JRE MMA Show #17 with Yoel Romero & Joey Diaz

Joe Rogan 0:00 ... 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-

Joey Diaz 0:12 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 0:12 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:12 ... in my house.

Yoel Romero 0:14 Thank you so much.

Joe Rogan 0:15 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-

Joey Diaz 0:25 Yes.

Joe Rogan 0:25 ... in Spanish.

Joey Diaz 0:26 Yes.

Yoel Romero 0:26 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 0:26 Spanish, Spanglish, and English. Yeah. We started in English-

Yoel Romero 0:29 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 0:29 ... 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-

Joe Rogan 0:48 A pyramid meaning?

Joey Diaz 0:50 It's a pyramid school. (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 0:54 Um, (smacks lips) the py... (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 0:58 It's a system.

Yoel Romero 0:59 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:02 It starts at about seven years old.

Yoel Romero 1:07 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:12 All the sports in Cuba start that way.

Yoel Romero 1:15 Wow.

Joey Diaz 1:16 And you go up the pyramid, but you (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:20 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:21 You stay there for the week, and they educate you. They feed you. You sleep there. You wrestle there. You wrestle-

Yoel Romero 1:28 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:29 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:29 Um, (smacks lips) (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:34 You wake up in the morning.

Yoel Romero 1:35 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:38 7:00 in the morning.

Yoel Romero 1:40 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:41 Everything is by a schedule.

Yoel Romero 1:43 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:43 Everything is run by a schedule, militaristic style.

Yoel Romero 1:46 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:47 By 7:00 to 8:00, is a desayuno. By 7:00 to 8:00, breakfast.

Yoel Romero 1:51 Yeah, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:55 8:00 to 12:00-

Yoel Romero 1:56 School.

Joey Diaz 1:57 ... is school, school.

Joe Rogan 1:58 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 1:58 You went to school.

Yoel Romero 1:59 (Spanish) . History. The basic stuff.

Joey Diaz 2:02 History. The basic stuff.

Yoel Romero 2:02 Mathematics.

Joey Diaz 2:03 Mathematics.

Yoel Romero 2:03 Um, um, uh, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 2:07 Physics.

Yoel Romero 2:08 Everything.

Joe Rogan 2:09 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?

Joey Diaz 2:19 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 2:20 No, yo, (clears throat) , uh, uh, in the beginning, I want to make it boxing.

Joe Rogan 2:27 Boxing?

Yoel Romero 2:27 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."

Joey Diaz 2:49 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 2:49 "It's no good. It's no good." But, you know, I'm in the beginning, make it boxing. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 2:55 He would hide it from his dad.

Yoel Romero 2:57 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 2:57 Oh, really?

Yoel Romero 2:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 2:58 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 2:58 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 3:00 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 3:01 Six years old, he was boxing, and he would hide it from his dad.

Yoel Romero 3:05 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 3:05 Uh, uh, Hipolito Ramos, the Olympic, uh, whatever, 1980. He would sneak around with him.

Yoel Romero 3:17 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 3:19 He would learn with him how to box, hiding from his dad.

Joe Rogan 3:22 Ah.

Yoel Romero 3:23 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 3:23 So when did you focus on just wrestling? Like when did wrestling take over?

Yoel Romero 3:27 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) .

Joey Diaz 3:50 There's a lot of trainers in the pyramid.

Yoel Romero 3:53 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 3:55 They go to the schools-

Yoel Romero 3:56 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 3:57 ... and they, to look for talent.

Yoel Romero 3:59 You know. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 4:02 And they do tryouts.

Yoel Romero 4:04 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 4:04 Depending on what, how you doing the testing-

Yoel Romero 4:11 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 4:11 ... when you go down... So it's just like, uh, they go, they evaluate you, and then they decide what's best for you.

Joe Rogan 4:18 Mm.

Yoel Romero 4:19 For example, you coach for boxing. I am coach for judo. Joe is a coach, um-

Joey Diaz 4:26 Boxing?

Yoel Romero 4:27 No, no, uh-

Joey Diaz 4:27 Taekwondo?

Yoel Romero 4:28 Taekwondo, something like this, okay. We say, okay, we go t- tomorrow for, for school and we test the people for the, for the kid, you know. You do a, you, you test her for the boxing. I, I do it for wrestling, and you do it for, for-

Joey Diaz 4:46 Taekwondo.

Yoel Romero 4:46 ... Taekwondo, you know. And now you see, see the, see 10 guy, 10 kid, you got 10 kid, and you see who is the best, who are the, the, the talent for boxing.

Joe Rogan 4:59 Mm.

Yoel Romero 5:00 Maybe you see, okay, for boxing good, maybe no good. Um, but you say, you see, you can see, say, "Oh, for boxing no good, but for Taekwondo, hey, Joey, this guy, ah, ha- have a talent for your sport." And now, you know, like this.

Joe Rogan 5:15 Mm.

Yoel Romero 5:16 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) .

Joey Diaz 5:33 The lowest level.

Yoel Romero 5:34 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 5:36 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 5:36 Pre Eide.

Joey Diaz 5:38 Pre Eide.

Yoel Romero 5:40 Si. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 5:43 The lowest level.

Yoel Romero 5:44 Pre Eide. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 5:49 Eide, that's the second level.

Joe Rogan 5:52 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 5:53 And the, and the second, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 5:57 Espa.

Joe Rogan 5:58 Espa.

Yoel Romero 5:58 Espa. (Spanish) . (Spanish)

6:06 Español, that's the highest level.

6:09 This is the junior.

6:10 Junior, okay.

6:11 Junior. (Spanish) .

6:15 Then you get the selection to be national.

6:18 Yeah, like a Olympic Center.

6:20 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.

Joe Rogan 6:28 Matt Brown told me that he did his camp for, I think it was the Mike Pyle fight, did his camp in Cuba.

Yoel Romero 6:34 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 6:34 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.

Yoel Romero 6:41 Yeah. I, I hear he, that Matt Brown stay in Cuba. I hear.

Joe Rogan 6:45 Yeah, for six weeks.

Yoel Romero 6:47 Yeah. He stay and, and, and, (Spanish) . Matt Brown go for a level más alto.

6:53 He went to the highest level when he was down there.

Joe Rogan 6:56 Yeah. Yeah, he said he got worked.

Yoel Romero 6:58 (Spanish) .

7:00 I know. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 7:01 (laughs) He said some good guys, man. He said they were good.

Yoel Romero 7:04 (Spanish) .

7:13 He thinks he can't even go back there to that center now.

7:18 (Spanish) .

7:18 Now they would whoop him.

7:20 Si, (Spanish) .

7:20 Now they would spank him at his age.

Joe Rogan 7:22 Wow. (laughs) That's crazy.

Yoel Romero 7:24 I did some. I did some. I did some. I did some. I did some.

Joe Rogan 7:29 That's crazy. When you were there, um, Matt... One of the things that Matt was saying, and Matt Brown had tremendous respect for the Cuban athletes and he said it was-

Yoel Romero 7:37 That's right.

Joe Rogan 7:37 ... 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.

Yoel Romero 7:48 (Spanish) .

7:51 Si.

7:51 (Dublin Spanish) .

7:54 I mean, I mean-

Joe Rogan 7:57 There's a lot of incentive to improve.

Yoel Romero 8:01 It's true.

Joe Rogan 8:02 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 8:03 (Spanish) .

8:06 It's the reality. It's hard to say, but it's a reality. But he's going to tell you.

8:13 (Spanish) .

8:16 He went to a lot of Olympic centers all over the world.

8:23 And (Spanish) .

8:30 The number five and the number six wrestlers from those countries-

8:33 (Spanish) .

8:33 ... eats the same as number one.

Joe Rogan 8:38 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 8:39 But in Cuba, no es asi.

8:40 In Cuba, it's not like that.

8:42 (Spanish) .

8:46 If you're number three, you don't eat where number one eats.

Joe Rogan 8:52 Wow.

Yoel Romero 8:53 (Spanish) .

8:53 And you're not going to eat the same as number two either.

8:58 Number one has más privilegio.

8:59 The number one guy has the most privilege.

9:02 Es bueno y es malo.

9:03 It's good and it's bad.

9:05 (Spanish) .

9:07 Because it pushes you to be the best. You want to get more food.

Joe Rogan 9:10 What's the bad part?

Yoel Romero 9:11 (Spanish) .

9:14 (Spanish) .

9:15 And not everybody has, could be the best at what they're doing.

Joe Rogan 9:22 Right.

Yoel Romero 9:23 That's the worst part about it.

9:24 (Spanish) .

9:24 Right.

9:30 Um, (Spanish) .

9:32 You're not going to have the privilege to eat a good lobster.

Joe Rogan 9:34 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 9:35 Or a good steak.

Joe Rogan 9:35 It's rough, but if you look at how small Cuba is, but how many great talents have come from Cuba. Obviously, it's effective. I mean, it ha- it has its merits, right? Like, that system, it's a brutal system, but it seems to be very effective in producing-

Yoel Romero 9:50 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 9:50 ... super high level athletes.

Yoel Romero 9:52 They ain't giving you no trophies for second place.

Joe Rogan 9:54 There's no, yeah, no... There's no participation trophies.

Yoel Romero 9:56 (Spanish) .

10:04 No, uh, (Spanish) . You don't want... There comes a point where you don't want the trophy anymore.

10:20 You don't want... There comes a point where you don't want the trophy anymore.

10:24 (Spanish) .

10:25 You want to eat what the best guys eat and you want to sit where the best guys eat.

10:29 Okay. (Spanish) .

10:33 I got third place, but who gives a shit?

Joe Rogan 10:35 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 10:36 (Spanish) . The people see the champ, you know?

Joe Rogan 10:44 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 10:44 The people want to touch the champ. The people want, want to stay down the, where the, the champ stay.

Joe Rogan 10:50 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 10:51 And that's the way the people want it. You know? The number three and number four will say, "I want to stay. Okay, I take the trophy. I stay, uh, the, my, the medal. Uh, okay, but I want the feeling, what the champ is feeling." You know?

Joe Rogan 11:04 Right.

Yoel Romero 11:04 You know? "I want to walk from the, where the people walk. I want to stay, eat. I want to... the, the people talk like me th- th- when the people talk to the champ."

Joe Rogan 11:14 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 11:14 That's the way the people... The, the, the, the system push, you know?

Joe Rogan 11:18 Right.

Yoel Romero 11:19 And that's what I say every time. Every time, that's what I say. The system push you like this. (Spanish) .

11:33 The more that the guy that trains the most, the system is-

11:37 Is (Spanish) .

11:38 Is the best.

11:39 You know?

11:40 And Cuba-

Yoel Romero 11:40 Every time, every time you see... Look at this. You stay for... Because I stay in the national team for almost 15, (Spanish) .

11:54 15.

11:55 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."

12:15 (laughs)

12:18 (sighs) You kill my-

12:20 That's pressure.

12:21 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, the cuartos son, so- so- so- es un building, you know?

12:30 Mm-hmm.

12:30 Es un building y tiene mucho cuarto.

Joey Diaz 12:32 Uh-huh. It's a building with a lot of rooms.

Yoel Romero 12:34 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.

12:46 Right.

12:47 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.

12:59 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 12:59 So you live with your opponents?

Yoel Romero 13:01 Right, right.

Joey Diaz 13:01 They know when you're sick. They know-

Yoel Romero 13:03 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 13:03 ... 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.

Yoel Romero 13:10 Right.

Joey Diaz 13:11 There, they train, so you know what I'm doing and I know what you're doing.

Yoel Romero 13:15 Huh.

Joey Diaz 13:16 So we're all on the same floor.

Yoel Romero 13:17 Right.

Joey Diaz 13:17 They do it like that to build that ver- you know, whatever the hell they're building between you.

Yoel Romero 13:20 Yeah, adversity. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.

13:22 Sabes como tienes que prepararte mentalmente?

Joey Diaz 13:26 Do you know how you prepare yourself mentally for that? (laughs)

Yoel Romero 13:29 How do you?

13:30 Tienes que ser verdaderamente una maquina.

Joey Diaz 13:34 You have to become a fucking machine.

Yoel Romero 13:36 Machine, maquina.

13:36 Pero no, pe- but it's not only machine in the fight, in, in the fight. No, no, no. Machine in your life.

13:44 Yeah.

13:46 Cuando esta enfermo-

Joey Diaz 13:47 When you're sick...

Yoel Romero 13:48 ... si te rompiste algo, el lo sabe.

Joey Diaz 13:51 ... if you broke something...

Yoel Romero 13:52 This guy, no only one. This is 10 guys.

13:55 Mm-hmm.

13:56 You know? Tienes que volverte una maquina interior e exteriormente.

Joey Diaz 14:06 You got that?

Yoel Romero 14:08 No.

Joey Diaz 14:08 You have to become a machine inside and out.

Yoel Romero 14:10 And outside.

Joey Diaz 14:10 Because those 10 guys know when you're sick.

Yoel Romero 14:13 Right.

Joey Diaz 14:13 You know? They know when you get hurt. So now I'm training with you, but I saw that you hurt your wrist in training, (claps hands) I'm going after that fucking wrist.

