JRE MMA Show #112 with Don Frye

1. 0:00 – 1:10

   Reconnecting after UFC 12: first impressions and early UFC memories

   1. DFDon Frye0:00

      (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) Don Frye, it's a goddamn honor and a pleasure.

   3. DFDon Frye0:17

      Hey, partner. Thank you. Uh, you know, like I said earlier, first time, first and only time we met, I insulted you. It was-

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:24

      I don't remember that.

   5. DFDon Frye0:25

      It was down there in Alabama, right?

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:28

      (laughs) Those are early days, right?

   7. DFDon Frye0:29

      Yeah, number 12.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:30

      Oh, UFC 12. That was my first one.

   9. DFDon Frye0:33

      Yeah. And-

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       What'd you say?

   11. DFDon Frye0:34

       Well, we were backstage, and, you know, they introduced us, and I says, you know, "Do you know who this guy is?" They said, and I says, "Yeah, he, he plays that real dumb guy on, (laughs) on the news radio show." (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       (laughs)

   13. DFDon Frye0:46

       And you looked so-

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       But that's not an insult.

   15. DFDon Frye0:48

       ... and you looked so hurt. Then I find out-

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:50

       (laughs)

   17. DFDon Frye0:51

       ... I find out, you know, your character's really actually part of who you are, and (laughs) ...

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:55

       That's part of the problem. It's very, it was very close to who I am, unfortunately. (laughs)

   19. DFDon Frye0:59

       All right, fine. I've been watching your dr- ... And you're a smart bastard, man. I'm impressed.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       I have a good memory. I'm not that smart-

   21. DFDon Frye1:05

       No, you ...

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       ... but I have a good memory.

   23. DFDon Frye1:06

       You know what the hell's going on in a lot of the stuff, you know?

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       I know what some things, some things.

2. 1:10 – 2:56

   UFO talk and Arizona oddities—plus a Steven Seagal detour

   1. DFDon Frye1:10

      The Bob Lazar stuff? I mean, that's impressive.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:13

      Oh, yeah. Are you interested in UFOs?

   3. DFDon Frye1:14

      Oh, yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:15

      Yeah.

   5. DFDon Frye1:16

      Yeah, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:16

      A lot of folks in Arizona are interested in UFOs.

   7. DFDon Frye1:18

      There's a lot of that.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:18

      They visit there quite a bit-

   9. DFDon Frye1:19

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:19

       ... it seems like.

   11. DFDon Frye1:20

       Yeah, there's a ... The house that I have, um, it was built ... I guess the guy who built it, um, built it so his wife could watch the UFOs (laughs) over at the mountain there.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:34

       Wow, that's a high maintenance lady.

   13. DFDon Frye1:35

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:36

       (laughs)

   15. DFDon Frye1:36

       Yeah. Well, they all are, aren't they?

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:39

       (laughs) But imagine that. "What, what kind of house you want, honey?" "I want a house where I watch UFOs."

   17. DFDon Frye1:43

       Yeah. (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:43

       "I need an observation deck."

   19. DFDon Frye1:46

       That's basically it. (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:47

       Mm-hmm.

   21. DFDon Frye1:47

       It was, it was like a bunker. (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:49

       Was it?

   23. DFDon Frye1:50

       Yeah. Half of it's in the ground, and then half's ... And then all the block, you know, you got the big 16 by 8 block, and they're all filled with cement, so like-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:58

       Oh, there's a lot of weird houses like that. There's a house for sale in Arizona right now, it used to be Steven Seagal's house. It might still be his house. He's selling it. But it's bulletproof. It's got bulletproof glass. It's like a compound.

   25. DFDon Frye2:09

       That guy's a goof.

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:10

       (laughs) He's a silly man.

   27. DFDon Frye2:11

       He's a fucking goof.

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:12

       (laughs)

   29. DFDon Frye2:13

       Beyond silly.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:14

       He's a silly man.
3. 2:56 – 5:42

   Before the Octagon: wrestling start, late boxing, and navigating shady deals

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:56

      Don, how did you ... When, when did you ... You f- you started out, it was like UFC 8, was that your first fight?

