Skip to content
The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

JRE MMA Show #133 with Sean O'Malley

Joe sits down with Sean O'Malley, a mixed martial artist currently competing in the Bantamweight division of the UFC. https://www.sugashop.co/

Sean O'MalleyguestJoe Roganhost
Jun 27, 20243h 41mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:00 – 1:07

    Stage nerves vs fight nerves: why preparation changes everything

    1. NA

      (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out.

    2. The Joe Rogan Experience.

    3. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music)

    4. SO

      Dude, I, I would, yeah, I feel like I'd get more nervous for that than a fight, for sure.

    5. JR

      I don't know why, though. It doesn't make sense.

    6. SO

      Well, for a fight, I know I'm prepared. I know I have-

    7. JR

      Are you good?

    8. SO

      ... I know I have eight to 10 weeks to prepare for that moment. I guess you could prepare for comedy if you know you're making people laugh and you know you have a good, a good bit. That might make it easier. But to go up there and f- like, freestyle it, it would be hard.

    9. JR

      Yeah, you don't wanna-

    10. SO

      That'd be impossible, pretty much-

    11. JR

      No, no. Freestyling.

    12. SO

      ... for a new newbie.

    13. JR

      Well, you could. It, it depends on your personality, like there's people who could freestyle it, like I'm sure Joey Diaz could freestyle it-

    14. SO

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      ... his first time on stage. It's just all in who you are. Like, I can't. I have to have pr- I prepared my shit for months in advance. I even recorded it on a little tape recorder and played it back and listened to it.

    16. SO

      Exhale.

    17. JR

      I get that-

    18. SO

      You still do that, like record and then-

    19. JR

      No.

    20. SO

      ... listen to it? No.

    21. JR

      I, I r- record sets.

    22. SO

      Hmm.

    23. JR

      But I don't, like, uh, just talk into my tape recorder and, and then, like, uh, listen to that-

    24. SO

      (laughs)

    25. JR

      ... like it's a bit and rehearse it like it's a bit.

  2. 1:07 – 2:15

    How jokes (and creativity) are built: notes, timing, and sober re-checks

    1. SO

      Sniffles ] Yeah, comedy would, I, I can watch it. I just don't know if I could ever do it. I feel like I'm a funny person, like when I'm around my group of friends or like around-

    2. JR

      Yeah.

    3. SO

      ... like, comfortable people, like I feel like I can make people laugh. But sometimes when I get really high, I feel like I have good bits.

    4. JR

      Yeah. (laughs)

    5. SO

      Like, just, and I'm like, "How could you v-" And then I'll tell someone after I'm not high, and I'm like, "Yeah, that f- was not it."

    6. JR

      But when you're in the moment, maybe you could have figured out how to translate it. The problem is when you're sober, then you're reading, you're like, "What the fuck was I saying?"

    7. SO

      Yeah. (laughs)

    8. JR

      I do that all the time.

    9. SO

      It happens.

    10. JR

      I have notes on my phone so I, like, if, if I'm out and, you know, I just have a crazy idea, I'll write it down on my phone, and then I'll go look at them the next day to see if I mined any gold.

    11. SO

      (laughs)

    12. JR

      I'm like, "What do I got? What do I got?" But so many times, it's like, "What the fuck are you saying?"

    13. SO

      Mm-hmm. Yeah. No, I like the way you talk about it, though. I think it was, uh, even the, one of the more recent podcasts, you were saying it's just, like, such an infant when you have an idea-

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. SO

      ... and then you slowly kinda add to it-

    16. JR

      Yeah.

    17. SO

      ... add to it, add to it until it's, like, the whole, the whole bit, or the whole-

    18. JR

      But you never, but you never know 'cause sometimes they come out, like, full-grown.

    19. SO

      Yeah.

    20. JR

      Sometimes, they just pop out of your head. You just have an idea.

    21. SO

      Yeah, that's fucking funny.

    22. JR

      It's, like, a full-grown idea, but not always. They're all different.

    23. SO

      It's a tough job.

  3. 2:15 – 4:19

    Joe’s ‘ideas are life forms’ theory and where innovation comes from

    1. JR

      I have a weird th- theory about ideas. It's n- it's not substantiated nor do I expect it to be-

    2. SO

      (laughs)

    3. JR

      ... taken seriously. But I think ideas might be life forms. I think we're very limited in the way we think about life forms. You know, we think of life forms as something that breeds and something that, you know, grows in the ground or whatever. That's what we think of life forms. But if you think about every fucking thing on Earth, everything, this microphone I'm talking to, the airplane that got you here, the sneakers that are on your feet, every fucking thing came out of an idea. An idea got into a person's mind, and then that person made that idea. And we're like, "People are so creative," and we certainly are. But where the fuck are these ideas coming from? These ideas that manifest themselves in the form of physical things like televisions-

    4. SO

      (laughs)

    5. JR

      ... and automobiles and cell phones, where the... What is that? It's-

    6. SO

      So you think they could be, just be floating around in different dimensions? Maybe if we were f- on some kind of drugs, we could see c- certain ideas floating around and you can grab that one, put it in your mind?

