The Joe Rogan ExperienceJRE MMA Show #17 with Yoel Romero & Joey Diaz
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,004 words- 0:00 – 15:00
... five, four, three,…
- JRJoe Rogan
... five, four, three, two, one. (hands clap) And we're live with Joey Coco Diaz and one of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet, Yoel Romero-
- JDJoey Diaz
(laughs)
- YRYoel Romero
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... in my house.
- YRYoel Romero
Thank you so much.
- JRJoe Rogan
So Yoel, you got a good grasp of English, pretty good. Joey's gonna help fill in the blanks, and, uh, we'll be able to have some good communication here. You guys did a podcast last night-
- JDJoey Diaz
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
... in Spanish.
- JDJoey Diaz
Yes.
- YRYoel Romero
(laughs)
- JDJoey Diaz
Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Yeah. We started in English-
- YRYoel Romero
(laughs)
- JDJoey Diaz
... and then went into Spanglish, and I just wanted to know, I wanted the people to know who the hell Yoel Romero was. We talked about Cuba and his, uh, humble beginnings. How he went to school from Monday to Fridays at a pyramid, and you just wrestled, and that's how they do it in Cuba. And then you go up the pyramid, and how he only went home on the weekends and-
- JRJoe Rogan
A pyramid meaning?
- JDJoey Diaz
It's a pyramid school. (Spanish) .
- YRYoel Romero
Um, (smacks lips) the py... (Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
It's a system.
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
It starts at about seven years old.
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
All the sports in Cuba start that way.
- YRYoel Romero
Wow.
- JDJoey Diaz
And you go up the pyramid, but you (Spanish) .
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
You stay there for the week, and they educate you. They feed you. You sleep there. You wrestle there. You wrestle-
- YRYoel Romero
Yeah.
- JDJoey Diaz
(Spanish) .
- YRYoel Romero
Um, (smacks lips) (Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
You wake up in the morning.
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- 15:00 – 30:00
No es, no es…
- JDJoey Diaz
- YRYoel Romero
No es, no es que vas a pelear con, con, con, con el que tiene 12 con el que tiene 17. No, no, no. Todo es a través de edades.
- JDJoey Diaz
In Cuba, you don't fight... If you're 12, you don't fight a 17-year-old. You fight somebody who's your age. They put you always with people that are your age.
- YRYoel Romero
Eso le llama categorias.
- JDJoey Diaz
They call it categories.
- YRYoel Romero
You know, 11, 12.
- JDJoey Diaz
Once y 12, 11 to 12.
- YRYoel Romero
Eh-
- JDJoey Diaz
Just like that.
- YRYoel Romero
Yeah, like this, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Cuando llegas a, a, a nivel más alto-
- JDJoey Diaz
When you get to the highest level...
- YRYoel Romero
... ahí vas a encontrarte igual que, eh, eh, vas a encontrarte con personas de muchas edades, diferentes edades-
- JDJoey Diaz
You're gonna f- you're gonna find people with different ages.
- YRYoel Romero
... y de diferentes ciudades.
- JDJoey Diaz
And from different cities in Cuba. In Cuba or all over?
- YRYoel Romero
No, no, no. En Cuba.
- JDJoey Diaz
Okay.
- YRYoel Romero
De Cuba. Listen, pero cuando llegas a un cuarto-
- JDJoey Diaz
When you get to the room...
- YRYoel Romero
... puedes encontrarte personas de otra ciudad, o sea, digamos, Camagüey, Habana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, en tu mismo cuarto.
- JDJoey Diaz
You could find people from those cities that you're gonna fight against in your own room.
- YRYoel Romero
But, but listen, but ellos son de otro peso, digamos, I am 184, él es de 155. Tú sabes. No todos son del mismo peso. Pues los colocan allí, te dicen, okay, te dan la llave y te dice, "Vas a dormir en tal cuarto." You understand? Te ponen en ese cuarto. Van a ver, digamos, un cuarto de cinco persona.
- JDJoey Diaz
In each room there'll be five people.
- YRYoel Romero
Tú eres de Pinar del Rio. Tú-
- JDJoey Diaz
You are from Boston.
- YRYoel Romero
Ah, ah, Boston.
- JDJoey Diaz
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
To Boston. Yo soy de Miami. He's the-
- 30:00 – 45:00
Right. People thought he…
- JDJoey Diaz
for him.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right. People thought he should've lost.