Yoel Romero 14:20 Right, right, right.

Joey Diaz 14:21 You know what I'm saying? Like, it's just that, it's, it's, it's intense. So that's why he's the machine that he is, he says, uh, he, he only trains you to be a machine o- on the outside, but also trains you to be a machine on the inside.

Yoel Romero 14:33 And yo, listen, this is very important too. I am come for my, for the, for, for Pinar del Rio city.

Joey Diaz 14:41 Push this up.

Yoel Romero 14:42 Okay.

Joey Diaz 14:43 There you go.

Yoel Romero 14:43 Thank you. I coming from the Pinar del Rio city. (chair creaks) Some time, you know, y, y, y que recuerdes que todo es con edades.

Joey Diaz 14:57 Everything is with ages.

Yoel Romero 15:00 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.

Joey Diaz 15:09 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.

Yoel Romero 15:17 Eso le llama categorias.

Joey Diaz 15:19 They call it categories.

Yoel Romero 15:20 You know, 11, 12.

Joey Diaz 15:22 Once y 12, 11 to 12.

Yoel Romero 15:24 Eh-

Joey Diaz 15:24 Just like that.

Yoel Romero 15:24 Yeah, like this, you know?

15:25 Mm-hmm.

15:29 Cuando llegas a, a, a nivel más alto-

Joey Diaz 15:33 When you get to the highest level...

Yoel Romero 15:35 ... ahí vas a encontrarte igual que, eh, eh, vas a encontrarte con personas de muchas edades, diferentes edades-

Joey Diaz 15:44 You're gonna f- you're gonna find people with different ages.

Yoel Romero 15:47 ... y de diferentes ciudades.

Joey Diaz 15:50 And from different cities in Cuba. In Cuba or all over?

Yoel Romero 15:54 No, no, no. En Cuba.

Joey Diaz 15:56 Okay.

Yoel Romero 15:56 De Cuba. Listen, pero cuando llegas a un cuarto-

Joey Diaz 16:02 When you get to the room...

Yoel Romero 16:04 ... puedes encontrarte personas de otra ciudad, o sea, digamos, Camagüey, Habana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, en tu mismo cuarto.

Joey Diaz 16:16 You could find people from those cities that you're gonna fight against in your own room.

Yoel Romero 16:22 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.

Joey Diaz 16:49 In each room there'll be five people.

Yoel Romero 16:54 Tú eres de Pinar del Rio. Tú-

Joey Diaz 16:55 You are from Boston.

Yoel Romero 16:57 Ah, ah, Boston.

Joey Diaz 16:58 Right.

Yoel Romero 16:58 To Boston. Yo soy de Miami. He's the-

Joey Diaz 17:02 New Jersey.

Yoel Romero 17:02 ... New Jersey. And another room-

Joey Diaz 17:08 In the other room...

Yoel Romero 17:09 ... is a fight guy too.

17:11 Mm-hmm.

17:11 But one guy is my division, but it's the same for your style. You understand now? For the same city.

17:21 Right.

17:22 And now you're friend for him.

17:24 Mm-hmm.

17:25 And I careful, because when I stay in the room you see everything. Hey, you can tell him, "Hey," because maybe you the, the, the, the friend, tú eres el mejor en tu peso.

Joey Diaz 17:38 You're the best in your division.

Yoel Romero 17:40 Y, y tu amigo es el segundo.

Joey Diaz 17:42 And your friend is the second best.

Yoel Romero 17:44 Y es mi, y es mi peso.

Joey Diaz 17:45 And he's his weight.

Yoel Romero 17:46 Mm-hmm.

17:47 Ustedes se hablan, "Oye, cómo te sientes, Yoel? Cómo..."

Joey Diaz 17:49 Yeah, so you guys get to talk. So now you always have spies watching you.

Yoel Romero 17:54 Right.

17:54 For 15 years like this.

17:56 15 years. When did you leave?

Joey Diaz 17:59 ¿Cuándo te fuiste?

Yoel Romero 18:00 En el 2007.

Joey Diaz 18:02 2007.

Yoel Romero 18:02 2007.

Yoel Romero 18:03 Sí, yo entré en, uh, uh, 18, '90, '95, and I li- I leave 2007.

18:11 How did you leave?

18:13 (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 18:14 Si.

Yoel Romero 18:14 Um, I go to the Grand Prix tournament, Grand Prize in Germany, in la-- en, uh, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 18:21 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 18:21 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 18:21 Leipzig City, Germany?

Yoel Romero 18:27 Yeah, thank you. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 18:28 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 18:30 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.

Joe Rogan 18:51 What did you think you were gonna do though? Did you think you were gonna fight MMA back then because there wasn't-

Yoel Romero 18:56 I want to try it.

Joe Rogan 18:57 ... MMA?

Yoel Romero 18:58 I say I wanna do this.

Joe Rogan 19:00 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 19:00 I wanna do this. But you never know, you never know what the, the, the, the life give you, you know?

Joe Rogan 19:08 Right.

Yoel Romero 19:09 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?

Joe Rogan 19:20 What is that?

Yoel Romero 19:21 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 19:21 In Germany there's a Bundesliga, it's a league for wrestling.

Joe Rogan 19:24 Oh, okay.

Yoel Romero 19:24 Yeah. (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 19:30 He knows, he knows Germany.

Yoel Romero 19:32 (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 19:32 All the clubs will wanna take him as soon as he gets to Germany.

Joe Rogan 19:39 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 19:39 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 19:39 Like they want him, you know?

Joe Rogan 19:40 Right, so they'll offer sanctuary.

Joey Diaz 19:41 Right, they'll offer sanctuary.

Yoel Romero 19:42 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 19:42 They're gonna pay him.

Yoel Romero 19:45 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 19:47 With his hands open, he was broke.

Joe Rogan 19:52 Right.

Yoel Romero 19:55 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 19:59 His, he, even though he wrestled, he wanted to MMA. He was telling me last night that he would watch those videos, people would smuggle UFC fights into Cuba and, uh, it wasn't known. It wasn't gonna happen for him in Cuba. It was never gonna happen for him.

Joe Rogan 20:15 Mm-hmm, right.

Joey Diaz 20:16 So he wanted to get into MMA so when he went to Germany, he stayed and there was, uh, a MMA fight and they wouldn't let him fight amateur because he was in the Olympics.

Joe Rogan 20:28 Right.

Joey Diaz 20:28 So they threw him right into the wolves.

Joe Rogan 20:30 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 20:31 Like, his first fight w- he didn't even train.

Yoel Romero 20:33 (laughs) It's very funny because so you can see my, the first fight when I have it, it's man, do you see what I do? Like, uh, is, I, uh, when I fight a guy that's what happen-

Joe Rogan 20:48 Is it online? Can we find the video?

Yoel Romero 20:50 Yeah. Yeah, yeah you can, you can.

Joe Rogan 20:51 See if you can find the video and it's in Germany fight?

Yoel Romero 20:54 In Germany.

Joe Rogan 20:54 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 20:55 In-

Joe Rogan 20:55 How long did you live in Germany for?

Yoel Romero 20:57 Six years.

Joe Rogan 20:58 Six years?

Yoel Romero 20:58 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:59 Wow!

Yoel Romero 20:59 Yeah, yeah. I make it uppercut like this, look at this.

Joe Rogan 21:05 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 21:05 But like this here, no, n-

Joe Rogan 21:07 Like down, you started from the bottom.

Yoel Romero 21:09 Like this, yeah, yeah. (laughs)

Joey Diaz 21:09 He didn't know what he was doing.

Joe Rogan 21:11 Here it is.

Yoel Romero 21:13 Is that it?

Joe Rogan 21:13 Is this it?

Yoel Romero 21:14 No, not this. That is, uh, like a tournament. There's no, it-

Joe Rogan 21:17 That seems like jujitsu.

Yoel Romero 21:19 That, that is in one tournament but, yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:21 Oh.

Yoel Romero 21:22 That, that is, uh, one tournament, yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:23 Is that MMA or jujitsu?

Yoel Romero 21:25 No MMA.

Joe Rogan 21:25 That's MMA?

Yoel Romero 21:26 But it's-

Joe Rogan 21:26 Oh, it's MMA-

Yoel Romero 21:27 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 21:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:27 ... like, on a big basketball court?

Yoel Romero 21:29 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 21:29 That's what I think all MMA should be on.

Yoel Romero 21:32 All right, I'll find that.

Joe Rogan 21:32 All right, find that. Um, so when you had your first fight you had no training?

Yoel Romero 21:37 No.

Joey Diaz 21:37 Just, just your wrestling?

Yoel Romero 21:38 Wrestling.

Joe Rogan 21:39 But you knew how to box a little from being a kid?

Yoel Romero 21:41 Yeah, but you know-

Joe Rogan 21:42 Right.

Yoel Romero 21:42 ... every time in Cuba because in Cuba it's normal is you have a gloves the people say, "Okay, boxing."

Joe Rogan 21:48 Right, right, right.

Yoel Romero 21:49 Pim-pam, pim-pam, a little bit in the street, you know.

Joe Rogan 21:51 Right, just fucking around.

Yoel Romero 21:52 Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 21:54 Yeah, wow. So when you were in Cuba were you thinking about the future that there was only so, so many more years you can compete in wrestling and then what else to do?

Joey Diaz 22:05 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 22:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:09 You had this huge wrestling career, you had-

Joey Diaz 22:11 (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 22:12 ... medaled in all these international competitions.

Joey Diaz 22:15 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 22:19 Si, yes.

Joey Diaz 22:19 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 22:21 Si, si, I think in MMA. No MMA, UFC.

Joe Rogan 22:24 Yeah, here it is. Is this it right here?

Yoel Romero 22:27 Yeah, look at it.

Joe Rogan 22:27 Wow, this is crazy. Look at you throwing kicks, man. And this is, uh, no training?

Yoel Romero 22:34 No, no, no, no. Look at this. Look at that. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:36 Wild.

Yoel Romero 22:38 You see. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:39 Oh, man. Those are wild uppercuts. But still, throwing shots to the body. Oh, they give a standing eight count? What are they doing here?

Yoel Romero 22:48 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:48 Is that what that is? This guy's got headgear on. Interesting.

Joey Diaz 22:55 And what year was this, (Spanish) ?

Yoel Romero 22:58 2008.

Joey Diaz 22:59 Is that it?

Joe Rogan 23:00 That's it, they called it?

Yoel Romero 23:02 Yeah, yeah.

Joey Diaz 23:03 You beat him? (Spanish)

Yoel Romero 23:03 Yeah, he said I don't want no more. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:05 No, we're good. (laughs) Oh, they gonna let him back in there?

Yoel Romero 23:07 But this very funny because-

Joe Rogan 23:09 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 23:09 ... the coaches is right, is, uh, he don't know nothing about the boxing, nothing. The coaches, um, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 23:19 Oh, that's the comedians?

Yoel Romero 23:20 Comedians.

Joey Diaz 23:21 The coaches-

Joe Rogan 23:22 The coaches is comedians?

Joey Diaz 23:23 ... is comedians. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:23 Oh, Jesus.

Joey Diaz 23:24 At the MMA fight.

Yoel Romero 23:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:27 Yeah, that's terrible.

Joey Diaz 23:29 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 23:29 Yeah, yeah. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:29 So that was it?

Yoel Romero 23:30 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:30 He punched him in the head a few times-

Yoel Romero 23:31 Yes. (laughs)

Joey Diaz 23:32 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:32 ... and they go, "That's good. We're good."

Joey Diaz 23:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 23:34 We're good.

Yoel Romero 23:34 He's very, he's very friend for me, he say-

Joe Rogan 23:36 Does he keep going?

Yoel Romero 23:37 Yeah.

23:37 Look.

Joe Rogan 23:37 Oh, goes again?

Yoel Romero 23:38 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:39 Okay, so he's trying here. Boom.

Joey Diaz 23:45 Jesus Christ.

Yoel Romero 23:48 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 23:54 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 23:54 The Cuban language. (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 23:58 Because there's Cubans there?

Yoel Romero 23:59 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 23:59 Is there a Cuban population in Germany? Whoa. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 24:04 (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 24:13 Right, okay.

Yoel Romero 24:14 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 24:14 So, so is there a big... (Spanish)

Yoel Romero 24:17 Si, si, si.

Joey Diaz 24:18 Yeah, there's a big... You know where else there's a lot of Cubans, uh, Joe?

Joe Rogan 24:21 Where?

Joey Diaz 24:21 Italy.

Joe Rogan 24:22 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 24:23 They all went, uh, I met this Cuban guy, and he goes, "I'm never coming back to the States."

Joe Rogan 24:27 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 24:27 "It's a lot better than this shithole."

Joe Rogan 24:29 They had good food. That's for sure.

Joey Diaz 24:30 I was like, "You were in Italy..." And he says he works for a restaurant. He was a waiter.

Joe Rogan 24:34 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 24:34 They kinda understood the language. He goes, "A lot better than living here." I go, "Really?"

Joe Rogan 24:37 Really?

Joey Diaz 24:38 And he went back, he couldn't get a job here.

Joe Rogan 24:40 Do you, uh, do, do you, uh, how... What's going on with you and a passport? You getting a passport?

