JRE MMA Show #132 with Joaquin Buckley

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. NANarrator0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) What up, Mr. Puckey?

   4. JBJoaquin Buckley0:13

      What you saying? What you saying?

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      How are you, sir?

   6. JBJoaquin Buckley0:14

      Man, I'm doing good, Joe.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      Good to have you in here, man.

   8. JBJoaquin Buckley0:16

      Yeah, man. Thanks for having me.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      You are the owner of the most highlighted, the most viral video in the history of MMA, I think. That fucking-

   10. JBJoaquin Buckley0:24

       I appreciate that.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:25

       ... jump spinning back kick to the face.

   12. JBJoaquin Buckley0:26

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so, man. You know, uh, it took a minute for me to actually, like, think that it is, you know what I mean, because there's so many other, like, awesome knockouts out there, you know, like my man, you know, Dan Hindover, you know, Bisping, you know-

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:37

       Yeah.

   14. JBJoaquin Buckley0:37

       ... with the H-bomb. And then with my man, Eson Barboza with the, you know, spinning heel kick on-

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:42

       Yeah.

   16. JBJoaquin Buckley0:42

       ... Terry Edham, you know. And, uh, like Francis Ngannou, you know what I'm saying, like just-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:46

       There's a lot.

   18. JBJoaquin Buckley0:46

       ... so many, like, different heavy hitters out there with, with great KOs, you know. But once I really, like, sat back and looked at it and it took some time to actually, like, take everything in, I'm like, "Yeah, that's pretty dope that I did that."

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       But yours was crazy-

   20. JBJoaquin Buckley0:57

       Yeah, he is.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:57

       ... 'cause he's holding one foot-

   22. JBJoaquin Buckley0:59

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       ... and you jump spinning back kick him in the face with the other foot.

   24. JBJoaquin Buckley1:01

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:02

       I mean, that is just wild.

   26. JBJoaquin Buckley1:03

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       I mean, come ... Have you ever done that in a fight before?

   28. JBJoaquin Buckley1:07

       No. So that was my first time. So, you know, if, if you want to really hear it, man, it's, it's, it's a long story with it because nobody taught me that kick, you know.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:14

       What?

   30. JBJoaquin Buckley1:14

       Like I never had an instructor.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. JBJoaquin Buckley15:00

      younger brother, Andy Simmons. Uh, that's who I work with. And, uh, he's more of my size and stuff like that, so I get a lot of high-level wrestling from him because both of them are Hall of Famers, uh, at, uh, Michigan, uh, State, which is pretty dope, you know. And, uh, so they, they got a, a, a, a nice revenue, you know what I'm saying, not revenue, but, like, a, a great career, uh, within wrestling. Went undefeated, you know what I'm saying, for the longest time. Like, I think over 200, 300 bouts or something like that undefeated. And then I got a conditioning coach at, uh, the HPI, Human Performance Institute, uh, Justin Hardee. He was an NFL player, you know. That's where we get all our, uh, conditioning work in. Uh, so, like, we don't have many, many guys, you know, but at the end of the day, we have enough to work with. We also got a guy that works with our jiu-jitsu who works at, uh, Magic, named Brendan Barry, who, uh, does all our jiu-jitsu. But the crazy thing about him, he's not a black belt, he's not a high-level jiu-jitsu guy. He's somebody that's just passionate about jiu-jitsu-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:51

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JBJoaquin Buckley15:51

      ... who watches it every day, you know. And he shows us stuff that actually work, but he's somebody that's committed to it, you know, and who watches it every day. And, uh, that's who we learned jiu-jitsu from.

   4. JRJoe Rogan16:01

      Well, that was the case a long time ago. There was a lot of guys who were, like, blue belts and purple belts-

   5. JBJoaquin Buckley16:05

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan16:06

      ... that were opening up schools because they didn't have a real good school around them-

   7. JBJoaquin Buckley16:10

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan16:10

      ... and they knew that they could teach at least a base of fundamentals-

   9. JBJoaquin Buckley16:13

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan16:14

       ... and then if they were really excited and passionate about jiu-jitsu-

   11. JBJoaquin Buckley16:17

       Mm-hmm.

   12. JRJoe Rogan16:17

       ... they would grow with their students.

