JRE MMA Show #17 with Yoel Romero & Joey Diaz

Joe sits down with Yoel Romero to discuss his history as a fighter and wrestler from Cuba, and Joey Diaz joins to assist with translation from Spanish.

Joe RoganhostJoey DiazguestYoel Romeroguest

Mar 12, 20182h 21mWatch on YouTube ↗

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150 min read · 30,004 words

0:00 – 2:09
Yoel Romero’s Cuban “pyramid” sports school system explained
1. 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-
2. JDJoey Diaz
  (laughs)
3. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
4. JRJoe Rogan
  ... in my house.
5. YRYoel Romero
  Thank you so much.
6. 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-
7. JDJoey Diaz
  Yes.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  ... in Spanish.
9. JDJoey Diaz
  Yes.
10. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
11. JDJoey Diaz
  Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Yeah. We started in English-
12. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
13. 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-
14. JRJoe Rogan
  A pyramid meaning?
15. JDJoey Diaz
  It's a pyramid school. (Spanish) .
16. YRYoel Romero
  Um, (smacks lips) the py... (Spanish) .
17. JDJoey Diaz
  It's a system.
18. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
19. JDJoey Diaz
  It starts at about seven years old.
20. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
21. JDJoey Diaz
  All the sports in Cuba start that way.
22. YRYoel Romero
  Wow.
23. JDJoey Diaz
  And you go up the pyramid, but you (Spanish) .
24. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
25. JDJoey Diaz
  You stay there for the week, and they educate you. They feed you. You sleep there. You wrestle there. You wrestle-
26. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah.
27. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
28. YRYoel Romero
  Um, (smacks lips) (Spanish) .
29. JDJoey Diaz
  You wake up in the morning.
30. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
2:09 – 5:16
From wanting to box to being selected for wrestling
1. JRJoe Rogan
  How did they decide what sport you compete in? Like how did you choose wrestling? Was that just something that you loved or was it, did you like other sports? Like how did you choose to focus on wrestling?
2. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
3. YRYoel Romero
  No, yo, (clears throat) , uh, uh, in the beginning, I want to make it boxing.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Boxing?
5. YRYoel Romero
  Boxing. My daddy, uh, you know, for the family from my dad, uh, uh, is boxing and wrestling people, is my family. Wrestling and, and boxing. But I love ros- boxing in the beginning. My dad said, "No, it's, it's, uh, uh, I no like it you make a sport b- b- boxing because boxing is too much punches in the face."
6. JDJoey Diaz
  Mm-hmm.
7. YRYoel Romero
  "It's no good. It's no good." But, you know, I'm in the beginning, make it boxing. (Spanish) .
8. JDJoey Diaz
  He would hide it from his dad.
9. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, really?
11. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
13. JDJoey Diaz
  (laughs)
14. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
15. JDJoey Diaz
  Six years old, he was boxing, and he would hide it from his dad.
16. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
17. JDJoey Diaz
  Uh, uh, Hipolito Ramos, the Olympic, uh, whatever, 1980. He would sneak around with him.
18. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
19. JDJoey Diaz
  He would learn with him how to box, hiding from his dad.
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Ah.
21. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
22. JRJoe Rogan
  So when did you focus on just wrestling? Like when did wrestling take over?
23. YRYoel Romero
  Okay, um, (Spanish) , everybody know my family, you know. Uh, one coach for wrestling, Jose Vizcaino, he see me and the, and the, and the, I go to... (Spanish) .
24. JDJoey Diaz
  There's a lot of trainers in the pyramid.
25. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
26. JDJoey Diaz
  They go to the schools-
27. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
28. JDJoey Diaz
  ... and they, to look for talent.
29. YRYoel Romero
  You know. (Spanish) .
30. JDJoey Diaz
  And they do tryouts.
5:16 – 7:37
Moving up the ladder: Pre-EIDE, EIDE, ESPA, national team life
1. YRYoel Romero
  And, and that's the pyramid, the system in Cuba, you know. You, the people take it when the, the, when the kid is, uh, very young, you know, and go to the, for the, uh, special school for sport. You know? (Spanish) .
2. JDJoey Diaz
  The lowest level.
3. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
4. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
5. YRYoel Romero
  Pre Eide.
6. JDJoey Diaz
  Pre Eide.
7. YRYoel Romero
  Si. (Spanish) .
8. JDJoey Diaz
  The lowest level.
9. YRYoel Romero
  Pre Eide. (Spanish) .
10. JDJoey Diaz
  Eide, that's the second level.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
12. YRYoel Romero
  And the, and the second, (Spanish) .
13. JDJoey Diaz
  Espa.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Espa.
15. YRYoel Romero
  Espa. (Spanish) . (Spanish)
16. Español, that's the highest level.
17. This is the junior.
18. Junior, okay.
19. Junior. (Spanish) .
20. Then you get the selection to be national.
21. Yeah, like a Olympic Center.
22. Like the Olympic Center. So then they take you to a different center. So you keep going up, like, until you get to, like, the UFC training facility.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Matt Brown told me that he did his camp for, I think it was the Mike Pyle fight, did his camp in Cuba.
24. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  And he said it's just tremendous talent, and he said he just couldn't believe how good the boxers were, how good the wrestlers were. It was just unbelievable.
26. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah. I, I hear he, that Matt Brown stay in Cuba. I hear.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, for six weeks.
28. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah. He stay and, and, and, (Spanish) . Matt Brown go for a level más alto.
29. He went to the highest level when he was down there.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Yeah, he said he got worked.
7:37 – 11:40
Privileges, food, and the brutal incentive structure in Cuba
1. JRJoe Rogan
  ... an amazing, amazing system that they produce great, great talent. But he was saying that as you get higher and higher levels, your accommodations are better, where you sleep is better, your food, you get more food.
2. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
3. Si.
4. (Dublin Spanish) .
5. I mean, I mean-
6. JRJoe Rogan
  There's a lot of incentive to improve.
7. YRYoel Romero
  It's true.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
9. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
10. It's the reality. It's hard to say, but it's a reality. But he's going to tell you.
11. (Spanish) .
12. He went to a lot of Olympic centers all over the world.
13. And (Spanish) .
14. The number five and the number six wrestlers from those countries-
15. (Spanish) .
16. ... eats the same as number one.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm.
18. YRYoel Romero
  But in Cuba, no es asi.
19. In Cuba, it's not like that.
20. (Spanish) .
21. If you're number three, you don't eat where number one eats.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Wow.
23. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
24. And you're not going to eat the same as number two either.
25. Number one has más privilegio.
26. The number one guy has the most privilege.
27. Es bueno y es malo.
28. It's good and it's bad.
29. (Spanish) .
30. Because it pushes you to be the best. You want to get more food.
11:40 – 18:03
Living with your rivals: constant pressure and becoming a “machine”
1. YRYoel Romero
  Every time, every time you see... Look at this. You stay for... Because I stay in the national team for almost 15, (Spanish) .
2. 15.
3. Yeah, 15 years, I'm staying in the Olympic Center. Um, you can't imagine it. I stay with the 10 guys-... for 15 years, and the 15 years, 10 guys, "I want to kill you."
4. (laughs)
5. (sighs) You kill my-
6. That's pressure.
7. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, the cuartos son, so- so- so- es un building, you know?
8. Mm-hmm.
9. Es un building y tiene mucho cuarto.
10. JDJoey Diaz
  Uh-huh. It's a building with a lot of rooms.
11. YRYoel Romero
  Pero hay veces que los cuartos quedan frente a... Es como un hotel, tú sabes. Los cuartos a veces quedan, this is my room, that's the room for the... Another guy, but this guy is the, the same, the, my same division.
12. Right.
13. El power todo, he can see for 15 years everywhere you doing, everything where you eat, everything with you when you's sick, everything. He know you about, a- about you, everything.
14. Mm-hmm.
15. JDJoey Diaz
  So you live with your opponents?
16. YRYoel Romero
  Right, right.
17. JDJoey Diaz
  They know when you're sick. They know-
18. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah.
19. JDJoey Diaz
  ... it's not like where, where you're fighting, uh, Matt Brown and he w- he's in Kentucky and you're in Denver training, nobody knows what's going on.
20. YRYoel Romero
  Right.