Joey Diaz 24:44 I'm on it.

Joe Rogan 24:46 You're on it?

Joey Diaz 24:46 I'm on it, yeah.

Joe Rogan 24:47 You gotta go to Italy.

Joey Diaz 24:47 The guy did the, the paperwork and, uh, we just gotta... I gotta pay the 10G fine.

Joe Rogan 24:52 Yeah, that's it?

Joey Diaz 24:53 The 10G fine and that, that takes care of everything. That was the root of all evil. And it's always such a sad evil, that they didn't care about the conviction.

Joe Rogan 25:02 They just want the money.

Joey Diaz 25:02 They didn't care about the anger management classes.

Joe Rogan 25:05 Right.

Joey Diaz 25:05 "Just give me the 10 Gs and we'll rip up the warrant."

Joe Rogan 25:08 (inhales deeply)

Joey Diaz 25:08 Fucking America, fucking America.

Joe Rogan 25:11 So you, you get to Germany in 2007, and did you find an MMA gym to start training once you had your first fight?

Yoel Romero 25:18 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 25:23 He went to a gym but there was nothing. There was no-

Yoel Romero 25:25 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 25:33 He would hit the sticks on the street and shit like that. There was no MMA coaches at that time. Not when he was there. (Spanish)

Yoel Romero 25:38 No, no, no, no.

Joey Diaz 25:42 Nothing?

Yoel Romero 25:42 No, no. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 25:44 He wa- he had a lot of popularity in Nuremberg.

Joe Rogan 26:05 So-

Joey Diaz 26:05 People... The word started getting out that there was this Cuban guy.

Joe Rogan 26:09 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:09 But it was more because of his wrestling.

Joe Rogan 26:11 Right, right, right.

Yoel Romero 26:12 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:15 And this club he was in was in the second division.

Yoel Romero 26:17 You know? (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:25 So he started training the fucking fighters and the club won, and they got up to division one.

Yoel Romero 26:31 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 26:31 Once he started training-

Joe Rogan 26:32 Oh, so he started training wrestling. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 26:34 Wrestling, yeah. And (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:40 When, when they called him for his MMA fight, he said, "Fuck it, I'll go down there."

Yoel Romero 26:44 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:44 So now he started getting more... A little bit more popularity in the city.

Yoel Romero 26:50 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:52 There was a tournament.

Yoel Romero 26:53 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 26:55 Little bit bigger, a bigger statue.

Yoel Romero 26:57 Uh, de MMA.

Joey Diaz 26:58 MMA. Cuz the headliner got sick.

Yoel Romero 27:12 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:12 And they call him up.

Yoel Romero 27:14 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:20 They asked him if he wanted to fight with this guy, Sasha, from Australia, uh, Austria, Austria.

Yoel Romero 27:28 Austria. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:29 He was the champion of-

Joe Rogan 27:33 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 27:33 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:39 He had fought with... against Gustafsson.

Joe Rogan 27:45 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 27:45 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:45 ... this time.

Yoel Romero 27:46 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:50 He didn't know nothing about no Alexander-

Yoel Romero 27:51 I said, "Okay, I fight." (laughs)

Joey Diaz 27:52 He'll fight the guy.

Yoel Romero 27:54 And (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:57 And he went and fought him and bought him, and beat him.

Yoel Romero 27:59 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 27:59 That was his third fight.

Yoel Romero 28:03 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:06 These two fights that you guys see are not in his record.

Joe Rogan 28:09 Oh.

Yoel Romero 28:10 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:14 The first fight on his record is Sasha, the guy...

Yoel Romero 28:18 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:20 He was 8-1 or 7-1 and...

Yoel Romero 28:23 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:27 So he told him, "You're gonna fight with him?" He goes, "Okay, I'll fight with him."

Yoel Romero 28:29 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:34 With who then? (Spanish) ?

Yoel Romero 28:35 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:36 He trained with a guy that was, like, a Taekwondo dude that had done stuff, but not really.

Joe Rogan 28:50 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 28:52 Um, uh, Siki, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:54 Siki.

Yoel Romero 28:54 Siki. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 28:57 He's a Serbian.

Yoel Romero 28:58 Serbian, right. You know? (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:04 After he beat Sasha, the guy started helping him a little bit, but-

Yoel Romero 29:08 But (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:11 And he kept training on the streets and, you know-

Yoel Romero 29:14 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:14 ... running and wrestling. (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 29:15 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:18 Oh, in the woods. He would train in the woods where you were hunting.

Joe Rogan 29:23 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 29:23 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 29:23 He would train in the woods, hit, hitting trees and shit like that.

Joe Rogan 29:27 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 29:27 You know.

Joe Rogan 29:28 So how did you make it to America?

Yoel Romero 29:31 Because I, I continued to fight. I winning, I win, I win, and I contract with the Strikeforce.

Joe Rogan 29:40 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 29:41 You know?

Joe Rogan 29:41 From Germany. So you're living in Germany.

Yoel Romero 29:42 Yeah, I live in Germany, you know. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:48 He... It was too hard for him to find fights.

Yoel Romero 29:50 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:50 When he fought that dude and won...

Yoel Romero 29:54 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 29:56 He should've lost that fight, but since-

Joe Rogan 29:58 Right.

Joey Diaz 29:58 ... he won, now it was tough to get competition for him.

Joe Rogan 30:00 Right. People thought he should've lost.

Joey Diaz 30:02 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 30:03 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 30:05 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-

Joe Rogan 30:23 Right, right.

Joey Diaz 30:23 ... was a, uh-

Yoel Romero 30:23 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 30:30 Right. They had ... He fought either Alex or one of Alex's friends. He didn't know for sure.

Joe Rogan 30:35 Mm.

Yoel Romero 30:35 Me entiende? Y creo que no se si Alexandre Gustafsson perdió con él, que él le ganó. O sea ...

Joey Diaz 30:42 Right. He doesn't know if Alex lost to the guy or something. Something happened, you know?

Yoel Romero 30:47 Almost.

Joey Diaz 30:48 Almost.

Yoel Romero 30:48 Yo peleó con Alexandre Gustafsson too.

Joey Diaz 30:50 And then he almost fought Alexander Gustafsson.

Yoel Romero 30:52 Porque yo estaba peleando en 205.

Joey Diaz 30:54 'Cause he was fighting at 205.

Joe Rogan 30:56 Mm.

Yoel Romero 30:56 Entonce, um, y también con el otro francés. I don't remember. Who is the guy from France? The, uh-

Joey Diaz 31:05 The Black guy?

Joe Rogan 31:06 Francis Ngannou?

Yoel Romero 31:07 Black.

Joey Diaz 31:07 No.

Yoel Romero 31:07 No, which one?

Joe Rogan 31:08 Which one?

Joey Diaz 31:08 The other guy. The big guy. The one, the whole...

Yoel Romero 31:10 Un francés. Un francés.

Joey Diaz 31:11 A French guy. Savate. Uh, come on. Uh, Mir knocked him out.

Yoel Romero 31:16 He fight in the UFC too.

Joey Diaz 31:18 UFC guy.

Joe Rogan 31:18 Who?

Yoel Romero 31:18 He fought in the UFC.

Joe Rogan 31:18 Who knocked him out?

Joey Diaz 31:19 Mir knocked him out, I think, uh-

Joe Rogan 31:21 Frank Mir?

Joey Diaz 31:22 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 31:22 No.

Joey Diaz 31:22 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 31:22 No, no, no. He's 205.

Joey Diaz 31:24 No, no, no.

Joe Rogan 31:24 205.

Joey Diaz 31:25 Chuck Congo.

Joe Rogan 31:25 Chuck Congo?

Yoel Romero 31:26 No, no, no. Another guy.

Joey Diaz 31:27 Oh, another guy.

Yoel Romero 31:28 No, Chuck Congo is a, he's heavyweight.

Joe Rogan 31:29 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 31:31 It's a-

Joe Rogan 31:32 205.

Yoel Romero 31:32 He's like me, like me. He's tall.

Joe Rogan 31:35 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 31:36 Huh. From France?

Yoel Romero 31:39 Sí.

Joey Diaz 31:39 From France.

Yoel Romero 31:39 From French. Almost fight with this too. Almost.

Joe Rogan 31:45 Okay. I'm trying to figure out who that would be.

Yoel Romero 31:46 He, he's the ... And, and this time, 2009, he's the number two in the Eu- Europe.

Joe Rogan 31:52 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 31:52 And the number one is Alexandre. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 31:54 Okay.

Yoel Romero 31:54 Entonces, yo no tenía opción en la pelea, solamente me estaban poniendo esta pelea.

Joey Diaz 31:58 Yeah. He didn't have no one. They would ... He had nobody to even ... They were just giving him these fights.

Joe Rogan 32:02 So you signed f- with Strike Force.

Yoel Romero 32:04 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:04 And then how do you get to United States?

Yoel Romero 32:06 United State.

Joey Diaz 32:07 How did you... Cómo, cómo tú firmaste con Strike Force? Where?

Yoel Romero 32:09 Bueno, tenía unos managers. No tenía los managers que tengo ahora. Estaba con otra compañía. Y entonces me dijeron, uh, "Yoel, uh, Strike Force want you, but you need to fight Rafael Feijao. Si you want ... si you win, you, you go to the belt and fight Henderson. Because Henderson, uh, beat, uh, Rafael Feijao."

Joe Rogan 32:32 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 32:32 I said, "Okay. Good." I said, "Thank you, God, no beat, uh, uh, Rafael Feijao."

Joe Rogan 32:37 Right.

Yoel Romero 32:37 You know? Because I no have, uh, experience-

Joe Rogan 32:42 Right.

Yoel Romero 32:42 ... with these people, you know.

Joe Rogan 32:44 High level.

Yoel Romero 32:45 High level.

Joe Rogan 32:45 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 32:45 I no have experience.

Joe Rogan 32:46 Yeah. Feijao was very good at the time too.

Yoel Romero 32:48 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:49 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 32:49 You see-

Joe Rogan 32:50 He had knocked out King Mo.

Yoel Romero 32:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:51 Or maybe he knocked out King Mo a- after, I think.

Yoel Romero 32:54 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:54 But-

Yoel Romero 32:54 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 32:54 ... he had that same level. Like, he was fe- ... A lot of people forgot about Feijao. Feijao, at one point in time was one of the best in the world.

Yoel Romero 33:01 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, uh, yo peleé con Feijao. Él había perdido el, el cinturón con, con Henderson hacía dos meses.

Joey Diaz 33:10 So he had, uh ... F- Feijao had lost the belt to Henderson?

Joe Rogan 33:14 Yes.

Joey Diaz 33:15 Okay.

Yoel Romero 33:15 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 33:15 I don't remember all that stuff, so.

Joe Rogan 33:16 Yeah. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 33:17 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:18 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 33:18 He, he beat, uh, King Mo. King Mo beat, uh, Mousasi. Feijao beat, uh, King Mo and Henderson beat, uh, uh, Feijao.

Joe Rogan 33:28 Feijao.

Yoel Romero 33:28 That's it.

Joe Rogan 33:28 Yeah. And so that was your first fight in Strike Force.

Yoel Romero 33:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:31 You lost that fight.

Yoel Romero 33:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:33 And that was your first loss as a fighter.

Yoel Romero 33:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 33:35 Like, what was that like?

Joey Diaz 33:38 ¿Cómo? Cuando perdiste la primera vez, cómo te sentiste?

Yoel Romero 33:40 No, normal.

Joey Diaz 33:41 Normal.

Joe Rogan 33:42 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 33:42 Normal because... Because I say, uh, "Cuando yo terminé la pelea-"

Joey Diaz 33:48 When you finished the fight.

Yoel Romero 33:49 "... que bajo del, del octágono, voy caminando por..."

Joey Diaz 33:52 He said he went up to the hotel and he went for a walk.

Yoel Romero 33:55 "Que, para el hotel. Mis managers, mi ex-managers en ese tiempo, se me quedan mirando y me dicen." Yo me empiezo a reír.

Joey Diaz 34:01 He said-

Yoel Romero 34:01 Dice: "¿Por qué te ríes?"

Joey Diaz 34:02 His managers were looking at him, he was smiling. His manager's like, "Why are you smiling?"

Yoel Romero 34:06 Y yo le dice: "Porque estuve a un pasó de ganarle a un, a un gran campeón."

Joey Diaz 34:11 That he was this close from fighting the, beating the grand champion, you know.

Yoel Romero 34:15 Sin entrenar.

Joey Diaz 34:16 Without training.

Joe Rogan 34:17 Right. Right.

Yoel Romero 34:18 You know?

Joe Rogan 34:18 Right.

Yoel Romero 34:19 Entonce yo lo que veía era el punto positivo.

Joey Diaz 34:21 Now he saw a positive. He said-

Yoel Romero 34:24 Yo dije: "Cuando yo entrene de verdad-"

Joey Diaz 34:27 ... "If I train, when he trains for real-"

Yoel Romero 34:28 "... yo voy a ser campeón."

Joey Diaz 34:29 "... he'll be the fucking champion."

Joe Rogan 34:30 That's how a champion thinks.