   2. DFDon Frye3:01

      Y- n- no, it was first in the UFC. I'd fought before.

   3. JRJoe Rogan3:05

      You had the first in the UFC.

   4. DFDon Frye3:05

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan3:05

      You fought boxing and kickboxing before that, right?

   6. DFDon Frye3:07

      No kickboxing.

   7. JRJoe Rogan3:08

      Oh, no kickboxing.

   8. DFDon Frye3:08

      I did boxing. Um, think I had eight fights, and, um, I think I was two and six, or two, five, and one, I don't know, because I fought my first two with Don Frye, and I won those. And then I had an argument with my trainer, and so we split. And then, so then I fought under J.R. Frye.

   9. JRJoe Rogan3:36

      Why'd you change your name?

   10. DFDon Frye3:37

       Well, that was my name growing up. I was junior, so J.R.

   11. JRJoe Rogan3:40

       Oh.

   12. DFDon Frye3:40

       And that's how I was in, you know, junior high, high school. And then, um, you know, when my dad and mom called me. And then I think I changed my name because of, uh, contractual r- you know, things.

   13. JRJoe Rogan3:54

       Oh, you had some deal with the manager where you had to-

   14. DFDon Frye3:57

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan3:57

       Yeah.

   16. DFDon Frye3:57

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan3:58

       There's a lot of those sneaky deals, huh?

   18. DFDon Frye4:00

       Yeah, but, um, that was more with the trainer. And, you know, I don't know if that was ... 'Cause they were really good guys. Uh, Art Martori was my money guy, who ... You know, they, they ... the two Munos, Mike Munos and his father Al brought me to, to Art. Art wrestled at ASU back in the late '60s. And Art, uh, he's a billionaire, you know. And so he was in- interested in ... I mean, he, he basically funds ASU wrestling.

   19. JRJoe Rogan4:30

       Oh, really?

   20. DFDon Frye4:31

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan4:31

       Oh, that's nice.

   22. DFDon Frye4:32

       Out of his pocket, yeah. And he's done so much for amateur wrestling in the US. I mean, he's like the top dog, 'cause, um, he, uh, he used to have what's called SunKist Wrestling team.

   23. JRJoe Rogan4:45

       Mm-hmm.

   24. DFDon Frye4:46

       And, uh, so that was his baby, and he steamrolled that. And, um, then like I said, uh, the Munos brothers, or Mike and his dad took me to Art. Art said, "All right. Let's give it a shot." After he called, um, jeez, the coach at Okie State, um, Joe Saygh, to double up ... double check on me, you know. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan5:14

       Mm-hmm. So did y- you started out wrestling ... Did you wrestle as a young boy?

   26. DFDon Frye5:19

       No, sir. No, sir.

   27. JRJoe Rogan5:20

       When did you start wrestling?

   28. DFDon Frye5:21

       Uh, as a freshman in high school.

   29. JRJoe Rogan5:24

       And then when did you box?

   30. DFDon Frye5:26

       Uh, when I got outta college.
4. 5:42 – 13:27

   Firefighting, horseshoeing, and a rough job at a psych facility

   1. DFDon Frye5:42

      Um, I was a fireman, you know. I just did the boxing, and then got out, and did ... started doing odd jobs for, you know, a year, year and a half. And, uh, then my wife at that time, we had a couple horses, you know. And being a college wrestler, y- you got a bit of an ego when you ... So I look at it, "Well, hell, I can do that." So, uh, started going around with a farrier named Stoney Leufeg, and then Stoney got me interested. Then I, um ...... got tired of that. It wasn't really making any good money, but, you know, for the time, he was giving me five bucks a horse. You know, teach me, you know, pull the shoes, um, shape the shoe, you know, and all that good stuff. Well, he, he did the technical work on the hooves. And then, um, I said, y- you know, somebody told me about being a fireman, about, you know, working 10 days a month, you know, and have a rest on Sunday.

   2. JRJoe Rogan6:45

      Right.

