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The Joe Rogan ExperienceThe Joe Rogan Experience

JRE MMA Show #154 with Matt Serra, Din Thomas & John Rallo

Joe is joined by mixed martial artists John Rallo, Matt Serra, and Din Thomas. John owns Shogun Fights and also serves as the owner and head coach at Ground Control Mixed Martial Arts Academy. Matt is the host of the "UFC Unfiltered" podcast with Jim Norton and is the owner and lead instructor at Serra BJJ. Din is a host on "SiriusXM Fight Nation," "Josh Cohen & the Home Team" on ESPN West Palm, and "Fight Court." www.groundcontrolbaltimore.com www.serrabjj.com www.ufc.com/athlete/din-thomas

Matt SerraguestJoe RoganhostDin ThomasguestJohn Ralloguest
Apr 4, 20243h 8mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:001:00

    Cold open banter + Serra tries Zyn (nicotine pouches)

    1. NA

      (drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays)

    2. MS

      Okay.

    3. JR

      I'm ready when you are.

    4. MS

      Okay, let's-

    5. JR

      I'm thinking about popping this thing.

    6. MS

      ... he, Matt's already on a roll. (laughs)

    7. JR

      Yeah, he's on a roll. We gotta get- we gotta get it going.

    8. NA

      I'm getting it popping. I missed it already.

    9. MS

      We gotta get it going. Yeah. We missed- we missed-

    10. JR

      (laughs)

    11. MS

      ... the joy that is Matt's hair.

    12. NA

      Gotta get you ready for your truck ride over there.

    13. MS

      Um-

    14. JR

      We need a name for this order of, uh, unruly gentlemen. We need a-

    15. NA

      Oh.

    16. JR

      ... we need a name for us.

    17. NA

      Uh-

    18. JR

      Matt? (laughs)

    19. MS

      I wanna think about it, but what do I-

    20. JR

      This is Matt's first Zyn, by the way.

    21. NA

      But what is-

    22. MS

      Yeah, yeah.

    23. JR

      And it's a six milligram. That's a, that's a heavy dose.

    24. MS

      But I'm not a... I'm a caffeine guy. I love caffeine.

    25. JR

      That's- that's a lot like caffeine, but like even more.

    26. MS

      Oh. But, um... Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    27. NA

      Jesus.

    28. MS

      I've seen it at 7-Eleven. I know Tucker Carlson takes it.

    29. JR

      He loves them.

    30. MS

      And it's not- he used to-

  2. 1:005:33

    Is nicotine “neuroprotective”? Fact-checking and cigarette chemistry

    1. JR

      Nicotine chemical... Nicotine as a chemical is neuroprotective. It- it- it shows there's been studies that have done that it shows some sort of a connection with helping ward off Alzheimer's, I believe. Find out if that's true. I might have made that up.

    2. MS

      Oh, nicotine?

    3. JR

      I might have made that up.

    4. MS

      Oh, so you saying it's good for you?

    5. NA

      So-

    6. JR

      Katt Williams' weed is strong. Yes.

    7. MS

      Yeah. (laughs)

    8. NA

      (laughs)

    9. JR

      Nico- nicotine as a- a chemical is not bad for you. What's bad for you is the delivery system of cigarettes.

    10. NA

      There it is.

    11. JR

      Particularly c- cigarettes if you buy like cigarettes with chemicals in them.

    12. MS

      W-

    13. JR

      So there's like... There's those-

    14. NA

      It is American Indians-

    15. JR

      What are those American Spirits?

    16. NA

      Yeah, whatever they're called.

    17. JR

      What are they called?

    18. NA

      American something.

    19. JR

      Spirits?

    20. NA

      American... Spirits?

    21. MS

      It's a... That's like a marketing thing. I don't think that's true.

    22. JR

      They're not... They have shit in them too?

    23. MS

      Of course, they're cigarettes. (laughs)

    24. JR

      No, but I think- I think it's different.

    25. NA

      Interesting, I thought they were just supposedly paper and a tobacco.

    26. MS

      I don't think it is.

    27. JR

      Oh, those liars. Okay, nicotine for Alzheimer's disease. There's no evidence from randomized controlled trials to support the use of nicotine as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. So what was the thing that... Wasn't there something about a connection between the way nicotine works and some sort of a... There's something I read.