    7. JR

      It might be-

    8. SO

      (laughs)

    9. JR

      ... that way. It might be that your mind tunes into these things that are out there. And, like, the more you can tune in, the more successful you'll be.

    10. SO

      Mm-hmm.

    11. JR

      Right? So the more you'll have an incentive to tune in and make more stuff.

    12. SO

      Interesting.

    13. JR

      You know? And people are rewarded for being successful and making stuff out of ideas.

    14. SO

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      Fucking weird, r- right?

    16. SO

      I, I mean, fuck, yeah.

    17. JR

      Like, where are they coming from? We're just as... We... The most important thing that human life has ever had is ideas.

    18. SO

      Yeah.

    19. JR

      'Cause those ideas turned us from these primates living in the jungle, the, like regular animals, to someone who lives in a fucking apartment building on the 32nd floor and has wifi.

    20. SO

      (laughs)

    21. JR

      That's what turned us into that. Ideas.

    22. SO

      Yeah. It's fucking crazy.

    23. JR

      It might be life forms.

    24. SO

      La- yeah. I feel like I have-

    25. JR

      (sniffs)

    26. SO

      ... very few brilliant ideas. Good, thank God for the people that do f-

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. SO

      ... figure out th- the important shit.

    29. JR

      We need a lotta people to think of important shit.

    30. SO

      (laughs)

  4. 4:19 – 5:43

    Survival, modern dependence, and the North Sentinel Island thought experiment

    1. JR

      I always joke about that, about, you remember those folks that got trapped on that island? There's a, there's an island called North Sentinel Island, and it's in the middle of the Indian Ocean. There's only, like, 39 people on it.

    2. SO

      No.

    3. JR

      It, it's, uh, where, there, there was a missionary a couple years back. He went to deliver Bibles to them, and they murdered him.

    4. SO

      Oh, God. (laughs)

    5. JR

      (laughs) But, but these people, like, we're talking about, like, uncontacted people. And I'm saying, like, they don't have a chance. Like, the, that's, uh, that's them.

    6. SO

      (laughs) Oh, yeah, yeah, okay.

    7. JR

      There's not enough of them.

    8. SO

      Right.

    9. JR

      There's only 39 of them. And, like, for-

    10. SO

      Wow.

    11. JR

      ... to get a society like we need, like we have, you need fucking millions of people. And there's only, like, four or five people to figure out everything. And we buy all their shit.

    12. SO

      And those are the guys that are gonna live if another... I was listening to the Graham Hancock one. Those are the guys-

    13. JR

      Right.

    14. SO

      ... that are gonna, uh, survive if another, um-

    15. JR

      Apocalypse happens.

    16. SO

      Yeah, something crazy happens.

    17. JR

      Yeah, yeah. We're not gonna make it.

    18. SO

      No, I definitely-

    19. JR

      They're, they're, they're not gonna miss a beat.

    20. SO

      No. No, no, yeah. We don't want them to.

    21. JR

      They're out there with bows and arrows, hunting and fishing, and living off the land, and they've been doing that for thousands of years. They're gonna be fine.

    22. SO

      Yeah, I feel like such a bitch when I think of those guys.

    23. JR

      (laughs)

    24. SO

      Like, just, I'm so helpless. Like, I can whoop someone's ass, but it, like, doesn't really mean much-

    25. JR

      (laughs)

    26. SO

      ... when it comes down to it. But...

    27. JR

      You could do it. You could do exactly what they're doing. If you were thrust into that situation.

    28. SO

      I have to? Yeah.

    29. JR

      100%. Oh, 100%, dude. You'd be like that dude in Avatar who just adapts-

    30. SO

      (laughs)

  5. 5:43 – 9:40

    Learning languages, bilingual kids, and keeping the brain sharp

    1. SO

      Yeah, it's like, it's like languages, I guess, too. You just immerse yourself-

    2. JR

      Sure.

    3. SO

      ... in another c- country. I was in Mexico recently, and I was like, "Damn, I could..." 'Cause I... My wife's from Oaxaca. She's, her first language is Spanish. And, like, so I've learned... I've been with her for, like, seven years, so I've learned a little bit. So I was trying to speak it there, but I was like, "Damn, I could, I feel like I could learn it if I was here for, like, three months." I fe- I'd just be speaking it.