   3. DFDon Frye6:45

      I said, "Well, hell, that's the job for me," you know? (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan6:49

      (laughs)

   5. DFDon Frye6:49

      10 days a month, I can do that.

   6. JRJoe Rogan6:50

      You're doing the 24-hour shifts?

   7. DFDon Frye6:52

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan6:52

      Where you just stay there at the firehouse? Yeah.

   9. DFDon Frye6:54

      Yeah. So I got on the phone, called up all the cities in the State of Arizona. Nobody was hiring, so I called up Santa Fe, New Mexico. They said, "Yeah, we're gonna run a test." And so I went over there and tested and passed the test, and then went to, uh, my buddy, Jerry Peckenpaugh. He's the one who got me into wrestling, um, when I was in high school. Can I borrow your lighter, please?

   10. JRJoe Rogan7:20

       Yeah. There you go. There you go. I'll leave that over there for you.

   11. DFDon Frye7:28

       Thank you, sir. Bring it up, man. (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan7:31

       (laughs)

   13. DFDon Frye7:32

       And, um, so then I went and stayed at Jerry's house in Santa Fe, and I went through their... I think it was, like, a six-month or, or more, um, academy, you know.

   14. JRJoe Rogan7:47

       In the fire department?

   15. DFDon Frye7:48

       Yeah, in the fire department.

   16. JRJoe Rogan7:49

       Really, six months?

   17. DFDon Frye7:49

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan7:50

       Wow.

   19. DFDon Frye7:50

       It was a hell of an academy. It really was.

   20. JRJoe Rogan7:53

       And so from there, you thought about fighting?

   21. DFDon Frye7:56

       Hmm, no, I had already fought.

   22. JRJoe Rogan7:58

       No, but I mean in the UFC.

   23. DFDon Frye7:59

       Oh, no, um, from there, we were there a year, year and a half. Couldn't afford to live there, you know. You know, in Santa Fe, you're either real rich or real poor.

   24. JRJoe Rogan8:09

       Mm-hmm.

   25. DFDon Frye8:09

       You know, this was 30 years ago, so.

   26. JRJoe Rogan8:11

       Right.

   27. DFDon Frye8:12

       I don't know how it is now, but, um...

   28. JRJoe Rogan8:15

       Probably similar.

   29. DFDon Frye8:16

       Probably. (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan8:17

       Yeah.
5. 13:27 – 17:21

   Discovering NHB and getting fights: Dan Severn, warehouse bouts, and gloves

   1. JRJoe Rogan13:27

      So how does it make its way to the UFC? Do you remember when you found out about the UFC?

   2. DFDon Frye13:31

      Yeah, then, um... I, I think that was still a year or two before.

   3. JRJoe Rogan13:36

      So this is like '92, something like that?

   4. DFDon Frye13:38

      Yeah, yeah. And then, um, I started doing judo, you know, 'cause I needed, you know, uh, I needed something to do, you know?

   5. JRJoe Rogan13:46

      Right.

   6. DFDon Frye13:47

      'Cause, uh, y- you know, you, you're 22, 24 years old, you're, you know, used to be a college athlete, you, you know, (laughs) you still walk around with an erection, you know?

   7. JRJoe Rogan13:58

      Right. I understand.

   8. DFDon Frye13:59

      And, um, so I started doing judo and advanced really quickly in that. And, um, hell, so then, then we're... I got on with the Bisbee Fire Department in '94 or in '92.

   9. JRJoe Rogan14:16

      Bisbee, Arizona?

   10. DFDon Frye14:17

       Yeah, yeah. 1922.

   11. JRJoe Rogan14:18

       Shout-out to Doug Stanhope. He's the-

   12. DFDon Frye14:20

       92.

   13. JRJoe Rogan14:20

       ... King of Bisbee.

   14. DFDon Frye14:21

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan14:22

       That's what I hear.

   16. DFDon Frye14:22

       I met him one time, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan14:23

       Did you?

   18. DFDon Frye14:24

       Yeah, at the, uh, airport.

   19. JRJoe Rogan14:26

       Oh, yeah?

