JRE MMA Show #135 with Paul Felder

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. PFPaul Felder0:00

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

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) Paul Felder, ladies and gentlemen. How are you, sir?

   3. PFPaul Felder0:14

      I'm good, man. Thanks for having me, dude.

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      My pleasure.

   5. PFPaul Felder0:17

      Yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      You, I, I love what you've done because, uh, I think every professional athlete, every fighter, when you're done competition, you need something to drive you. And you decided to go into triathlons, which I think is fucking awesome.

   7. PFPaul Felder0:31

      Yeah. Um, and I kinda ... I stumbled upon it. I didn't have any idea what I was gonna do when it was all said and done. I thought, you know, I'll be like everybody else. I'll do grappling competitions, I'll hit pads, I'll, I'll stay active. But, eh, that's still not the same as getting into the cage and, and actually fighting somebody. And I stumbled u- upon this guy, Lionel Sanders, who I kinda found on YouTube just looking up run workouts, 'cause I was getting bored during the pandemic. I, you know, I was going outside, I was going for these runs and they were getting boring. You just run miles. I was like, "How do guys do this?" You're just running to run all the time?

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:06

      (laughs)

   9. PFPaul Felder1:06

      And y- y- like, there's no, there's no structure or anything? And I found one of his workouts in Arizona where he was running. It was like a 107 degrees and he's doing like crazy tempo workouts and I was like, "Oh my God, that guy is-"

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       What's a, what's a tempo workout?

   11. PFPaul Felder1:21

       So like, all your runs kind of break down into e- You know, you have your easy miles, aerobic, right? And then you have where you kind of go a little bit ... You're not quite going as hard as you're gonna go for a race, and that's like tempo. So you, you're upping your heart rate into that kind of zone three area where you're keeping it right there. You're not going threshold, which, you know, kind of just below all out. Um, and he was doing that, and it was like a 100 and something degrees. And I was like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:45

       (exhales) .

   13. PFPaul Felder1:45

       ... "This dude's out of his f- fucking mind." And I started following all his stuff, and then I started realizing how crazy this sport is. If you really watch these guys, I mean, they're freak athletes, these guys.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:54

       Yeah.

   15. PFPaul Felder1:54

       Plus MMA, right? You, you ... Wrestling, jujitsu, kickboxing, boxing, traditional martial arts. Well, now I found this other sport that's totally new to me that I know nothing about that I can dive into, and it's all these different disciplines. So I can be an idiot all over again-

   16. JRJoe Rogan2:10

       (laughs)

   17. PFPaul Felder2:10

       ... and not just pick one sport. I can do a- a- all three of these things. And I didn't even know how to swim.

   18. JRJoe Rogan2:16

       Yeah, I heard that.

   19. PFPaul Felder2:16

       Like, I grew up in South Philly. I didn't-

   20. JRJoe Rogan2:17

       Bilal told me.

   21. PFPaul Felder2:18

       Oh bro.

   22. JRJoe Rogan2:19

       (laughs)

   23. PFPaul Felder2:19

       I swam with Bilal. If I, if I don't know how to swim, Bilal super doesn't know how to swim.

   24. JRJoe Rogan2:25

       (laughs)

   25. PFPaul Felder2:25

       He sucks.

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:26

       (laughs)

   27. PFPaul Felder2:26

       But he does it. Just like anything, he gets in there-

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:28

       Right.

   29. PFPaul Felder2:29

       ... and he does it. I've swam with him. He's, he's done a triathlon.

   30. JRJoe Rogan2:32

       Oh, really?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

   2. PFPaul Felder15:00

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      So, when did you start training?

   4. PFPaul Felder15:03

      Well, so I did TaeKwonDo since I was a little kid. Started 12 years old doing that. And competed Junior Olympics, Olympics, you know, wearing the hogus and all that kind of stuff. Did all the traditional TaeKwonDo tournaments. And I used to get kicked out of some of these things 'cause I'd throw punches or I'd-

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:19

      (laughs)

   6. PFPaul Felder15:20

      ... throw too hard. Like, I remember one time my mom ended up getting into this huge argument with this guy because I was hitting her son too hard in a martial arts competition.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:29

      Oh, the parents. (laughs)

   8. PFPaul Felder15:30

      But I d- Oh, dude.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:31

      Sports parents. (laughs)

   10. PFPaul Felder15:31

       And my mom is, like, the sweetest woman in the world, but as soon as somebody talks ill of me or steps to me, my mom's ready to throw down. She's the one who taught me how to fight, man.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:42

       Wow.

