JRE MMA Show #164 with Israel Adesanya

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast.…

   1. NANarrator0:00

      (drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya0:06

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

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Bro, what's up?

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya0:13

      What's up with that?

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      What's up? Good to see you, my friend.

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya0:15

      Long time no see.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      What is the chain?

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya0:16

      The chain.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:16

      What does that, what does that stand for?

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya0:18

       Uh, Engage. This is, uh, my fightwear brand. Ashbel Castro started this.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:21

       Oh.

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya0:22

       Um, he was one of the... I'll say this. He was, um, one of the only guys who fucked with me before I really, like, blew up. So when I was fighting in China and I lost to Alex, they stopped giving me fights. And I had, I think at the time, I was the highest paid foreign fighter in China at the time. Probably not now anymore. But then they stopped giving me fights and I was like, "Look, I have seven more fights on my contract. Can I at least just get three? I just need three." 'Cause money was running out, you know, the money I had saved up. And then, yeah, I was down to my last one day, like $500. And Eugene was holding pads for me because he saw something was up and I just said, "Bro, I'm, I'm about to be broke," this and that, rah-da-rah-da-rah. And he said, "Don't worry. Just leave it with me." I get home, uh, I think I was on, I was on the toilet and he just goes, "Check your bank account." And I'm sitting there just like (sighs) . I start crying and I call him. He's like, "No, don't thank me. Thank Ash," who started Engage. And I call Ash, I'm taking a shit and I'm just like, "Thank you."

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       (laughs)

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya1:21

       (laughs) Thank you so much. Like, honestly just in tears 'cause you know, I mean, I've been there. Like, nothing and had everything and nothing again. So for me, yeah, he's always been a guy that's been in my corner. And me and Alex Volkanovski now, we, you know, we've helped raised the brand so we own part of the company. So yeah, I like to rep the set.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:40

       Oh, that's cool.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya1:40

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:40

       Nice. Nice.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya1:41

       And I think we, Engage also was last final three when they had the whole Reebok fiasco. It was, uh, Venom, Engage and someone else. I can't remember who else. So we didn't get the, the gig, but it would've been nice, though.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:55

       Oh, the UFC gig?

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya1:56

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:56

       Yeah. Engage Fight Kits for the fighters, but now it's Venom Fight Kits. Yeah, the whole fight kit thing is weird. I really-

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya2:03

       (murmurs approval)

   23. JRJoe Rogan2:03

       ... preferred it when fighters could have sponsors.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya2:06

       Condom Depot on the back of your shorts.

   25. JRJoe Rogan2:07

       I don't like that.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya2:08

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan2:08

       I mean they should probably-

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya2:09

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan2:09

       ... have some discretion.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya2:11

       (laughs) I did like it, though, and I do like the fact now, like, uh, the last fight I had, uh, Hunter hit me up way before any Gold Gloves or anything. He says, "Izzy, we're gonna do this for certain fighters. What design would you like on your shorts?" And I was like, "Bet." And I hit up Curtis, who works with Engage, does a lot of the designs, and I told him what I wanted and then he just did some custom stuff and I sent a few to Hunter and then boom, I got my shorts, the lightning, and I quite like that. I like expression. That's one thing I do miss about boxing or kickboxing, is the expression on the Mongkon-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Every time, so- …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      a couple of times.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya15:01

      Every time, so-

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:01

      And then even in the first fight in the UFC-

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya15:03

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      ... so close at the end of that first round. Like, you had him. If there was 30 seconds left in the fight-

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya15:08

      10.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:08

      ... or in the round. Yeah.

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya15:09

      10 seconds left. But again, that's the beauty of the story 'cause then he waited till the fifth round, or it got-

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      Mm-hmm.

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya15:13

       ... to the fifth round. He's just like, did his fucking juju whatever thing and then fucking... He just had this energy and he came at me and then my leg was compromised from the leg kick 'cause my, uh, the peroneal nerve or whatever-

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:26

       Mm-hmm.

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya15:26

       ... and I couldn't do anything, so yeah. But look, I love that story for myself and I'm happy and people still go, "Oh, we knew the third one." I'm like, "Look, I do it again, I, I fucking knock him out. Well, oh, no. Okay, now it's three, two." We got a best out of seven.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       Right, right, right.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya15:40

       I'm not fighting for anyone else. I only have so much left in this game. I'm not gonna spend this game fighting-

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:45

       One guy-

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya15:45

       ... exactly.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:46

       ... over and over and over again.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya15:47

       Ah, I go, I, I don't know how long left, but I just know I'm definitely on the other side of my career, so I wanna get these fights out the way. And now I'm not champ anymore in the UFC, so I just get... I'm in this situation where what do I do? I know I wanna fight though 'cause I took 11 months off and I let my body heal and all that and I felt great, so now I wanna get back to being active. Not as active as I was in the beginning maybe, but I wanna be active. And I still feel great from the last camp. Did some testing about three weeks ago, find out where we were at. I was about where I was before this last fight four weeks out, so I was like, "Okay, cool. We're still good. Let's build off that." So yeah, I wanna fight again.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:27

       How much of an effect did taking 11 months off have?