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. SO

      Be s-

    6. JR

      There's, um, some method that I was reading about that is, uh, some, like, tried and true method for learning a language that allows you to be functional in a language in 30 days.

    7. SO

      (blows raspberry)

    8. JR

      See if you can find out what the fuck that is.

    9. SO

      Damn.

    10. JR

      It might've just been a marketing scheme.

    11. SO

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      I might've got sucked into it.

    13. SO

      These fucking, like, stars are tripping me out.

    14. JR

      Yeah. (laughs)

    15. SO

      I can't see them. It's like...

    16. JR

      Learn a New Language in 30 Days, yeah, Pimsleur Method.

    17. NA

      It is an ad, but that's what

    18. I'll go with.

    19. JR

      It is an ad. Focuses on conversational skills, Start Actually Speaking Today. I heard that Rosetta's good too, right?

    20. SO

      Rosetta Stone?

    21. JR

      The Rosetta app?

    22. NA

      Oh, yeah.

    23. SO

      (laughs) Yeah, it's crazy. Elena, she's two, my daughter, she's, uh, it's learning English and Spanish at the same time. So she'll say, like, she'll have like... She's starting to say two or three-word sentences-

    24. JR

      Hmm.

    25. SO

      ... but they're still being English and Spanish, and it's just a trip to see how their little brains work.

    26. JR

      It's supposed to be really good for a child's development to be learning languages simultaneously.

    27. SO

      Yeah. Danny's mom's our full-time nanny, and she only speaks Spanish. So-

    28. JR

      Oh.

    29. SO

      And she's with her Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then sometimes on the weekends. Uh, so she's learning like, like, she's like... Spanish could be her primary language at first.

    30. JR

      Oh.

  6. 9:40 – 12:20

    Teen years: moving, bullying dynamics, and texting vs real communication

    1. SO

      You did a lot of moving, yeah? Like from Mexico.

    2. JR

      Well, when I moved my kids here, there was like... I'm like, "This is like kind of at the wire," where I can't move them anymore and it'd be a problem.

    3. SO

      What age were they?

    4. JR

      10 and 12.

    5. SO

      Okay, right, before-

    6. JR

      I was like, "This is like right when..." And then we still had friends that visited. We have friends that also live in Texas. I'm like, "This might work now." But if you move them when they're like 15, 16-

    7. SO

      Not good.

    8. JR

      Not good. Not good.

    9. SO

      Yeah. I was trying to get my sister to move down when she was... I think she was somewhat like freshman or sophomore. And my... Moved down to Phoenix from Montana, and, uh, my mom was like, "No." I didn't get it. I'm like, "Why?" But thinking about it now, I'm like, yeah, that would have probably been tough for a girl.

    10. JR

      It's just r- it's rough.

    11. SO

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      It's rough for everybody. If you... And especially girls, they go on these... It's like a natural bullying instinct-

    13. SO

      Yeah.

    14. JR

      ... that like teenage girls have.

    15. SO

      They're fucking mean to each other.

    16. JR

      They get fucking mean to each other, dude. I get, I get privy to some text message exchanges that some of these kids have.

    17. SO

      (laughs)

    18. JR

      I'm like, "What the fuck, man?" And parents get confronted by their kid being, like, horrible and saying horrible shit to people. Kids telling kids to kill themselves, like wild shit.

    19. SO

      Fuck. Yeah.

    20. JR

      Not no kids I know did, let me just state that.

    21. SO

      Just a general-

    22. JR

      But I do know that there was like a thing where a girl was arrested, and, uh, she wound up being held guilty. And she was a teenager. She broke up with this guy, and she convinced him to kill himself, and he killed himself.

    23. SO

      Oh, yeah, yeah.

    24. JR

      Remember that?

    25. SO

      That was on Netfl- I think that was on Netflix or some shit. I watched that.

    26. JR

      Like, wha- I mean, there's something about, like, teenage people that are just, like, learning how to be mean and learning how to, like, turn out... And, and being scared of people doing it to them.

    27. SO

      Yeah.

    28. JR

      And so they pile on each other, like, "Whoo."

    29. SO

      And you're not learning anything in school that's like-

    30. JR

      (sighs)

  7. 12:20 – 16:17

    Fight psychology: nerves, confidence, and Sean’s calm mindset vs Petr Yan

    1. SO

      Yeah. I, I...... that too. And it's, like, a skill you have to learn, 'cause, like, Donald Cerrone, for example, did it how many times? In, like... I was in the backstage when, of his last fight. I fought, uh... Fu- I don't remember who I fought. But I w- uh, I was in, in the back room. He was walking up before me. He was warming up, and he just looked, not scared. I don't know if there were nervous, like, had this anxious energy. And, uh, he's done it a m- uh, uh, more than anyone. But it's just, like, uh-

    2. JR

      I think-

    3. SO

      And then-

    4. JR

      I think if you wanna fight well, that never really goes away. I think-

    5. SO

      Okay.