   20. DFDon Frye14:26

       Yeah, he says-

   21. JRJoe Rogan14:27

       (laughs)

   22. DFDon Frye14:27

       "You're a firefighter." "Yeah, used to be." Shit, this was probably 15, 18 years ago, so... (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan14:32

       Oh, wow. (laughs)

   24. DFDon Frye14:35

       And, um... Yeah, where the hell am I right now?

   25. JRJoe Rogan14:39

       So you were talking about when you first heard about the UFC.

   26. DFDon Frye14:42

       I... Yeah, in '92 I got on with the Bisbee Fire.

   27. JRJoe Rogan14:45

       Right.

   28. DFDon Frye14:45

       And then we were sitting there watching something on TV and saw Dan, a clip of Dan.

   29. JRJoe Rogan14:52

       Dan Severn?

   30. DFDon Frye14:53

       Uh-huh. And, uh, then he was doing some kind of bodyguard work with, um, that gal who works... Who? Oh, fuck me. I'm bad at names sometimes.
6. 17:21 – 23:35

   What the early UFC taught everyone: wrestling dominance, headbutts, and Gracie impact

   1. JRJoe Rogan17:21

      Yeah, they should go back because that's, that's the history of the sport. I always tell people we knew more about martial arts after four years of the UFC than had been done in 400 years.

   2. DFDon Frye17:33

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan17:34

      We knew more. We knew what worked and what didn't work. We, we saw so many different things, so many different things. Like, by the time 97 rolled around, we, they had figured out so... First of all, they realized wrestling is the most important thing.

   4. DFDon Frye17:47

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan17:47

      It's the most important thing.

   6. DFDon Frye17:48

      Well, it's like-

   7. JRJoe Rogan17:49

      See, still to this day-

   8. DFDon Frye17:49

      ... it's like a street fight.

   9. JRJoe Rogan17:50

      Yep.

   10. DFDon Frye17:50

       Two and a half hours every day, you know?

   11. JRJoe Rogan17:52

       Right.

   12. DFDon Frye17:53

       It really is.

   13. JRJoe Rogan17:53

       It is, yeah. And it's just the, the ability to take a guy down. If you look at, um... Somebody posted it. It might've been Adam Hunter on his page, I think it was, on his Instagram page. He posted, uh, the amount of champions per discipline, you know. It showed like, uh, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, all the different... And then wrestling is number one.

   14. DFDon Frye18:13

       Right, right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan18:14

       Number one out of all the-

   16. DFDon Frye18:15

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan18:15

       ... all the different disciplines, that's the most important discipline.

   18. DFDon Frye18:18

       Well, it's the hardest thing to do 'cause-

   19. JRJoe Rogan18:21

       Yep.

   20. DFDon Frye18:21

       ... there, there's... I mean, you're doing it every day in high school, every day in college, and there's no excuses, you know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan18:28

       Yep.

   22. DFDon Frye18:29

       Um...

   23. JRJoe Rogan18:29

       And the most mentally tough too.

   24. DFDon Frye18:30

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan18:31

       Because first of all, they're cutting weight, they're cutting weight the day of the event.

   26. DFDon Frye18:34

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:34

       They're competing dehydrated and exhausted. And wrestlers, amongst all athletes that I've ever met, take pride in being miserable.

   28. DFDon Frye18:43

       Yeah. (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:43

       They really do. Yeah, here it is. It is Adam, Adam Hunter put it up there. Look at that, 28 professional champions from wrestling. The second place is Brazilian jiu-jitsu, the third place is boxing, and then kickboxing below that, Muay Thai, and then two, TaeKwonDo and one karate.

   30. DFDon Frye18:59

       (clears throat)
7. 23:35 – 27:13

   UFC turbulence and regulation chaos: bans, McCain, and 'could we get arrested?'

   1. JRJoe Rogan23:35

      Now, did you think at that point in time that this was something that you, that this was gonna be a real sport? Because a lot of people weren't sure if it was gonna last back then.