   13. JBJoaquin Buckley16:19

       Exactly, exactly. And that's exactly what he's doing with us, you know. Uh, because I can see Brendan, uh, going very far, you know, into being an instructor, going far in jiu-jitsu, you know. But just somebody that, you know, not looking for anything out of it, you know. He didn't never ask me for any money or nothing like that, but he shows me a lot of things that helped me win the fight against Albert Duahia, you know. How to get to stand up, you know, how to get my guard back, you know. And, uh, you know, it's just crazy because in that fight, a lot of people had me picked to lose, you know? And thinking like, "Okay, Albert Duahia trains at this big gym, you know, at Xtreme Couture and stuff like that. He has all the tools, he has all the resources." And then I go back to Michigan, I don't have much, but I got the people that's able to work on the things that we need to work on, and we do it repeatedly until I get it down. And then we able to show that in the fight, you know. And I feel like that's what I'm saying, like, we actually showing what works within this game, you know. Because if you got the right group of people that you're working with, they can help advance you in your career and stuff like that, then that's what you need to mesh up with. But a lot of fighters feel like they need to move on from the gym that they come from, that they was developing well at-

   14. JRJoe Rogan17:23

       Yeah.

   15. JBJoaquin Buckley17:23

       ... to go to a bigger gym, you know.

   16. JRJoe Rogan17:25

       Yeah.

   17. JBJoaquin Buckley17:25

       And that's not the way to go always.

   18. JRJoe Rogan17:27

       Well, uh, not always, right?

   19. JBJoaquin Buckley17:28

       Mm-hmm.

   20. JRJoe Rogan17:28

       It really does depend upon the environment and who the coach is and what kind of relationship we have with them, but it seems like you got a good one set up.

   21. JBJoaquin Buckley17:35

       Yeah. Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan17:35

       So how do you balance out how much grappling you do versus how much striking you do? It s- it seems like you prefer striking. That seems like your, your level of expertise. That's where you have-

   23. JBJoaquin Buckley17:48

       I wouldn't say the level of expertise, but that's where the money come in, you know what I'm saying?

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:51

       That's where the money comes in? Is, is that what it is?

   25. JBJoaquin Buckley17:52

       Yeah, that where the money come in. Yeah, bro, I just want to always be exciting, you know. But now we're trying to, you know, switch the gears into just becoming a winner-

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       Mm.

   27. JBJoaquin Buckley17:59

       You know, because now we got money in the bank, you know? So, uh, my biggest thing is like when I went out for my first UFC fight with Kevin Holland, I just chose to stand on the feet. I could have took Kevin Holland down. I could have, you know what I mean, put it, put myself in a better position to win. But I decided just to strike and, you know, I fell on that. He beat me, you know, in the third round, you know, and, uh, he got the advantage on me. But at the end of the day, I was like, "I wanna make these fights exciting and, and, and, and fan appealing." Which even with the loss I had against Kevin Holland, people still wanted to watch me fight.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:28

       Right.

   29. JBJoaquin Buckley18:28

       You know? And then coming into my second fight with, uh, Empa Kusakana, you know, still chose... I mean, I mixed in a little bit of take down, but I let him back up. I was like-

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:37

       Right.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yes. …

   1. JBJoaquin Buckley30:00

      as in, uh, you know, being able to provide for your family 'cause this is how we eat.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      Yes.

   3. JBJoaquin Buckley30:04

      You know? And if you gotta focus on other stuff and, and try to get your life in order, like a Jon Jones... And that's the crazy thing. Is Jon Jones be going through crazy stuff.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      The craziest.

   5. JBJoaquin Buckley30:12

      And, and still able to maintain on the highest level.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:14

      Still the GOAT.

   7. JBJoaquin Buckley30:14

      You know? And still the GOAT. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:15

      Crazy. Remember when he said to Daniel Cormier, "I fought you and beat you after I did coke."

   9. JBJoaquin Buckley30:20

      Like, that's wild.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:21

       Everyone was like, "Oh, no."

   11. JBJoaquin Buckley30:22

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. Big facts, yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:23

       As you know, Daniel's in there training with Cain Velasquez-

   13. JBJoaquin Buckley30:26

       Uh-huh.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:26

       ... and drinking only water. (laughs)

   15. JBJoaquin Buckley30:27

       Man. And that, and, and that's wild to me that, uh, Jon Jones... But I feel like he probably been doing it for so long that it became natural for him.