    6. JR

      ... you have confidence, and I think you control it. And I think the best guys learn how to handle it. But, you know, when you're looking at, like, uh, Alex Pereira looking at Stylebender-

    7. SO

      Yeah.

    8. JR

      ... in the face-off, like, th- there has to be some crazy heightened sense of tension and awareness in the moment. And it's, it's a crazy big fight. I don't think you get away with that, without not having that.

    9. SO

      Yeah.

    10. JR

      I think everybody has it. It's just some people handle it better. And I think the guys that don't have it, I think sometimes they get in trouble. Like some fights, I've seen guys where they're just a little too calm.

    11. SO

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      A little too confident. And then they get lit up.

    13. SO

      Yeah.

    14. JR

      It's almost like they can't wake themselves up.

    15. SO

      Interesting. Yeah. I- for me, my, that last fight, fight going in there with Petr, I just felt, I, I felt no nerves. I felt so calm. Like, and I've had nerves. I've had fights, like my, my debut when I fought Terry Honore, I remember, like, in the backstage, like closing my eyes too long. And I was thinking, like, "I c- if I lose this, and then lose one more, I could get cut." Like, having that thought vividly. And I was like, "Whoa, fuck that." Okay, but, like, counter that obviously with, with some positive shit. But that, going into that last fight, I had zero nerves. I don't know if it was... I didn't feel like it was a win-win. I'm like, I wasn't thinking like, "Oh, if I lose to Petr, like, no one's gonna care." It was just... I don't know what it was, but I felt, it wa- it was confidence, obviously. I'd had a really good training camp, had a good everything, weight cut. Um, but I wasn't nervous to, to lose, but it wasn't because it was, like, to Petr. It just wasn't... I don't know.

    16. JR

      You just had gotten into a good head space to compete, maybe.

    17. SO

      Yeah, maybe. Yeah.

    18. JR

      Maybe you're just, like, much better now at getting in the right head space that allows you to compete at your best.

    19. SO

      Yeah.

    20. JR

      Because if you think about it, thinking about all those other things, those are not beneficial.

    21. SO

      Pointless.

    22. JR

      And you've experienced those in the past, and you learn from it.

    23. SO

      Yeah.

    24. JR

      Yeah, that's what it is. It's like there's these moments in, m- uh, in life, where you c- you could think the wrong way and just go off the rails, or you could manage it.

    25. SO

      Yeah. It's a skill. It's a mental skill. And I've, I attribute that to all the things I do in preparation leading up to fights. And, you know, I've had so many training camps now. I think that was my tenth fight in the UFC, and then I had, you know, a ton of fights before that. But I do think it's just learning each camp a little bit more, little bit more, to prepare yourself for, for that specific moment.

    26. JR

      Yeah.

    27. SO

      Fights are fucking weird, because you... Like, I had no plans for October 23rd. The fight was October 22nd. Like, it's just, like, you just plan on, not dying, but you're just like, there's nothing else that matters. For 12 weeks, I knew I was fighting him for a long time, over three months. There was just nothing. Like, October 22nd was that date. Nothing else mattered. It's, it's crazy what kind of head space you get into, into fight camp. And then after fight camp, it takes, takes me, like, two, three weeks. Like, we're four weeks out tomorrow from that last fight. To get back to just normal thinking, and not-

    28. JR

      Hmm.

    29. SO

      And just being, like, being at home, being a dad, being... J- j- it's ju- it's a weird mind space you get into in fight camp.

    30. JR

      Hmm.

  8. 16:17 – 18:14

    Bantamweight realities: weight cutting, ‘no one weighs 135,’ and adding divisions

    1. JR

      That is such a shark-filled section of M- MMA. That 135-pound division is wild, man.

    2. SO

      Yeah.

    3. JR

      And no one weighs 135 pounds. (laughs)

    4. SO

      Dude, Aljo. I know, I heard Aljo say he was, like, 170 or something the other day.

    5. JR

      (laughs) Look how Joe's so big.

    6. SO

      I'm like, "What the fuck?"

    7. JR

      He's the-

    8. SO

      No wonder he doesn't want to fight till July.

    9. JR

      ... his build is, like, the perfect 135 pound. Like, you can't get any bigger, any leaner.

    10. SO

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      It's like hi- You know if there's, like, tweeners?

