker.

Jordan Burroughs 8:39 Okay.

Joe Rogan 8:39 He's a bad motherfucker.

Jordan Burroughs 8:40 Okay, good. I like Rocha.

Joe Rogan 8:40 And he wound up winning the, uh, I think he won the whole tournament because he's got so much experience with strikes and jujitsu as it is and he's a elite-

Jordan Burroughs 8:50 Stop.

Joe Rogan 8:50 ... black belt.

Jordan Burroughs 8:50 See, that's the thing. Like, would that really make you release your lock to have your arm potentially broken as getting slapped in the face? Like, if I had my hands locked and I'm preventing the arm bar, like, would a slap in the face really make me, like, "Ooh, I gotta unlock, protect my face." Bam, you're done.

Joe Rogan 9:05 It's a good question. There's, you never know-

Jordan Burroughs 9:07 Like, what? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:07 ... where a person's brain is at, right?

Jordan Burroughs 9:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it.

Joe Rogan 9:09 You know, sometimes dudes just give their arm up.

Jordan Burroughs 9:11 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:12 There's, there's situations where guys give their arm up and sometimes give, guys give their arm up in, in MMA, too. When they're getting pounded on-

Jordan Burroughs 9:18 Shoo...

Joe Rogan 9:18 ... you'll see guys reach up when someone's in the mount and you know that they're giving their arm up.

Jordan Burroughs 9:23 That's right.

Joe Rogan 9:23 And then they get tapped. And, you know, I've talked to guys who actually told me that they did it. They just said, "I just let him take my neck," or, "I let him take my arm."

Jordan Burroughs 9:30 Right.

Joe Rogan 9:31 But Wagner stopped guys. He stopped, like, really good guys.

Jordan Burroughs 9:32 He's got, like, a, he's got a, like, a palm-

Joe Rogan 9:34 Exactly.

Jordan Burroughs 9:35 ... technique, too.

Joe Rogan 9:35 Exactly.

Jordan Burroughs 9:36 Like, it's not just like a openhanded wah.

Joe Rogan 9:38 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 9:38 He's just kinda going palm to the face, so-

Joe Rogan 9:40 Well, he's a, like I said, he's a real MMA fighter.

Jordan Burroughs 9:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:43 And he's, you know, he's an elite MMA fighter.

Jordan Burroughs 9:45 Bro, but look, does-

Joe Rogan 9:46 (laughs) It's kinda crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 9:46 ... this not look funny to you?

Joe Rogan 9:49 It does look a little funny.

Jordan Burroughs 9:50 Does this kind of, like... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:50 It does look a little funny.

Jordan Burroughs 9:51 I respect these dudes. This dude looks like an absolute monster, but the slapping just reminds me of my sister and I back in middle school when my mom and dad were at work and we had a snow day. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:03 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 10:03 And we'd be fighting over the last sip of the two-liter Pepsi in the fridge.

Joe Rogan 10:07 Yeah. (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 10:08 That was it, right there. That's us-

Joe Rogan 10:09 But see-

Jordan Burroughs 10:09 ... slapping each other.

Joe Rogan 10:10 If you use gloves, the thing about gloves is if they put the MMA gloves, gloves change a lot of positions.

Jordan Burroughs 10:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:16 Like, it's, it's harder to get certain chokes 'cause the gloves are thick and they get in the way. You can't get them under the chin as easy.

Jordan Burroughs 10:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:22 But that would probably be the most realistic. But the reason why they use slaps, it actually, there's a history that goes back to the original MMA, like when they were s- first starting to do MMA tournaments.

Jordan Burroughs 10:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:34 One of the ve- one of the really early ones was called Pancrase. It was in Japan.

Jordan Burroughs 10:38 Of course.

Joe Rogan 10:38 And Bas Rutten was the master at Pancrase. And what Bas Rutten would do, he's got crazy flexible hands-

Jordan Burroughs 10:44 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:44 ... and he's an elite striker. So he would pull his hands, like, wha- I don't know how the fuck he does it, but he can get his hands-

Jordan Burroughs 10:51 Pu-

Joe Rogan 10:51 ... way back.

Jordan Burroughs 10:51 He pull them back himself, huh?

Joe Rogan 10:52 And he was basically throwing punches. He was basically going boom, boom.

Jordan Burroughs 10:56 Yeah, back palm.

Joe Rogan 10:56 And instead of everybody else was slapping, he was smashing dudes and KOing dudes with palm strikes.

Jordan Burroughs 11:02 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 11:02 See if you can find some Bas Rutten, like, Bas Rutten versus Funaki. He KOed him with an uppercut, a palm strike uppercut.

Jordan Burroughs 11:09 A palm strike uppercut.

Joe Rogan 11:10 Yeah, yeah, because the thing about, see look at this.

Jordan Burroughs 11:12 Oh, yeah, that's it. There you go.

Joe Rogan 11:13 G- give me a rewind on that so we could see, is this a Bas Rutten highlight? Yeah. Bas was smashing people over there. But again, he's an elite striker. So he's a guy who came from Holland and, you know, the, they're the, like, in the kickboxing world, Holland is, like-

Jordan Burroughs 11:27 So this was...

Joe Rogan 11:29 This is, like, early, early 90s. See, it says-

Jordan Burroughs 11:31 I'm interested in, like, the, the apparel here, right? 'Cause it's got, like, a-

Joe Rogan 11:36 Speedos.

Jordan Burroughs 11:36 ... professional wrestling vibe, but it's-

Joe Rogan 11:38 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 11:38 ... got more of a MMA type...

Joe Rogan 11:39 Well, that, that was a bit of the problem because there was some, some rigged fights. See, Japan is famous-

Jordan Burroughs 11:47 Oh.

Joe Rogan 11:48 ... for, for having rigged fights. They would do weird shit, uh, in the early days in particular.

Jordan Burroughs 11:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 11:53 They would do weird shit where, like, you would see guy, like, I don't wanna name names, but, uh, some elite fighters were paid off to take dives.

Jordan Burroughs 12:02 Ah.

Joe Rogan 12:02 And they'll admit it now. Like, you see them, like...... literally, like, pro-wrestling. A guy's going for a heel hook and like, "Oh, no. Oh, oh." (dramatic music)

Jordan Burroughs 12:09 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 12:09 "Okay, I'm gonna tap."

Jordan Burroughs 12:10 Of course, bro.

Joe Rogan 12:11 But y- but you can tell that it's fake. So there was real fights, and then there was also some bullshit. And there, there was always a question in- about pank race, 'cause some of 'em, like when Bas Rutten's KO'ing people, well, that's 100% real.

Jordan Burroughs 12:23 Ooh.

Joe Rogan 12:23 That's real. That's real as fuck. He's in pain right there.

Jordan Burroughs 12:25 Yeah, yeah, that was tight.

Joe Rogan 12:26 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 12:27 That hamstring was...

Joe Rogan 12:28 Yeah, he got his knee blown out.

Jordan Burroughs 12:29 I think it was locked out. You know what's interesting? I feel like, uh... Man, that's crazy. I feel like the Japanese love combat.

Joe Rogan 12:37 Yes.

Jordan Burroughs 12:38 Love combat.

Joe Rogan 12:39 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 12:39 And so that's what makes us excited for the postponed Olympic Games, right, this summer, Tokyo 2021, is wrestling is going to be one of the premier sports because of their love for combat sports there.

Joe Rogan 12:51 Ah.

Jordan Burroughs 12:51 So whether it's MMA, kickboxing, boxing itself, wrestling, judo, sumo-

Joe Rogan 12:57 Mm.

Jordan Burroughs 12:57 ... they love this sport. And so we're really excited about that opportunity this summer.

Joe Rogan 13:01 So, that's gonna be this summer. They're do- gonna do it with crowds?

Jordan Burroughs 13:04 That's a good question. I don't know yet. So, the Japanese prime minister made an announcement, public statement saying, "Hey, listen, we're gonna host the Olympics this summer no matter what." One of the interesting things about it is although it's happening in '21, they're still calling it Tokyo 2020.

Joe Rogan 13:18 Oh, wow.

Jordan Burroughs 13:18 I think they were saving face for all the marketing material that they already made-

Joe Rogan 13:22 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 13:22 ... that cost them billions of dollars, right?

Joe Rogan 13:24 T-shirts and shit, yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 13:24 To change the zero to a one. Is that really worth $5 billion, or whatever it-

Joe Rogan 13:29 That's interesting.

Jordan Burroughs 13:30 ... will cost them? But it's going to be interesting how they figure it out, because the Olympic Village is like a town. There's 10,000 coaches and athletes from every country on the face of the planet, all put into a one-mile radius on this Olympic campus. And there's just so much interaction, engagement. I'm talking the f- the cafeteria at the Olympic Games is five football fields long.

Joe Rogan 13:56 (laughs) What?

Jordan Burroughs 13:56 They've got a McDonald's, a, um, like a, a full-size McDonald's in the cafeteria in the Olympic Village. They've got foods from all different parts of the country. You've got an Italian station, a Japanese station, American station, you know, and a Pan-African station. They have... It's insane, and you have literally thousands of people swelling in at all times. It's 24 hours.

Joe Rogan 14:18 How many people-

Jordan Burroughs 14:19 You can go get a Big Mac and a-

Joe Rogan 14:20 ... are in line at the McDonald's station?

Jordan Burroughs 14:21 ... apple pie at all times. Bro, like, for, for if you're coming from America, you can go down the street. There's a McDonald's within, you know, a mile of anybody while you're here stateside. But if you're coming from one of these smaller countries, or you're coming from Guinea-Bissau, or you're coming from, I don't know, Qatar, like, you're like, "Damn, McDonald's sounds pretty good. I don't get this at the crib."

Joe Rogan 14:39 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 14:39 "Let me go ahead, grab me a little quick couple McChickens, couple double cheeseburgers, put 'em in the room."

Joe Rogan 14:44 Yeah, but you would think that-

Jordan Burroughs 14:45 But it's always available.

Joe Rogan 14:45 ... someone competing in the Olympics would wanna fuel their body with the best possible food available.

Jordan Burroughs 14:51 Yeah, but there's... Some of 'em could... know they can't win.

Joe Rogan 14:53 Oh, okay.

Jordan Burroughs 14:53 Like, you know, like everyone going to the Olympics isn't expecting to win a medal. Like, 90, I say 90%, large, very large percentage of the competitors at the Olympic Games, it's a long shot for them to get on the podium. They're going with the expectation like, "Hey, listen, I'm representing my home country with pride. I am going to a country that I've never been before. Hopefully I can be on TV. My family will be watching me back home." The opening ceremonies is the best experience for them, 'cause they get to be in a full packed arena around all the athletes that they've seen on TV, but they know that realistically they're not gonna win. So when that McDonald's is open 24 hours-

Joe Rogan 15:31 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 15:31 ... they're like, "Let's go, bro. We're going here."

Joe Rogan 15:33 Do they have to pay for it?

Jordan Burroughs 15:35 Free.

Joe Rogan 15:35 Oh, that's good.

Jordan Burroughs 15:36 Everything's free.

Joe Rogan 15:36 That's good.