   16. JRJoe Rogan30:34

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JBJoaquin Buckley30:34

       Because obviously he was a champion at the... What? The age of 23 years old and he probably was always doing this little crazy stuff. I mean, Colby Covington was talking about it, like when he was-

   18. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JBJoaquin Buckley30:42

       ... roommates with him, like, he was always a wild boy. Always loved to party.

   20. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Yeah.

   21. JBJoaquin Buckley30:45

       So it was just something that he came accustomed to and a part of. But sometimes I'd be like, "Brother, you ain't getting tired of that?" You know what I'm saying? "You ain't getting wore out?" Like, like you would think so. I mean, my man, what-

   22. JRJoe Rogan30:54

       It's... (sighs)

   23. JBJoaquin Buckley30:54

       How old is Jon now? 30s?

   24. JRJoe Rogan30:55

       Jon's in his 30s.

   25. JBJoaquin Buckley30:57

       32?

   26. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       You know, I think he's a little older than that.How old is Jon? Is he 34? I mean-

   27. JBJoaquin Buckley31:02

       The, 'cause it, 'cause it, this is-

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:03

       Jon won the title, the youngest ever.

   29. JBJoaquin Buckley31:04

       This is time to come back, I feel like, for Jon. Like if he-

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:06

       Oh, yeah.
4. 45:00 – 53:36

   Hmm. …

   1. JBJoaquin Buckley45:00

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      Hmm.

   3. JBJoaquin Buckley45:00

      Because I was hoping and I was preying on, because I was, you know, nitpicking on a lot of stuff. You know what I mean? I was just talking about where he was from. You know, being Russian but now being a Frenchman so he, like, you, you ain't got a real home at the end of the day. And people love me more than, uh, uh, than you out here in Paris and I'm getting more love and they don't even know who you are. Like, just little things. Like I'm ta- talking about like, uh, eating up natural cuisine. Like, just, like, just, just picking on him the whole time. But regardless, though, like, that first round, I was hoping that he was gonna engage a little bit more. But because of that size and because of that length that these guys have, you know, they would only fight me at bay, you know?

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:33

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JBJoaquin Buckley45:33

      Which is smart for them. It's, uh, intelligent, right? Why try to expose yourself and then put the pressure too hard where I can catch you? You know.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:39

      Right.

   7. JBJoaquin Buckley45:39

      But I was hoping that he'll come in with a little more emotion, you know.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:42

      Hmm.

   9. JBJoaquin Buckley45:43

      But he didn't. He kept poised. He stayed patient.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       So you were fucking with him, hoping that he would get out of character. (laughs)

   11. JBJoaquin Buckley45:47

       Yeah. Yeah, exactly, man. (laughs) But, you know, he did his job, you know. But at the end of the day when, uh, coach said, you know what I'm saying? "We definitely losing. We have to pick that, you know, shit up in the third round." I said, "Say less." So I was, like, willing to get knocked out in order to go knock him out.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       Yeah.

   13. JBJoaquin Buckley45:58

       That's the only difference.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:59

       That third round, you emptied the gas tank.

   15. JBJoaquin Buckley46:01

       I had to.

   16. JRJoe Rogan46:01

       Like, that was impressive as fuck.

   17. JBJoaquin Buckley46:03

       I had to. Yeah. I'm surprised he survived that knee.

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:05

       Phew.

   19. JBJoaquin Buckley46:05

       You know what I'm saying? That crazy-

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       Yeah.

   21. JBJoaquin Buckley46:06

       ... knee that hit on him, man. So that, uh, that, that, that's why I'm thinking like, bro, maybe fighting at my more appropriate weight class, you know. It's like Georges St-Pierre. Like, you know, uh, moving up to 185 but he never stayed there because-

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       Right.

   23. JBJoaquin Buckley46:17

       ... at the end of the day he already knew that these guys would be big. Even if he's better as a fighter, these athletes are just different now. You know what I mean?

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:23

       Yeah.

   25. JBJoaquin Buckley46:23

       Uh, uh, and anything that you giving up, whether it's size, length, strength. Like, these all play a part, you know, when you messing with the, some of the best people in the world. You know?

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:31

       Yeah. N- most certainly. I think 170 is a much better weight class for you.

   27. JBJoaquin Buckley46:34

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:35

       Yeah. In, in every way. And especially if you're really walking around at 181 sometimes, I mean, that, that-

   29. JBJoaquin Buckley46:40

       So that's, that's what I was. Like, I accidentally cut down-

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:42

       Yeah.

Episode duration: 2:27:57