- JDJoey Diaz
Right, right.
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
Yeah, after he realized what he had done, that he had fought Sasha, he realized Sasha had fought against some good competitors. Sasha was a-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right.
- JDJoey Diaz
... was a, uh-
- YRYoel Romero
(Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
Right. They had ... He fought either Alex or one of Alex's friends. He didn't know for sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- YRYoel Romero
Me entiende? Y creo que no se si Alexandre Gustafsson perdió con él, que él le ganó. O sea ...
- JDJoey Diaz
Right. He doesn't know if Alex lost to the guy or something. Something happened, you know?
- YRYoel Romero
Almost.
- JDJoey Diaz
Almost.
- YRYoel Romero
Yo peleó con Alexandre Gustafsson too.
- JDJoey Diaz
And then he almost fought Alexander Gustafsson.
- YRYoel Romero
Porque yo estaba peleando en 205.
- JDJoey Diaz
'Cause he was fighting at 205.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- YRYoel Romero
Entonce, um, y también con el otro francés. I don't remember. Who is the guy from France? The, uh-
- JDJoey Diaz
The Black guy?
- JRJoe Rogan
Francis Ngannou?
- YRYoel Romero
Black.
- JDJoey Diaz
No.
- YRYoel Romero
No, which one?
- JRJoe Rogan
Which one?
- JDJoey Diaz
The other guy. The big guy. The one, the whole...
- YRYoel Romero
Un francés. Un francés.
- JDJoey Diaz
A French guy. Savate. Uh, come on. Uh, Mir knocked him out.
- YRYoel Romero
He fight in the UFC too.
- 45:00 – 1:00:00
Why? …
- YRYoel Romero
for the woman here, my car is here and the car, the- for the guy is here. So the, the chick... It deescalated, the chick left, and the guy sat next to him in the car next to him. He gets in his car. Closes the door. He's all angry at the guy next to the fucking thing. He lowers his window. He tells the guy to breathe- ... and let it go. It doesn't... It's not worth the fucking anguish. You know? He's coming to me. And the guy got out of the car and started telling the story of what had happened. He had been here for a year in the States. He wanted to tell him what happened to him. He came from Colombia, the guy- ... and the Cuban guy, to come to the United States. He saw... Two weeks earlier, he had seen one of his friends. That he had been in the... in the journey with him from Cuba to Colombia and the whole thing. So he was telling me that that same guy got separated from his wife. You know why?
Why?
Because he couldn't look at his wife's face. That sh- she slept with 12 men in Colombia. And he couldn't do anything. So- That was part of the journey to get to the United States.
Oh, she had to do that in order to get over it.
Yeah.
Damn.
That's his exode. And that's one of like the minimal stories, you know.
Mm-hmm.
In Cuba, one week you leave, like me and you are brothers, you take off one week, and then my plan is to take off a week behind you. But we don't have no communication after you leave. 'Cause you have to go-
(tuts)
... through the jungle. Colombia, uh, uh, (ts tuts) Ecuador- Ecuador. And the brothers had found, on the journey through the jungles of Colombia, they found their brothers' caucases, like, eaten, like, you know, by a lion or whatever on the journey.
Their corpses?
Yeah, their corpses.
Yeah.
And you have to look, cry- ... and keep going to get to the United States.
Jesus Christ. (inhales deeply)
It's (foreign language) . Say, "God, thank you for you give me the opportunity." Very easy, it's not easy, but it's very easy when you look (foreign language) .
- JRJoe Rogan
I don't think anybody who was born here will ever appreciate it like someone who comes here from somewhere else.
- JDJoey Diaz
But we all-
- JRJoe Rogan
You know?
- JDJoey Diaz
... some, all, everybody in this fucking room started coming over on a journey.
- JRJoe Rogan
Somebody did.
- JDJoey Diaz
Jamie.
- JRJoe Rogan
Somebody in your, someone in your background.
- JDJoey Diaz
Well, you know, somebody did what they did.
- JRJoe Rogan
How many generations are you here, man?
- YRYoel Romero
Uh, my great-grandfather from one side came from Ireland. I've seen, like, the paperwork, and I think the other from Scotland and somewhere like that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah. I mean, this is a kind... This is what's drives me the most crazy about all the anti-immigration shit in America today. This's a whole country is made out of immigrants.
- JDJoey Diaz
Immigrants.
- JRJoe Rogan
The whole country.