Jordan Burroughs 15:37 So it's, it's, uh, it's an interesting perspective being in the Olympic Village. It's, it's a cool spot.

Joe Rogan 15:43 It's gotta be a wild experience to be there. It must feel surreal.

Jordan Burroughs 15:46 It's wild, bro. It's, it's wild. So they're really strict with the way that they administer athletes and, and people to get in. You have to have a guest list if you wanna bring anyone in. They have to be approved seven days in advance. So let's say my wife, I'm like, "Hey, I want my wife to come into the Olympic Village, check out our living space, check out the free McDonald's." Then I have to put her on the list seven days in advance, and it has to be approved by the USOPC and then also, you know, the IOC.

Joe Rogan 16:12 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 16:13 And so it's, it's a, it's a very (laughs) listen- So the Brazilian athlete from the '26 team up there- ... they're, they're, bro, they're not playing, dog. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, Joe. Like, they get it. After he was done. They get it in. After he was done. And he's like-

Joe Rogan 16:24 Oh, after he was done?

Jordan Burroughs 16:25 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 16:25 Well, that makes sense. Well, he's picking out-

Jordan Burroughs 16:27 He's taking that all, he's taking that home with him. He's put, he's putting that all in his suitcase. He's gonna go start a-

Joe Rogan 16:31 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 16:31 (laughs) ... little, uh, little McDonald's of his own when he gets back to the crib. But it's, uh... So when you get in the village, you have to... It's almost like going through TSA at an airport. You gotta show them your badge. They scan it. You gotta get all of your bags checked and make sure that you're good to go, you don't have any, you know, thing lethal in your bags. You get inside, and it's literally like an apartment complex, huge apartment complex. Look at the line, bro. Crazy.

Joe Rogan 16:55 Look at that. Lot- McDonald's is the most popular restaurant. That's crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 17:00 I'm telling you. They're... Listen-

Joe Rogan 17:01 That's a crazy line. (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 17:01 And they're not, they're not, they're not getting salads-

Joe Rogan 17:04 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 17:04 ... and chicken selects.

Joe Rogan 17:05 No, no.

Jordan Burroughs 17:06 You know, they're getting-

Joe Rogan 17:06 They're getting burgers.

Jordan Burroughs 17:07 ... cheeseburgers and McChickens and...

Narrator 17:11 Usain Bolt.

Jordan Burroughs 17:11 Let's, Usain B- I, I... Listen. Hey, whatever you need to do to be the fastest man in the world, do your thing.

Joe Rogan 17:17 Well, I guess also, like when you're done, you probably just wanna treat yourself.

Jordan Burroughs 17:21 Yeah, for sure.

Joe Rogan 17:21 You've probably been eating very strict for a long period of time.

Jordan Burroughs 17:24 Yeah, crazy. I, that was my... When I won the gold in 2012, my first meal afterwards was McDonald's.

Joe Rogan 17:30 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 17:30 Very first meal.

Joe Rogan 17:30 Good job, good job.

Jordan Burroughs 17:31 I had double cheeseburger with a Hi-C orange to drink and a large fry. So crazy story. I'll tell you the story. So I win the Olympic gold, and, and right after you win, they take you back to what they have, like a media house. So it's got all of the publications from all over the world. You've got AP, Sports Illustrated, NBC, you know, just pretty much everything. And so you go back and you just bounce from room to room. It's like, "Okay, we got Al Michaels here. We got Bob Costas here. We got, you know, Joe Rogan here." And so you go, you show your medal, you tell them about your experience, where you're from, who you are, what you're gonna do with all this money and fame that you've just won. And then so, as soon as you're ushered out of there, you competed at 8:00 and you don't get out of there till close to midnight. So by the time it's midnight in London, really the only thing open is McDonald's, right? So I'm still in my podium outfit. Like, literally what I wore on the podium, I'm still in it at midnight.And so we go down to, like, Piccadilly in, in London and only thing's open is the McDonald's. And so we went to, like, a club for a little bit. One of my sponsors at the time had, like, bottle service, they wanted to celebrate me. So we leave there, we go to McDonald's. I get inside and packed. Club's just let out, everyone's, like, hungry, they're hungover. They just got done for the night, full of drinking. They're all in line, line's crazy. I go into the McDonald's I'm like, "Damn, I've been... It's long day. I wrestled all day long, I do not want to stand in line. I just wanna see if I can work my way to the front." So I go and ask the guy, I'm like, "Yo, bro, listen, I just wrestled all day-

Joe Rogan 19:01 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 19:01 ... at the Excel Center. I just won an Olympic gold. Like, you think I can get in front of you?" And he's like, "You didn't win an Olymp- What? Stop." And I'm like, "Bro, I'm t- Like, I, I won the Olympics." He's like, "No you didn't."

Joe Rogan 19:12 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 19:12 I'm tell- I had my medal in my pocket. I had my gold medal in my pocket, so I pull my gold medal out and show this guy. He's like, starts going nuts, "Oh, my God! This guy..." So he's yelling, everyone, he's pushing people out of the way-

Joe Rogan 19:25 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 19:25 ... in this McDonald's. He's like, "This guy just won an Olympic gold medal. Let him to the front of the line. Let him to the front of the line."

Joe Rogan 19:31 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 19:32 And so he's pushing people in the w- out of the way, gets me, like, re- literally escorts me to the front of the line to get me my Quarter Pounder and my large fry. It was-

Joe Rogan 19:42 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 19:42 ... it was wild. Uh-

Joe Rogan 19:43 That's the craziest cheeseburger-

Jordan Burroughs 19:44 But it was, it was-

Joe Rogan 19:44 ... fry story ever.

Jordan Burroughs 19:45 ... cool. It was, it was dope. It was awesome.

Joe Rogan 19:47 That had to be very memorable.

Jordan Burroughs 19:49 Yeah, it was fun, man.

Joe Rogan 19:49 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 19:50 It was fun.

Joe Rogan 19:51 That's... Winning the gold medal, what... I mean, uh, you, I know you've won the world championship, what, four times?

Jordan Burroughs 19:56 Four worlds, one Olympics, yeah.

Joe Rogan 19:58 The... But how much difference?

Jordan Burroughs 19:59 Nothing like it. Olympics are the best. It's, it's rare. It only happens every four years. It's a single day event, so you have to be your best on that single day. You only get one cycle to prepare for. So we think of our careers, like, cyclically, where, like, in a... If, if you're an MMA fighter, you're like, "Okay, I can get an opportunity to fight for the belt as long as I continue to compete at a high level, like, keep my brand awareness, um, at a, at a good place." But in wrestling, the pinnacle is the Olympic Games. So no matter how many world championships you win, you want that Olympic gold. And the crazy thing is, the worlds are harder than the Olympics. So the Olympics are a little more-

Joe Rogan 20:39 For real.

Jordan Burroughs 20:39 ... condensed in terms of the qualification process. So at worlds, it's much easier to qualify. So you have 42 guys in your weight class or in your bracket at worlds, you only have 16 at the Olympics. So in the world championships, I won in 2015, I wrestled six matches. The Olympics I won in 2012, I only had four matches. And so... And it's-

Joe Rogan 21:00 Six matches.

Jordan Burroughs 21:01 ... it's a random draw too. So you could wrestle Russia first round, which would suck, or you could wrestle Puerto Rico first round, which would suck less. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:11 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 21:12 Uh, and so it's a, it's a really interesting experience the way these brackets are drawn. And I think that the Olympic Games has become so special because of everything surrounding it. You get more money, more notoriety, uh, more recognition moving forward. Like, winning the gold in 2012 catapulted me to where I am right now. Like, when I'm recognized or announced at an event, it's always affiliated with that Olympic gold.

Joe Rogan 21:39 Hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 21:40 "Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs." Like, they always tell you, whenever you step off the podium, "You will forever be an Olympic gold medalist." You can't lose that. You can lose your belt.

Joe Rogan 21:48 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 21:48 You can never lose your gold.

Joe Rogan 21:50 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 21:50 It always comes home with me at the end of the day, no matter what I do moving forward. So that's pretty cool.

Joe Rogan 21:55 That is an interesting perspective, right? Because if you're a fighter, you win the title and then you lose the title in your next fight, you're a former world champion.

Jordan Burroughs 22:02 Former world champion.

Joe Rogan 22:03 But a, a Olympic gold medalist from 2012 is an Olympic-

Jordan Burroughs 22:07 They don't put the former before it.

Joe Rogan 22:07 ... gold medalist.

Jordan Burroughs 22:07 They just say Olympic.

Joe Rogan 22:08 Yeah. That's-

Jordan Burroughs 22:09 So that's... It's dope.

Joe Rogan 22:10 Yeah. You made it through, you did it, and that's it.

Jordan Burroughs 22:12 But then there's another guy who (laughs) does it four years later, so-

Joe Rogan 22:15 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 22:15 ... it's, uh, it's interesting.

Joe Rogan 22:17 I- it's gotta be a crazy experience. But the world championships being more difficult... Is the world championships held in, uh, two day... Is it a two day event?

Jordan Burroughs 22:26 Yeah. So they changed the format in 2018. Wrestling used to be a single day. You weigh in the day before and then you'd wrestle all day. You start in the preliminaries and then you wrestle all the way through to the finals. By the end of the day, five, six matches, you knew if you were a world champion, Olympic champion or not.

Joe Rogan 22:43 (sighs)

Jordan Burroughs 22:43 Now, they've made a transition where you weigh in same day, competition starts two hours after weigh-ins, and then it's a two day event. You wrestle through the semifinals, and then finals and medal matches are the second day.

Joe Rogan 22:55 Now, if you weigh in the same day, do you cut any weight?

Jordan Burroughs 22:57 A ton. Like, so-

Joe Rogan 22:59 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 22:59 ... I wrestle at 74 kilos or 163 and this morning I weigh 183. Right? So that kinda gives you perspective as to where we are in terms of what my walking around weight is, when I'm just chilling and getting ready for competition, or if I'm actually wrestling at my competition weight.

Joe Rogan 23:16 So when you were supposed to be wrestling in town, um, this, this wrestling match-

Jordan Burroughs 23:20 I'm going up a weight class.

Joe Rogan 23:21 What, what, what would that be?

Jordan Burroughs 23:23 That is 189.

Joe Rogan 23:24 189.

Jordan Burroughs 23:24 Which I can't even get to.

Joe Rogan 23:25 Oh, okay.

Jordan Burroughs 23:26 Because I'm too... So I'm wrestling the w- The guy that I'm wrestling is David Taylor, wrestled at Penn State. He is a two-time NCA champion, world champion at the weight class above me, 86 kilos or 189 pounds in 2018. So I'm the world champ at 163, he's the world champ at 189. And so-

Joe Rogan 23:45 That's a big gap.

Jordan Burroughs 23:46 It's a big gap. It's a big gap. And so there are only six Olympic weights at, at-

Joe Rogan 23:51 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 23:51 ... at the Olympic game. Only six, right?

Joe Rogan 23:53 That's crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 23:53 So you've got 57 kilos or, like, one tw- So you got, let's... 125, 143, 163, 189, 213, and then heavyweight. And so only six weight classes. And then in the world championship year, you have 10 weights, so they give you a little more flexibility. But in the Olympic Games, they try to condense them. They're adding so many sports every single cycle. You got golf and break... They got... They're adding break dancing to the Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Joe Rogan 24:23 That's pretty crazy. But-

Jordan Burroughs 24:24 Break dancing.