   12. PFPaul Felder15:42

       Yeah, I got s- I g- I got stories about Mom. But I did that all the way through until I was in college.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       And you were, um-

   14. PFPaul Felder15:50

       And then I went to acting school.

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:51

       Yeah, you were a theater major.

   16. PFPaul Felder15:53

       I went to school for theater, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       Yeah.

   18. PFPaul Felder15:55

       And I kinda stopped training hardcore, but still taught karate at the school that I had got my black belt at when I was a kid while, while going to school in Philly for acting. I was still teaching the little kids.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:06

       Oh.

   20. PFPaul Felder16:07

       And then I was working professionally in, like, the Philadelphia theater scene, which isn't anything major, but there's some good professional theater companies there. I was doing that for a little while. And in the summers, the theaters, they're, they're dark. There's not much going on. And a buddy of mine that I used to train with took an amateur fight. And I used to kind of get the better of him and he went and did well in this amateur fight down in, uh, down in Atlantic City. New Breed Fighting, w- was what it was called. And I was like, "I could, I could do that." So I waited a whole year, did the next summer, signed up for one of those fights. And dude, that was it. That walkout, the crowd, like, all your friends and family being there, you're walking out to fight somebody else. I, I remember having migraines. I remember, like, vomiting afterwards. I was so anxious, so nervous. And I won. And I remember telling all my acting friends at the time, we were, we were drinking in, like, the back of somebody's, uh, like, South Philly row home, and they're like, "That was crazy, man. Are you done?" And I was like, "Fuck no." I was like, "I have to do that again. And I have to do it better than I did that time." And so a year later, I signed up for another one, following summer, New Breed. But I knew what to do now, so I trained properly. I went to a Muay Thai school to train for it. I did jujitsu for it. And I beat the crap out of this kid in my second fight, leg kicked the dog shit out of him. And it was a decision, but I was like, "All right, that was cleaner." Then I did another one. And now, I thought I was too cool for school, and I got choked out in my third amateur fight, got triangle choked by this kid Max Bohannon who was, like, a prodigy f- uh, from, um, he was from, um, Ricardo Almeida school and trained with him. And he choked the shit out of me. And then I was like, "Okay, now I got to start doing real grappling and real jujitsu," and I started training with jujitsu schools and stuff like that. And I did one more amateur fight, a spinning back kick to the liver, I knocked this kid out in my fourth amateur fight. And then I went pro because the rules in PA, shin guards-

   21. JRJoe Rogan18:06

       Mm-hmm.

   22. PFPaul Felder18:06

       ... big, huge puffy gloves, two-minute rounds.

   23. JRJoe Rogan18:09

       Mm-hmm.

   24. PFPaul Felder18:09

       The hell are you supposed to do as a striker with two-minute... You're a wrestler? You get one take down, you won the round.

   25. JRJoe Rogan18:15

       Yeah.

   26. PFPaul Felder18:15

       That's it. So when I turned pro, I was like, "Okay, I'll do one pro fight."... just to say I was a pro athlete, you know-

   27. JRJoe Rogan18:23

       (laughs)

   28. PFPaul Felder18:23

       ... just to say that I did it. Honest to God, that's why I did it. I was like, "I'm gonna go back to acting." And I was still doing professional shows in between getting ready for fights. Won the fight, flying knee, TKO'd the dude, they took him out on a stretcher. It was for CFFC. They had to stop the show because they only had one ambulance.

   29. JRJoe Rogan18:44

       Oh, wow.

   30. PFPaul Felder18:44

       So the ambulance had to take the guy, and shout out to him, Tumi Goodrum, you're still the man. But they took him out, and, uh, they had to wait for the ambulance to come back. So I'd-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Scary dude. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      his, uh, e- everything is fucking sick.