    28. NA

      My thing is, if I start with the nicotine-

    29. JR

      Could we go back to that, please, Jamie?

    30. MS

      Oh, okay.

  3. 5:339:23

    Nootropics 101: Alpha Brain, memory, and “brain nutrition”

    1. JR

      But you know what else I found that I really like? Is these... This... I don't know. This is... I should kind of not be talking about this, because these motherfuckers took the name that we use for our nootropic, which is Alpha Brain. But it's a... These are like, um, a nootropic pouch. So this doesn't have any nicotine in it. It has a bunch of nootropics, which I really- I really like nootropics.

    2. MS

      No.

    3. JR

      Maybe they didn't steal our name, but it's kind of-

    4. MS

      No.

    5. JR

      ... close. I'm kind of convinced it's the same thing.

    6. NA

      It's Alpha Brain conveys the message, right?

    7. MS

      I used to take that all the time.

    8. JR

      We- we... Alpha Brain was one of the first... Well, the first one that I ever found out was Neuro1. Remember that guy, Romanowski?

    9. NA

      Mm-hmm.

    10. MS

      Yeah, Bill Romanowski.

    11. JR

      Yeah, Romanowski, who was a football player, obviously got a lot of head impacts and he was having problems with his memory, so he devised a supplement to... It's really good. That was the first one I ever found out about.

    12. MS

      And, uh... I'm sorry, what did you say is in that again?

    13. JR

      This one?

    14. MS

      What-

    15. JR

      It's got a bunch of different nootropics.

    16. MS

      No, no, with the- with the- the word you just said.

    17. JR

      Nootropics.

    18. MS

      Now not... For the people at home...

    19. JR

      ... not, not me. (laughs)

    20. DT

      (laughs)

    21. MS

      What exactly- what exactly is a nootropic?

    22. JR

      It's, uh, it's the building block for human neurochemistry. So, it's things like, uh, acetylcholine. There's a, there's a bunch of different ones. If you can, like, list, show the, the ingredients for Alpha Brain if you could. There's lutein, there's a bunch of different things that have been shown to increase cognitive performance. So, we actually did randomized control trials at the Boston Center for Memory for Alpha Brain. We sponsored two of them. And it showed an increase in verbal memory, your ability to retain words, which I really find.

    23. DT

      Yeah.

    24. JR

      Like, I take it every time I do a UFC, I take Alpha Brain. Always.

    25. DT

      Oh, really?

    26. JR

      Helps my memory.

    27. DT

      Yes.

    28. JR

      I'm talking about fights from f- I, I've watched 2,000 fights-

    29. DT

      And, and you be bringing out zingers, yeah, you be bringing up zingers that everybody forgot about.

    30. JR

      ... every now and then.

  4. 9:2313:01

    Din’s health saga returns: holistic doctor, coffee orders, and the dreaded stool test

    1. DT

      Um, I seen a, um, since the last time we spoke, we, remember the last time we were talking about my ass? Not to get into the fucking... Remember, (laughs) remember I just, I got... Now, remember we talked about my ass?

    2. JR

      Hey, what a segue here.

    3. JR

      For the folks at home, a refresher. (laughs)

    4. DT

      Well, I don't wanna leave everybody on a cliffhanger.

    5. JR

      Whew.

    6. DT

      The last we spoke, um, I was supposed to take a shit in a box to go to the lab.

    7. JR

      Right.

    8. DT

      And I c- and I had a, I had a f- it was, I don't know what it was. I, I, I just didn't, never did it, and then I finally was like, "You know what? Fuck it. I'm doing it." And then I, I changed insurance, so I had to get a different doctor, so I had to... Anyway, I seen a holistic doctor, right? So I'm gonna, uh, I ended up doing it. He-

    9. JR

      Like a witch doctor?

    10. DT

      Uh, uh, dude, now listen, I was a little nervous too.

    11. JR

      Why a holistic doctor?

    12. DT

      Should I, should I be, should I be-

    13. JR

      The shaman.

    14. JR

      Is that a real thing?

    15. DT

      Yeah, yeah.

    16. JR

      Is that a real thing?

    17. DT

      Well listen, I'm gonna find out. He's, thank you, brother. It's, uh, it, it, Mike G, it's, um, from Huntington, right? Now, somebody recommended him. I know what you're thinking. I was thinking the same thing. It's gonna be, um, do you have any sweetness?