Yoel Romero 34:31 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 34:34 Yeah. So this was... What was it? 2008, '09, somewhere around there? What year was that?

Joey Diaz 34:40 ¿Qué año era esto?

Yoel Romero 34:41 Creo que fue en el, uh, 9 o 10.

Joey Diaz 34:49 9 or 10.

Joe Rogan 34:49 9 or 10. Yeah. So, uh, where were you training at the time?

Joey Diaz 34:53 ¿Dónde tú estabas?

Joe Rogan 34:54 When you came to America.

Joey Diaz 34:55 Cuando tú llegaste a los Estados Unidos, ¿dónde, dónde empezaste?

Yoel Romero 34:57 En America Top Team.

Joey Diaz 34:59 You went right to American Top Team.

Yoel Romero 35:00 Sí.

Joe Rogan 35:00 That's the way to go.

Yoel Romero 35:01 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 35:02 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 35:02 Los entrenadores, porque me moví a Miami.

Joey Diaz 35:05 He moved to Miami.

Yoel Romero 35:06 Yeah. Uh-

Joe Rogan 35:06 Easy fit? A lot of Cubans?

Yoel Romero 35:08 Sí.

Joe Rogan 35:09 Yeah?

Yoel Romero 35:10 Sí.

Joey Diaz 35:10 A lot of Cubans.

Yoel Romero 35:11 Yeah. Me dio gusto-

Joe Rogan 35:12 That must be nice, right?

Joey Diaz 35:13 Eso te gusta, Joel?

Yoel Romero 35:16 Sí.

Joey Diaz 35:16 Mucho cubano.

Yoel Romero 35:16 Sí. I love it.

Joe Rogan 35:17 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 35:17 I love it because I can, uh, mucho ... He visto muchas personas que, de, de, de mi niñez.

Joey Diaz 35:24 He sees a lot of kids from his childhood.

Joe Rogan 35:26 Ah.

Yoel Romero 35:27 Yeah. Many people. Many. Mucha gente de Cuba se ha ido de Cuba.

Joey Diaz 35:30 A lot of people from Cuba lived in mi- lived in Miami obviously.

Yoel Romero 35:33 De toda Cuba.

Joey Diaz 35:34 From all over parts of Cuba.

Yoel Romero 35:35 Y muchas personas que, que, de diferentes etapa, mayores que yo, de mi edad, y más jóvenes que yo también.

Joey Diaz 35:42 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 35:42 Están en, en Miami.

Joe Rogan 35:43 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?

Joey Diaz 35:57 Si tú sales de Cuba, te aceptan aquí en Seguidita.

Yoel Romero 36:01 Sí.

Joe Rogan 36:02 Sí. It's easier, right?

Yoel Romero 36:03 Sí. It's very easy.

Joe Rogan 36:04 Yeah. Whereas like Mexico, it's very hard.

Yoel Romero 36:06 It's very hard.

Joe Rogan 36:07 If someone wants to be... Yeah. If someone wants to be a citizen from Mexico.

Yoel Romero 36:09 Sí. Debe ser muy duro para los hermanos mexicano ese proceso. Es muy duro. Muy duro.

Joey Diaz 36:14 That, that, that's tougher for the Mexicans.

Joe Rogan 36:16 It's almost like they're encouraging Cubans to leave.

Joey Diaz 36:19 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?

Yoel Romero 36:37 What was the ru- what was the rule?

Joey Diaz 36:38 I don't know what the fucking thing was.

Joe Rogan 36:40 If you touched the beach then you were in?

Joey Diaz 36:41 You were in.

Joe Rogan 36:42 Right.

Joey Diaz 36:42 Where Haitians don't have that.

Joe Rogan 36:44 Right.

Joey Diaz 36:44 Haitians, they fucking yank 'em.

Joe Rogan 36:46 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 36:46 But all a Cuban has to do is touch the beach. It's like fucking playing tag. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 36:51 They're at home base.

Joey Diaz 36:52 (Rican language) .

Yoel Romero 36:55 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 36:58 And in raft (Romanian) . A lot of people escaped from Cuba-

Yoel Romero 37:03 In rafts, yeah.

Joey Diaz 37:03 ... and they died.

Joe Rogan 37:03 On rafts, yeah.

Joey Diaz 37:04 That's a hard fucking journey, man.

Joe Rogan 37:05 90 miles on a boat.

Joey Diaz 37:07 90 miles on a boat.

Yoel Romero 37:08 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 37:08 And they do it, they got to do a science. If you speak to those people, they leave at a certain tide, they bring enough-

Yoel Romero 37:14 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 37:14 ... saltine crackers.

Yoel Romero 37:15 Right.

Joey Diaz 37:16 I mean, they got fucking, like, things that you never even heard of.

Yoel Romero 37:18 (Rican language) . Yeah, that the stories are horrible of them leaving, you know, that, uh, uh, it's just fucking nightmare.

Joey Diaz 37:43 What's Peter Pan?

Yoel Romero 38:09 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 38:09 Oh, I didn't know that one.

Joe Rogan 38:11 So, what did he say? What did he say?

Joey Diaz 38:11 No, we were talking about the different exoduses that you talk about, like, the, the, the pain that all the races had, the Chinese and all that. But one of the big struggles is that Cuban one, that they, they leave and, like, he left his son in Cuba.

Yoel Romero 38:24 Oh.

Joey Diaz 38:25 You know, his parents are in Cuba, you know, but then again, I mean, that's the story of the immigrant.

Yoel Romero 38:31 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 38:31 Your grandfather left s- his brother in Cuba.

Yoel Romero 38:33 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 38:34 In, uh, Sicily, you know?

Yoel Romero 38:35 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 38:36 To make it better, to send checks to...

Yoel Romero 38:38 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 38:38 That's their plan. You know, "You're gonna go to Cu- you're gonna go there. Send us checks until..." (Romanian) .

Yoel Romero 38:44 (Rican language)

Joey Diaz 38:46 His family lives well in Cuba because of his success, you know what I'm saying?

Yoel Romero 38:50 (Rican language) .

Joe Rogan 38:50 Oh.

Yoel Romero 38:50 (Rican language)

Joe Rogan 38:50 So you can send, you can send money back to Cuba?

Yoel Romero 38:52 Si.

Joey Diaz 38:52 (Rican language)

Yoel Romero 38:53 Si, si, si.

Joey Diaz 38:54 (Rican language) . If you send $10-

Yoel Romero 38:58 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 38:59 ... they give you eight.

Yoel Romero 39:00 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 39:01 Mm.

Yoel Romero 39:02 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 39:08 If you send the $100...

Yoel Romero 39:09 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 39:11 ... they'll give them $80.

Yoel Romero 39:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 39:12 Mm. So they take a little piece?

Joey Diaz 39:14 He met Fidel, by the way.

Joe Rogan 39:16 Really? You met Fidel?

Yoel Romero 39:18 (Rican language)

Joey Diaz 39:19 (Rican language) .

Yoel Romero 39:20 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 39:22 The way you're sitting next to him. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 39:24 Wow.

Yoel Romero 39:26 (laughs) .

Joe Rogan 39:28 Was that weird?

Joey Diaz 39:30 (Rican language) .

Yoel Romero 39:32 No, you know, um, (Romanian) .

Joey Diaz 39:45 He's had two heroes in his life, God and his father.

Yoel Romero 39:52 (Romanian) .

Joey Diaz 39:58 When he sees a, a human being, he sees a human being. He treats him like a human being.

Yoel Romero 40:03 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 40:06 God gives talent to people. Like Matt Brown said, they're very talented.

Yoel Romero 40:10 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 40:13 He celebrates the talent of the human being, the human spirit.

Yoel Romero 40:16 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 40:18 But he sees everybody like a human being, you know?

Yoel Romero 40:21 That's it.

Joe Rogan 40:22 So you just saw Fidel as a human being?

Joey Diaz 40:25 (Rican language) .

Yoel Romero 40:25 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 40:27 He was the president of his country, you know?

Joe Rogan 40:38 Now, being in America for as l- you've been here for a few years now, are you, uh, completely settled in? You, you, you love it here, you're staying here. This is your spot now?

Joey Diaz 40:49 (Rican language) .

Yoel Romero 40:51 (Rican language) .

Joey Diaz 40:56 No, not that he's staying, he's already fucking stayed.

Yoel Romero 41:01 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:01 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 41:01 He's done. He's already here. He's here to stay.

Yoel Romero 41:05 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 41:05 I hear you, man.

Yoel Romero 41:06 No, I say thank you God, for, for giving me the opportunity l- in my life you see here in United State, you know?

Joe Rogan 41:13 What's the difference? How does it feel y- different here?

Joey Diaz 41:15 (Rican language) .

Joe Rogan 41:23 Just freedom?

Yoel Romero 41:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 41:26 Do whatever you want?

Yoel Romero 41:26 Yeah. You have a future.

Joe Rogan 41:31 You have a future?

Yoel Romero 41:31 You have a future. Your family have a future, you know what I'm saying? When, when you have a exodus in your family, when you have a exodus in your country, it's very hard. And it's very... Uh, uh, uh, you have emotion every day when you see the exodus in your country, in your people. And you... (Romanian) .

Joey Diaz 42:12 You have the possibilities of getting here. You know? Like you see this exodus and you see... You know, and w- we didn't see it. We don't know what Grandpa Rogan did. I don't know a fucking Grandpa Rogan. I don't know why Grandpa Rogan left. You know what I'm saying? Like-

Joe Rogan 42:27 Right.

Joey Diaz 42:27 We all went through this at-

Joe Rogan 42:29 Right.

Joey Diaz 42:29 ... one point. Somebody in our-

Yoel Romero 42:30 Many people-

Joe Rogan 42:30 Someone went through this. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 42:31 ... many people, yo, lose the life (Romanian) .

Joey Diaz 42:38 And t- a lot of people lose their life trying-

Yoel Romero 42:42 Trying to get here.

Joey Diaz 42:43 ... trying to get here.

Yoel Romero 42:44 Yeah. I say... And (Romanian) .

42:49 Because he completed that mission, he'll never forget that. You know? He was lucky that he didn't have to do that raft-

43:13 Right.

43:14 ... to go like the pitcher from the Yankees that had to go to the Dominican Republic and they had to smuggle him out-

43:19 Mm-hmm.

43:19 ... to some other th- ... like Colombia- ... and then, then the Yankees had to sign him and that's the only way-

43:24 Right, right.

43:25 ... Steinbrenner showed up with an envelope and then-

43:27 Right.

43:27 ... nobody knows nothing. He's happy that he went, uh, Germany and he had a plan, you know, and-

43:34 Yeah.

43:34 He says he sits with a lot of people, listen to their stories. He went to a Walmart by his house. Maybe the guy, he is still listening to this. Maybe the guy is listening to this right now. Uh, (sighs) he went to buy food for his dogs. ... and for his rabbits. When he comes out, he sees something not normal. A guy and a- a couple walked into the Walmart. They were arguing. He's putting the shit in the trunk. He hears the Cuban accent. They had some problem. Okay. So he stays so the problem doesn't escalate.

44:49 Mm-hmm.

44:50 Like this. The car 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?

46:48 Why?

46:51 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.

47:18 Oh, she had to do that in order to get over it.

47:20 Yeah.

47:22 Damn.

47:23 That's his exode. And that's one of like the minimal stories, you know.

47:37 Mm-hmm.

47:39 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-

48:03 (tuts)

48:05 ... 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.

48:45 Their corpses?

48:45 Yeah, their corpses.

48:46 Yeah.

48:47 And you have to look, cry- ... and keep going to get to the United States.

48:57 Jesus Christ. (inhales deeply)

49:01 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) .

Joe Rogan 49:15 I don't think anybody who was born here will ever appreciate it like someone who comes here from somewhere else.

Joey Diaz 49:21 But we all-

Joe Rogan 49:22 You know?

Joey Diaz 49:22 ... some, all, everybody in this fucking room started coming over on a journey.

Joe Rogan 49:26 Somebody did.

Joey Diaz 49:26 Jamie.

Joe Rogan 49:27 Somebody in your, someone in your background.

Joey Diaz 49:28 Well, you know, somebody did what they did.

Joe Rogan 49:30 How many generations are you here, man?

Yoel Romero 49:32 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.

Joe Rogan 49:38 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.

Joey Diaz 49:49 Immigrants.

Joe Rogan 49:49 The whole country.

Joey Diaz 49:50 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 49:53 Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Diaz 49:54 Even the (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 49:54 Even Native Americans.

Yoel Romero 49:55 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 49:57 Even, even Native Americans.

Yoel Romero 49:59 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:00 They walked over here-

Yoel Romero 50:01 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:01 ... thousands of years ago.

Yoel Romero 50:01 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:02 Everybody came from somewhere.

Yoel Romero 50:04 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:05 Everyone. Everyone.

Yoel Romero 50:07 Everyone.

Joe Rogan 50:07 Everyone.

Yoel Romero 50:08 Everyone.

Joe Rogan 50:08 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 50:08 Have you done the 23andMe or anything?

Joe Rogan 50:10 No, I need to do that.

Joey Diaz 50:11 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.