   2. PFPaul Felder30:03

      Scary dude.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      He's such a scary guy. And the high-level kickboxing experience that he has, like, coming over from Glory. I'm ... You know, I'm very interested to see what Israel does different in the second fight-

   4. PFPaul Felder30:14

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:14

      ... but I'm really interested in seeing him against someone who can wrestle. That's what I'm really interested in.

   6. PFPaul Felder30:19

      That ... I was just gonna say, it ki- It's kind of working out perfectly for A- Alex, where y- you get another, you get another shot.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:26

      Yeah.

   8. PFPaul Felder30:26

      You know, you, you get to go and face Israel again. That's the best matchup for you. You got a guy that is-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:31

      Mm-hmm.

   10. PFPaul Felder30:31

       ... probably gonna stand with you-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:33

       Mm-hmm.

   12. PFPaul Felder30:33

       ... for as long as the fight lasts.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:35

       Yeah.

   14. PFPaul Felder30:35

       ... when he's really gonna get challenged is when he has somebody that's gonna say that.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       Marvin Vettori? Yeah.

   16. PFPaul Felder30:41

       Now, I'm, yeah, I'm gonna grapple your ass.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       Yeah.

   18. PFPaul Felder30:43

       I'm gonna pressure you up against the fence-

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:45

       Mm-hmm.

   20. PFPaul Felder30:45

       And for guys like Vettori, it's gotta be like, "All right." He, they want him to stay the champ.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       Yeah.

   22. PFPaul Felder30:50

       Because Izzy already had their number w- and he's been there. But, a- as long as Pereira's in there, another kickboxer, but with a different style maybe, not as much experience in the grappling department, they're chomping at the bit to get in there. Well, don't know how chomping at the bit they are, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:06

       Not, not necessarily chomping, but he's fucking scary. R- Robert Whitaker, you know, Whitaker's very well-rounded.

   24. PFPaul Felder31:11

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:11

       He's, he's an interesting matchup for him. There's, there's very good matchups in that 185 pound division. But, in my opinion, what's interesting is, uh, he's a specialist. He's like a pure specialist.

   26. PFPaul Felder31:22

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:23

       I mean, he's, he can grapple a little bit, but that's not what he wants to do. He wants to knock your fucking head into the bleachers.

   28. PFPaul Felder31:30

       Yeah. And you know it going in.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:32

       Yeah. Yeah.

   30. PFPaul Felder31:32

       You know that's what he wants to do to you, he just trying to s- I mean, I- Izzy was winning that fight and-
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Yeah, easily. He's just…

   1. PFPaul Felder45:00

      liver shot, he would've taken you down.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      Yeah, easily. He's just tapping him up. But it's, uh, that guy's got a great, uh, sense of humor about it. It's very funny how he's laughing about it.

   3. PFPaul Felder45:09

      (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:10

      But, um, you know, I mean, you gotta think, this guy is 50 years old. I mean, how old is Floyd now? He's gotta be close to 50.

   5. PFPaul Felder45:17

      He's gotta be late 40s. 48?

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:18

      Yeah. Late 40s. Okay, if he was 21... And at this point in time- 45. ... 45.

   7. PFPaul Felder45:25

      45.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:25

      Is he even 45?

   9. PFPaul Felder45:25

      Sorry, Floyd. I didn't mean to age you.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       Sorry, F- sorry, Floyd. But, I mean, past his pr- his prime, and still just making millions of dollars fighting people-

   11. PFPaul Felder45:34

       Doing exhibition fights.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       ... that have no business. He's really brilliant. What he's doing is brilliant because he, he gets these guys to fight him. They have no business fighting him. He's making millions of dollars.

   13. PFPaul Felder45:44

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       He puts on a show. Do you see the one he did? Uh, I guess it was in, was it in Dubai? Where he, he took the ring card, and he was walking around in between rounds holding the ring card?

   15. PFPaul Felder45:55

       Oh, my God. I didn't see that one.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:56

       He took it from the ring card girl. He was just having a blast.

   17. PFPaul Felder45:58

       I saw the one a while back. He fought that kickboxer kid.

   18. JRJoe Rogan46:01

       Oh, yeah.