   2. DFDon Frye23:43

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan23:43

      Like, UFC 8, when you, you entered, it was like, it was still kinda crazy. It was... When I came around was UFC 12, and they were banned from, uh, pay-per-view on, uh, everything except DirecTV.

   4. DFDon Frye23:54

      Right.

   5. JRJoe Rogan23:55

      DirecTV was the only people that had them on. You couldn't get it on cable anymore, because, uh, boxing was in cahoots with John McCain and-

   6. DFDon Frye24:01

      Yeah, piece of shit.

   7. JRJoe Rogan24:01

      ... Budweiser and all that stuff, and they were... Yeah.

   8. DFDon Frye24:04

      That guy is dirty.

   9. JRJoe Rogan24:05

      Was he dirty?

   10. DFDon Frye24:06

       Oh, f-... Yeah, he was dirty, yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan24:08

       Dang.

   12. DFDon Frye24:08

       Yeah, I mean-

   13. JRJoe Rogan24:09

       Well, he's gone now. Rest in peace.

   14. DFDon Frye24:10

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan24:11

       (laughs)

   16. DFDon Frye24:11

       He, um... Y- you know, he, he was a paid boxing advisor to Don King. You know, the guy didn't know what the fuck he was-

   17. JRJoe Rogan24:20

       Oh.

   18. DFDon Frye24:20

       ... doing, you know. You know? So when this came around, it was beaten boxing, like you said.

   19. JRJoe Rogan24:26

       Mm-hmm.

   20. DFDon Frye24:27

       And so Don King said, "Hey, put the boots to this," you know?

   21. JRJoe Rogan24:30

       Yup. That's what happened.

   22. DFDon Frye24:31

       I mean, his wife, you know, was the head of Henly Distributing, you know. Henly Beer.

   23. JRJoe Rogan24:37

       Really?

   24. DFDon Frye24:37

       Budweiser beer, yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan24:39

       Oh, that makes sense. But I, but I knew he did something with Budweiser and that had a big impact on his-

   26. DFDon Frye24:45

       Yeah, well, he married a Budweiser, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan24:47

       Yeah. That had a big impact on how the UFC was, uh, whether, whether or not it was legal, because they started banning it from everywhere.

   28. DFDon Frye24:54

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan24:54

       And-

   30. DFDon Frye24:54

       That wa- that was the big joke, is, um-
8. 27:13 – 37:20

   Long-term damage and the stem-cell hope: fused spine, infections, and surgeries

   1. DFDon Frye27:13

      I'm gonna go down there to Columbia and do the bioxcellerator.

   2. JRJoe Rogan27:17

      Mm-hmm.

   3. DFDon Frye27:17

      You know, and, um, the plan on that is do that and hopefully, you know, make, make a comeback, you know?

   4. JRJoe Rogan27:25

      Really?

   5. DFDon Frye27:26

      Shit, yeah, Joe.

   6. JRJoe Rogan27:28

      (laughs) I love it.

   7. DFDon Frye27:29

      Shit, yeah. I mean, I'd love to fight Ngannou.

   8. JRJoe Rogan27:33

      Ngannou?

   9. DFDon Frye27:33

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan27:34

       Really?

   11. DFDon Frye27:34

       Yeah. He's amazing, yeah. With the-

   12. JRJoe Rogan27:37

       Wouldn't it ... Wouldn't it be better to fight someone your age?

   13. DFDon Frye27:40

       Why?

   14. JRJoe Rogan27:40

       Uh-

   15. DFDon Frye27:41

       They don't, they don't have the belt, do they? (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan27:42

       No. So you'd want to fight someone with the belt, even-

   17. DFDon Frye27:45

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan27:45

       ... even at your age?

   19. DFDon Frye27:46

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan27:46

       That's why you're Don Frye.

   21. DFDon Frye27:48

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan27:48

       'Cause you think like that. Yeah.

   23. DFDon Frye27:50

       If I could get my back fixed up, I'm there, buddy.

   24. JRJoe Rogan27:52

       W- uh, what's going on with your back right now?