Joe Rogan 50:21 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 50:21 You know, how I have a little Chinese.

Joe Rogan 50:23 Really?

Joey Diaz 50:24 What the fuck? Yeah.

Joe Rogan 50:24 You got Chinese in you?

Joey Diaz 50:25 Yeah, because, because-

Joe Rogan 50:26 (foreign language) .

Joey Diaz 50:27 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:29 Si.

Joey Diaz 50:29 (foreign language) . You know, just a touch.

Joe Rogan 50:32 Did you ever have any idea you had Chinese in you?

Joey Diaz 50:34 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.

Joe Rogan 50:48 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 50:49 That is a fucking nightmare once you realize who you are. (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:54 Si. Si.

Joey Diaz 50:54 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 50:56 Si.

Joey Diaz 50:57 Who you... qui tu eres.

Joe Rogan 50:59 Qui tu eres. Si.

Joey Diaz 50:59 It really messes with you for a couple of days. I was Russian Jew, I was Western African.

Joe Rogan 51:03 Western African?

Joey Diaz 51:04 Western African.

Joe Rogan 51:05 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 51:05 Which I always knew I'm Cuban.

Joe Rogan 51:07 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:07 When you're Cuban, you're fucking African.

Joe Rogan 51:09 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yoel Romero 51:09 Wow. Right, right.

Joey Diaz 51:10 All the Cu- all the... When you see a, uh, Cuban, it's a Black dude that speaks Spanish.

Joe Rogan 51:14 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yoel Romero 51:14 Right, right, right.

Joey Diaz 51:14 That's it. That just Black-

Yoel Romero 51:15 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:15 ... dudes that speak Spanish. They're Africans, okay?

Joe Rogan 51:18 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:18 So I knew that there, there was African blood and the top, it's not Spain. They call it something else. It's Spain and something else up there. That's where... So they went all the way around and the last little bit is Russian Jew, like 2% of 'em. God knows where you get that from.

Joe Rogan 51:37 Wow.

Joey Diaz 51:37 But here's the problem, if you're Native American, it can't give you an-

Joe Rogan 51:40 Iberian Peninsula.

Joey Diaz 51:41 ... Iberian Peninsula. That's where we're really from.

Joe Rogan 51:43 Wow. Wow.

Joey Diaz 51:45 And now-

Joe Rogan 51:45 Powerful, Jimmy.

Joey Diaz 51:46 But if you're American Indian-

Joe Rogan 51:47 Yeah. (laughs)

Joey Diaz 51:47 ... with that thing, they can't... Like my wife's American Indian. I see her grandmother-

Joe Rogan 51:51 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:51 ... I was on the grandfather, bro.

Joe Rogan 51:53 Oh, yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:53 They're fucking Indians.

Yoel Romero 51:54 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 51:54 Okay? The mother got the awful lip. (child crying) That's where Terry gets the Indian fucking lip from. Doesn't read it.

Joe Rogan 52:00 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 52:00 It doesn't read if you're Indian unless you're a couple of generations back. (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 52:05 Si.

Joey Diaz 52:06 (foreign language) .

Joe Rogan 52:07 It doesn't read the Native American?

Joey Diaz 52:09 No, it doesn't read it unless you're three or four gener- something kinky. You gotta ask my wife.

Joe Rogan 52:13 Oh, okay.

Joey Diaz 52:14 Something's not... That's why she don't buy into it, because it didn't tell her she was American Indian, but the sister, it did.

Joe Rogan 52:20 Huh.

Joey Diaz 52:20 So it's kind of fucking weird how the sister had a little bit more. My wife still had it, but not as much. More of her Irish came up.

Joe Rogan 52:26 That's interesting.

Joey Diaz 52:28 You know?

Joe Rogan 52:28 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 52:28 But oh, it doesn't take a gene... Last night we were playing, to get this fucking savage fired up-

Joe Rogan 52:33 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 52:34 ... you gotta play, uh, the old school Cuban music. I told him this is what he needs to play before he fights.

Joe Rogan 52:39 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 52:39 You should've seen him. You should've fucking seen him, man.

Yoel Romero 52:42 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 52:42 And, uh, he w- he was explaining to Lee, uh, his manager, that if you know anything about Cuba, well, fuck, it was a slave market.

Joe Rogan 52:50 Right.

Joey Diaz 52:51 Man, it was a fucking slave market.

Joe Rogan 52:52 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 52:53 You know? That's where they bought them. That's where the white people went and saw a sex show while they were there and took a couple of slaves back with them to Alabama or wherever the fuck they were from.

Joe Rogan 53:02 Hmm.

Joey Diaz 53:02 That's the reality of it.

Joe Rogan 53:03 Wow.

Joey Diaz 53:04 So, uh... Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:08 Crazy. It's beautiful to be here now though, huh?

Joey Diaz 53:12 (foreign language) .

Yoel Romero 53:13 Si. Si, claro. (foreign language) .

Joey Diaz 53:27 And not just, uh, that to be here, but to also be doing what he wants to do. You know, uh, uh, for people who don't know, and I, I know Joe, there's a documentary called something Brothers. It's about the two Cuban, the Levon, Levon Fernandez brothers, Levon and Du- el Duque. Come on, guy.

Joe Rogan 53:47 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 53:47 One guy comes first and wins the World Series.

Joe Rogan 53:50 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 53:50 And the other brother got blackballed in Cuba. They threw eggs at his house. W- Fidel wouldn't let him play baseball no more.

Joe Rogan 53:56 What's the name of the documentary?

Joey Diaz 53:58 Uh, the, uh, Brothers in Arms or something.

Yoel Romero 54:00 Levon.

Joey Diaz 54:00 Jesus Christ, Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan 54:02 Yeah?

Joey Diaz 54:02 And then they threw eggs at him. They wouldn't even let... He had to play on the field. Like he had to play like, like how he boxed. He had to bat-

Yoel Romero 54:09 Levon Duque y Levon Hernandez.

Joey Diaz 54:11 And Levon Hernandez. And then that motherfucker came, left his wife and daughters.

Joe Rogan 54:15 Brothers in Exile.

Yoel Romero 54:16 Yeah. Yeah.

Joey Diaz 54:16 Oh, shit, Joe Rogan.

Joe Rogan 54:18 Damn.

Joey Diaz 54:18 And then this motherfucker goes up to New York-

Yoel Romero 54:21 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 54:21 ... and tears them up in New York, like fucking won World Series. And then at the end, he fucking wins in San Diego, but he can't get his daughters and his wife up here. So they got some reporter in Washington to call a fucking cardinal and wi- and fly to Cuba that night. And they flew to Cuba that night and Fidel was watching the fucking Yankee game, Jack. And the cardinal gave him a note and there was a note from el Duque saying, "Please let my wife and daughter go." Put them on a fucking plane-

Joe Rogan 54:54 Wow.

Joey Diaz 54:54 ... fucking ticker-tape parade. The sister wife at the end goes...... listen, I'm in New York on a fucking float. They just won, and I see all these people throwing toilet paper. I started grabbing it because in Cuba, you had to fight for a fucking roll of toilet paper." She goes, "Here they are throwing toilet paper (laughs) at the parade."

Joe Rogan 55:12 Wow.

Joey Diaz 55:12 And her natural instinct was to grab the toilet paper-

Joe Rogan 55:15 Right.

Joey Diaz 55:16 ... because la, la, la mujer de Larry and Fernando-

Joe Rogan 55:18 Si.

Joey Diaz 55:18 ... cuando van a ver los Yankees. Dice que estaban en New York y que estaban tirando para el papel del toilet. "¡Oye!" Y ya eso empezó a, a, a jalárselo porque le dicen que en, en Cuba no había papel del toilet, ¿me entiende?

Joe Rogan 55:30 Se, (laughs) yeah. (laughs) Wow.

Joey Diaz 55:32 That's fucking crazy, Joe.

Joe Rogan 55:33 That is crazy, but I feel like no one appreciates America more than someone who was born somewhere else, where they're suppressed or it's hard, and then they come over here. And then they appreciate, like I think too many of us take this for granted.

Joey Diaz 55:48 Every fucking day I see it and it drives me fucking crazy, man. I see it and it drives me crazy, and we complain more, and-

Joe Rogan 55:57 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 55:57 ... we, we keep getting more immigrants. And these immigrants, "Well, they're taking our jobs." No, they're fucking hustling.

Joe Rogan 56:03 Yeah, they're hustling.

Joey Diaz 56:03 They have no choice. They drive-

Joe Rogan 56:04 This is the, the whole thing the country's founded on.

Joey Diaz 56:07 They drive an Uber 16 hours a day. You don't fathom.

Joe Rogan 56:10 Right.

Joey Diaz 56:10 I know kids there that go to college and can't imagine they gotta work five days a week.

Joe Rogan 56:14 Yep.

Joey Diaz 56:15 We work seven days a week. It's in our fucking DNA. That's, you know?

Joe Rogan 56:19 And happy to be here, right?

Joey Diaz 56:20 And happy to fucking be here.

Joe Rogan 56:22 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?

Yoel Romero 56:49 (Cuban Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 56:52 Discipline.

Yoel Romero 56:55 (Cuban Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 57:11 Si.

Joey Diaz 57:11 (Cuban Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 57:11 A ver.

Joey Diaz 57:12 (Cuban Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 57:12 (sighs) (Cuban Spanish) , I'm trying.

Joey Diaz 57:12 Give it a shot, give it a shot.

Yoel Romero 57:13 I'm trying, I'm trying.

Joey Diaz 57:13 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 57:13 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.

Joe Rogan 57:29 Yeah, it must have helped.

Yoel Romero 57:30 Absolutely.

Joe Rogan 57:31 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 57:31 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, you ask me about this more hard.

Joe Rogan 57:44 What's more difficult, yeah.

Yoel Romero 57:52 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) .

Joey Diaz 58:19 You could do the training from MMA to wrestle.

Yoel Romero 58:21 And (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 58:24 And you could do the training from wrestling for MMA.

Yoel Romero 58:26 Ahora, (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 58:37 The value is how you use your energy in the two different sets of activity, uh, whatever.

Joe Rogan 58:50 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 58:51 So it's different energy for wrestling, how you impose your energy in wrestling, and the energy that you have to have for MMA.

Joe Rogan 58:57 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?

Joey Diaz 59:06 (Cuban Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 59:15 Joe, the training is depending what you ha- (Cuban Spanish) , the goal.

Joey Diaz 59:22 Where your goal is at, that's where the training is at.

Yoel Romero 59:24 You know, (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 59:34 When you go to train, it's not, uh, how many hours. It's where you want your focus to go.

Yoel Romero 59:41 Because (Cuban Spanish) , the system, the system for the training is, uh, (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 59:57 When you loo- when you lift- when you train in Cuba, it's with a long-range goal.

Yoel Romero 1:00:12 (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:00:13 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:00:13 That's it, the goal.

Joey Diaz 1:00:31 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:00:31 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) .

Joey Diaz 1:00:49 How many hours? How many sessions?

Yoel Romero 1:00:51 But, (Cuban Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:00:53 It's a four-year...... program. To get to the lowest, to the highest level. In the whole world.

Yoel Romero 1:01:09 Olympic Game.

Joey Diaz 1:01:13 Why is it four years? The Olympic Games.

Joe Rogan 1:01:16 Mm.

Yoel Romero 1:01:16 You see?

Joe Rogan 1:01:17 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:01:17 Every four years.

Joe Rogan 1:01:18 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:01:20 Sometimes the people walk about this, not about this. This is the s- the primer año.

Joey Diaz 1:01:29 That's the first year.

Yoel Romero 1:01:30 That's segundo año, el tercero año, cuarto año-

Joey Diaz 1:01:33 That's the second year, that's the third year, that's the fourth year.

Yoel Romero 1:01:34 Muchas personas no ganan ni este, ni este, ni este campenato mundial.

Joey Diaz 1:01:40 They don't win the first three.

Yoel Romero 1:01:42 World championship.

Joey Diaz 1:01:43 Or the championship.

Yoel Romero 1:01:45 Because training about it, for this.

Joe Rogan 1:01:49 For the Olympic Games.

Yoel Romero 1:01:50 For the Olympic Games. You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:01:52 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:01:53 And in Cuba, pero eso te digo que es por edades, por categorias.

Joey Diaz 1:01:59 That's why he told... He stressed that it's through ages, through categories.

Joe Rogan 1:02:03 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:02:04 Tu no puede preparar un nino de doce anos para unos Juegos Olimpico, porque no tiene Juegos Olimpico.

Joey Diaz 1:02:10 You can't prepare a 12-year-old for Olympic Games because there's no Olympic Games.

Joe Rogan 1:02:14 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:02:14 Pero lo vas a preparar para el campenato nacional de su categoria.

Joey Diaz 1:02:20 But you're gonna prepare him for the national championship of his category.

Joe Rogan 1:02:24 Mm.

Yoel Romero 1:02:25 You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:02:25 Yes.

Yoel Romero 1:02:26 Y vas a usar la misma metodologia.

Joey Diaz 1:02:30 You're gonna use the same science, kind of.

Yoel Romero 1:02:34 Me- me- me- methodology.