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya16:30

       I think it was more good than bad. I know some people say ring rust or this and that, and I'm like, "Nah." I felt good in there. I felt good in there. And it was only when I watched the fight back, I saw a couple of mistakes I made, even on the feet, where I was like, "Ooh, don't do that again." Just with my foot work, my exits. Even David said, "You had sloppy exits." I was like, "Yeah, my bad." But, um, yeah, that and then the moment at the end when I slipped and I, just a lapse in judgment when I was just letting him know, it was me tripping. Those kind of moments, maybe if I was as active it w- it wouldn't have happened, but who knows? We'll never know. But I am happy with how I performed. I was happy with the shape I came in. I came in really good shape. And, uh, what's his name? Bill, this guy, he did the numbers for me, he said, "This is the most active I've been in any fight by far in my UFC career." He crunched the numbers up and said, uh, my strike per minute rate or whatever. All you nerds figure it out. You can do your own.

   21. JRJoe Rogan17:31

       (laughs)

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya17:31

       But yeah, he, Bill is smart. He's this guy who helps in out, me now with my strength. He, uh, yeah, did the numbers and said, "This is the most active you were." So we can do some things different. Um, put a little bit more gas in the tank, things like that, and then just stay active like that. It was good. And I had fun in there. I had fun just exchanging, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan17:50

       I wanted to ask you about that, like the-

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya17:51

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:51

       ... gas in the tank thing 'cause this is, uh, there's a philosophy that Marv Marinovich and Nick Curson, some of these guys have.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya17:58

       BJ Penn's coaches?

   27. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       Yeah.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya17:59

       I remember them.

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       So what they wanted BJ to do when BJ was in his prime, essentially the, the camp was-... entirely based around strength and conditioning. So it was all conditioning to give you this insane gas tank.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya18:13

       Mm-hmm.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      If you keep going-

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya30:00

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      ... for a few more hours, you'll die.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya30:02

      Yeah, especially the, I mean, uh, like, I've seen, uh, my weight cuts are normally pretty tame, not as bad, 'cause, uh, I think I'm perfect for 185. But the ones that I've seen guys lose a lot of weight the day of and I see them how they are-... and even when they go to the scale, you see their face just-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:19

      Yeah, you never look too-

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya30:20

      Gone.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:20

      ... des- destroyed.

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya30:21

      No. I always come in underweight as well. I always come in-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:23

      What do you w- what do you normally weigh like the week of a fight?

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya30:26

       Week of a fight? Mm. If I get to the fight location, say, (inhales deeply) uh, if they went to weigh me, if I'm say 198, like-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       Oh, that's not that bad.

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya30:39

       ... 200. Yeah. Th- that's easy for me.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       That's not that bad.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya30:40

       I'm like, "Cool." That's normally what I'm at and then-

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       That's just a few hard sauna sessions.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya30:44

       Yeah. But even though just the water loading-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:46

       Mm-hmm.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya30:46

       ... and then it's like my body knows. It's weird how my body does it, eh. My body's just like... It just knows, "Okay, we're getting on the plane. Cool."

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       You've done it before.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya30:54

       It just knows.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:54

       Yeah.

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya30:54

       It's just like muscle memory.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:56

       Mm-hmm.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya30:56

       And I get to the fight location, my body's like, "Cool, we're doing this." And then the weight just starts to go (nose blowing) .

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:02

       Did you notice a difference when they didn't allow IVs versus when they did allow IVs?

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya31:07

       I never used it.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:08

       You never used it?

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya31:08

       I never use IVs, that's the thing. So-

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:11

       So you never cut weight enough where you were so depleted that you needed to get those bags on you?

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya31:14

       No. Fuck, I would have liked to, but... (laughs)
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya45:00

      even what... Pride had 10-minute rounds the first round.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      Mm-hmm.

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya45:03

      You go, that's cool. I'm saying, look, some things, like I'm glad this they've taken out the way, but again, bring back tournaments just for one night. Let's see who's a real, like who's a real badass.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      Ooh.

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya45:15

      Like...

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      Yeah, that would be crazy.

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya45:16

      I've done it kickboxing, I've never done it in MMA. I've done it in boxing, but I might bring back a tournament. So like, let's see who's really, who's really about this, because when-

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:23

      Yeah.