    12. SO

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      Like, I think Diego Sanchez was always a tweener. You know, he was, like, a little bit too small for 155. And, you know, when he tried to make 45, like, that was way too much of a weight cut.

    14. SO

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      And at 70, like, I think he was small for those guys. He beat a lot of good guys at all those weight classes. Like, Diego in his prime was just... But he was just an animal. And I was like, "If there was a 160-pound division," like, somewhere in that range.

    16. SO

      Yeah. Yeah, no. That would, that would be, that'd be sweet if they had more divisions. I know you guys always talk about that.

    17. JR

      Yeah.

    18. SO

      But yeah, that's, I mean...

    19. JR

      I think it should be every 10 pounds.

    20. SO

      Yeah, it makes sense. 65, uh, what is it? 75.

    21. JR

      Yeah.

    22. SO

      75, yeah.

    23. JR

      'Cause here's the thing too about guys who have too many fights with guys that are out of their weight class. Like, I think it takes even more off of you. You know, I think if you're a small guy in the weight class, and you have wars with the bigger guys in the weight class, I think it probably takes even more off of you.

    24. SO

      Yeah. I mean, and then f- A- Aljo, in my, in my opinion, I think... You know, I walk around 1... I think I was 157, 158. I feel like that's, that's prime. He's, he's, if he's walking around 170, that's too fucking big.

    25. JR

      When you get to 58-

    26. SO

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      ... is it in, like, looming in the back of your mind, "135, 130."

    28. SO

      Oh yeah, I don't get ab- I will not get above 160 because I know I have to eventually make weight. And I think Aljo, like... That's just too... He, he's saying he doesn't w- wanna fight, you know, the weight cut and all that. But that's, I mean, if you're gonna be champion, look at Adesanya, he's fighting-

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. SO

      ... all the time. If you're gonna be champ, you gotta be ready to go.

  9. 18:14 – 27:15

    Pereira vs Adesanya and the shock of fight-night weight jumps

    1. JR

      What did you think about Adesanya when he went up and fought Jan Blachowicz and he didn't even gain any weight?

    2. SO

      So that was from 185 to 205.

    3. JR

      Yeah, he went from 85 to 205-

    4. SO

      Right.

    5. JR

      ... and he won at weighing, like, 194 or something like that. So he didn't do anything to try to gain weight. He just didn't cut weight. That's probably what he walks around at before he fights in middleweight.

    6. SO

      Yeah. I mean, that was just a tough matchup for him to go up.

    7. JR

      Yeah.

    8. SO

      That's a lot of weight too. It's not like going up 10. Like, for me to go up to 45 is only 10 pounds. For him-

    9. JR

      Yeah.

    10. SO

      ... you know, going up 20 pounds, try to become double champ, that's tough. That's su- that's like a shitty, shitty weight class to wanna be double champ in. Unless you're Alex Pereira. I don't get how he ... 'Cause when on the scale, he doesn't look super, super sucked in. Like, doesn't look like he just got done cutting 20 pounds, but that motherfucker is so massive. He made Izzy look small. And I've been around Izzy, Izzy's a big guy.

    11. JR

      Yeah. Izzy's a long, tall man, and Pereira's just, everything was so ... Did you see what Robert Whittaker said about it?

    12. SO

      The big fella?

    13. JR

      He goes, "You see the size of this fella?" (laughs)

    14. SO

      Yeah. (laughs)

    15. JR

      (laughs)

    16. SO

      I did. I do.

    17. JR

      "He's a freaking giant." (laughs)

    18. SO

      Yeah. And he is. I, that's an interest- ... They gotta give Izzy the rematch though, right?

    19. JR

      Oh, I've, I would think for sure.

    20. SO

      He got it.

    21. JR

      If Izzy wants that, I would think that's his.

    22. SO

      Yeah. Yeah. I mean, uh, Izzy said he, he wanted it, but fuck, dude. He fought a damn near perfect fight-

    23. JR

      Yeah.

    24. SO

      ... for a couple more minutes.

    25. JR

      So, he goes from e- yeah, from 83 kilograms to 99.3 kilograms.

    26. SO

      Fuck.

    27. JR

      So, what is 99.3 kilograms? Is that, like, 220 something pounds?

    28. SO

      That picture on the left, 219 on fight day.

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. SO

      I mean, it's weird, 'cause when they weigh you on fight day, like, they just grab a s- there's a scale. You have your shoes on and shit, like, there. You have a hoodie on. They don't really make you take your shit off and weigh yourself, but-

  10. 27:15 – 29:11

    Old guard, legends, and tragedy: Glover’s longevity and Rumble Johnson’s passing

    1. JR

      ... to be a- at the elite level. But then you look at Glover.