Joey Diaz 1:02:36 Mentality.

Joe Rogan 1:02:37 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:02:37 Si. E- e- metodologia, no mentalida, metodologia.

Joey Diaz 1:02:42 No se decir eso, compadre.

Yoel Romero 1:02:43 Okay. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:02:45 What is that? What is that?

Joey Diaz 1:02:46 I don't fucking know.

Joe Rogan 1:02:47 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 1:02:47 He's a genius, this guy.

Yoel Romero 1:02:49 But it's, uh, it's the same way. It-

Joe Rogan 1:02:51 So, it's not just... You're saying not just mentality, but something else?

Yoel Romero 1:02:54 Si, es um, metodologia.

Joe Rogan 1:02:57 I don't know what that means.

Joey Diaz 1:02:59 I don't either.

Yoel Romero 1:02:59 Methodology. I don't know English.

Joey Diaz 1:03:00 Mythology? No, no, no.

Yoel Romero 1:03:02 No, no, no, no.

Joe Rogan 1:03:03 No.

Yoel Romero 1:03:03 I don't know English.

Joey Diaz 1:03:04 So vamos a poner, cuantas de solo de levantan pesa a y en Cuba? Depende la edad?

Yoel Romero 1:03:10 Depende de la edad, y depende del goal. O sea, depende-

Joe Rogan 1:03:15 Depending on the goal.

Joey Diaz 1:03:16 Depending on the age and depending on the goal.

Yoel Romero 1:03:18 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:03:18 So cuando tu a dieciocho, when you were 18, how many hours a day?

Yoel Romero 1:03:24 Exactly. Ese es la edad cuando empiezan a ser pesa.

Joey Diaz 1:03:27 At 18 you start lifting weights.

Yoel Romero 1:03:29 Digamos que empiezan a ser pesa a partir de los dieciseis, diecisiete anos.

Joey Diaz 1:03:34 16 to 17 in Cuba you're lifting weights.

Yoel Romero 1:03:35 No yet ser pesa con nene de doce, trece, ni catorce anos.

Joey Diaz 1:03:38 No, no young kids lift weights in Cuba.

Joe Rogan 1:03:40 That's smart. And when they have you lifting weights, what kind of weightlifting? Like Olympic style?

Joey Diaz 1:03:45 Que clase de, de pesa?

Joe Rogan 1:03:47 Power lifting?

Joey Diaz 1:03:47 Pesas olimpicas or popular muscular muscle?

Yoel Romero 1:03:50 Dependiendo. Hace de todas. Hace las... Hace todo y dependiendo etapa, porque se dif- se diferencian etapas. Esta la etapa naci- etapa generales, es la etapa cuando empiezas las tres, digamos las... las primeras seis semanas.

Joey Diaz 1:04:06 So that's when you start for six weeks. Que te hacen...

Yoel Romero 1:04:09 Se llama etapa general.

Joey Diaz 1:04:12 Etapa general.

Yoel Romero 1:04:13 Todo es...

Joey Diaz 1:04:13 It's just a general orientation.

Yoel Romero 1:04:15 Todo es con grandes peso.

Joey Diaz 1:04:17 With large weights.

Yoel Romero 1:04:20 Entiende.

Joey Diaz 1:04:20 Para peso-

Yoel Romero 1:04:21 Si.

Joey Diaz 1:04:21 With large amount of weights.

Yoel Romero 1:04:23 Claro. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Attention.

Joe Rogan 1:04:24 Mm.

Yoel Romero 1:04:26 Primero se hace una prueba, un test.

Joey Diaz 1:04:28 They... First they test you, they test your strength.

Yoel Romero 1:04:31 Te hacen una prueba a ti, tu peso-

Joey Diaz 1:04:33 My weight.

Yoel Romero 1:04:34 ... porque tu no puedes le... Yo no voy a levantar lo mismo que tu.

Joey Diaz 1:04:37 He can't lift what I can lift.

Yoel Romero 1:04:37 Yo soy another category. You are another category.

Joey Diaz 1:04:40 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:04:41 Somos de la misma catego- de la misma edad, pero diferentes peso.

Joey Diaz 1:04:45 We're from the same... We're the same age, but different weights.

Yoel Romero 1:04:47 Okay. A ti te hacen una prueba.

Joey Diaz 1:04:52 They give me a tryout, like a-

Yoel Romero 1:04:53 Digamos que... fuerza acostada.

Joey Diaz 1:04:57 Bench presses.

Yoel Romero 1:04:57 Yeah, a mi tambien me nacen. Y a partir de que se empieza trabajar contigo, a partir del peso que tu levantaste.

Joey Diaz 1:05:05 (coughs) Based on the weight that I lift, my max, like anything else.

Joe Rogan 1:05:08 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 1:05:08 That's when they start working with me.

Yoel Romero 1:05:10 Siempre hay una referencia. Tienen como referencia, digamos, los ninos de, de... digamos un ejemplo, sampling. Ninos de 18 years, heavy weight, uh, de... los heavy weights-

Joey Diaz 1:05:25 18-year-old heavy weights.

Yoel Romero 1:05:26 Okay. Digamos que levantan, un ejemplo, 100 pounds en fuerza acostada.

Joey Diaz 1:05:33 100 pounds in the bench press.

Yoel Romero 1:05:35 Acuerdate que son entrenadores que llevan veinte anos haciendo esto.

Joey Diaz 1:05:39 And but these trainers that they have are fucking top notch.

Yoel Romero 1:05:42 You know? Ya ellos tienen una idea mas o meno de cuantos que levantan los heavy weights. Entienden? Tienen, tienen, tienen una idea de cuantos que pon un peso completo esta bien en fuerza y cuando esta mal en fuerza.

Joey Diaz 1:06:00 So they know when you're up in weight, when you're down in weight, they know everything about you because they've been doing it for so long.

Joe Rogan 1:06:06 Right.

Joey Diaz 1:06:06 So they base you off that weight. You do that thing 100 pounds, now they base you off that weight if you're a heavy weight or what.

Joe Rogan 1:06:12 Do you still follow that system now when you train for MMA? Like how do you decide-

Yoel Romero 1:06:17 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:06:17 You do?

Yoel Romero 1:06:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:18 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:06:19 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:19 Because you still obviously have a lot of muscle.

Yoel Romero 1:06:21 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:21 You're obviously still doing some strength and conditioning work.

Yoel Romero 1:06:24 No, sigo haciendo. Yo lo sigo haciendo.

Joey Diaz 1:06:25 Que es lo que tu haces? Que clase de movimiento?

Yoel Romero 1:06:28 Sigo haciendo este mismo sistema.

Joey Diaz 1:06:30 Dimelo.

Yoel Romero 1:06:31 Ah, por ejemplo, el entrenador que yo tengo ahora es el entrenador que es el, el... eh, fue el... eh, el entrenador de la selection national olimpica de Cuba de TaeKwonDo.

Joey Diaz 1:06:42 He's... The trainer that he has now was the guy that made the selections for the Cuban Olympic TaeKwonDos.

Joe Rogan 1:06:48 Ah. Ah, okay. I saw that in your... the countdown fight-

Yoel Romero 1:06:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:52 ... before the rock-

Joey Diaz 1:06:52 Countdown.

Joe Rogan 1:06:53 ... hold fight.

Yoel Romero 1:06:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:53 You were training at a TaeKwonDo school?

Yoel Romero 1:06:55 Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:56 So he was doing that in Cuba?

Yoel Romero 1:06:57 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:06:58 Ah, interesting. So he knows the system.

Yoel Romero 1:07:01 El, el, el viene de ese sistema.

Joey Diaz 1:07:03 He came, he comes from that system.

Joe Rogan 1:07:05 Right, right.

Joey Diaz 1:07:05 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:07:05 El viene de ese sistema. Y cuando, uh, yo empece a entrenar con el, el me cambio todo.

Joey Diaz 1:07:12 When he started training with him, he changed everything. You have this age? Let's work this way.

Yoel Romero 1:07:22 (Spanish)

Joey Diaz 1:07:34 The guy had already been known for working with older elite athletes. Like, we've always joked around about Teofilo Stevenson.

Yoel Romero 1:07:47 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:07:48 (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:07:51 Could have been one of the best professional boxers ever.

Joey Diaz 1:07:54 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:07:54 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:07:54 No way, he was 50 years old, dude. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:07:58 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:08:01 He was fucking 50.

Yoel Romero 1:08:03 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:08:04 A lot of these people, they don't have fucking birth certificates.

Joe Rogan 1:08:08 Right, right.

Joey Diaz 1:08:08 So nobody fucking knows.

Joe Rogan 1:08:10 That's so crazy. (laughs)

Joey Diaz 1:08:10 They're the geniuses of taking a 40-year-old. That's why he switched with this guy.

Joe Rogan 1:08:16 Well, Luis Ortiz, the guy who fought Deontay Wilder this past weekend, they're saying like-

Yoel Romero 1:08:20 40-

Joe Rogan 1:08:20 ... no one knows how old he is.

Yoel Romero 1:08:21 40, 40, 41.

Joe Rogan 1:08:21 At least. Yeah, at least.

Joey Diaz 1:08:23 So they have his-

Joe Rogan 1:08:24 So people think he's older.

Joey Diaz 1:08:24 ... they have his system.

Yoel Romero 1:08:25 Ortiz has my age. Ortiz has-

Joe Rogan 1:08:26 Oh, you know him?

Yoel Romero 1:08:27 Yeah, for sure.

Joe Rogan 1:08:28 Oh, so 41, for sure.

Yoel Romero 1:08:29 Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:30 Oh, okay.

Joey Diaz 1:08:30 You knew Ortiz in Cuba?

Yoel Romero 1:08:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:08:32 Yeah. Oh, okay, that makes sense.

Yoel Romero 1:08:33 In the, in the, in the Olympic Center.

Joe Rogan 1:08:35 Yeah. Oh.

Yoel Romero 1:08:36 In the sand in the Olympic Center.

Joe Rogan 1:08:37 Because everybody was wondering, like, you know, maybe he's older than he says.

Yoel Romero 1:08:42 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:08:45 Minimum, 39.

Joe Rogan 1:08:47 Minimum, 39.

Joey Diaz 1:08:48 But no way Teofilo had 40 years.

Yoel Romero 1:08:52 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:08:53 I'm telling you, don't say. They don't may not-

Joe Rogan 1:08:55 But see, a thing like Teofilo Stevenson for a lot of us that are boxing fans, we're always disappointed he never got to leave Cuba.

Joey Diaz 1:09:03 No, no.

Joe Rogan 1:09:04 We wanted to see him fight Ali. We wanted to see him fight Frazier. We wanted to see him fight the best of the best in the professional league.

Joey Diaz 1:09:10 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:09:12 (Spanish) , come on. No, no, no. Ali is another level.

Joe Rogan 1:09:16 He was another level.

Yoel Romero 1:09:17 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ali-

Joe Rogan 1:09:18 He was on another level.

Yoel Romero 1:09:19 Ali is, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:09:20 Yeah, Ali was on another level, yeah. He certainly was at one point in time, you know.

Yoel Romero 1:09:25 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:09:27 He doesn't think Teofilo would have beat Ali.

Yoel Romero 1:09:29 No, no.

Joe Rogan 1:09:31 Been interesting to watch.

Joey Diaz 1:09:32 Yeah. (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:09:33 Yeah. See, but (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:09:36 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:09:40 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:09:43 His father was a boxer with Teofilo.

Yoel Romero 1:09:46 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:09:49 He was lento?

Yoel Romero 1:09:54 Lento.

Joey Diaz 1:09:55 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:09:56 Lento.

Joey Diaz 1:09:56 Uh, he was fast. Ali was way faster than he was.

Yoel Romero 1:10:01 Mm-hmm. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:10:10 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:10:11 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:10:14 He's, it said Teofilo had heavy fucking hands, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:10:17 (Spanish) . Big trouble, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:10:20 Big trouble for you too.

Yoel Romero 1:10:20 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:10:21 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:10:21 But he moved like a butterfly.

Joe Rogan 1:10:26 (laughs) Moved like a butterfly.

Yoel Romero 1:10:28 Yeah, man.

Joe Rogan 1:10:28 He certainly did.

Yoel Romero 1:10:29 Ali.

Joe Rogan 1:10:30 Now you at 41, you look better than ever.

Joey Diaz 1:10:33 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:10:37 Thank you, God. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 1:10:38 It's crazy, man.

Yoel Romero 1:10:38 Thank you.

Joe Rogan 1:10:39 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.

Joey Diaz 1:10:53 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:11:02 Uh, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:04 Regardless of what's going on...

Yoel Romero 1:11:08 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:14 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.

Yoel Romero 1:11:22 That's because I... Because (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:29 That he's even in shock at how he looks.

Yoel Romero 1:11:34 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:34 And how he feels.

Yoel Romero 1:11:37 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:37 Not only physically.

Yoel Romero 1:11:41 When the coach, this coach, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:46 When he does his tests, when the coach tests him on certain levels...

Yoel Romero 1:11:50 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:11:50 ... he stays freaked out. Like he can't believe he still... (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:11:56 What are you saying?