   25. DFDon Frye27:55

       Um ... Hell, I've had, uh, probably five maj- ... five or six major back surgeries and then, probably, related, 15 to 20 related, you know, 'cause infections-

   26. JRJoe Rogan28:10

       Mm-hmm.

   27. DFDon Frye28:10

       ... and things like that.

   28. JRJoe Rogan28:11

       Jesus.

   29. DFDon Frye28:12

       And, uh, (laughs) yeah. And the infections tried to get me a couple of times and-

   30. JRJoe Rogan28:17

       Staph? MRSA?
9. 37:20 – 42:25

   Japan career pivot: one-year UFC run, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, then PRIDE

   1. JRJoe Rogan37:20

      So, so when you first fought and you decided, "Okay, this is what I'm gonna do," um, when the, the UFC was taking off, how... You, you stayed in the UFC for a few years and then went over to PRIDE. When, when did you find out about PRIDE?

   2. DFDon Frye37:34

      No, I stayed in UFC one year.

   3. JRJoe Rogan37:35

      Only one year?

   4. DFDon Frye37:36

      Yeah, in '96. And then I went to pro wrestling.

   5. JRJoe Rogan37:40

      Oh, really?

   6. DFDon Frye37:41

      Yeah, yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan37:43

      So you... All your fights in the UFC were only one year?

   8. DFDon Frye37:45

      One year.

   9. JRJoe Rogan37:46

      Wow, no shit.

   10. DFDon Frye37:47

       Yeah. And none of them went the distance. (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan37:52

       That's incredible. And then from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, you ... So, how'd you find out about that?

   12. DFDon Frye37:57

       Then I went to Pride.

   13. JRJoe Rogan37:58

       Did they contact you from the UFC?

   14. DFDon Frye38:00

       Yes, sir. They contacted me. Yes, sir.

   15. JRJoe Rogan38:03

       Mm-hmm. Wow.

   16. DFDon Frye38:05

       Um, because ... God rest, uh, Ken Shamrock, you know, he, he had the deal.

   17. JRJoe Rogan38:12

       Right, he had a connection over there.

   18. DFDon Frye38:14

       Well, no, they, they want- ... They signed ... They run ... They offered him a deal to go over there and be a bad guy American shooter style, you know.

   19. JRJoe Rogan38:23

       Hmm.

   20. DFDon Frye38:24

       And so he took that contract, went to WWE-

   21. JRJoe Rogan38:28

       Right.

   22. DFDon Frye38:29

       ... and showed them, and they matched it or bettered it, you know. And, um, then that left New Japan Pro-Wrestling hanging. So-

   23. JRJoe Rogan38:38

       Oh.

   24. DFDon Frye38:39

       That's when Masa Shidell called Brad Regans. Brad Regans called Jeff Blatnick. God rest the late Jeff Blatnick.

   25. JRJoe Rogan38:48

       Yeah, what a great guy he was.

   26. DFDon Frye38:49

       He recommended me, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan38:50

       What a great guy Jeff Blatnick was.

   28. DFDon Frye38:52

       Yeah, he was.

   29. JRJoe Rogan38:52

       He, uh ... He gave me some great advice when I first started working for the UFC.

   30. DFDon Frye38:55

       Yeah.
10. 42:25 – 56:17

    PRIDE peak moments: post-9/11 entrance, Tokyo Dome scale, and the Takayama brawl

    1. DFDon Frye42:25

       Hell, partner. First ... '01.

    2. JRJoe Rogan42:28

       '01?

    3. DFDon Frye42:29

       Yeah, it was, uh-

    4. JRJoe Rogan42:30

       That was the glory days.

    5. DFDon Frye42:31

       Yeah. It was two weeks after 9/11. I think it was either the 23rd or the 28th.

    6. JRJoe Rogan42:38

       Wow.

    7. DFDon Frye42:39

       You know?

    8. JRJoe Rogan42:40

       Wow.

    9. DFDon Frye42:40

       And I went in there, you know, with, um ... I told my parents, "Find me a flag, you know. Give it to the guys when they come over." And, uh, my mother-in-law made those shorts for me.