Joe Rogan 24:24 ... if they have rhythmic gymnastics-

Jordan Burroughs 24:26 That's true.

Joe Rogan 24:26 ... I don't see why they shouldn't have break dancing.

Jordan Burroughs 24:28 That's true. But at the expense of-... other sports like wrestling, where you only have-

Joe Rogan 24:32 Well, that's fucked up.

Jordan Burroughs 24:33 ... six weights.

Joe Rogan 24:33 That's fucked up.

Jordan Burroughs 24:34 And a single, a single athlete or a single representative from each country per weight class.

Joe Rogan 24:38 Do me a favor. Go to Stance Elements on Instagram. I wanna show you this dude that I just saw there yesterday. This dude-

Jordan Burroughs 24:44 Breakdancing?

Joe Rogan 24:46 This is dude ... These-

Jordan Burroughs 24:46 Is he sick?

Joe Rogan 24:47 They're on another level. They're-

Jordan Burroughs 24:48 It's, it's, it's pretty dope, bro.

Joe Rogan 24:50 It's like elite gymnasts now.

Jordan Burroughs 24:51 I can't ... I'm just a, I'm just a hater because-

Joe Rogan 24:53 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 24:53 ... it, it has kinda affected wrestling a little bit.

Joe Rogan 24:55 Well, it shouldn't affect wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 24:56 Um-

Joe Rogan 24:57 But I, I do agree with it. Not, not this gentleman. There's a guy in a red, uh, sweatsuit. See if you can find him down there.

Jordan Burroughs 25:03 There he is.

Joe Rogan 25:04 That's it. Watch this guy. I mean, watch this. This dude is crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 25:12 Damn.

Joe Rogan 25:12 Look at this.

Jordan Burroughs 25:15 Nuts.

Joe Rogan 25:15 I mean, th- he might as well be an elite gymnast. I mean, the way he's doing those, those, uh, back handsprings and shit. I mean, this guy is incredible. Look at this shit.

Jordan Burroughs 25:24 Ooh.

Joe Rogan 25:24 Look at that! On one hand! I mean, he's incredible. And in stopping perfect all to music.

Jordan Burroughs 25:31 Bro, like-

Joe Rogan 25:31 What is this dude's name, Jamie?

Jordan Burroughs 25:32 That's the one thing I can't deny.

Joe Rogan 25:35 You're, you, you've gotta-

Jordan Burroughs 25:36 Is that-

Joe Rogan 25:36 You're, you're-

Jordan Burroughs 25:36 He looks like BBoy Tata.

Joe Rogan 25:38 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 25:39 Yeah, he's nice with it.

Joe Rogan 25:41 BBoy Tata_

Jordan Burroughs 25:42 Yo, and he's from ... Looks like he's from Jersey. Shout out to BBoy Tata. Um-

Joe Rogan 25:46 Oh, that's right. You're from Camden, right?

Jordan Burroughs 25:47 Yeah. So I grew up South Jersey, Sicklerville, um, New Jersey, right outside of Philly.

Joe Rogan 25:52 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 25:52 My hometown's 20 miles from Philadelphia. That's what ... That's nuts, bro. Look at that.

Joe Rogan 25:55 I have some friends that w- started out in breakdancing and then got into Jujitsu.

Jordan Burroughs 26:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:00 My friend Richie Martinez and his brother Geo.

Jordan Burroughs 26:01 It might be ... It might ... They probably transitioned well.

Joe Rogan 26:04 (sighs) Amazingly well.

Jordan Burroughs 26:05 They're hitting all type of-

Joe Rogan 26:05 They're so fucking strong and so athletic. They can move so well.

Jordan Burroughs 26:08 Yeah, yeah. It's like gymnasts. Like gymnasts do well transitioning to- It's just, yeah.

Joe Rogan 26:12 ... to Jujitsu as well.

Jordan Burroughs 26:13 I guess if you have that perspective, right, it's very similar to rhythmi- gymnastics, just-

Joe Rogan 26:18 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 26:19 ... a lot more-

Joe Rogan 26:20 There's some goofy shit in the Olympics, man.

Jordan Burroughs 26:22 ... hip and stylish.

Joe Rogan 26:23 But you can't get rid of wrestling. Wrestling is one of the original sports.

Jordan Burroughs 26:27 Of course.

Joe Rogan 26:27 It's literally one of the original Olympic sports.

Jordan Burroughs 26:29 One of the ... And that's what I love about wrestling. And I l- and, and this, this ... Here's been like my comparison to MMA for a long time, is I'm always weighing the pros and cons. Okay, wrestling is here. MMA's here. MMA has so many amazing things. I love the toughness aspect. My favorite sport outside of wrestling is boxing. I'm a big boxing fan. I love just the warrior element. I love how you come from the gutter, from the mud, and these dudes are just like gritty warriors, precision. Um, it's an art form. I look at MMA as a, uh, uh, an alternative to wrestling, right? And I ... And one of the things that I've seen, I've seen so many guys that I've trained alongside that have gone on to have immense success in MMA. So, that's what always kinda pulls me. I'm like, "Damn."

Joe Rogan 27:17 Like what guys?

Jordan Burroughs 27:18 I've trained with, uh ... I've trained ... Been alongside Daniel. I've been alongside Marty, or Kamaru Usman. I've been alongside Reneri Cejudo. Um, I've wrestled Justin Gaethje on numerous occasions. Um, Mike Chandler, Lance Palmer, like all these guys. I've wrestled these guys and I've, I've seen ... But it, it's different, right? Just because you're a great wrestler doesn't mean you're gonna be a great fighter. And just because you're, you know, an average wrestler doesn't mean you're gonna be an average fighter. I've seen guys who I thought were average wrestlers become great fighters-

Joe Rogan 27:50 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 27:50 ... and guys who I thought were tremendous wrestler can't fight their way (laughs) out of a wet paper bag.

Joe Rogan 27:55 Yeah. So some guys-

Jordan Burroughs 27:56 And so, it's interesting.

Joe Rogan 27:57 ... adapt quickly to the striking aspects and some guys really struggle. There's some really strong grapplers-

Jordan Burroughs 28:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:02 ... that for whatever reason, they have terrible hand speed.

Jordan Burroughs 28:05 Can't throw. Can't throw.

Joe Rogan 28:06 Their, their hand speed's terrible. They don't have any power. It's very strange.

Jordan Burroughs 28:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:09 It's, it's ... Power's a weird thing.

Jordan Burroughs 28:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:10 Like you either have it or you don't. And-

Jordan Burroughs 28:13 And one of the interesting things that I think about, about the transition is like in wrestling, if you're a righty, usually you lead right leg.

Joe Rogan 28:20 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 28:20 But in fighting, right, if you're a righty, you're gonna lead left.

Joe Rogan 28:23 That's true, but-

Jordan Burroughs 28:24 And so-

Joe Rogan 28:24 ... in boxing, they're actually training a lot of people opposite now.

Jordan Burroughs 28:28 Really?

Joe Rogan 28:28 Yeah. Like Oscar De La Hoya, he fought southpaw, but he's a right-handed fighter.

Jordan Burroughs 28:32 Huh.

Joe Rogan 28:32 And there's a few ... Or, uh, was it opposite? Yeah. I think he f- ... Was a left-handed fighter and he fought orthodox. Did, did De La Hoya fight southpaw or orthodox? I can't even remember now. But he, he let ... Like Emanuel Steward started having guys do that, 'cause the idea would be ... The m- ... One of the most important punches in boxing is your jab.

Jordan Burroughs 28:50 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 28:50 And you should use the most dominant hand for, for jabs.

Jordan Burroughs 28:53 For your jab.

Joe Rogan 28:54 So there's a few fighters-

Jordan Burroughs 28:55 Right. And so the ... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 28:57 Okay, he's a converted southpaw.

Jordan Burroughs 28:58 Converted southpaw.

Joe Rogan 28:59 That's right. So, he was a left-handed fighter and they s- they had him use his left hand forward, and that way his power hand was his most dominant hand, which was his, his front hand.

Jordan Burroughs 29:10 Forty jabs a round.

Joe Rogan 29:11 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 29:11 That's a lot of work.

Joe Rogan 29:12 Well, that's ... It's the most important punch in boxing, and so there's a lot ... Like Bruce Lee believed in that as well.

Jordan Burroughs 29:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 29:17 Like there's a lot of people that think that maybe if a wrestler does fight that way with that right leg forward, or wrestle that way rather, that he should fight that way as well.

Jordan Burroughs 29:25 Yeah. And I think, I think the transition would be different. There'd be a lot to learn. And that's part of the re- ... I mean, there's so many reasons amongst others, but I'm the best in my field at wrestling. I'm one of the best wrestlers in the world. It is a completely different transition and learning curve to getting to MMA. Right? You gotta start from the bottom. So you go from this heralded space where you're a legend, an icon, to just another guy. And yes, you have the pedigree. You've got the chops to go on and, you know, kinda excel here, but it takes time, bro.

Joe Rogan 29:58 Well, you have the most important skillset.

Jordan Burroughs 30:00 That's true.

Joe Rogan 30:00 In my opinion.

Jordan Burroughs 30:01 But it took-

Joe Rogan 30:01 The most important skillset is wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 30:01 ... it took Reneri a decade, bro.

Joe Rogan 30:03 It did, but Reneri-

Jordan Burroughs 30:03 I don't have that type of ti- ... I'm 30, I'm 32.

Joe Rogan 30:06 ... didn't dedicate himself the same way in the beginning.

Jordan Burroughs 30:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:08 Reneri turned a corner somewhere in the UFC, like-

Jordan Burroughs 30:10 Well, he wasn't seeing the fruit.

Joe Rogan 30:12 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 30:12 Like it's, it's hard to turn the corner when you don't see the fruit.

Joe Rogan 30:14 Yes. Yes.

Jordan Burroughs 30:14 When you start to see celebrities sitting ringside. You got Halle Berry here.

Joe Rogan 30:17 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 30:18 Matt McConaughey here. And then you see those, those payouts, you're like, "Damn, let me get my stuff together. Let me get right."

Joe Rogan 30:24 Well, he also got really good at marketing and talking shit.

Jordan Burroughs 30:27 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:27 And, you know-

Jordan Burroughs 30:28 The cringe king. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 30:29 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 30:30 No, I respect him. He's a good dude.

Joe Rogan 30:31 But also undeniably good as a fighter. And so, when ... The last half of his career when he became like super dedicated, I mean, he was crushing people.

Jordan Burroughs 30:40 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 30:40 Crushing people with standup.

Jordan Burroughs 30:42 Do you think he's done?

Joe Rogan 30:43 I don't think so.

Jordan Burroughs 30:44 ... he could be back.

Joe Rogan 30:45 I think, I think he's so-

Jordan Burroughs 30:46 He's looking for the right pay day, right?

Joe Rogan 30:46 ... competitive and... Yeah, and how old is he now? 33? 32?

Jordan Burroughs 30:49 Yeah, yeah, he's still young.