    2. SO

      True.

    3. JR

      And you're like, "How is he doing that?"

    4. SO

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      How is he fighting at that level? Like, when he stopped Blachowicz and choked him, when he dropped him and took him down.

    6. SO

      Yeah.

    7. JR

      He just ran through him. Like, J- Jan Blachowicz was the fucking Light Heavyweight Champion, and Glover just ran through him.

    8. SO

      Yeah, that was legendary.

    9. JR

      41 years old at the time.

    10. SO

      Damn, he that old?

    11. JR

      Yeah, bro. I think he won it at 41.

    12. SO

      So is he 40-

    13. JR

      42 now.

    14. SO

      42 now?

    15. JR

      Yeah.

    16. SO

      Fighting, what is that? December 10th?

    17. JR

      December 10th, the rematch. Yeah.

    18. SO

      42?

    19. JR

      42.

    20. SO

      Holy shit. How old's Jiri? Mid-30s?

    21. JR

      Younger, much younger.

    22. SO

      That's crazy.

    23. JR

      Uh-

    24. SO

      Forty two?

    25. JR

      How old is Jiri Prochazka? You know, it doesn't say. It doesn't say. They won't tell you on UFC. (laughs)

    26. SO

      (laughs)

    27. JR

      They hide that shit.

    28. SO

      Yeah.

    29. JR

      I would want... I mean, I think it's a selling point, honestly.

    30. SO

      Yeah.

  11. 29:11 – 30:52

    Sparring philosophy: finding the right partners, protecting brains, and corner clarity

    1. SO

      Yeah, the sparring.

    2. JR

      That's where it gets hard.

    3. SO

      Some, some people... I mean, that's just can change someone's career, just how hard you spar.

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. SO

      I haven't sparred... I spar in camp. Like, that last fight I sparred, I think, nine weeks out, up to the fight. And then, uh...

    6. JR

      Are you careful with training partners? Do you have, like, guys that you know that you could spar with, that you'll, like, legitimately spar and not turn into a fight?

    7. SO

      Uh, Mario Bautista. I know he just fucking smoked, um, that one dude, um, Benito Lopez. I've been training with Mario for probably the last seven, eight years. We were both amateurs at the MMA Lab. Um, he- he's one... We're... I feel like we're alw- every ti- he's so good at mimicking whoever I'm fighting, or he's such a good training partner, that it never really turns into, like, a, an ego match. Um, then there's a bunch of guys at the MMA Lab that are, are killers, up-and-comers. But sparring, we, we turn it up. We do gotta, we gotta go hard. I want that feel, but I also want them to know, "Hey, if, if I do get hit, if you rock me at all, don't try to take me out."

    8. JR

      Right.

    9. SO

      Or like, "I want, you know... This is, this is sparring, like..."

    10. JR

      Right.

    11. SO

      "I'm not getting paid. You're not getting paid. Let's, let's take care of each other." So I always try to take care of my partners, too. I don't wanna... The last thing I wanna do is fucking knock one of my partners out.

    12. JR

      Yeah.

    13. SO

      And I've dropped my partners, and I feel this... I feel so bad just 'cause I know how concussions can change people's careers, change their lives outside of fighting. So, but my main focus is, you know, not knocking my partner out, and I want them to, you know, be the same way while turning it up, 'cause I do want to get a good, good fucking look for-

    14. JR

      Yeah.

    15. SO

      ... for guys like Peter. Like, I wanted guys to come after me. I knew that motherfucker was gonna come after me, so I wanted my partners to not be, like, in- like timid and... Sometimes it's hard to find training partners that are gonna, like-... come after me and, and not be, like, scared a little bit.

  12. 30:52 – 34:34

    Scoring, perception, and controversy: rewatching Sean vs Petr Yan

    1. JR

      Yeah. One of the things that I, I learned from, uh, watching fights, like ... This, and this is important, is that when I watch fights at home-

    2. SO

      (laughs)

    3. JR

      ... when I just watch 'em, um, I don't sometimes know who really won-

    4. SO

      Yeah.

    5. JR

      ... 'cause I'm not totally paying attention.

    6. SO

      Right.

    7. JR

      Maybe I get a text message from my friend, maybe I'm talking to my kid, maybe the dog comes in the room. Like, maybe I don't know.

    8. SO

      Mm-hmm.

    9. JR

      Like, when you watch fights with a group of friends and you're all laughing and talking shit, you barely know what the fuck is going on.

    10. SO

      Yeah.