    18. JR

      Uh, we don't.

    19. DT

      Nah, no, I'm a, I'm a f- look at me, primadonna.

    20. JR

      Sorry.

    21. JR

      Do we have any out there?

    22. DT

      No, no, I don't wanna be that guy. Jamie, sit down, please. We got enough.

    23. JR

      No, no, no, what do you want? Like, Splenda, Real Sugar?

    24. DT

      Uh, yeah, Splenda, Stevia.

    25. JR

      He's like, "I don't wanna be that guy." Splenda, Stevia.

    26. DT

      Stevia. Yeah, yeah, okay.

    27. JR

      (laughs)

    28. DT

      Got some milk.

    29. JR

      You don't need that mint cream.

    30. DT

      So, what I, what I-

  5. 13:0122:00

    Woke culture and fandom wars: Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder, and Disney Star Wars

    1. DT

      ... it, do people like the policies? Or are they just liking the fucking guy? I was just watching Idiocracy the other day-

    2. MS

      Oh my Lord.

    3. JR

      It's so good, still.

    4. DT

      And, uh, that is the film. Dude, such, oh wait, hold on. That's fucking great.

    5. MS

      Terry Crews was a great press.

    6. JR

      Still, so good.

    7. DT

      (laughs)

    8. JR

      It holds up so well.

    9. MS

      He's like, "Listen-

    10. DT

      You like the white Terry Crews.

    11. MS

      (laughs)

    12. JR

      (laughs)

    13. DT

      He see (laughs) , yeah. He seeing the council, he's like, "Yeah, my first wife, my first wife was taunted. She's a pilot now."

    14. JR

      (laughs)

    15. DT

      And fucking ... (laughs) No, it, it, that movie is fucking great.

    16. JR

      It's a great movie, man.

    17. DT

      It's not exactly politically correct, but it's fucking good.

    18. JR

      It's not at all, but it holds up. You almost couldn't make it today.

    19. MS

      You can't make any of these, Tropic Thunder or-

    20. JR

      Listen, Tropic Thunder would be impossible today.

    21. MS

      No, you couldn't make that now.

    22. DT

      I gotta watch that again.

    23. JR

      Impossible today.

    24. DT

      I haven't watched that in ages.

    25. JR

      Bro.

    26. MS

      Great movie.

    27. JR

      That's a great movie, man.

    28. MS

      Great movie.

    29. DT

      I have to watch that.

    30. JR

      That's a great movie.

  6. 22:0029:24

    VR obsession: Contractors Showdown, gaming as a hobby, and a pitch for Din’s channel

    1. DT

      Can I ... First of all, can I ... First, can I thank you now? 'Cause listen. This show doesn't come without perks. Listen. I, I was on here geeking about, about the, uh, VR last time.

    2. NA

      Yep, yep.

    3. DT

      So all of a sudden ... You know I love that Pop 1 and I still do. I was just playing it before I got here. Uh, and another guy got in contact with me from Caveman Studios, this guy, Lon. He goes, "Look. I love how enthusiastic you are. Try this game in, in, in, uh, beta testing." So, uh, so it's out ... It's not even out yet. It's coming out at the end of the month. Contractors Showdown. Fucking money! I don't play anything but Pop 1. Am I getting off the subject? We should talk about MMA.

    4. NA

      (laughs)

    5. JR

      Now we're talking about it.

    6. NA

      I haven't even got to MMA yet. We're off subject. (laughs)

    7. DT

      (laughs) Yeah. Right? Listen, listen. Holy shit. It's, it's like, um, uh, it's like War Zone. It's like, uh, Call of Duty: War Zone. I love the b- I love the battle royale format where it's like a squad and then everybody gets brought in together and you gotta take each other out. It's cool. That's kind ... That's Pop 1. Technically, it's Fortnite. Not to sound like a nerd. This shit! Contractors Showdown! Fucking nerdgasm. I love it.

    8. NA

      Nerdgasm. (laughs)

    9. DT

      It's so much fun.

    10. NA

      (laughs)

    11. DT

      It is, it's-

    12. NA

      Is that a new word?

    13. JR

      Guys-

    14. NA

      So you're parachute in on people?