Joe Rogan 30:50 How old is Henry Cejudo?

Jordan Burroughs 30:52 I think 33. He's about to turn 34.

Joe Rogan 30:55 34.

Jordan Burroughs 30:55 Okay.

Joe Rogan 30:55 So, he still got years ahead of him in his prime, his athletic prime. And I think he's just... A guy like that who's a conqueror, he's just so good. I-

Jordan Burroughs 31:04 Let me ask you this. Why do you think that MMA fighters have a much later prime than pretty much any other sport? If you look at the champions in MMA, it's very hard to find someone below the age of 30.

Joe Rogan 31:20 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 31:20 Why is that different?

Joe Rogan 31:21 I think it's hard to put everything together. Because, uh, if you're a specialist in, in w- one aspect of MMA, someone... Generally, the person that's gonna figure out a way to beat you is a person who's a specialist-

Jordan Burroughs 31:33 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 31:33 ... to the thing you're not good at. Like say, if you're a wrestler and you're really good at wrestling, and then you'll come into a guy... You, you come in a, a fight with a guy who's a really good striker, who's got excellent take-down defense, and then you're kinda fucked.

Jordan Burroughs 31:46 Yeah,

Narrator 31:46 Yes.

Joe Rogan 31:46 Like that happened when Brock Lesnar fought Alistair Overeem, 'cause Brock Lesnar couldn't get Alistair down and Alistair is a K-1 Grand Prix champion.

Jordan Burroughs 31:53 Sure.

Joe Rogan 31:53 And just a fucking beast, and then also an enormous man too.

Jordan Burroughs 31:56 Of course.

Joe Rogan 31:56 And Brock couldn't get him down and he was just getting torn apart standing up.

Jordan Burroughs 32:00 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:00 So that was the guy who solved his, his puzzle-

Jordan Burroughs 32:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:03 ... was a guy who was much big... Or, as big as him, but much better striker.

Jordan Burroughs 32:08 It... Well, it's interesting because I think that's why wrestlers translate well, is because we... I started wrestling at six years old.

Joe Rogan 32:14 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 32:14 Most guys start the sport of wrestling from infancy.

Joe Rogan 32:17 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 32:18 Like, if, if it's in your bloodline, you're on the mat three, four, five years old.

Joe Rogan 32:22 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 32:22 Where a lot of the sports, you're not doing that, right? Whether it's judo, jujitsu, kickboxing, boxing. Like, you don't do that for the entirety of your life. Maybe eight, nine, 10, you'll start to dabble in a little bit. And i- i- I think wrestling... Actually, wrestling is... I'm sure. Wrestling is the only sanctioned sport, collegiately, of all combat sports.

Joe Rogan 32:43 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 32:44 So, we have a very high level of pedigree in comparison to other places.

Joe Rogan 32:48 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 32:48 So, you know, I started wrestling at six years old, wrestled through middle school, high school, went to the University of Nebraska. Um, earned my degree there, training twice a day for five years. Took the re- medical red shirt to get better and then got to this place where I started to continue to sharpen my chops at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. If I made that transition, I would be so regimented in what I had done for such a long period of time, I don't think that any other sport can compare with that. And I don't really follow a ton, so I don't really know the dynamics of what it's like on a scholastic level in, let's say, jujitsu. But I have to imagine that wrestling has the strongest pedigree and the highest level of preparation for MMA because of its ability to, you know, be popular within the contents of an actual school, university, that type of thing.

Joe Rogan 33:42 For sure. And wrestlers that dedicate themselves to jujitsu transition very easily.

Jordan Burroughs 33:47 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:47 Like wre- wrestlers that figure out choke holds and arm bars and stuff like that, they already know how to control bodies and they already know-

Jordan Burroughs 33:53 Keep those elbows in.

Joe Rogan 33:54 ... how to drill.

Jordan Burroughs 33:54 Protect your neck.

Joe Rogan 33:55 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 33:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:55 And they already have discipline, like crazy discipline.

Jordan Burroughs 33:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:58 One of the things that I think separates wrestlers from other sports is mental toughness.

Jordan Burroughs 34:01 That's right.

Joe Rogan 34:01 Because it is-

Jordan Burroughs 34:02 I like that.

Joe Rogan 34:02 ... a badge of courage. There's a thing that wrestlers all have, is they embrace the suck.

Jordan Burroughs 34:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 34:08 They all do. They all know how to push. They're, they're... There's no prima donnas that are successful wrestlers.

Jordan Burroughs 34:13 Sure.

Joe Rogan 34:13 They don't exist. I mean, you could say that about other sports, that there's prima donnas in basketball. There's guys that, you know, they'll, they'll fake injuries in other sports. In soccer, they fall down. That shit is never gonna happen in wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 34:24 Well, 'cause it's free.

Joe Rogan 34:25 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 34:25 And it's not sexy. You don't make any money.

Joe Rogan 34:27 Yeah. Exactly.

Jordan Burroughs 34:28 So, we've done it for nothing for so long that when you get to this level, it's just all about pride.

Joe Rogan 34:34 Yeah. I mean, it's not saying there's no mentally tough people in soccer. I'm sure there are.

Jordan Burroughs 34:38 Of course.

Joe Rogan 34:38 But they-

Jordan Burroughs 34:39 But there's no flopping in wrestling.

Joe Rogan 34:40 There's no one in wrestling that's successful that's not mentally tough.

Jordan Burroughs 34:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:44 It is like, it, it's a universal standard.

Jordan Burroughs 34:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:46 And when they transition, translate, uh, transition rather to MMA, you see it immediately. You see it in the training room, you see it in the way-

Jordan Burroughs 34:54 On the scale.

Joe Rogan 34:55 ... they fight.

Jordan Burroughs 34:55 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 34:55 Yeah, on the scale, you see it. They know how to make... They know how to cut that weight.

Jordan Burroughs 34:57 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:57 I wanted to ask you about that too. Like, when you're cutting weight for something, or like world championships and you have to compete two hours later, how do you do that?

Jordan Burroughs 35:05 You gotta be dialed in for a long period of time. So, I've dabbled in a numerous... In a lot of diets, right? I see you're on the carnivore diet.

Joe Rogan 35:13 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 35:13 Like, how is that going actually?

Joe Rogan 35:14 It's great.

Jordan Burroughs 35:15 Is it good?

Joe Rogan 35:16 The last time I did it, I did it last year-

Jordan Burroughs 35:18 Only meat?

Joe Rogan 35:18 I had... Only meat, yeah. Only meat.

Jordan Burroughs 35:19 Like, only meat?

Joe Rogan 35:20 Well, I eat eggs and fish. I could... Like last time, I had lobster. E- only animal products, yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 35:25 So, eggs, f- any type of meat?

Joe Rogan 35:27 Yeah, any type of meat, yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 35:28 No ve- that's it?

Joe Rogan 35:29 No vegetables.

Jordan Burroughs 35:30 No carbs?

Joe Rogan 35:30 No.

Jordan Burroughs 35:30 No veggies, nothing?

Joe Rogan 35:31 Some people l- eat like a little piece of fruit here and there.

Jordan Burroughs 35:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:34 You know, if you feel, really feel like you need it-

Jordan Burroughs 35:35 That's insane.

Joe Rogan 35:36 ... before a workout, but I'm telling you, man, it's crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 35:39 You feel good?

Joe Rogan 35:39 You feel fucking great. Your energy level with no carbs is like this. It's flat all day. It stays the same.

Jordan Burroughs 35:45 So, it sh- it's essentially sugar-free?

Joe Rogan 35:46 Yes, exactly, exactly.

Jordan Burroughs 35:48 So that's-

Joe Rogan 35:48 Sugar-free.

Jordan Burroughs 35:49 ... why your energy-

Joe Rogan 35:49 And-

Jordan Burroughs 35:49 You don't have those crashes?

Joe Rogan 35:50 No, uh, insulin crash, no weirdness. Um-

Jordan Burroughs 35:53 But bro, your belly's gotta be feeling awful.

Joe Rogan 35:56 No. Last-

Jordan Burroughs 35:57 How are you digesting-

Joe Rogan 35:57 This was... I'm telling you, this-

Jordan Burroughs 35:59 ... all of this stuff? I feel like-

Joe Rogan 35:59 It's easy.

Jordan Burroughs 35:59 ... I'd be like bogged down, like, "Ugh."

Joe Rogan 36:01 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 36:01 I couldn't train.

Joe Rogan 36:03 No, I'm telling you, it's pretty easy. It seems like it wouldn't be, but it really is. It's just like-

Jordan Burroughs 36:07 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 36:07 Rafael dos Anjos, I think, went on this kind of a diet for, uh, his last fight, when he fought Paul Felder. And I think that's how he wound up making 155 again. Um, but some guys have tried it in MMA. I know, um, it's, it's similar to like a ketogenic diet.

Jordan Burroughs 36:22 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:22 A lot of ketogenic diets-

Jordan Burroughs 36:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:23 ... guys are mostly eating, uh, meats and-

Jordan Burroughs 36:26 Meat and veggies.

Joe Rogan 36:26 ... and fats-

Jordan Burroughs 36:27 That's it.

Joe Rogan 36:27 And, and getting their, their, um, their fuel from fat or from g- glucogenesis, gluco gene- neogenesis, which is like when your body, uh... I think that's how you say it. When your body processes protein and turns that protein into glucose, your body-

Jordan Burroughs 36:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:42 ... can do that. But it's... The thing about it is like there's no crashing after eating.

Jordan Burroughs 36:46 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:46 It's, it's real interesting.

Jordan Burroughs 36:47 And I think that's the...... I, I try to eliminate sugar. That's number one.

Joe Rogan 36:51 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 36:51 I always try to eliminate sugar 'cause I- I like sweets. I'm a sweets guy.

Joe Rogan 36:54 Who doesn't?

Jordan Burroughs 36:55 Right? So I want the pastries and I love fru- I love bread. Right? So those are the first things I cut out. I cut out all the extras, number one. So any sort of, let's say, juice, um, bread, potato chips, cereal. Cereal is like my, my thing, right? Late at night, nine o'clock before I go to bed.

Joe Rogan 37:13 What's your, what's your shit? What is it?

Jordan Burroughs 37:15 Now or when I was like growing up?

Joe Rogan 37:16 No. When, if you wanna like s- if you wanna go off the rails.

Jordan Burroughs 37:19 Now, (laughs) I just do granola. Like I'm a-

Joe Rogan 37:21 Really?

Jordan Burroughs 37:21 ... granola guy. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 37:22 Okay.

Jordan Burroughs 37:22 When I was a kid, right, it was Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch and-

Joe Rogan 37:26 I'm a Captain Crunch guy.

Jordan Burroughs 37:27 You're a Captain Crunch... Bro, let, I wanna see the roof of your mouth (laughs) if you're a Captain Crunch guy 'cause listen, bro, it's like-

Joe Rogan 37:34 That's, uh, you know-

Jordan Burroughs 37:34 ... chewing on straight up fiberglass, bruh.

Joe Rogan 37:36 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 37:36 Like, come on, man. You might as well smash up-

Joe Rogan 37:39 That's hilarious.