    10. JRJoe Rogan42:52

        Oh, really?

    11. DFDon Frye42:53

        Uh, yeah.

    12. JRJoe Rogan42:53

        Oh, right.

    13. DFDon Frye42:54

        Yeah. So, you know, then I says, you know, "I'm going in with the national anthem."

    14. JRJoe Rogan42:59

        Nice.

    15. DFDon Frye43:00

        Oh, it was ... It was, it was amazing, you know, walking with the flag, having the national anthem. It was, it was, it was cool.

    16. JRJoe Rogan43:07

        Look at you there. Don Frye, 20 years ago. Isn't that wild?

    17. DFDon Frye43:12

        Yeah, it's ... Jeez. Jeez. Was it ... What year is this? (laughs)

    18. JRJoe Rogan43:20

        That fight in the lower corner, that-

    19. DFDon Frye43:23

        Done.

    20. JRJoe Rogan43:23

        The Takayama fight, that was one of the craziest fucking moments in the history of mixed martial arts when you and Takayama were just slamming each other in the head-

    21. DFDon Frye43:33

        Yeah.

    22. JRJoe Rogan43:33

        ... over and over and over again.

    23. DFDon Frye43:35

        God bless him, man. He's a-

    24. JRJoe Rogan43:36

        Jesus Christ, that fight.

    25. DFDon Frye43:38

        Yes.

    26. JRJoe Rogan43:38

        Bro, see if you can just pull up that exchange 'cause in, in all the history of the sport, that is one of the most iconic exchanges-

    27. DFDon Frye43:46

        Yeah.

    28. JRJoe Rogan43:46

        ... of any two f- ... 'Cause you couldn't believe it was happening, and you couldn't believe-

    29. DFDon Frye43:49

        (laughs)

    30. JRJoe Rogan43:49

        You couldn't believe you guys kept doing it.
11. 56:17 – 1:13:06

    Money problems and PRIDE’s collapse: bad agents, taxes, and yakuza exposure

    1. JRJoe Rogan56:17

       What was it like working in PRIDE?

    2. DFDon Frye56:19

       I liked it until, (silence) till I found out that, um, you know, I'd been robbed a couple times and, um, they were supposed to have paid your taxes. And then, you know, I went and did the last show as a favor, you know? And I took a tremendous cut and, you know, then the next day I go in to get paid and the president of PRIDE's not there. So I said, "Fuck, something's up." And they said, uh, you know, (groans) I'm not gonna say his name because, you know, it's still questionable, everything. So he said, "He's on the... He's not here, he's on the phone." I go, "Ah, crap." He says, "Donjon, yesterday Japanese IRS come to our office looking for you." He said, "They're downstairs right now waiting on you."

    3. JRJoe Rogan57:15

       Oh, boy.

    4. DFDon Frye57:16

       Yeah. So I had to go down there and pay my way out of Japan. (laughs)

    5. JRJoe Rogan57:20

       Oh, Jesus Christ.

    6. DFDon Frye57:21

       Yeah.

    7. JRJoe Rogan57:23

       Wow.

    8. DFDon Frye57:23

       Yeah.

    9. JRJoe Rogan57:24

       Yeah, there was a lot of weird shenanigans with money over there, right? That was why Bob Sapp wound up leaving, right? They, they told him he, they wanted him to fight and he didn't have a contract.

    10. DFDon Frye57:32

        Yeah.

    11. JRJoe Rogan57:32

        And the day of the fight, there's still no contract. He's like, "Look, if I don't have a contract-

    12. DFDon Frye57:36

        Right.

    13. JRJoe Rogan57:36

        ... I'm not going out there." And then they effectively kind of blackballed him and he never really re- reached those same heights again.

    14. DFDon Frye57:43

        Right.

    15. JRJoe Rogan57:43

        They stopped promoting him, stopped, you know?

    16. DFDon Frye57:46

        Well, some asswipe over there made the announcement that, uh, you know, the yakuzas was involved with PRIDE. You know? Like that's a shocker? I mean, the yakuza's involved with everything over there.