   19. PFPaul Felder46:02

       Uh, and-

   20. JRJoe Rogan46:02

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tension.

   21. PFPaul Felder46:02

       ... that was, like, the first time he had done-

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:04

       Tension Nasukawa.

   23. PFPaul Felder46:05

       ... one of those, yeah, one of those, like, big exhibitions, and it's just like, he's just gonna make you look stupid.

   24. JRJoe Rogan46:09

       But Tension fought 126. Like, Tension's a tiny guy.

   25. PFPaul Felder46:11

       Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       He's a brilliant kickboxer.

   27. PFPaul Felder46:14

       But without kicking-

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:15

       Yeah, without the kicking.

   29. PFPaul Felder46:16

       ... you got no chance.

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       I know, but he's-
5. 1:00:00 – 1:07:04

   Wow. …

   1. PFPaul Felder1:00:00

      we, at Daniel Gracie's gym in North Philly, we had, uh... If you went into our basement gym, there was a like sliding old school door that went into another basement and, you know, it was just like all old warehouses that were turned into studios like this or, or boxing gy- and next door to us was a, was a boxing gym.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:22

      Wow.

   3. PFPaul Felder1:00:22

      So we would... We started sharing the space. So we would work with, uh, Bozy and all those guys and his sons and his he- who are... You know, there's... He's got other sons who didn't make it the way Boots is now but they would spar with us, help us out, hold pads for us. So that, that was kinda just like a little collab that we had going at the time but-

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:41

      Wow, that's fortunate.

   5. PFPaul Felder1:00:42

      It was great.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:43

      That's amazing.

   7. PFPaul Felder1:00:44

      It was great.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:44

      That's amazing.

   9. PFPaul Felder1:00:45

      And they would... I remember some of the pro boxers there would just jab. Like you'd, you'd be trying to beat their asses and you'd find out after the session that they, "Yeah, I was just throwing jabs."

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:55

       (laughs)

   11. PFPaul Felder1:00:55

       Like, "Look, think back." He's like, "Did I ever hit you with a right hand?" It's like, "No, you were only jabbing me in the face." And I was trying to take your head off for, you know-... six rounds or whatever it was.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:05

       And they were just sharpening up tools on you.

   13. PFPaul Felder1:01:07

       They were just, they were just working on one thing.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:09

       Yeah.

   15. PFPaul Felder1:01:09

       Or maybe just defense, not even punching you.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:11

       Well, that would be a thing that Rickson Gracie would always do with people. You know, like he would, uh, just go for left arm bars.

   17. PFPaul Felder1:01:17

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:18

       So he would train with everybody and just like-

   19. PFPaul Felder1:01:20

       That's the best way to do it if you're, if you're significantly better than somebody.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:23

       Mm-hmm.

   21. PFPaul Felder1:01:23

       "Okay, well, how can I handicap myself so that I'm still working while you're still working."

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:27

       Yeah.

   23. PFPaul Felder1:01:28

       It's s- s- just a good way to train.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:30

       Yeah. It's, it's hard for a guy who's that much better than everybody else to get real good, solid work in.

   25. PFPaul Felder1:01:36

       Yeah. Just don't, nobody on that level.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:39

       Yeah. So what was the first... Was Duke's the first, uh, actual MMA gym? I know you did some training with Cowboy too, right?

   27. PFPaul Felder1:01:46

       Yeah. So, h- way back when I was still an amateur, he had like the tap out house back then where he had bunk beds in his own house, and he would rent it out. And you could just come and experience training with Donald and Leonard Garcia at the time. So I would... I flew out after sparring with him at a seminar and he's like, "You know what? You don't even have to pay. Just come out and you can train with us. You can live in the house and be a sparring partner." And then after experiencing that mess of living in bunk beds with these other fighter dudes sharing one bathroom, bro, in the back of his house, 'cause the way they had the ranch set up is Leonard had like this middle area, Cowboy had his own bedroom with a bathroom in the back, and then all of us dudes were just in like four bunk beds.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:02:34

       How many guys were in the house together?

   29. PFPaul Felder1:02:35

       Man, we'd have... Uh, there'd be like 10 guys at a time.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:02:37

       Oh, my God.

Episode duration: 3:08:14