Jordan Burroughs 37:39 ... this mug and throw it in a bowl.

Joe Rogan 37:41 The roof of your mouth.

Jordan Burroughs 37:41 Pour some milk on it.

Joe Rogan 37:42 That's hilarious.

Jordan Burroughs 37:42 So it's, uh, I, no, I, I dabbled in Captain Crunch a little bit when I was a kid. All Berries. You ever had a Oops! All Berries?

Joe Rogan 37:48 I don't think I did, no.

Jordan Burroughs 37:50 Listen, you ain't lived-

Joe Rogan 37:51 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 37:51 ... until you had the Oops! All Berries. So none of the little yellow boys, whatever those are.

Joe Rogan 37:55 What was the peanut butter one?

Jordan Burroughs 37:56 Only berries.

Joe Rogan 37:57 There was a peanut butter breakfast cereal. Trying to remember what that was.

Jordan Burroughs 38:01 I don't know.

Joe Rogan 38:02 Froot Loops was always a good one too.

Jordan Burroughs 38:04 Fruit Loops, can't go wrong. Lucky Charms.

Joe Rogan 38:06 Can't g- yeah, can't go wrong.

Jordan Burroughs 38:06 If I'm gonna go completely off the rails, like I, so (laughs) I had some friends of ours who live actually in Texas, in Dallas, the Ribman family, they sent me, after I made the World Team last year, a huge box of all the little tiny cereals.

Joe Rogan 38:19 Ah.

Jordan Burroughs 38:19 And it had Apple Jacks, Froot Loops-

Joe Rogan 38:22 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 38:22 ... Frosted Flakes, you know, Fruity Pebbles.

Joe Rogan 38:24 Cocoa Pops?

Jordan Burroughs 38:24 Cocoa, everything.

Joe Rogan 38:25 Mm.

Jordan Burroughs 38:25 Like literally everything that you ate as a kid. And so we only do our shopping at Whole Foods now, so we have a pretty much organic, all-natural diet, so that's why I'm kinda into, you know, the Kashi. Like as, as far as we go now is like Honey Nut Cheerios. That's like as far as we'll-

Joe Rogan 38:41 That's a big splurge.

Jordan Burroughs 38:42 ... we'll, we'll dabble.

Joe Rogan 38:42 Let's go crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 38:42 So that, that's a splurge, right?

Joe Rogan 38:43 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 38:44 They're like, "Damn, he getting wild tonight. JV's going with the Honey Nut Cheerios."

Joe Rogan 38:47 Going off the rails.

Jordan Burroughs 38:48 Um, so I try to cut out the bad stuff first and then it really is about portion sizing. So I dabble in intermittent fasting. I cut down the portion sizes of my meals and I go sugar-free. So typically, I wake up in the morning, let's say 7:00 AM. I'll have a smoothie. In my smoothie, I put plant protein, collagen protein. I'll do maybe like some chia seeds, almond milk, spinach and peanut butter. And that'll be my breakfast.

Joe Rogan 39:15 And this is pre-training?

Jordan Burroughs 39:17 That's pre-training.

Joe Rogan 39:18 So you do this at 7:00 and what time's your first training session?

Jordan Burroughs 39:20 And my first training session's at 8:30.

Joe Rogan 39:23 And how many training sessions do you generally have in a day?

Jordan Burroughs 39:25 Two.

Joe Rogan 39:25 Two?

Jordan Burroughs 39:26 Just two.

Joe Rogan 39:26 And how do you break them up? What, do you, do you, do you-

Jordan Burroughs 39:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:29 ... choose how you train and what you do? Do you-

Jordan Burroughs 39:31 It depends. Now, yes, a little bit more so than I had in the past. So at this age, I'm 32 years old, I've been in it for a while, I have a connection with my coaches that is more of a partnership, um, as opposed to like a coach-athlete relationship. So I'm like, "Okay, here's what I need, here's what I wanna work on." And then they give me kinda the autonomy to figure out what my schedule's gonna look like based, 'cause I've got three kids at home, a wife, so my schedule a little more busy than the average college guy-

Joe Rogan 40:00 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 40:00 ... that we're training with. So I still train at the University of Nebraska. We have an RTC there, which is a Regional Training Center, in conjunction with the college program. So I'm wrestling with those guys often in their room, uh, out in Lincoln. But, uh, yeah. So I have my smoothie at usually like 7:30. I'm in the wrestling room by 8:30 to train. We're usually on the mat in the morning, so we'll get like a light drill in, just get our bodies moving, get feeling good, or we'll lift in the morning. So I typically lift three times a week. Then in the afternoon, I'll have, depending upon how close I am to my weight cut itself, like if I'm trying to stay light and I'm getting close like week of, I'll skip lunch, period. I won't even have lunch. Or I'll do like a handful of cashews or something relatively small. Um, and then I'll go back to practice at 2:00 and we'll do either live wrestling or we'll do some sort of conditioning. And-

Joe Rogan 40:52 Now, is that hard to do with just like a handful of cashews?

Jordan Burroughs 40:54 It sucks, bro. But-

Joe Rogan 40:56 No.

Jordan Burroughs 40:56 ... you have to shrink your body a little bit because if you wanna compete two hour- like unlike boxing and MMA where you have a entire day to rehydrate, replenish your body, and get ready for competition, two hours is a different beast, bro. Like if you step on the scale and you had just sat in the sauna for an hour and you've been in a hot tub with a sauna suit and a beanie, you're finished. You, you, you, you're finished. You can't recover. It's impossible. Because if you think about that two hours, that two hours encompasses multiple things. It's, one, it's you have to eat. Then two, you've gotta get warmed up. And then three, you gotta get your mind right to, and prepare to compete. So you never know. You could be an hour in or you could be the first match on Mat A.

Joe Rogan 41:39 Mm.

Jordan Burroughs 41:39 It really just depends on how the brackets shake out.

Joe Rogan 41:41 So you're shrinking your body no matter what.

Jordan Burroughs 41:43 No matter what. You have to. You, I, or at least that's what I feel. So the most I ever wanna lose on, in the day, the 24 hours before competition is six pounds, six, seven pounds.

Joe Rogan 41:54 Mm. So that's doable for you?

Jordan Burroughs 41:55 That's do- that's manageable.

Joe Rogan 41:57 And then so when you get off the scale, what's the first thing you take into your body?

Jordan Burroughs 42:01 Liquids.

Joe Rogan 42:01 Liquids?

Jordan Burroughs 42:02 Liquids, yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:02 Do you do it with electrolytes?

Jordan Burroughs 42:03 Yeah, electrolytes. Um, aminos, liquid aminos. I'll do, uh...

Joe Rogan 42:08 And is there like a protocol? Do you do it slowly? Like how do you-

Jordan Burroughs 42:11 Um...

Joe Rogan 42:12 ... how do you get rehydrated?

Jordan Burroughs 42:13 I don't. I don't do it slowly. I mean, I don't slam it, but I think I do it with moderation because my weight cut is not really hard, because I don't do, you know, 15, 20 pounds.

Joe Rogan 42:23 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 42:23 So it's not like my body is so shocked that any input nutritionally is going to-

Joe Rogan 42:29 Right, okay, so it's mild dehydration.

Jordan Burroughs 42:30 ... you know, throw me off. So it's, yeah, it's relatively mild.

Joe Rogan 42:32 And then-

Jordan Burroughs 42:32 Because I still wanna be able to recover.

Joe Rogan 42:34 ... you're, you've got your electrolytes and your fluids.

Jordan Burroughs 42:36 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:36 And then fruits? What do you-

Jordan Burroughs 42:37 Fruit, so like I try to slam... Then I try to re-energize with all the carbs and the sugars that I've kind of pulled back from.

Joe Rogan 42:45 Mm.

Jordan Burroughs 42:46 Because you get time. The, the tournament is gonna last throughout an entire day. So let's say you wrestle two hours later, but then your next match isn't gonna be for another hour, hour and a half. And then the same thing for your next match and then the semifinal. So between each match, you're gonna have about an hour. So you know that the longer the day goes, the more you win, the more recovery time you get. So where you might start the day...... at, I wrestle, or sorry, I weigh in at 163, and then by the time I compete my first match, let's say I'm 169ish, 170. Drank couple gal- uh, maybe a gallon of water, had a smoothie, ate some fruit, maybe some honey and some peanut butter, and then I'm wrestling about six, seven pounds over. And so then, as the day progresses, you're eating a little bit between each match. But then you also have to remember, you've got to make scratch weight again for day two.

Joe Rogan 43:33 Oh my God, you do?

Jordan Burroughs 43:34 Day two. So you've gotta be back down to 163.0 for day two of the finals.

Joe Rogan 43:39 Oh, no.

Jordan Burroughs 43:40 But that's a different beast, 'cause then the finals are in the evening. So if you can just make it down, weigh in at 8:30, you don't have to wrestle until 6:00 PM.

Joe Rogan 43:45 But that's gotta beat you up to do that two days in a row.

Jordan Burroughs 43:48 It sucks, bro. So when you, when you step off the mat after the semifinals, you wrestled four matches that day, and then you go skep on the s- step on the scale. So like, for example, this year World Championships, made weight Saturday morning, wrestled four matches. After the semifinals you're like, "Okay, I gotta make weight tomorrow since I'm a medalist." You go step on the scale, I'm seven pounds over. So now, I gotta get ready for tomorrow. I can't eat dinner after wrestling four matches.

Joe Rogan 44:13 Ugh.

Jordan Burroughs 44:14 I've gotta go straight to the gym, get on the bike-

Joe Rogan 44:17 No!

Jordan Burroughs 44:17 ... get on the saun- get in the sauna, get on the treadmill-

Joe Rogan 44:20 No!

Jordan Burroughs 44:20 ... get the seven pounds off, and then go to sleep hungry and then weigh a- weigh in again the next morning.

Joe Rogan 44:25 Oh, no.

Jordan Burroughs 44:26 So, it's, it's rough. I think ... I hope wrestling, it'll change it.

Joe Rogan 44:29 So if you do that, say, and then you don't have to wrestle until the evening. You, you weigh in the morning, you don't have to wrestle until the evening, like-

Jordan Burroughs 44:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:35 Then what do you do? Do you immediately start eating?

Jordan Burroughs 44:39 Um.

Joe Rogan 44:39 You, you, does the same thing?

Jordan Burroughs 44:40 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:41 Fluids first?

Jordan Burroughs 44:41 Yeah, you do some fluids first. You do relatively similar, um, protocol to the day before, but then you start to, you train at some point during the day. Like, if I have a match at night, I always like to get my body moving at some point during the day. So maybe I'll have breakfast and then around noon, 1:00, I'll come and get a light drill in. Just get my body moving, taking a couple of shots, maybe do a couple of sprints, ride the bike for a little bit, just to make sure that I'm on point when it is go time, that I'm not just sitting around all day accumulating all this weight-

Joe Rogan 45:11 Hm.

Jordan Burroughs 45:11 ... and now all of the sudden I'm 10, 12 pounds heavier than I was eight hours ago, and I gotta be ready to go out and compete. So-

Joe Rogan 45:17 I can't believe you have to wrestle-

Jordan Burroughs 45:18 There's a balance.