- 1:00:00 – 1:15:00
(Cuban Spanish) . …
- JDJoey Diaz
you loo- when you lift- when you train in Cuba, it's with a long-range goal.
- YRYoel Romero
(Cuban Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
That's it, the goal.
- JDJoey Diaz
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
You understand? (Cuban Spanish) . And now you ten- you need to see how, how you training for this competition? How many o- how many (Cuban Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
How many hours? How many sessions?
- YRYoel Romero
But, (Cuban Spanish) .
- JDJoey Diaz
It's a four-year...... program. To get to the lowest, to the highest level. In the whole world.
- YRYoel Romero
Olympic Game.
- JDJoey Diaz
Why is it four years? The Olympic Games.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm.
- YRYoel Romero
You see?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- JDJoey Diaz
Every four years.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
Sometimes the people walk about this, not about this. This is the s- the primer año.
- JDJoey Diaz
That's the first year.
- YRYoel Romero
That's segundo año, el tercero año, cuarto año-
- JDJoey Diaz
That's the second year, that's the third year, that's the fourth year.
- YRYoel Romero
Muchas personas no ganan ni este, ni este, ni este campenato mundial.
- JDJoey Diaz
They don't win the first three.
- YRYoel Romero
World championship.
- JDJoey Diaz
Or the championship.
- YRYoel Romero
Because training about it, for this.
- JRJoe Rogan
For the Olympic Games.
- YRYoel Romero
For the Olympic Games. You understand?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
And in Cuba, pero eso te digo que es por edades, por categorias.
- JDJoey Diaz
That's why he told... He stressed that it's through ages, through categories.
- 1:15:00 – 1:30:00
Hey, one on one.…
- JRJoe Rogan
- YRYoel Romero
Hey, one on one.
Tough.
Yeah, one on one. No perdí.
How long-
I no lose, I one on one.
Oh, so you're one on one with him?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
Yeah, one on one.
Wow.
And Greco-Roman, Greco-Roman.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- YRYoel Romero
No freestyling, eh, no freestyling.
Wow.
Greco-Roman.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- YRYoel Romero
Then I say, say, "Hey, I have 40 years, this guy have, uh, 26." (Spanish) .
He feels good.
- JRJoe Rogan
So what is your secret to, to maintaining all this, uh, this physical strength, endurance, at this age, at 41?
- YRYoel Romero
I think-
- JRJoe Rogan
You think it's just genetics, just luck, just God?
- YRYoel Romero
I think it's God, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Smart training too, though.
- YRYoel Romero
No, tambien. No, no.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that too.
- YRYoel Romero
For sure too, for sure.
- JRJoe Rogan
For sure, for sure.
- YRYoel Romero
For sure too. (Spanish) .
He can't do what he did 20 years ago.
- JRJoe Rogan
No?
- 1:30:00 – 1:41:26
If you give him…
- YRYoel Romero
stay with me here, uh, and outside, uh, and, and, and you (Spanish) .
- JRJoe Rogan
If you give him a hug, you put your arm around him.
- YRYoel Romero
Why later you talking something not good about me?
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
Why?
- JRJoe Rogan
Do you think that in America, particularly today in the UFC, this is common because it gets guys' attention and they see like Conor McGregor, who makes a lot of money because not just of his ability, 'cause he can fight really well, but also because he talks shit really well too?
- YRYoel Romero
To me. I understand a little bit, but-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
... I want it the most, just-
- JRJoe Rogan
For sure. For sure. For sure. Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
Listen. Conor is Conor.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
Conor is Conor. That's why, that's what he say. I know many people like him, like a Conor, in, in, in, in, in Cuba, in, in the national team.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- YRYoel Romero
Many people like this.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
Uh, this what I see right now. (Spanish) .
- JRJoe Rogan
What he's seeing right now, he's already lived. He's already seen this.
- YRYoel Romero
Because they, in 15 years together-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- YRYoel Romero
... not is, not is only wrestling. Listen, not only for wrestling thing, it's all...... sport together.
- JRJoe Rogan
All the sports.
- YRYoel Romero
Together.
- JRJoe Rogan
Everybody together.
- YRYoel Romero
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- YRYoel Romero
You, you can believe this?
- JRJoe Rogan
Just savages.
- YRYoel Romero
Shh... That's it.
- JRJoe Rogan
Shh.
Episode duration: 2:21:26
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