    11. JR

      Which leads me to your l- your last fight. Because after that fight, there was a bunch of people that were saying, "That was a bad decision. Petr Yan shoulda got it." And I remember being in my green room, I just did a show in London, and we're eating steaks and we're all talking, we're watching the fight. I'm like, "Do you think he won?" Like, "I don't know." I'm like, "I'm gonna have to watch that one again."

    12. SO

      Yeah.

    13. JR

      I'm like, "It didn't ... He looked like Petr took him down a bunch." So there's a perception, and I think some of that perception comes from take-downs.

    14. SO

      Yeah.

    15. JR

      And so then I go back and I just watch it. I just watch the fight with no one in the room but me and when I was at the gym. And I was like, "No. That's a, that's not a bad decision." You know, there was one round to you in the beginning.

    16. SO

      Mm-hmm.

    17. JR

      Second round to Yan.

    18. SO

      Mm-hmm.

    19. JR

      Third round to you. If you look at damage done, you look at overall strikes and impact, you landed more. He definitely took you down.

    20. SO

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      But how much was done with that? That's the thing. It's like, what does that count for?

    22. SO

      Yeah.

    23. JR

      Like, it's a b- it ... I know there's, there's a sort of subjective element to how that gets regarded, and what, what's good and what's bad, but that was not a bad decision. It was very fucking close fight.

    24. SO

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      A very good fight. But that, I felt like for you that was gonna be that fight where we'll see.

    26. SO

      Yeah.

    27. JR

      You know, we'll see how you hang with the cream of the crop, 'cause that guy's the best.

    28. SO

      Yeah. Fuck yeah. I-

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. SO

      All the people that were saying ... Not all of them. A lot of the people that were saying it was a robbery were the same people going into that fight saying I was gonna get smoked. So they fucking hated the fact that I was even close. So, uh, but yeah, I, I've, I've re-watched the fight a bunch. First round, I, I feel like was the round that was controversial. Some people were saying it should've been 30-27 Yan, and those guys are just fucking ... They're hat-

  13. 34:34 – 39:22

    Combat sports spectacle: Mayweather exhibitions, Jake Paul’s legitimacy, boxing business problems

    1. SO

      That's Floyd's whole way of he made money-

    2. JR

      Yes.

    3. SO

      ... his whole career. Conor, I mean-

    4. JR

      Yes.

    5. SO

      ... everyone fucking wanted to see him lose. I mean, eventually I'm gonna be making them pay-per-view points, and if people are gonna buy to pay me-

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. SO

      ... or pay to see me get knocked out-

    8. JR

      Floyd's the-

    9. SO

      ... please do.

    10. JR

      ... great master at it. Floyd went from being, like, a real exciting pressure fighter, and he had a bunch of hand problems, to, like, Money Mayweather, start talking shit-

    11. SO

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      ... just boxing people's faces off. No more hand problems, much more money. (laughs)

    13. SO

      Yeah, I love what he's doing too, beating up these YouTube guys.

    14. JR

      It's crazy. (laughs)

    15. SO

      I love it. I love it.

    16. JR

      It's so funny that these guys are willing to get beat up by him. Like-

    17. SO

      Well, they, I think they're all delusional.

    18. JR

      They really think they have a chance.

    19. SO

      Most of them ... I mean, yeah, they really think ... I mean-

    20. JR

      Isn't that hilarious?

    21. SO

      They're like, "I could land it. I could land a shot." And they-

    22. JR

      Isn't that hilarious?

    23. SO

      If you're not a ... Ah, yeah. It's fucking wei- ... I love what he's doing though. I wa- I mean, I don't, didn't watch his last one. Um, I watched the one with Logan, was the only one I really watched. And-

    24. JR

      The Logan one was insane.

    25. SO

      Logan's a ... I bet Floyd was in there like, "What the fuck? I didn't realize this motherfucker was that big." Logan's a-

    26. JR

      He's so big.

    27. SO

      ... big guy.

    28. JR

      He's so big.

    29. SO

      And athletic.

    30. JR

      Very athletic. And when he was like swinging wild at Flo-

  14. 39:22 – 57:56

    Dana White’s Power Slap, fighter safety, and the appeal of technique-based combat

    1. SO

      I wanted to ask you what you think about the power slapping too. I know, 'cause when I, when I was thinking about it, I was like, "I'm gonna probably come on here and if it gets brought up, talk just absolute shit about it." 'Cause I don't fucking... But then I sat, I had a meeting with, with UFC yesterday. And I sat down with Dana, no cameras, nothing, just, just sat down, talked to him. And he was getting so fired up about the power slapping and so passionate about it that it made me almost kinda wanna watch it. 'Cause he announced his, his thing and everything, and I was like... It's like, if they don't have to fucking do it, 'cause my, my whole thing is concussions, like I don't wanna fucking watch people just getting u- And like, they choose to do it. I'm like, "Well, fair point." But I just can't imagine Stan- Oh, God.