    17. JRJoe Rogan57:59

        And that killed the business over there, right?

    18. DFDon Frye58:01

        Yeah.

    19. JRJoe Rogan58:01

        Was that, like, the media did that or a journalist did that or something?

    20. DFDon Frye58:04

        It was, yeah, a journalist, yeah.

    21. JRJoe Rogan58:05

        Yeah. But everybody knew anyway, right?

    22. DFDon Frye58:07

        Right, right.

    23. JRJoe Rogan58:07

        Yeah.

    24. DFDon Frye58:08

        But you're not supposed to...

    25. JRJoe Rogan58:09

        Publicly announce it.

    26. DFDon Frye58:11

        Right.

    27. JRJoe Rogan58:11

        Because then advertisers don't want to be involved in it.

    28. DFDon Frye58:14

        Right.

    29. JRJoe Rogan58:15

        Yeah. And th- is that what killed the business over there?

    30. DFDon Frye58:17

        Yeah, yeah. It destroyed it, yeah.
12. 1:13:06 – 1:20:13

    Painkillers, withdrawals, and life after fighting: daily pain, sobriety, and a new podcast

    1. DFDon Frye1:13:06

       Yeah. I mean, th- the ... One of the worst night- ... I lost to a fucking idiot I shouldn't have lost to because, um, my ex- ... My wife at the time decided I was drinking too much and taking too many pills, so her and, uh, a couple of the guys took my booze and my pills the night before the fight. And I started going through withdrawals during the fucking fight. (snores)

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:13:35

       No.

    3. DFDon Frye1:13:36

       Yeah. Yeah.

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:13:38

       That was something someone told me the other day that I could not believe. They were telling me, and I don't want to name any names, but big time fighters, particularly kickboxers, that fought on heroin.

    5. DFDon Frye1:13:51

       Really?

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:13:51

       Or fought on pills. They put ... Fought on opiates.

    7. DFDon Frye1:13:53

       Yeah, I did that. That's when my career went to shit.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:13:56

       Yeah? And it was just because of all the pain that you were in, right? I mean, you said that by the time of Ciryl Abidi fight, you were already banged up to the point where you could barely train.

    9. DFDon Frye1:14:05

       Yeah.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:14:05

        But you think about how long your career went after that. It's crazy. I mean, you had your-

    11. DFDon Frye1:14:09

        No, that was the Coleman fight.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:14:10

        Oh, it was the Coleman fight.

    13. DFDon Frye1:14:11

        Yeah. That was so fucked up. Remember, I met ... Frank, Frank had trained Ciryl for a fight me, and then I, I called Frank to train me for the Coleman fight, you know, because-

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:14:24

        But you had f- a lot of fights even after that.

    15. DFDon Frye1:14:26

        Yeah, yeah.

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:14:28

        I mean, it's kind of cra- ... You rode that motherfucker till the wheels fell off. (laughs)

    17. DFDon Frye1:14:31

        Yeah. When the frame fell off, man.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:14:35

        (laughs) The frame.

    19. DFDon Frye1:14:35

        That's ... You should have seen the frame.

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:14:36

        Exactly. They re- ... They had to redo your frame.

    21. DFDon Frye1:14:38

        (laughs) Yeah. Frame of restoration, yeah. (laughs)

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:14:42

        Yeah. (laughs) Right down to the bare chassis. So when you ... Your last fight was what? 2011? Somewhere along there?

    23. DFDon Frye1:14:48

        Uh, yes, sir. It was-

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:14:49

        Kind of crazy.

    25. DFDon Frye1:14:51

        ... five months after my fifth back surgery.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:14:55

        Wow. Five months after your fifth back surgery, you got a fight?

    27. DFDon Frye1:15:00

        Yeah, stupid. Fucking stupid.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:15:02

        But you want, you will ... You still want to do it right now. The, the thing about guys like you, it's like you never lose the itch.

    29. DFDon Frye1:15:09

        Right.

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:15:09

        It's your body just fails you.

Episode duration: 1:55:22