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya45:23

      ... you have to fight, get the adrenaline dump, then you go back and sit down, sit down for ages, and then eventually have to warm up again.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:31

       Mm-hmm.

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya45:31

       I remember, and I've done it a few times. I've won a few of them, but, uh, it's, it, it shows (clicks tongue) this.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       Yeah.

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya45:38

       Like this, you know what I mean?

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:38

       Well, it's also built in drama over the evening where people-

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya45:41

       Mm-hmm.

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:41

       ... watch a guy fight once and now he's gonna fight a second time, and that was always wild about the early days of the UFC.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya45:48

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:48

       Watching those tournaments.

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya45:50

       And Pride as well.

   20. JRJoe Rogan45:51

       Mm-hmm.

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya45:51

       They did that a lot.

   22. JRJoe Rogan45:52

       Mm-hmm.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya45:52

       But yeah, that'd be fun. I'd do anything for like, uh...

   24. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       What would it be?

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya45:55

       Oh, they did it once though.

   26. JRJoe Rogan45:56

       Glory did it. Remember Last Man Standing?

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya45:58

       Yeah, they did it.

   28. JRJoe Rogan45:58

       That was crazy. They fought three times in a night.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya46:00

       Yeah, but the, the UFC did it, the, the, the UFC did it once with the flyweight, the inaugural flyweight title, and I think it was Mighty Mouse and Ian McCall in the, in, in the final. Nah, (clicks tongue) no, I got it wrong. They fucked up the decision, 'cause if, it was meant to be a draw and they'd have one more round in Sydney, I think.

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:18

       Hmm.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:02:41

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya1:00:00

      I will ge- I will choke someone out, like a guillotine or redneck it. I like guillotines. But I've, uh, it's learning how to find the sweet spot for me. The sweet spot when I get it. And when I get it, it's not ... Even a bulldog choke, I get really good at those. Somehow I can find the spot and I just ... 'Cause I got the frame for it.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:19

      Mm-hmm.

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya1:00:20

      The best person at our gym, Dan, Hangman, that's his shit. He grabs your neck, you're going like, it's like, yep. Find a way out. You can't? Cool. Tap. But yeah, I like using guillotines though, especially on, on wrestlers 'cause, yeah, it just lets them know, okay, this is always a threat.This is always a threat. But again, it's something I've been working on. But eventually, before I retire, you'll definitely see me get a submission.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:43

      Well, it's interesting because you're a specialist. You know, you're one of those guys who, like, you didn't come in with a full-

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya1:00:49

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

      ... MMA experience. You didn't start as an amateur MMA fighter.

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya1:00:53

      Mm-hmm.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:53

      You were a kickboxer. And so you had... I remember when you and I first started talking online, when I reached out to you on Instagram-

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya1:00:58

      Yeah.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:59

       ... and you were like, "Uh, I'm gonna wait a little while."

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:01

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:01:01

       "I'm gonna just do this right."

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:02

       Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:03

       Which is, I thought, was very intelligent-

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:04

       Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:04

       ...'cause you could've just jumped in like many guys do, and then they get... UFC throws you in with a wrestler-

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:09

       Facts. Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:09

       ... you get exposed, and now you're so far behind the curve, it takes a long time to build up your confidence and your momentum again-

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:16

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:16

       ... because you got smothered in your first fight.

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:18

       Yeah. That was 2015, I believe.

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:20

       Hmm.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01:20

       I even sent a DM to Dana saying, "Just give me one shot. Just get me to the cage. I'll do the rest." And look, I, I, I would've, but I'm glad I took my time, and it was, it was good for me just to fight different people from Ukraine, China, uh, what else? Brazil, all different types of places, and then experience different styles. And that way I felt confident enough when I got to the UFC. My first fight, shout out Rob Wilkinson, good guy, good friend of mine now, and yeah, he tried to take me down constantly, and I was able to withstand that because of the work we did. And Andrei, Andrei Poblet, my wrestling coach, a lot of drills, just drills, wall work constantly, uh, getting a-

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:02:00

       What year did you start that? What year did you start grappling training?

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya1:02:03

       I started in 2010, but I was meant to go into MMA straightaway, but there was just so many kickboxing fights, and I kept on getting kickboxing fights, that it was just too... Also, I like fighting kickboxing, so I was just like, "Oh, I'll just take this fight, take this fight." But I was always grappling on the side, like low-key grappling on the side. And eventually, I think, um... I can't remember my, what year my first UFC or MMA fight was. Uh, would have been 2014 maybe or '13, and then I started taking it more seriously. Like, I'm a purple belt now, but I'm like... I'm a purple belt. I know I'm dangerous, but it's like, eh, I'm not, like, a... There's levels, there's levels to belts, you know?

Episode duration: 2:35:13