    2. JR

      Listen, man. Um, I love Dana and, uh, I would be a hypocrite if I said I wouldn't watch this, 'cause I will watch it.

    3. SO

      (laughs)

    4. JR

      But, (laughs) but this is not my cup of tea.

    5. SO

      (exhales)

    6. JR

      What I like is problem solving.

    7. SO

      Oh, God.

    8. JR

      I like, I like puzzles. I like you and Jan. I like this fucking Russian assassin-

    9. SO

      Yeah.

    10. JR

      ... storming the gates at you. And you figure out a way to move around him and kick his legs, and jab at him, and that's what I like. I loved that fight.

    11. SO

      Yeah.

    12. JR

      I loved that fight. I love technique. Like, it was sad to watch f- uh, Frankie Edgar get knocked out this weekend. It was sad. But God damn, Chris Gutierrez is good.

    13. SO

      Yeah. Slick.

    14. JR

      God damn, he's slick.

    15. SO

      Yeah. He has-

    16. JR

      He's, he's so fl- The way he moves is so nice.

    17. SO

      Yeah. I was, I watched that.

    18. JR

      His footwork.

    19. SO

      It was, it was very good. We h- He has like a similar style to mine as far as-

    20. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    21. SO

      ... like dancing up against the cage and like-

    22. JR

      Yeah.

    23. SO

      ... throw similar shots. I think we probably have similar builds. But yeah, I would, I did not like that fight for Frankie.

    24. JR

      I did not like it either.

    25. SO

      I'm not allowed to bet on fights now, obvi- w- that whole new thing, so I-

    26. JR

      What is that? I don't like that.

    27. SO

      I don't have any insider information.

    28. JR

      I want a guy like you who bets his whole fucking purse on winning.

    29. SO

      Oh. Yeah. I can- I'm betting on yourself.

    30. JR

      Come on.

  15. 57:56 – 1:21:46

    Bantamweight futures: Cejudo’s return, star power vs accomplishment, and Sean’s title path

    1. JR

      Do you, um, anticipate that Henry is gonna jump back into the mix? Is that... You think that's real? Do you think it's official?

    2. SO

      It's a great question. I c- I've, I've been saying no for a long time, but I do think, you know, the closer it gets, I, I think he is.

    3. JR

      Yeah.

    4. SO

      I, I think he's gonna come back. I know he, he, two-time world champ, Olympic gold medalist, and uh-

    5. JR

      If he's gonna come back, he's gotta come back soon.

    6. SO

      Yeah.

    7. JR

      Like what is he now? 35 maybe?

    8. SO

      It's a good question. Um...

    9. JR

      How old is Henry Cejudo? This is like a h- what age is he podcast?

    10. SO

      Yeah, in a p- uh, he, yeah, so he-

    11. JR

      He's 35?

    12. NA

      I turned 36 in like two months.

    13. JR

      Oh yeah, okay.

    14. SO

      Oh, wow. So he's got it now.

    15. JR

      Yeah, he's got it now. At that age, in that weight class, it gets tough. There's some outliers, right? Like Mighty Mouse seems to be an outlier. He's as good as he's ever been.

    16. SO

      Yeah.

    17. JR

      It's wild. You know? And I've been watching him over in ONE: FC.

    18. SO

      Psh. I watched that last night, yeah.

    19. JR

      He's as good as he's ever been.

    20. SO

      Yeah.

    21. JR

      He's a wizard.

    22. SO

      But Henry versus Aljo I think is, i- if I had to guess, if it, if that's gonna happen, it's gonna happen early next year. Um...

    23. JR

      I wonder if that... I mean, how much do you think, uh, C- Cejudo is super talented.

    24. SO

      Yeah.

    25. JR

      Obviously, um, two division world champion. But how much does that sell? Is that a big fight?

    26. SO

      For Aljo or me?

    27. JR

      For anybody.

    28. SO

      Um, to s-

    29. JR

      Like it's still-

    30. SO

      It should be, but it's not because it's Henry and for whatever reason, some people are fucking likable, some people are, you know, superstars, and he's just not. I mean, it's not... I don't wanna... I'm not acting like I'm talking shit. He's just really not a superstar. He's a two-time world champion and he's got like a less than 1 million followers on Instagram, which is crazy. Two-time world-

Episode duration: 3:41:08

Install uListen for AI-powered chat & search across the full episode — Get Full Transcript

Transcript of episode _SsCrupNHKA

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

iOSAndroidClaudeChrome