Joe Rogan 45:19 Oh.

Jordan Burroughs 45:19 There's a balance there. I don't know how the guys do it in MMA, bro. Like, you're 15, 20 pounds heavier than you were the day before.

Joe Rogan 45:26 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 45:26 How can you even be ideal-

Joe Rogan 45:29 It's not ideal.

Jordan Burroughs 45:29 ... in, in terms of your movement? Like-

Joe Rogan 45:30 It's not, it's not ideal.

Jordan Burroughs 45:31 I feel like I'd be weighed down.

Joe Rogan 45:32 Well, I mean, I f- I feel like there's guys that are getting away from that now, and a lot of guys are trying to just do what you were just saying-

Jordan Burroughs 45:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:37 ... get to about six pounds and cut that, and then, it's the day before, and they perform better that way.

Jordan Burroughs 45:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 45:43 But the, the real concern is against elite grapplers, like someone who's really bigger than you and stronger than you, and they take you down. But I'm just thinking, I can't believe that you have to wrestle all those matches in a day and then train afterwards to cut weight that night.

Jordan Burroughs 45:57 Yeah, yeah, you gotta cut again.

Joe Rogan 45:58 And then don't eat.

Jordan Burroughs 45:59 So if the U- me, yes, listen, if the UFC has a tournament and, right, McGregor's wrestling Cerrone on Saturday night-

Joe Rogan 46:05 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:05 ... and then, or fighting Cerrone Saturday night, then he's gotta fight, you know, Gaethje Sunday, he's gonna make weight on Saturday morning before the fight, and then he's gonna make weight again on Sunday before the fight. Because you gotta rehydrate, like-

Joe Rogan 46:18 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:18 ... you gotta, when ... You're not thinking about w- weigh-ins tomorrow. You're thinking about the day, you gotta weigh-

Joe Rogan 46:22 Why do they make them weigh in, uh, twice?

Jordan Burroughs 46:24 'Cause they wanna stop guys from cutting too much weight.

Joe Rogan 46:26 Oh.

Jordan Burroughs 46:26 Like you've, you've seen it.

Joe Rogan 46:27 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:27 Guys have almost died-

Joe Rogan 46:29 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:29 ... trying to get down in weight. Like, crazy stuff. You had day before weigh-ins, people were like, "I can cut anything 'cause I can be ready in 24 hours."

Joe Rogan 46:36 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 46:37 So you got little guys literally getting carried to the scale.

Joe Rogan 46:40 Oh, I've seen it. Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:41 They can't even walk. They're discombobulated, they're all over the place. Their coaches carry them, sit them on the scale, (laughs) make weight-

Joe Rogan 46:49 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 46:49 ... and then all of a sudden they just lay them out. They're pu- they're pouring fluids into their mouth, chewing their food for them. (laughs) It's nuts.

Joe Rogan 46:55 It's nuts. They're on death's door.

Jordan Burroughs 46:56 I think, I think that's what they're trying to avoid. They don't wanna be liable for someone killing themselves while trying to make weight for an event.

Joe Rogan 47:03 Well, there's an MMA organization called One FC in, uh, Asia that are trying-

Jordan Burroughs 47:06 Yeah, of course.

Joe Rogan 47:07 ... they're trying to avoid that, and they're doing hydration tests. I'm not exactly sure how they do it.

Jordan Burroughs 47:11 I don't like that.

Joe Rogan 47:12 You don't like that?

Jordan Burroughs 47:13 I don't.

Joe Rogan 47:13 How come?

Jordan Burroughs 47:14 Because there is a certain le- level of accountability that you have to provide for your athletes, but ... some weight classes are impossible. Like, there are only six weight classes in what I do, in wrestling.

Joe Rogan 47:26 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 47:27 So, my, the next weight class above me is 189. I'm at 163, so that's a 26-pound jump. The weight class below me is 143. That's a 20-pound, 20-pound drop. So I'm a tweener. I can't go up, I'm too small. I can't go down, I'm too big.

Joe Rogan 47:40 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 47:41 So the only r- weight class I can make is 163. So now, not only are you trying to beat the scale and beat your opponent, but now you're also trying to beat the hydration test. It's just another way for people to cheat and then, you know, potentially suspensions and-

Joe Rogan 47:54 Well, what they're doing in-

Jordan Burroughs 47:55 ... I just don't love it.

Joe Rogan 47:55 Well, fighting has a couple more weight classes, but it's still pretty limited. But what they're doing is they're just telling guys, like, "If you fight at 170 and you're cutting 10, 15 pounds, just go up to 185."

Jordan Burroughs 48:05 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:05 And they're, and they're making sure that these guys fight and compete healthy. So they're j- they're trying to eliminate weight cutting.

Jordan Burroughs 48:11 (laughs) Can- is that, is that possible, though? Like ...

Joe Rogan 48:13 It's hard.

Jordan Burroughs 48:13 ... if you tell someone, "Hey, listen, I know this is a struggle for you, Joe. I know you really wanna fight at 170. Your BMI says that you can, but you cannot get hydrated and fight at 170. You've gotta go up to 185." And you weigh 185.

Joe Rogan 48:27 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 48:27 And you're like, "I can't compete here. These guys-"

Joe Rogan 48:29 But the other guys would be 185 as well. They're, they'll be doing the same thing as well. The whole idea is to eliminate weight cutting across the board.

Jordan Burroughs 48:35 But some guys have better teams. Some guys-

Joe Rogan 48:38 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 48:38 ... have science behind them. Like-

Joe Rogan 48:39 That's true.

Jordan Burroughs 48:39 ... you look at Conor, like now that Conor's made this insane amount of money, he's got an entire team behind what he does.

Joe Rogan 48:47 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 48:48 And so most guys that are trying to compete with him don't have those type of resources. So where he is, has science and they're gonna make sure he's on point, you're just (laughs) y- you got your water bottle (laughs) -

Joe Rogan 49:00 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 49:01 ... and you're just drinking as much as possible and trying to manage it. It's no different.

Joe Rogan 49:04 But if you're not cutting weight, that would kind of eliminate the significance of having this big team behind you, in terms of like the science of weight cutting and preparing, getting yourself ready. If no one's cutting weight, then you're just dealing with skill.... that's the idea.

Jordan Burroughs 49:18 Yeah, but that'd be, like, the whole steroids argument. If everyone's on steroids, then no one's on steroids. Right? So it's like-

Joe Rogan 49:24 No, it's the opposite.

Jordan Burroughs 49:25 ... is that possible?

Joe Rogan 49:26 It's the opposite of that argument. The ar- that would be the argument for weight cutting, saying, "Look, everyone's on steroids, so just take steroids. Everyone cuts weight, so just cut weight."

Jordan Burroughs 49:34 Yeah, but they've-

Joe Rogan 49:35 But if you can't-

Jordan Burroughs 49:35 ... they're still trying to look-

Joe Rogan 49:36 ... cut weight, that's like saying-

Jordan Burroughs 49:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 49:37 ... you can't do steroids.

Jordan Burroughs 49:38 Yeah, yeah. I got you.

Joe Rogan 49:39 So it's like the opposite of that argument.

Jordan Burroughs 49:41 So, but I'm curious as to how you would prevent everyone from doing-

Joe Rogan 49:47 Hydration tests.

Jordan Burroughs 49:48 I know, but there's certain ways... Not, not... N- everyone's not gonna cheat, all right? Like, I'm just saying there are certain-

Joe Rogan 49:54 Well, you would get a guy. You'd m- m- de- measure his body mass, measure his, his body fat composition, do hydration tests on him and say, "Look, at 170, you are, you're sitting here, you have 10% body fat."

Jordan Burroughs 50:06 So you have to be certified?

Joe Rogan 50:06 Yeah, and then just have your body weight and your mass tracked. So, like, you, you're capable of competing at 170 pounds-

Jordan Burroughs 50:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 50:14 ... and this is how we know. You really can't make 155, and that's the weight classes in MMA, 155 to 170.

Jordan Burroughs 50:19 I think the tough thing for us is we have eating disorders. Like-

Joe Rogan 50:24 (laughs) I'm sure.

Jordan Burroughs 50:24 ... combat athletes have eating disorders, bro.

Joe Rogan 50:26 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 50:26 And it's, you know, for us, it's we have an unhealthy relationship with food, where we kill ourselves to get down in weight so we can compete at a high level, and then we trash our bodies with all the things that we've been missing out on for such a long period of time. So if you look at the average fighter, where they are in the off season is much higher than where they typically are when they're training. If you look at a guy with his shirt off when he's getting prepared for a fight, you're like, "Damn, that dude looks good." If you look at him on a beach with his family in the summertime, you're like, "Damn, that dude looks fat."

Joe Rogan 51:00 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 51:00 And so (laughs) you, we have to have a better relationship with food, where-

Joe Rogan 51:05 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 51:05 ... it's more of a lifestyle. Because at this point, this is why you see most guys after their careers are done, they've gained an excessive amount of weight.

Joe Rogan 51:12 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 51:12 They look unhealthy.

Joe Rogan 51:14 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 51:14 You're like-

Joe Rogan 51:14 It's true.

Jordan Burroughs 51:14 ... "Bro, what did you do to yourself?" And-

Joe Rogan 51:16 It's true. It's a good point.

Jordan Burroughs 51:17 And like I even feel, I feel it personally. There are days where I'm like, "I'm not even hungry, but I haven't eaten what I want in two months. I'm having this French toast." (laughs) You know what I mean? And so it's, it's a very, very different aspect of life that we have never really tapped into because we've been able to make it. But just because you're making it doesn't mean it's healthy, so you know, it's almost like one of those things that until we start to register it and track it over a long period of time, we'll never really know the effects mentally, psychologically-

Joe Rogan 51:44 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 51:44 ... and physically.

Joe Rogan 51:45 Well, I think for MMA, the, one of the solutions is more weight classes 'cause I-

Jordan Burroughs 51:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 51:49 ... I don't think there's nearly enough weight classes. I think the jumps like 85 to 205, that's 20 pounds. That's a giant-

Jordan Burroughs 51:55 That's a big jump.

Joe Rogan 51:55 And then 205 to 265 is heavyweight. That's too big.

Jordan Burroughs 51:58 Oh, baby.

Joe Rogan 51:59 That's a giant jump.

Jordan Burroughs 52:00 That's a big, that's a big jump.

Joe Rogan 52:01 I think they should have weight classes basically every ten pounds.

Jordan Burroughs 52:04 I think that'd be good. That might get-

Joe Rogan 52:06 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 52:06 ... me interested because I'm-

Joe Rogan 52:07 Would it really?

Jordan Burroughs 52:07 ... I'm a 160, I wrestle at 163.

Joe Rogan 52:10 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 52:10 So I'm like, I'm literally smack dab in between two weight classes.

Joe Rogan 52:14 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 52:14 Between 55 and 70, then you have me, so I feel like I'm too big for 55.

Joe Rogan 52:19 So you're still considering this?

Jordan Burroughs 52:21 I'm s- uh, my wife's watching, so-

Joe Rogan 52:22 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 52:22 ... I'll tell you later. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:26 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 52:26 When they cut the cameras off, I'll, I'll tell you.