Joey Diaz 1:12:06 I said that on the countdown I saw the taekwondo guy throwing little fucking sticks at him, you know, the things, and uh-

Joe Rogan 1:12:12 The foam sticks, yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:12:13 The foam sticks. And I saw him picking up the ties.

Yoel Romero 1:12:15 Mm-hmm.

Joey Diaz 1:12:16 But I never really saw him sparring or wrestling.

Yoel Romero 1:12:19 Mm. But because (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:12:21 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:12:23 (laughs)

Joey Diaz 1:12:24 Because he can't be talking too much. He's just goofing around.

Yoel Romero 1:12:26 Because I make the wrestling in Cuba.

Joey Diaz 1:12:30 You what?

Yoel Romero 1:12:31 I make wrestling in Cuba.

Joey Diaz 1:12:35 So you-

Yoel Romero 1:12:35 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:12:37 Oh, okay. So he wrestles in Cuba?

Yoel Romero 1:12:39 You know, the national team.

Joey Diaz 1:12:40 With the national team?

Yoel Romero 1:12:42 Listen, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:12:47 That's why I couldn't... He didn't want me to see him, you wrestling.

Yoel Romero 1:12:51 You know, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:13:04 So he went back to Cuba to train with the guy that's the go- world champion now from Cuba.

Joe Rogan 1:13:09 Who? Where? You went back to Cuba?

Joey Diaz 1:13:11 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:13:13 Yeah, (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:13:14 Yeah, he goes to Cuba to train.

Joe Rogan 1:13:15 You go back now?

Yoel Romero 1:13:16 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:17 You can go back and forth?

Yoel Romero 1:13:18 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:19 Well, I didn't know that.

Yoel Romero 1:13:21 Yeah. I can. Thank you, God, I can.

Joe Rogan 1:13:23 Wow, is this a new thing? Is this recent-

Yoel Romero 1:13:25 This new.

Joe Rogan 1:13:25 ... you can go back there?

Yoel Romero 1:13:27 Que si hay-

1:13:28 (Quietschling) (Spanish) .

1:13:28 Shit. There's... No, no, no.

1:13:32 What happened before?

1:13:33 Despues de la pelea de, de, de Whittaker.

1:13:35 After the fight with Whittaker.

Joe Rogan 1:13:37 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:13:37 Cuba give me the passport.

1:13:39 Cuba gave him a passport.

Joe Rogan 1:13:40 Wow.

Yoel Romero 1:13:41 You know, now say I training in Cuba. I go train, uh, train in Miami, sorry, and training in Cuba too with my father, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:13:49 Oh, wow.

Yoel Romero 1:13:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:51 That must be nice, so you can see your son too?

Yoel Romero 1:13:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:13:54 Can you bring him back to America?

Yoel Romero 1:13:56 Hoo, that is different.

Joe Rogan 1:13:58 Yeah?

Yoel Romero 1:13:58 That is different because he have mom in Cuba, you know?

Joe Rogan 1:14:01 Yeah, his mom's-

Yoel Romero 1:14:01 Mi mama esta en Cuba.

Joe Rogan 1:14:03 ... in Cuba. Right.

Yoel Romero 1:14:03 He, he, he, el esta en la escuela en America.

1:14:05 He's in school.

Joe Rogan 1:14:06 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:14:06 But I wanna do when he stay in spring break, uh, he can come in for, with me and, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:14:14 Stay for a few months?

Yoel Romero 1:14:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:14:15 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:14:15 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:14:16 That would be nice. So that's, that, that must benefit you tremendously to go and train with the Cuban team.

Yoel Romero 1:14:21 Yeah, I training with the, the, the silver medal in the last, uh, Olympic Games. When was the last, uh, Olympic Game? (Spanish) .

1:14:32 What was the last Olympic Games, this last one that they wrestled?

Joe Rogan 1:14:34 Well, the last one was w- winter.

Yoel Romero 1:14:36 Winter.

Joe Rogan 1:14:36 That just happened, so it would've been two years ago.

Yoel Romero 1:14:39 A few years after.

1:14:40 Si, donde fue?

Joe Rogan 1:14:41 Was it Rio?

Yoel Romero 1:14:42 Rio, yeah.

1:14:42 Rio, right?

Joe Rogan 1:14:43 Rio, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:14:43 In Rio, Rio-

1:14:44 Yeah.

1:14:44 ... is the last Olympic Game, right?

Joe Rogan 1:14:45 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:14:46 Yeah.

1:14:46 In Rio, this guy is a silver medal in Rio.

Joe Rogan 1:14:49 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:14:50 He's a 97 kilos. He's big guy.

Joe Rogan 1:14:52 97 kilos, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:14:53 Yeah, 97 kilos.

Joe Rogan 1:14:54 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:14:54 He's big guy.

Joe Rogan 1:14:55 What is that, like, 220?

Yoel Romero 1:14:56 Yeah, 220.

Joe Rogan 1:14:57 Something like that?

Yoel Romero 1:14:57 Yeah. I, I make a wrestling with him.

Joe Rogan 1:14:59 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:15:00 Hey, one on one.

1:15:02 Tough.

1:15:03 Yeah, one on one. No perdí.

1:15:04 How long-

1:15:05 I no lose, I one on one.

1:15:06 Oh, so you're one on one with him?

Joe Rogan 1:15:07 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:15:08 Yeah, one on one.

1:15:08 Wow.

1:15:08 And Greco-Roman, Greco-Roman.

Joe Rogan 1:15:10 Wow.

Yoel Romero 1:15:10 No freestyling, eh, no freestyling.

1:15:12 Wow.

1:15:12 Greco-Roman.

Joe Rogan 1:15:13 Wow.

Yoel Romero 1:15:13 Then I say, say, "Hey, I have 40 years, this guy have, uh, 26." (Spanish) .

1:15:21 He feels good.

Joe Rogan 1:15:22 So what is your secret to, to maintaining all this, uh, this physical strength, endurance, at this age, at 41?

Yoel Romero 1:15:32 I think-

Joe Rogan 1:15:32 You think it's just genetics, just luck, just God?

Yoel Romero 1:15:36 I think it's God, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:15:38 Smart training too, though.

Yoel Romero 1:15:39 No, tambien. No, no.

Joe Rogan 1:15:40 Yeah, that too.

Yoel Romero 1:15:41 For sure too, for sure.

Joe Rogan 1:15:42 For sure, for sure.

Yoel Romero 1:15:42 For sure too. (Spanish) .

1:15:42 He can't do what he did 20 years ago.

Joe Rogan 1:15:42 No?

Yoel Romero 1:15:42 No, no, no, no, no.

Joe Rogan 1:15:42 See, that's what people say. What people say about you is, "Imagine if you were in the UFC at 25 or at 30."

Yoel Romero 1:15:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:43 That's what everybody says. Like, "Imagine if Yoel Romero was in the UFC when he was 25." Holy shit.

Yoel Romero 1:15:49 (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:15:49 Holy shit.

Yoel Romero 1:15:49 Uh, (Spanish) .

1:15:49 Yeah. He can't talk about himself, he says.

Joe Rogan 1:15:49 Right, of course.

Yoel Romero 1:15:49 Yeah, pero...

Joe Rogan 1:15:49 We'll talk about it for you. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:15:49 (laughs)

1:15:49 You know, (Spanish) .

1:15:49 He can't do what he did 20 years ago.

Joe Rogan 1:15:49 No?

Yoel Romero 1:15:49 No, no, no, no, no.

Joe Rogan 1:15:50 See, that's what people say. What people say about you is, "Imagine if you were in the UFC at 25 or at 30."

Yoel Romero 1:15:59 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:15:59 That's what everybody says. Like, "Imagine if Yoel Romero was in the UFC when he was 25." Holy shit.

Yoel Romero 1:16:05 (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:16:05 Holy shit.

Yoel Romero 1:16:06 Uh, (Spanish) .

1:16:15 Yeah, he can't talk about himself, he says.

Joe Rogan 1:16:17 Right, of course.

Yoel Romero 1:16:18 Yeah, pero...

Joe Rogan 1:16:19 We'll talk about it for you. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:16:23 (laughs)

1:16:23 You know, (Spanish) .

1:16:27 He can't do what he did 20 years ago.

1:16:28 I remember when I have 22, 23, 24.

Joe Rogan 1:16:35 Yeah, you were a motherfucker. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:16:39 (laughs)

1:16:39 (Spanish) , many people for the, the Olympic Center, in the Olympic Center. (Spanish) . That's the coach for, for wrestling. I love this guy. He push me. (Spanish) .

1:16:49 What was his name?

1:16:52 Feliberto Delgado.

1:16:53 Did you ever do juaniti?

1:16:55 Si, juaniti. Uh, I love this guy, um, because (Spanish) .

1:17:04 He took the, he took the best out of him.

1:17:08 He, he, he... (Spanish) .

1:17:12 He knew.

1:17:13 He knew take it out, the best me out.

1:17:19 Mm-hmm.

1:17:19 You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:17:20 Yes.

Yoel Romero 1:17:20 That's it.

Joe Rogan 1:17:21 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:17:23 When I training, when I competed, he see me like this, exactly like this. "You remember when you come in here, son? You remember this day?" Me say, "Yes." He say, "Go." Because-

Joe Rogan 1:17:41 Whoa, fire you up.

Yoel Romero 1:17:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:17:43 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:17:43 Because that is very... Many people, you know, this history in Cuba. Um, (Spanish) .

1:17:56 He was a little crazy.

1:18:01 (Spanish) .

1:18:02 When he was younger.

1:18:03 And, uh, (Spanish) .

1:18:05 He was real crazy when he was younger.

1:18:07 (Spanish) .

1:18:07 And he made a decision.

1:18:13 (Spanish) .

1:18:13 And he took a path.

1:18:19 (Spanish) .

1:18:22 He doesn't want what happened to his friends.

1:18:24 (Spanish) .

1:18:25 He wants to be this.

1:18:28 (Spanish) .

1:18:28 His uncle, Lazaro.

1:18:32 (Spanish) .

1:18:36 And his father.

1:18:37 Pablo.

1:18:37 Pablo.

1:18:38 (Spanish) .

1:18:39 Told him...

1:18:40 (Spanish) .

1:18:43 "You seeing what's going on around you?"

1:18:45 (Spanish) .

1:18:46 "Is this what you want?"

1:18:48 Or (Spanish) .

1:18:49 Or do you wanna be this?"

1:18:51 (Spanish) .

1:18:53 You're in the middle, but you're doing both things.

1:18:57 (Spanish) .

1:18:58 You have to make a c- a choice.

1:19:01 (Spanish) .

1:19:04 This is going on what's happening.

1:19:05 (Spanish) .

1:19:07 And you're seeing that they never-end right.

1:19:11 (Spanish) .

1:19:12 If you chose this path...

1:19:14 (Spanish) .

1:19:16 ... you're gonna have an, a final ending, a great ending.

1:19:19 (Spanish) .

1:19:19 Decide.

1:19:19 But in la dona-

1:19:20 Decide.

1:19:20 ... puede eta.

1:19:21 But you can't do both of 'em. Uh-

1:19:23 All right. (Spanish) . (Spanish) .

1:19:29 So, he was living in Pinar del Rio but he fled to Havana.

1:19:36 But remember, the pyramids.

1:19:39 The pyramids.

1:19:41 You need to win the championship, national championship, (Spanish) .

1:19:49 So, you have to win the national championships to go-

1:19:51 Okay.

1:19:51 ... to the higher level, the (Spanish) .

1:19:53 Remember, the- the- the coaches taking you in (Spanish) .

1:19:58 The coaches are taking you right from the schools.

1:20:01 (Spanish) .

1:20:03 For your talent.

1:20:03 Okay.

1:20:04 Mm-hmm.

1:20:05 (Spanish) .

1:20:07 And they put- and they put you in the special school, the most lower level.

1:20:10 (Spanish) .

1:20:12 In the basement.

1:20:13 Pre-Eide.

1:20:14 Eide.

1:20:15 All right. You need to win the (Spanish) Florida championship.

1:20:24 You- you need to win the Florida championships...

1:20:26 (Spanish) .

1:20:28 ... to get to the next level.

1:20:30 (Spanish) .

1:20:30 Because the Eide is the squ- uh, main school of all the Floridas.

1:20:39 (Spanish) .

1:20:40 They do?

1:20:46 Yes.

1:20:47 So, what is he saying?

1:20:49 Eide.

1:20:49 Eide. (Spanish) .

1:20:54 The pyramid.

1:20:57 Yeah, pyramid.

1:20:57 Right, okay.

1:20:59 And so Florida, right?

1:21:00 Right.

1:21:01 Florida have it (Spanish) .

1:21:05 One school Florida has.

1:21:07 (Spanish) .

1:21:09 That's the second level.

1:21:11 (Spanish) .

1:21:12 They have a- an Eide too.

1:21:16 It's a- it's a- you understand? (Spanish) .

1:21:19 It's at- in every- it's in all over the country.

1:21:21 Mm-hmm.

1:21:21 (Spanish) .

1:21:22 Eides.

1:21:24 (Spanish) .

1:21:30 I'm not exactly sure what he's saying.