    15. DT

      Now listen, this the deal. You parachute out-

    16. NA

      Right.

    17. DT

      You pick a ... You, you ... Now, when you go, you loot up, right? You get money, you get shit.

    18. NA

      You wrap your hands? What the fuck?

    19. DT

      Well, you, you ... Yeah. He had, he had ... He must've had some damage. He had to heal up a little bit. So then you, you get guns-

    20. JR

      So you're fixing to go to war. You got money.

    21. DT

      You, you, yeah. You get your boys and then you're like, "Look." No, I don't know about that nerd, but look.

    22. NA

      (laughs)

    23. DT

      Look, we're here. Now look. All right. Now that you ... You see the perimeter. Dude, everybody gets brought in. You get scopes, you put it on. You get money, you could buy stuff to put it on. And you're taking these guys out. You're sniping them. It-

    24. JR

      And this is all in virtual reality?

    25. DT

      It's in virtual reality. It's fucking cool, dude.

    26. NA

      (snorts)

    27. JR

      That guy likes it.

    28. NA

      This is good. You should get a new job reviewing VR games.

    29. JR

      That's not a bad idea, actually.

    30. NA

      Imagine.

  7. 29:2435:57

    Mules, donkeys, and brutal internet videos (horse kick + street fight shooting)

    1. DT

      I was watching a, I was watching a mule biting a fucking hyena, pulling him around a fucking-

    2. JR

      Oh.

    3. DT

      Dude, they use them to bite wolves and coyotes.

    4. Yeah, no shit.

    5. JR

      Oh, yeah.

    6. DT

      You think a hyena would wanna get on-

    7. Yeah, well, wolves are mean, man. They're fucking mean.

    8. JR

      Ponies?

    9. DT

      They're smart, mules.

    10. JR

      Yeah, yeah.

    11. DT

      Mules.

    12. Mules.

    13. JR

      Yeah.

    14. DT

      They'll use them to, like, protect the herd and shit.

    15. What?

    16. JR

      They-

    17. DT

      For real.

    18. JR

      Mules are so much smarter than horses. Like, people like them when they travel through the mountains 'cause a mule won't go anywhere where it's not safe.

    19. DT

      Oh.

    20. JR

      A mule will go, "Uh-uh, bitch. We're not, I'm not-"

    21. DT

      I know better.

    22. JR

      "Yeah, I know better. I'm not going over there."

    23. DT

      Oh.

    24. JR

      Like that, that edge is too steep, we'll, we're falling. And so a horse-

    25. DT

      That makes sense.

    26. JR

      ... is just like... (imitates horsey noises)

    27. DT

      (laughs)

    28. (laughs)

    29. JR

      Horses just go right off the edge, man.

    30. DT

      Yeah.

  8. 35:5755:05

    Cold plunge routines and knee rehab: discipline, pain tolerance, and “Knees Over Toes”

    1. DT

      But second of all, we, we did, it didn't come out yet, but we did that fucking cold plunge on that fucking show. Let me ask you- Yeah, we did. ... something about the degrees of that 'cause I'm gonna about, I'm thinking about adding this into my routine. The cold plunge? I swear, man, 'cause I start my day with a steam, I'm thinking about putting it, a little, a, a small one in my locker room upstairs in my thing. But it was fucking brutal is what it was. When we did it, it was 32 degrees. 34. Okay, I'm trying to make it worse. Yeah. (laughs)

    2. JR

      (laughs)

    3. DT

      All right, 32 degrees.

    4. You're looking for 30.

    5. NA

      30 before is over with.

    6. DT

      34 for three minutes. It was 34. Is that, is that pussy shit?

    7. JR

      No, that's normal. Yeah, that's what I do every day.

    8. DT

      Normal?

    9. JR

      34? 34, three minutes every day.

    10. DT

      God. That was fucking... All right, listen.

    11. JR

      I do it before my workout.

    12. DT

      But did you... All right, let me, next question is did you build up to that?

    13. JR

      Yes.

    14. DT

      Like, "Wow."

    15. JR

      In two days.

    16. DT

      So there we... All right, no, it took you, it took you two days to build up to that?

    17. JR

      And then the third, third day I did 20 minutes.

    18. DT

      Stop.

    19. JR

      No, I did. I, I filmed it. I put it on Instagram.

    20. DT

      At 34?