Joe Rogan 52:28 How, how much training have you done, like with striking and-

Jordan Burroughs 52:31 Never. Never.

Joe Rogan 52:31 Not... Never?

Jordan Burroughs 52:32 Never.

Joe Rogan 52:32 Really?

Jordan Burroughs 52:32 Never even been in a fight.

Joe Rogan 52:33 But never hit pads or anything?

Jordan Burroughs 52:35 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 52:37 Whoa.

Jordan Burroughs 52:38 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 52:39 Whoa. That's, uh-

Jordan Burroughs 52:40 But I think I just, I'm just confident.

Joe Rogan 52:43 Well, you should be.

Jordan Burroughs 52:43 Maybe, like, absur-

Joe Rogan 52:43 You're one of the best wrestlers ever.

Jordan Burroughs 52:45 ... absurdly confident.

Joe Rogan 52:46 So you're a fucking Olympic gold medalist.

Jordan Burroughs 52:47 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:47 You have, you have to be confident, but-

Jordan Burroughs 52:49 Uh...

Joe Rogan 52:50 ... striking is a different animal, you know?

Jordan Burroughs 52:52 I just wanna roll with a couple of guys. Um...

Joe Rogan 52:54 Mm-hmm. Well, that would be easy just to set up.

Jordan Burroughs 52:56 Yeah. I wanna roll with Conor, is probably my dream-

Joe Rogan 52:59 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 52:59 ... guy that just, like, get my hands on and just feel a little bit I think would be fun. Um, GSP would be fun.

Joe Rogan 53:07 What was it like doing that thing with Askren, that you guys, uh-

Jordan Burroughs 53:10 Yeah, it was interesting, bro.

Joe Rogan 53:11 ... did that crazy wrestling match?

Jordan Burroughs 53:12 It was interesting. I, I, I, I respect Ben a ton. He's, uh-

Joe Rogan 53:16 I do, too. Try this. You ever have a Killcliff?

Jordan Burroughs 53:18 No. It's good?

Joe Rogan 53:19 CBD. It's my own drink.

Jordan Burroughs 53:20 Oh, I can't drink this, bro.

Joe Rogan 53:21 It's got my face on it. You can't?

Jordan Burroughs 53:22 Nah.

Joe Rogan 53:22 Bad for you?

Jordan Burroughs 53:23 No. I'm, I'm... USADA?

Joe Rogan 53:25 This is CBD. It doesn't have any THC in it.

Jordan Burroughs 53:27 I, I'm good.

Joe Rogan 53:27 I understand.

Jordan Burroughs 53:28 You know? Um, but thank you. I appreciate it. Hey, make sure you guys are drinking Killcliff (laughs) when you guys are out there.

Joe Rogan 53:33 Dude, drink whatever you want. I don't give a fuck.

Jordan Burroughs 53:34 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:34 I just wanted you to try-

Jordan Burroughs 53:35 No, you're good, bro. Um-

Joe Rogan 53:36 ... uh, pineapple and jalapeno. It's the shit.

Jordan Burroughs 53:37 This looks good. Killcliff. You were with Killcliff?

Joe Rogan 53:39 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 53:40 I had a... It's crazy. I had... They sent me, like, a package of their stuff years ago. Wow.

Joe Rogan 53:45 Great shit.

Jordan Burroughs 53:45 Were you in the, their inception?

Joe Rogan 53:47 Nope.

Jordan Burroughs 53:47 Or did you just get recently on board?

Joe Rogan 53:48 Within the last year or so.

Jordan Burroughs 53:49 That's dope, bro. Congratulations, man.

Joe Rogan 53:51 Yeah, we started, uh... I came up with this, uh, idea for a pineapple jalapeno drink.

Jordan Burroughs 53:56 They're t-

Joe Rogan 53:56 And they-

Jordan Burroughs 53:57 ... they're growing then-

Joe Rogan 53:58 Yeah, it's great.

Jordan Burroughs 53:59 ... because-

Joe Rogan 53:59 It's all sugar free.

Jordan Burroughs 54:00 ... they were a relatively small company.

Joe Rogan 54:01 It's got 25 milligrams of CBD in it.

Jordan Burroughs 54:03 Are they still in, like, the, uh, the CrossFit space?

Joe Rogan 54:07 Yeah, they do a lot of different stuff like that.

Jordan Burroughs 54:09 Yeah?

Joe Rogan 54:09 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 54:09 That's awesome, bro. Um, so at wrestling Askren, it was... When I got... I was in college in 2008. He was on the Olympic team going to Beijing. I was on the Junior World team. Um, I was 20 years old at the time. He was on, uh, the Olympian, so I'm like, "Damn." Like, "That's Ben Askren." I'm like, "Yo, look, look who it is." And so super cool for me to kinda have that experience. I remember he took me for a ride to Walmart in his Prius, and he let me sit shotgun.

Joe Rogan 54:36 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 54:36 And so, like, from that day on, I, like, idolized him. And then, you know, you get to this point where idols become rivals, and I'm like, "Well, this guy is doing extremely well in the MMA world. He's a former wrestler, but he still has his hand in wrestling, and he's still a competitor." So, you know, for him, he's like, "Why not? I'm gonna do my best to elevate wrestling's profile." But I knew I could beat him, so you know, it wasn't really, like, a risky matchup for me. Um, but it was a lot of fun, bro. We drew a ton of fans. We sold out the Hulu Theater-

Joe Rogan 55:05 There you guys are right there.

Jordan Burroughs 55:05 ... in Times Square. This place was rocking, bro. Like, crazy arena, um...... and it was, it was a ton of fun. It was a ton of fun.

Joe Rogan 55:15 It's interesting that, like, s- for someone to compete in MMA, you have to do so many different things.

Jordan Burroughs 55:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:20 You have to strike, you have to do jujitsu, you have to work on all these different aspects that you, you know, you're wrestling, you're just wrestling. That's what you do, you're an expert at it.

Jordan Burroughs 55:29 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 55:29 With Ben, he was, uh, really elite at it, but at a certain period... Oh, shit.

Jordan Burroughs 55:34 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 55:35 Now, he's-

Jordan Burroughs 55:35 There goes Ben.

Joe Rogan 55:36 He's got a fucked up hip too, and I'm, I'm sure he still had a fucked up hip then.

Jordan Burroughs 55:39 He, he was all smiles though. Listen, he was like-

Joe Rogan 55:41 Oh, he loved it. He loves wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 55:42 There was one point later in the match where I took him down, and he was like, "Bro, I thought you said you were gonna let me score."

Joe Rogan 55:48 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 55:48 Or like, "Actually give me the chance." (laughs) I was like, "Nah, I'm not the, I'm not the guy." Listen, if you wanna build your confidence-

Joe Rogan 55:55 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 55:55 ... or if you wanna, like, get prepared for an event by, you know, letting someone throw you a bone, I'm not that guy.

Joe Rogan 56:02 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 56:02 Uh, but it was fun. You know what? I gotta, I, I love Ben for allowing me to, to compete in this match. You know what's crazy? Is this was w- my most viewed match in my entire career.

Joe Rogan 56:17 Wow.

Jordan Burroughs 56:18 Wrestling Ben Askren.

Joe Rogan 56:19 Is that wild?

Jordan Burroughs 56:19 Who hadn't wrestled competitively in almost a decade. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:21 That's pretty wild.

Jordan Burroughs 56:22 Wild.

Joe Rogan 56:23 He's an interesting guy in MMA too, because he... It's a bummer that he made it to the UFC when he did-

Jordan Burroughs 56:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:31 ... 'cause he had really taken a long time off the sport and decided to come back and, and fight in the UFC. And I just don't think he was the same Ben Askreck when, Ben Askren that was the Bellator champion.

Jordan Burroughs 56:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:42 Or when he went over to One FC.

Jordan Burroughs 56:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:44 He was, he was manhandling motherfuckers and the best part about it is you got to see a guy who is elite at wrestling-

Jordan Burroughs 56:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:52 ... and really not elite at anything else-

Jordan Burroughs 56:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 56:55 ... just dominating with, with pure wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 56:57 He's a great wrestler.

Joe Rogan 56:58 He's a great wrestler.

Jordan Burroughs 56:58 Great wrestler, and that he's one of those guys, if he gets attached to you, he's dangerous.

Joe Rogan 57:04 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 57:04 Right? If you get your head underneath of him, front headlock position, you forget about it.

Joe Rogan 57:08 He's ridiculously strong, des- despite what he looks like.

Jordan Burroughs 57:11 Deceptively strong, right?

Joe Rogan 57:12 Yeah, yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 57:12 Shaped like a pear, wrestle like a bear.

Joe Rogan 57:14 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 57:16 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:16 That's a good way to describe it.

Jordan Burroughs 57:18 So, he's, uh, he's, um... Man, he's got the ultimate dad bod, but I tell you what, you don't wanna let that dude in on your leg. He'll finish-

Joe Rogan 57:24 For years, but when he was undefeated, before he went and fought in the UFC, for years he would get ahold of guys, you could see the surprised look in their face, like they were confused.

Jordan Burroughs 57:33 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:33 When he fought, like, Khorshkov and when he fought Douglas Lima, these fucking murderers over in Bellator.

Jordan Burroughs 57:39 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:39 He, those guys were killing people, but he just got ahold of them, like, "Not today." Boom.

Jordan Burroughs 57:43 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:43 On your back.

Jordan Burroughs 57:44 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 57:44 Take these noogies.

Jordan Burroughs 57:45 Yeah, it was-

Joe Rogan 57:46 Ye-

Jordan Burroughs 57:46 ... it was wild because... And it, maybe it worked out perfectly for him because he got to establish himself here.

Joe Rogan 57:52 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 57:53 In these lesser leagues. Excuse me, and then made the transition at a good time where, you know, he was knocking on, uh, Dana White's door for so long that it almost became comical. It's like, "You gotta let this guy in here."

Joe Rogan 58:06 True. I just wish that we could've seen him when he was in his athletic prime compete against the guys that he competed against.

Jordan Burroughs 58:13 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 58:13 Like, guys like Robbie Lawler, guys like, you know-

Jordan Burroughs 58:16 But he, he-

Joe Rogan 58:16 ... Masvidal.

Jordan Burroughs 58:17 He, he was a guy that there was... He had dwelled here for so long that when he finally got-

Joe Rogan 58:23 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 58:23 ... to UFC, they gave him such elite, uh, competition.

Joe Rogan 58:25 Yep.

Jordan Burroughs 58:26 That he never really had a chance to even get his feet wet in the UFC. It was like, "All right, Lawler."

Joe Rogan 58:31 Well, that's what the UFC d-

Jordan Burroughs 58:31 You know?

Joe Rogan 58:31 Well, he won that fight.

Jordan Burroughs 58:33 All right, boom. Here you go.

Joe Rogan 58:33 But the Masvidal fight was crazy.

Jordan Burroughs 58:35 Yeah, but Lawler fight was crazy too.

Joe Rogan 58:36 Crazy too, he got dumped.

Jordan Burroughs 58:37 Bro, like, them first 45 seconds-

Joe Rogan 58:38 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 58:39 ... (laughs) it's not looking good for Ben.

Joe Rogan 58:40 I know, he got hit with some big shots.