21. JDJoey Diaz
  There, they train, so you know what I'm doing and I know what you're doing.
22. YRYoel Romero
  Huh.
23. JDJoey Diaz
  So we're all on the same floor.
24. YRYoel Romero
  Right.
25. JDJoey Diaz
  They do it like that to build that ver- you know, whatever the hell they're building between you.
26. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah, adversity. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
27. Sabes como tienes que prepararte mentalmente?
28. JDJoey Diaz
  Do you know how you prepare yourself mentally for that? (laughs)
29. YRYoel Romero
  How do you?
30. Tienes que ser verdaderamente una maquina.
18:03 – 29:28
Defecting in Germany: choosing a new life and early MMA chaos
1. YRYoel Romero
  Sí, yo entré en, uh, uh, 18, '90, '95, and I li- I leave 2007.
2. How did you leave?
3. (Spanish)
4. JDJoey Diaz
  Si.
5. YRYoel Romero
  Um, I go to the Grand Prix tournament, Grand Prize in Germany, in la-- en, uh, (Spanish) .
6. JDJoey Diaz
  Mm-hmm.
7. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
8. JDJoey Diaz
  Leipzig City, Germany?
9. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah, thank you. (laughs)
10. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
11. YRYoel Romero
  Um, I, um, for four months before I, I, I think about, uh, this decision and say, when I stay in Germany I no go, go back Cuba, you know. I want to make it there my, my dream, new life, you know.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  What did you think you were gonna do though? Did you think you were gonna fight MMA back then because there wasn't-
13. YRYoel Romero
  I want to try it.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  ... MMA?
15. YRYoel Romero
  I say I wanna do this.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
17. YRYoel Romero
  I wanna do this. But you never know, you never know what the, the, the, the life give you, you know?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
19. YRYoel Romero
  But that's what, n- n- what I want. I say, the first, I make it wrestling because in Germany it have a Bundesliga, wrestling Bundesliga, you know?
20. JRJoe Rogan
  What is that?
21. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
22. JDJoey Diaz
  In Germany there's a Bundesliga, it's a league for wrestling.
23. JRJoe Rogan
  Oh, okay.
24. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah. (Spanish)
25. JDJoey Diaz
  He knows, he knows Germany.
26. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish)
27. JDJoey Diaz
  All the clubs will wanna take him as soon as he gets to Germany.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
29. YRYoel Romero
  Mm-hmm.
30. JDJoey Diaz
  Like they want him, you know?
29:28 – 35:43
From Germany to Strikeforce and then American Top Team in Miami
1. JRJoe Rogan
  So how did you make it to America?
2. YRYoel Romero
  Because I, I continued to fight. I winning, I win, I win, and I contract with the Strikeforce.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm.
4. YRYoel Romero
  You know?
5. JRJoe Rogan
  From Germany. So you're living in Germany.
6. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah, I live in Germany, you know. (Spanish) .
7. JDJoey Diaz
  He... It was too hard for him to find fights.
8. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
9. JDJoey Diaz
  When he fought that dude and won...
10. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
11. JDJoey Diaz
  He should've lost that fight, but since-
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
13. JDJoey Diaz
  ... he won, now it was tough to get competition for him.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. People thought he should've lost.
15. JDJoey Diaz
  Right, right.
16. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
17. 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-
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Right, right.
19. JDJoey Diaz
  ... was a, uh-
20. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
21. JDJoey Diaz
  Right. They had ... He fought either Alex or one of Alex's friends. He didn't know for sure.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm.
23. YRYoel Romero
  Me entiende? Y creo que no se si Alexandre Gustafsson perdió con él, que él le ganó. O sea ...
24. JDJoey Diaz
  Right. He doesn't know if Alex lost to the guy or something. Something happened, you know?
25. YRYoel Romero
  Almost.
26. JDJoey Diaz
  Almost.
27. YRYoel Romero
  Yo peleó con Alexandre Gustafsson too.
28. JDJoey Diaz
  And then he almost fought Alexander Gustafsson.
29. YRYoel Romero
  Porque yo estaba peleando en 205.
30. JDJoey Diaz
  'Cause he was fighting at 205.