    21. JR

      At 34.

    22. DT

      34 degrees?

    23. JR

      Yeah, I wanted to see how long I could go.

    24. DT

      That's pretty crazy.

    25. Well, see, but that's different if somebody-

    26. NA

      (laughs)

    27. JR

      ... watched?

    28. DT

      All I know is, now-

    29. JR

      Before you pass out or something?

    30. DT

      ... nobody's watching. We handled it differently, he, like- Yeah, we sure did. He was quiet, and then once in a while, you'd hear, like, a Goggins come out of him, like, "I can handle this!" And fucking-

  9. 55:0558:58

    Coaches, teams, and the UFC PI: loyalty vs opportunity in Vegas

    1. DT

      He knows the... We keep it very simple, you know? And, uh, it's just crazy nowadays, you know? It's, it's a little, it's a little weird now, like, with the whole team, man. Like, uh, uh, you know, times change and stuff, but like, everybody's out in Vegas now. The whole team's like... I mean, everybody's doing well, so we're all happy for everybody, but like... Vegas is very tempting for young fighters. And it's... And I don't blame them. Like...

    2. JR

      Well, the facility really, I think-

    3. DT

      That PI-

    4. JR

      ... is gonna pull people out.

    5. JR

      The PI.

    6. DT

      Food, everything.

    7. JR

      And then...

    8. JR

      All your food is taken care of.

    9. DT

      Yeah.

    10. JR

      And you have the most sophisticated-

    11. DT

      Exactly what they're saying. Right.

    12. JR

      ... training environment available on Earth. And if there's something better, they're gonna get it.

    13. DT

      They are.

    14. JR

      Whatever the fuck it is.

    15. DT

      It is.

    16. JR

      Yeah.

    17. JR

      And they set... I mean, it's a beautiful thing.

    18. JR

      I, I think it's fantastic. The only thing I, I think it sucks for is that you have these guys who are coming up, you know, with their people at home. Then they get to where they're at the UFC, they get to the PI, which is awesome, and then some school in Vegas is claiming, you know?

    19. JR

      Yeah.

    20. JR

      Like... And I'm... No, no slam on Couture's team-

    21. JR

      Things like that, it's an issue.

    22. JR

      ... or nothing... You know, like Nick's-

    23. JR

      That's an issue.

    24. JR

      ... a great coach, but if I got a guy who's out here and he's been with you for s- you know, a few months-

    25. JR

      Yeah, I think-

    26. JR

      ... you can't take credit for that guy. You know what I mean?

    27. JR

      Yeah. I think, you know, in a perfect world-

    28. JR

      And it's not his fault either. He just is there-

    29. JR

      Yeah.

    30. DT

      Yeah.

  10. 58:581:08:00

    Merab & Aljo: insane cardio, durability, and the weight-cut problem

    1. JR

      Bro, Merab is-

    2. DT

      Merab's a beast.

    3. JR

      ... unstoppable.

    4. NA

      I love that guy.

    5. DT

      And Rob Socially-

    6. JR

      When he was carrying Henry Cejudo with his tongue out-

    7. DT

      Come on.

    8. NA

      Oh, yeah. Yeah.

    9. JR

      He's got his tongue... (screams) And he's, he's like a baby.

    10. DT

      And then what-

    11. NA

      Savage moment.

    12. JR

      What a savage m- walking over to Mark Zuckerberg holding Henry "Fucking" Cejudo-

    13. NA

      (laughs)

    14. JR

      ... two division world champion, golden medalist.

    15. DT

      And embar- embarrassed him.

    16. NA

      Olympic gold medalist in-

    17. JR

      Look at that. That's insane.

    18. DT

      Merab, the thing is with Merab, it's-

    19. JR

      He's a savage.

    20. DT

      ... I've never seen, in all my years, I've never seen a- a- a gas tank like that. I never have.

    21. JR

      It's incredible.

    22. DT

      You know?

    23. JR

      It's incredible.

    24. DT

      And, uh-

    25. JR

      It's incredible because it's not like he's slow. Like, you generally-

    26. DT

      I know.

    27. JR

      ... associate like, really high level endurance with guys that maybe don't have the kinda power he has.

    28. DT

      But he's also, he's durable. If you watched his fight-

    29. JR

      Oh, yeah.

Episode duration: 3:08:50

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