Jordan Burroughs 58:41 Uh-

Joe Rogan 58:42 It's really a cr- It was a crazy fight.

Jordan Burroughs 58:43 But it was, you know, it's... Ben has made a lot of money and he's done very well for himself, and he's still well p- respected in both spaces. So, I mean, I, I really guess that's all you can ask for from his perspective. He's done extremely well. He has multiple wrestling clubs back up in Wisconsin. He works for Flo Wrestling down here in Austin, who he, you know, dabbles in commentary and as an analyst for our sport. He's well respected in the MMA community. He's been a champion in One FC and Bellator and, you know, fought in the UFC. Like, he's done, he's done well.

Joe Rogan 59:19 And he's also, like, he's a fun guy. He takes a lo-

Jordan Burroughs 59:22 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:22 He took that loss with, against Masvidal better than anybody.

Jordan Burroughs 59:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:26 Like, immediately gets on Twitter, "Well, that sucked." (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 59:29 (laughs) Bro, I was scared.

Joe Rogan 59:31 It was rough.

Jordan Burroughs 59:31 I was legit scared. We were at-

Joe Rogan 59:32 It was rough.

Jordan Burroughs 59:32 ... Buffalo Wild Wings watching that fight.

Joe Rogan 59:34 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 59:35 Um, and we were sitting down like, "All right, let's go. Let's go, Ben." Because it was only a couple weeks after I had wrestled him, so I was, I wanted to see him win. Be- I, you know, it's-

Joe Rogan 59:47 Of course.

Jordan Burroughs 59:47 You just... I just wanted to see him win, um, because I was affiliated with him. So, I always wanna see the wrestlers win, but it was-

Joe Rogan 59:53 Kinda crazy that he took a wrestling match couple of weeks-

Jordan Burroughs 59:57 Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 59:57 ... before a big MMA fight like that.

Jordan Burroughs 59:58 And I, I was, I threw him off the stage, that was a bad idea.

Joe Rogan 1:00:01 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:01 That was a bad... I'm an idiot, bro.

Joe Rogan 1:00:02 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:03 Like, I almost cost this man a lot of money-

Joe Rogan 1:00:05 Right? Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:05 ... just because, you know, I was being stupid.

Joe Rogan 1:00:07 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:07 So, it was, uh... Yeah, we're good.

Joe Rogan 1:00:10 Well, he, it worked out okay.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:12 Yeah, yeah. He-

Joe Rogan 1:00:12 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:12 He survived.

Joe Rogan 1:00:13 But that, the shot that he la- that, uh, Masvidal landed on him was horrific.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:18 And that's why-

Joe Rogan 1:00:19 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:19 ... I still wrestle. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:00:20 Yeah. (laughs) Well, uh, if you've done no striking at all, I'd think your, you're made a good choice.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:27 Yeah, bro, it's, it's different.

Joe Rogan 1:00:28 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:29 And I think... You know, it's funny, I got... I took a shot the other day in practice right into someone's knee. Bam! And I was like, "Maybe that's what a punch feels like." And I'm like, "If I can take that shot from a knee to the face shooting at full speed, I can take a punch." I don't know.

Joe Rogan 1:00:44 Hm, sure.

Jordan Burroughs 1:00:44 Maybe it's, maybe it's just a little ego, right? It's, uh, like a little ego where I'm like, "I wanna see what I'm made of. I've never fought. I know I'm tough." I'm gritty, I'm mentally tough. I can do this. Um, but again, like, I don't feel like I have anything to prove. I've gotta kinda step back into, like, this spiritual sense of contentment. Like, I've done plenty, God has me where he wants me, and I've done so much to elevate the profile of the sport of wrestling. I don't have to make this transition. Like, yes, it would be great, it'd be glamorous, I'd have celebrities ringside, I'd get a big purse and all this cool stuff, I'd have you calling my fight. But would it be...... true to what I really believe in, who I really wanna be and desire for myself? Or would it just be a cash grab and, you know, this futile pursuit-

Joe Rogan 1:01:31 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 1:01:31 ... of something that is not meant for me, bro? Like, if you go into anything without a spirit of contentment and true purpose, it's always going to be a futile purs- or, or p- pursuit. So if like, for me, I'm like, "Is it really worth it? Do I really wanna be in here?" When they lock that gate behind me, am I gonna be like, "This is what I wanted."

Joe Rogan 1:01:51 What the fuck am I doing?

Jordan Burroughs 1:01:51 Or am I gonna be like, "What am I doing here?"

Joe Rogan 1:01:53 Right. Right.

Jordan Burroughs 1:01:54 You know what I mean? Like, you got raging fans at the bar, like, "Yeah, kill him. Kick his ass, bro." Um, so it's, it's ... Just's a different vibe. Um, I'm thankful for where I'm at. It's a good place.

Joe Rogan 1:02:05 Well, that's beautiful. That's perfect, man. You don't need to make any other decisions, then. Let's ... Listen.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:10 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:10 And you also have a very unique opportunity to bring a lot of attention to wrestling.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:13 Yeah, bro.

Joe Rogan 1:02:13 Actual real, elite wrestling, post-college, post-Olympics. And to let people know there's still people competing.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:02:21 There's viable options to compete.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:23 No one knows.

Joe Rogan 1:02:23 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:23 No one knows what happens in wrestling. They're like, "Well, what are you doing between the Olympics?" I'm like, "Well, there's, there's still wrestling. There's world championships." Everyone's like, "Do you still wrestle?" I'm like, "Bro, I just ... I have one of the biggest matches of the year coming up. I just wrestled in one of the biggest matches of the year."

Joe Rogan 1:02:37 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:37 You're like, "Yes, I still compete." But people don't really follow. So when the-

Joe Rogan 1:02:41 Wrestlers follow.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:42 Yeah, that's it.

Joe Rogan 1:02:42 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:43 Just wrestlers. We're such a niche sport. Where the UFC's brand has exploded because you guys were in this kind of limbo era for a period of time.

Joe Rogan 1:02:53 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 1:02:53 And now you guys are, you know, one of the biggest sports in the world. And so it's been cool to kinda see the transition, and we've tried to take cues from you guys, from, you know, broadcasting weigh-ins to making, you know, these match-ups and these cards. One of the hardest things about wrestling is their tournaments. And so within a tournament, it can be hard to market the best match-ups because there's upsets and a lot of things happen, and just-

Joe Rogan 1:03:17 Injuries.

Jordan Burroughs 1:03:17 ... injuries. Things just might not happen, right? So if you've got all the best 170-pounders in the entire world, you know, how do you know that GSP and Kamaru Usman are gonna meet up because they're one and two seed? You don't ... You never know.

Joe Rogan 1:03:30 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 1:03:30 Anything could happen.

Joe Rogan 1:03:31 Right.

Jordan Burroughs 1:03:31 Right? And so, I think that you guys have done a really good job with marketing the sport. You've brought in brand sponsors, and it has gone from this, you know, red-headed stepchild to boxing where it's brutal and barbarian, to this sport that it's seen as more of an art form. And there are a lotta guys that are responsible for that, and it's been, it's been cool to see. We're trying, we're trying to replicate it, but it's, it's much harder because ... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:03:57 Well, it's one of those things where I think for wrestlers, it's fantastic to be able to watch elite wrestling. They love it.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:02 It's, it's very enticing. But to people that have never wrestled before, it's kinda confusing what's happening.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:08 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:08 And that's what I was saying about jujitsu. That's one of the reasons why combat jujitsu is ... It's literally the most popular thing-

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:14 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:15 ... that Eddie's come up with 'cause he's come up with these EBI tournaments or a, a sort of a different jujitsu format. But combat jujitsu, people understand people getting hit.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:24 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 And that's the thing about the UFC. When people ... People understand the striking. It's simple. A guy punches a guy, you get it.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:31 A guy kicks a guy, you get it. But when fights go to the ground and, and people start going for submissions, to people that have never grappled, they have no idea what's happening.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:39 Gotta let 'em up, get back to their feet. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:40 Yeah, they want that. That's what they want. They don't understand it.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:04:42 So it's just a scramble, tangle of limbs. They don't really understand what's happening.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:46 But we live in like, a bloodthirsty society, right?

Joe Rogan 1:04:49 It's a little bit of that, too.

Jordan Burroughs 1:04:49 So people want to see the ... Even if you watch a boxing fight. Like, if you, if you watch let's say Bud Crawford versus Earl Spence, you're like these dudes are the very best in the entire world at their craft. If there's not a knockout and there's a draw, unanimous decision after 12 rounds, you're gonna be like, "That sucked. I want to see someone get knocked out." But the chances are when you have two high-level guys like that, like they're not gonna knock each other out. They're just gonna be ... They feel each other out, right? Throw a couple jabs, maybe hit each other with a couple power punches, but they're just too tough and too precise with their movements that they'll never knock each other out. So I think in wrestling, it's the same thing. Like, you have to be a wrestler to truly appreciate the craft. Like, you know what it takes to be the best, but you can't really respect it unless you're within it.

Joe Rogan 1:05:35 Mm-hmm.

Jordan Burroughs 1:05:35 Plus, it's not just a recreational sport. Wrestling is ... It's taboo, right? It's kinda weird a little bit. Like, you wear singlets and-

Joe Rogan 1:05:42 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:05:42 ... like, you just roll around with ... Like, jujitsu, I feel like you can go to a gym as a 40-year-old man that hasn't competed in 20 years, gr- put on your gi and roll around with your coworker and it can be completely normal. But you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't wrestle your coworker. Like, you'd be-

Joe Rogan 1:05:58 It's true.

Jordan Burroughs 1:05:59 ... like, "Bro." Like, "Get off me, dawg."

Joe Rogan 1:06:01 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:01 Like, "What are you doing?" (laughs) And so it's, uh, it's just ... It's, it's different. I feel like wrestling's one of the few sports that you can't just do, um, as-

Joe Rogan 1:06:09 Recreationally.

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:10 Yeah, you can't just go to the-

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 You have to-

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:12 ... to the local gym or YMCA-

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 Yeah, you have to have gone-

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:13 ... and just roll with it.

Joe Rogan 1:06:13 ... through high school or college.

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:15 There's ... Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:16 You ... Like you ... You wanna watch it, but you don't really wanna be in it, so like-

Joe Rogan 1:06:19 Yeah, like for MMA fighters that have never competed in wrestling at all and they wanna like learn how to wrestle-

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:26 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:26 ... it's uncomfortable for them.

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:28 That's what I wanna do. Like, I wanna have ... When I finish up my career, I'm gonna make a high-performance training center and I'm gonna invite all the best UFC fighters, all fighters, but I like the UFC's brand, to come train with me and help them sharpen up their skills in prep- preparation for their big fights. So-

Joe Rogan 1:06:45 Where would you do that?

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:46 That's a good question. I'm from Jersey. Um, I'm actually moving to Philadelphia next year with my family. But I wanna be somewhere where it shines, the sun shines all year round.

Joe Rogan 1:06:54 (laughs)

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:54 I wanna be somewhere warm, with there's no-

Joe Rogan 1:06:56 Yeah.

Jordan Burroughs 1:06:56 ... salt on my car and ... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:06:58 I hear