35:43 – 50:08
Immigration, exile stories, and what America represents to Yoel
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Now, in this country it's very difficult if someone's coming from Mexico or from a lot of other countries to immigrate to America. How hard is it if you're Cuban? They just let you in, right? Isn't it a different thing? Like, they accept Ch- uh, people that are leaving Cuba?
2. JDJoey Diaz
  Si tú sales de Cuba, te aceptan aquí en Seguidita.
3. YRYoel Romero
  Sí.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Sí. It's easier, right?
5. YRYoel Romero
  Sí. It's very easy.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah. Whereas like Mexico, it's very hard.
7. YRYoel Romero
  It's very hard.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  If someone wants to be... Yeah. If someone wants to be a citizen from Mexico.
9. YRYoel Romero
  Sí. Debe ser muy duro para los hermanos mexicano ese proceso. Es muy duro. Muy duro.
10. JDJoey Diaz
  That, that, that's tougher for the Mexicans.
11. JRJoe Rogan
  It's almost like they're encouraging Cubans to leave.
12. JDJoey Diaz
  Well, yeah. And then remember, didn't Obama, before he left, he put the no-tap rule? Remember, as a punishment for fucking Clinton not winning, he fucking k- Obama... That's why Cubans got pissed off at Obama because he signed the rule again that you don't have to touch the beach. Remember that shit they had?
13. YRYoel Romero
  What was the ru- what was the rule?
14. JDJoey Diaz
  I don't know what the fucking thing was.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  If you touched the beach then you were in?
16. JDJoey Diaz
  You were in.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
18. JDJoey Diaz
  Where Haitians don't have that.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
20. JDJoey Diaz
  Haitians, they fucking yank 'em.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
22. JDJoey Diaz
  But all a Cuban has to do is touch the beach. It's like fucking playing tag. (laughs)
23. JRJoe Rogan
  They're at home base.
24. JDJoey Diaz
  (Rican language) .
25. YRYoel Romero
  (Rican language) .
26. JDJoey Diaz
  And in raft (Romanian) . A lot of people escaped from Cuba-
27. YRYoel Romero
  In rafts, yeah.
28. JDJoey Diaz
  ... and they died.
29. JRJoe Rogan
  On rafts, yeah.
30. JDJoey Diaz
  That's a hard fucking journey, man.
50:08 – 56:22
Identity, ancestry tests, and Cuba’s complex history
1. JDJoey Diaz
  Have you done the 23andMe or anything?
2. JRJoe Rogan
  No, I need to do that.
3. JDJoey Diaz
  You know, it's so stupid how, uh, a lot of people knock it, but when I read mine, uh, I, I looked into it for a few days, how... And you learn about history.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
5. JDJoey Diaz
  You know, how I have a little Chinese.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  Really?
7. JDJoey Diaz
  What the fuck? Yeah.
8. JRJoe Rogan
  You got Chinese in you?
9. JDJoey Diaz
  Yeah, because, because-
10. JRJoe Rogan
  (foreign language) .
11. JDJoey Diaz
  (foreign language) .
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Si.
13. JDJoey Diaz
  (foreign language) . You know, just a touch.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Did you ever have any idea you had Chinese in you?
15. JDJoey Diaz
  No, Chinese... Because the Chinese made the first real thing. They found chickens in San Francisco that had that DNA from that Chinese... It's very co... The worst thing you could do if you smoke pot is spit in a bottle and get the report back.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
17. JDJoey Diaz
  That is a fucking nightmare once you realize who you are. (foreign language) .
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Si. Si.
19. JDJoey Diaz
  (foreign language) .
20. JRJoe Rogan
  Si.
21. JDJoey Diaz
  Who you... qui tu eres.
22. JRJoe Rogan
  Qui tu eres. Si.
23. JDJoey Diaz
  It really messes with you for a couple of days. I was Russian Jew, I was Western African.
24. JRJoe Rogan
  Western African?
25. JDJoey Diaz
  Western African.
26. JRJoe Rogan
  (laughs)
27. JDJoey Diaz
  Which I always knew I'm Cuban.
28. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
29. JDJoey Diaz
  When you're Cuban, you're fucking African.
30. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
56:22 – 1:10:30
Cuban training science: periodization, testing, and age-based strength work
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Happy to be here. Yeah. Now, when you were in Cuba, the work ethic, the, the, with the wrestling and being on the end, I mean, that, the, uh, intense amount of work, that must translate very well into MMA training. Do you think that MMA training is as hard as wrestling training? Like when you were back in Cuba?
2. YRYoel Romero
  (Cuban Spanish) .
3. JRJoe Rogan
  Discipline.
4. YRYoel Romero
  (Cuban Spanish) .
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Si.
6. JDJoey Diaz
  (Cuban Spanish) .
7. YRYoel Romero
  A ver.
8. JDJoey Diaz
  (Cuban Spanish) .
9. YRYoel Romero
  (sighs) (Cuban Spanish) , I'm trying.
10. JDJoey Diaz
  Give it a shot, give it a shot.
11. YRYoel Romero
  I'm trying, I'm trying.
12. JDJoey Diaz
  (laughs)
13. YRYoel Romero
  You know, um, for sure, the, the, the, the, the, the process, the process for the training in Cuba, uh, of course, it helped me a lot in my career in MMA.
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah, it must have helped.
15. YRYoel Romero
  Absolutely.
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
17. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you ask me about this more hard.
18. JRJoe Rogan
  What's more difficult, yeah.
19. YRYoel Romero
  I don't know, Joe, because you can't... See, you see, see, you see, the training is the same. See, you s- The, the training for the sport is the same, believe me. Because you can't (Cuban Spanish) .
20. JDJoey Diaz
  You could do the training from MMA to wrestle.
21. YRYoel Romero
  And (Cuban Spanish) .
22. JDJoey Diaz
  And you could do the training from wrestling for MMA.
23. YRYoel Romero
  Ahora, (Cuban Spanish) .
24. JDJoey Diaz
  The value is how you use your energy in the two different sets of activity, uh, whatever.
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
26. JDJoey Diaz
  So it's different energy for wrestling, how you impose your energy in wrestling, and the energy that you have to have for MMA.
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Now when you were in Cuba and you were training wrestling, how much time did they spend working on strength and conditioning, and how much time on skill?
28. JDJoey Diaz
  (Cuban Spanish) .
29. YRYoel Romero
  Joe, the training is depending what you ha- (Cuban Spanish) , the goal.
30. JDJoey Diaz
  Where your goal is at, that's where the training is at.
1:10:30 – 1:28:33
Staying elite at 41: smart training, Cuba visits, and pacing improvements
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Now you at 41, you look better than ever.
2. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
3. YRYoel Romero
  Thank you, God. Thank you.
4. JRJoe Rogan
  It's crazy, man.
5. YRYoel Romero
  Thank you.
6. JRJoe Rogan
  I mean, it must be a combination of everything. It must be a combination of eating right, rest, working out hard, genetics. I mean you got a great ro- I mean, at 41, a lot of guys are on the downslide. You're, you're not.
7. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
8. YRYoel Romero
  Uh, (Spanish) .
9. JDJoey Diaz
  Regardless of what's going on...
10. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
11. JDJoey Diaz
  He can't say without... He can't do this podcast without telling them that the reason why he looks so good and he's healthy is the hand that God got him.
12. YRYoel Romero
  That's because I... Because (Spanish) .
13. JDJoey Diaz
  That he's even in shock at how he looks.
14. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
15. JDJoey Diaz
  And how he feels.
16. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
17. JDJoey Diaz
  Not only physically.
18. YRYoel Romero
  When the coach, this coach, (Spanish) .
19. JDJoey Diaz
  When he does his tests, when the coach tests him on certain levels...
20. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
21. JDJoey Diaz
  ... he stays freaked out. Like he can't believe he still... (Spanish) .
22. JRJoe Rogan
  What are you saying?
23. JDJoey Diaz
  I said that on the countdown I saw the taekwondo guy throwing little fucking sticks at him, you know, the things, and uh-
24. JRJoe Rogan
  The foam sticks, yeah.
25. JDJoey Diaz
  The foam sticks. And I saw him picking up the ties.
26. YRYoel Romero
  Mm-hmm.
27. JDJoey Diaz
  But I never really saw him sparring or wrestling.
28. YRYoel Romero
  Mm. But because (Spanish) .
29. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
30. YRYoel Romero
  (laughs)
1:28:33 – 1:38:18
Respect vs. trash talk: Conor, Anderson, and what Yoel told Rockhold
1. JRJoe Rogan
  Knowing how to pace yourself, knowing when to explode, when not to explode. Yes. What, what did you say to Luke Rockhold after you knocked him out? You were like, you were on top of him, talking to him.
2. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah.
3. JRJoe Rogan
  What did you say to him? You know, because... (sighs) You know, Joe, in Cuba with the p- the people, have a codeic, codeic. A code.
4. YRYoel Romero
  Code.
5. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
6. YRYoel Romero
  You know? I told you I stay with the 15 years with the, my opponents together.
7. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
8. YRYoel Romero
  You know. But you need respect, you know.
9. JRJoe Rogan
  Right, you need respect.
10. YRYoel Romero
  You need respect. And you know-
11. JRJoe Rogan
  So do you think too many people talk shit over here?
12. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah. And when you cross the line-
13. JRJoe Rogan
  Mm-hmm.
14. YRYoel Romero
  ... that is, that's, that's personal.
15. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
16. YRYoel Romero
  You know.
17. JRJoe Rogan
  And then it becomes personal.
18. YRYoel Romero
  Yeah. You can fight with me every day, but if you have a code, code, it's no problem.
19. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
20. YRYoel Romero
  It's, it's a sport.
21. JRJoe Rogan
  Right, right.
22. YRYoel Romero
  It's a sport. But when you cross the line, so you stay with me here, uh, and outside, uh, and, and, and you (Spanish) .
23. JRJoe Rogan
  If you give him a hug, you put your arm around him.
24. YRYoel Romero
  Why later you talking something not good about me?
25. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
26. YRYoel Romero
  Why?
27. 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?
28. YRYoel Romero
  To me. I understand a little bit, but-
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Yeah.
30. YRYoel Romero
  ... I want it the most, just-
1:38:18 – 1:51:39
USADA, tainted supplements, and Cuba’s scarcity vs. steroid rumors
1. JRJoe Rogan
  So let's explain what happened. You got ahold of a tainted supplement. There was something in the supplement that was, uh, forbidden.
2. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
3. YRYoel Romero
  No, no-
4. JRJoe Rogan
  They found that it was in the supplement, so you got cleared.
5. YRYoel Romero
  No, no, n-
6. JRJoe Rogan
  But you had a small suspension.
7. YRYoel Romero
  It's not food, it's not food. It, it, is, it's a supplemental (Spanish) .
8. JDJoey Diaz
  He was a stranger.
9. YRYoel Romero
  That's what I know. And, and, believe me, I don't understand what happened.
10. JRJoe Rogan
  Hmm.
11. YRYoel Romero
  It very serious, you know, because this supplement, I take it.
12. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
13. YRYoel Romero
  I take it. Why this supplement-
14. JRJoe Rogan
  Have something forbidden in it. Yeah.
15. YRYoel Romero
  See, why-
16. JRJoe Rogan
  Right.
17. YRYoel Romero
  ... why no before?
18. JRJoe Rogan
  Right. Well, it's very common, and a lot of times what happens is the suppliers, when you, uh, say if you're a supplement company and you have someone make some stuff for you and then you package it and sell it. The people that are putting it together for you, they're selling a bunch of other things too. And oftentimes, things get into your supplement that aren't supposed to be there, especially-
19. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
20. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
21. JDJoey Diaz
  So vamos a suponer, la gente que hacen los polvos estos, es la compañia mia, pero yo cojo una compañia para que pongo estos polvos juntos. Y a veces, ellos estan haciendo otros polvos tambien.
22. YRYoel Romero
  That's the way people see me.
23. JDJoey Diaz
  (Spanish) .
24. YRYoel Romero
  (Spanish) .
25. JRJoe Rogan
  This has happened to a lot of guys.
26. JDJoey Diaz
  Can I ask you a question?
27. JRJoe Rogan
  Sure, yeah.
28. JDJoey Diaz
  Can I ask you both a question? Is it true I can go into GNC and buy shit that could get jacked?
29. JRJoe Rogan
  Yes.
30. JDJoey Diaz
  GNC?