1:21:32 Me neither, I don't understand Eide.

1:21:33 (laughs)

1:21:35 (Spanish) .

1:21:35 It's- it's a school, it's a school. How do you spell it? (Spanish) .

1:21:39 Okay, like this. (Spanish) .

1:21:44 Superior School-

1:21:48 Of- of- of sports.

1:21:49 Si.

1:21:49 Yes.

1:21:49 Of sports.

1:21:50 Is that what it is? Do you know about that?

1:21:51 (Spanish) .

1:21:51 No, he's saying like-

1:21:52 (Spanish) .

1:21:53 Yeah.

1:21:53 (Spanish) .

1:21:54 Okay.

1:21:56 (Spanish) .

1:21:56 Academia. Yeah, a school.

1:21:57 (Spanish) .

1:21:57 So, what he is saying is like, each state has a superior school.

1:22:00 Has- has a superior school.

1:22:01 I think that's what he is saying.

1:22:02 Yeah.

1:22:02 You understand?

1:22:03 Yes.

1:22:03 Okay. (Spanish) .

1:22:06 Mm-hmm.

1:22:06 Example, (Spanish) .

1:22:06 Okay.

1:22:07 (Spanish) is the second level.

1:22:09 Right.

1:22:10 And California have a one (Spanish) . The people want to the- all the California want to stay (Spanish) . But you need to beat it, the, um, California championship. You understand?

1:22:23 Mm-hmm.

1:22:23 So you beat it, so you win, and now, c- um, California the be- the- the- the a- the (Spanish) in California taking you, because you is the best in California.

1:22:33 Right.

1:22:34 You understand now?

1:22:35 So... Right, I see what you're saying. Yeah.

1:22:36 That's in Florida, in Florida ha- have it one (Spanish) too.

1:22:39 Right.

1:22:40 But Ch- um, Chicago or Washington. Washington.

1:22:46 Okay.

1:22:47 And Washington have a- one (Spanish) , but this (Spanish) is the- the best level.

1:22:54 Mm-hmm.

1:22:54 You understand?

1:22:55 Yes.

1:22:55 This is (Spanish) .

1:22:57 Okay.

1:22:57 You understand? When you beat it, everybody, then now the junior championship, uh, the junior national team-

1:23:05 Mm-hmm.

1:23:05 ... stay in Washington, is (Spanish) too.

1:23:08 Right.

1:23:08 Yeah. Take it, the be- the- the- the best guy, junior, in the whole country. You understand now?

1:23:15 Mm-hmm, yes.

1:23:17 But in Ch- in Washington too, have (Spanish) , but the senior, okay? It's a na- it's, um, senior national team.

1:23:26 Okay, senior national team.

1:23:28 Yeah.

1:23:28 Right.

1:23:28 That's it. And when I go, when I stay in Eide, that's in Pinar del Rio.

1:23:35 Mm-hmm.

1:23:36 You need to beat it, the guy for the... (Spanish) .

1:23:42 You need to beat the kids that are 10 to 12 years-

1:23:45 (Spanish) .

1:23:46 In all of Cuba.

1:23:47 (Spanish) .

1:23:48 In Havana-

1:23:50 The (Spanish) national team take you.

1:23:53 Then they take you, the junior national team takes you to Havana.

1:23:56 Mm-hmm. You understand?

1:23:57 Yes.

1:23:58 But (Spanish) .

1:24:03 He never won the 12-year-olds.

1:24:06 (Spanish) .

1:24:08 No?

1:24:08 (Spanish) .

1:24:08 He always came in second or third.

1:24:11 Never win, never. (Spanish) .

1:24:15 He participated in five of them, he never won.

1:24:18 Hmm.

1:24:19 (Spanish) .

1:24:21 Because, he wasn't living his life correctly.

1:24:23 I see what you're saying.

1:24:25 That's in my bro- my- my daddy say, "No, no, no."

1:24:27 So when your coach was telling you you're taking the wrong path-

1:24:31 Yes.

1:24:31 ... you saw the results that you weren't winning.

1:24:34 I go to Havana.

1:24:35 Right.

1:24:36 But remember, you need to beat it, the Cuban national team.

1:24:40 Right.

1:24:40 I never beat it.

1:24:41 Right.

1:24:42 When I go, (laughs) everybody know this is history.

1:24:45 Mm-hmm.

1:24:47 I got- I go, I say my daddy, "I go Havana." He say, "No, no, no. You need to train here in Pinar del Rio. You need to beat it in Cuba, everybody- everybo- everyone."

1:24:58 Mm-hmm.

1:24:59 "And now the coach in Havana take you. You no can go."

1:25:02 Right, right.

1:25:03 So now I go. He said, "You, this is no misain. (Spanish) " When you go, the people say, "Who are you?"

1:25:10 Right.

1:25:10 "Get out of here." You know? S-

1:25:12 So he went to Havana without winning.

1:25:14 Right.

1:25:15 Is that-

1:25:15 Yes.

1:25:17 (Spanish) .

1:25:17 Solo, yes! Solo.

1:25:18 Solo. You said, "Fuck it, I'm going over there."

1:25:20 How old were you?

1:25:20 17.

1:25:22 17.

1:25:23 Ah.

1:25:23 (Spanish) .

1:25:24 16 going on 17.

1:25:26 That's what they saying, when my coach is saying, every time when I go to the fight, when I training...

Joe Rogan 1:25:32 ... once he became the best in Cuba.

Yoel Romero 1:25:35 And when I see, I see, he looked me that, the eyes, like this, yeah. "You remember when you come in here? And now you know."

Joe Rogan 1:25:42 Oh, I see.

Yoel Romero 1:25:44 "And now you know. And now you know." What I say?

Joe Rogan 1:25:45 Yeah. So when you were about to compete, he would look at you-

Yoel Romero 1:25:49 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:25:49 ... and say, "Remember when you first came here?"

Yoel Romero 1:25:51 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:25:51 "When you were 17-"

Yoel Romero 1:25:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:25:53 "... by yourself-"

Yoel Romero 1:25:54 Yes, sir.

Joe Rogan 1:25:54 "... to Havana."

Yoel Romero 1:25:55 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:25:55 Ah, okay.

Yoel Romero 1:25:57 Listen. Many people-

Joe Rogan 1:25:59 It's a long road to get there. (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:26:00 Many, many people who know this.

Joe Rogan 1:26:02 Escuela...

Yoel Romero 1:26:03 80-

Joe Rogan 1:26:03 Let me go pee real quick.

Yoel Romero 1:26:03 Yeah. (laughs) This my man. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:26:05 Yeah, yeah. Jamie's on the ball.

Yoel Romero 1:26:07 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:26:07 Escuela de... uh-

Yoel Romero 1:26:09 De Iniciacion Deportiva Escolar.

Joe Rogan 1:26:11 Ah, okay.

Yoel Romero 1:26:13 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:26:14 Nice. Okay. So now wh- when you, you're here and you're training with this guy who, um, was coaching, uh, he was a part of the Taekwondo program-

Yoel Romero 1:26:25 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:26:25 ... in Cuba. Yeah. What does he have you do? Like what is a, what is a, a normal week for you?

Yoel Romero 1:26:32 Uh, right now?

Joe Rogan 1:26:33 Right now, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:26:34 Right now, only big, uh-

Joe Rogan 1:26:38 Big weights?

Yoel Romero 1:26:39 Big weights.

Joe Rogan 1:26:40 Heavy weights, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:26:41 Yeah, heavy.

Joe Rogan 1:26:42 Like are you doing like Olympic style, like clean, press, like that kind of stuff?

Yoel Romero 1:26:45 Yes, yes.

Joe Rogan 1:26:46 Yeah?

Yoel Romero 1:26:47 Yes. Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:26:47 Yeah?

Yoel Romero 1:26:47 But remember, we make a test.

Joe Rogan 1:26:51 Mm-hmm. To see where your results are-

Yoel Romero 1:26:54 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:26:54 ... physically. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:26:55 We make a test. No is like a, okay, (firing sounds) no, no, no.

Joe Rogan 1:26:59 Right, right, right. It's all-

Yoel Romero 1:27:00 He make a test.

Joe Rogan 1:27:00 ... system.

Yoel Romero 1:27:01 System.

Joe Rogan 1:27:01 Right, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:27:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:27:02 So what you're saying is, it's, it's not random.

Yoel Romero 1:27:05 No.

Joe Rogan 1:27:06 It's very specific.

Yoel Romero 1:27:07 Yeah, specific.

Joe Rogan 1:27:08 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:27:09 He say, "Okay," and you test the, for example, here probably, um-

Joe Rogan 1:27:15 Bench press.

Yoel Romero 1:27:15 Bench press.

Joe Rogan 1:27:16 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:27:17 "Okay."

Joe Rogan 1:27:18 And he writes the numbers down.

Yoel Romero 1:27:19 Pam, pam.

Joe Rogan 1:27:19 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:27:20 "Okay, you have a-"

Joe Rogan 1:27:21 There you go.

Yoel Romero 1:27:22 Uh, (breathes heavily) one.

Joe Rogan 1:27:24 What is this here? That guy's crying.

Yoel Romero 1:27:28 It's from the, it's from the 2/13 countdown.

Joe Rogan 1:27:30 Oh, I see.

Yoel Romero 1:27:31 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:27:31 I see. There you go.

Yoel Romero 1:27:35 That's it for time.

Joe Rogan 1:27:36 Mm-hmm. Now-

Yoel Romero 1:27:38 This is, this is un etapa. This is, um, uh... Where are you, English? A special... I don't know how, Joe.

Joe Rogan 1:27:53 (laughs) Joey's back, he'll help you out.

Yoel Romero 1:27:56 Oh, yeah, yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:27:56 What's impressive is that your endurance has gotten better.

Yoel Romero 1:28:00 What did he say?

Joe Rogan 1:28:02 How much of that is conditioning work and how much of that is just knowing how to pace yourself better? Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:28:18 More intelligent.

Joe Rogan 1:28:28 He got smarter.

Yoel Romero 1:28:29 Yeah. More intelligent.

Joe Rogan 1:28:33 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.

Yoel Romero 1:28:49 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:28:49 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.

Yoel Romero 1:29:05 Code.

Joe Rogan 1:29:06 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:29:06 You know? I told you I stay with the 15 years with the, my opponents together.

Joe Rogan 1:29:23 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:29:23 You know. But you need respect, you know.

Joe Rogan 1:29:27 Right, you need respect.

Yoel Romero 1:29:28 You need respect. And you know-

Joe Rogan 1:29:31 So do you think too many people talk shit over here?

Yoel Romero 1:29:33 Yeah. And when you cross the line-

Joe Rogan 1:29:38 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:29:39 ... that is, that's, that's personal.

Joe Rogan 1:29:42 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:29:42 You know.

Joe Rogan 1:29:42 And then it becomes personal.

Yoel Romero 1:29:43 Yeah. You can fight with me every day, but if you have a code, code, it's no problem.

Joe Rogan 1:29:54 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:29:55 It's, it's a sport.

Joe Rogan 1:29:56 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 1:29:57 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) .

Joe Rogan 1:30:09 If you give him a hug, you put your arm around him.

Yoel Romero 1:30:13 Why later you talking something not good about me?

Joe Rogan 1:30:19 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:30:20 Why?

Joe Rogan 1:30:23 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?

Yoel Romero 1:30:41 To me. I understand a little bit, but-

Joe Rogan 1:30:44 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:30:44 ... I want it the most, just-

Joe Rogan 1:30:46 For sure. For sure. For sure. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:30:56 Listen. Conor is Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:30:59 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:31:00 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.

Joe Rogan 1:31:11 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:31:11 Many people like this.

Joe Rogan 1:31:12 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:31:13 Uh, this what I see right now. (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:31:21 What he's seeing right now, he's already lived. He's already seen this.

Yoel Romero 1:31:24 Because they, in 15 years together-

Joe Rogan 1:31:27 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:31:27 ... not is, not is only wrestling. Listen, not only for wrestling thing, it's all...... sport together.

Joe Rogan 1:31:34 All the sports.

Yoel Romero 1:31:35 Together.

Joe Rogan 1:31:36 Everybody together.

Yoel Romero 1:31:37 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:31:37 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:31:38 You, you can believe this?

Joe Rogan 1:31:39 Just savages.

Yoel Romero 1:31:40 Shh... That's it.

Joe Rogan 1:31:41 Shh.

Yoel Romero 1:31:41 Woman and man together.

Joe Rogan 1:31:43 Woo. Good luck.

Yoel Romero 1:31:45 See ya. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 1:31:46 (laughs)

Yoel Romero 1:31:46 Yeah. (laughs) Savages.

Joe Rogan 1:31:48 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:31:48 Esos valen, esos son las cosas que pasan.

Joe Rogan 1:31:49 Yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:31:49 Savages.

Yoel Romero 1:31:49 Eso es una cosa que pasa.

Joe Rogan 1:31:50 The best of the best, all together.

Yoel Romero 1:31:52 And you can learn every second.

Joe Rogan 1:31:57 Mm.

Yoel Romero 1:31:58 Tú puedes, tú puedes aprender todo segundo. Yo estuve 15 años ahí.

Joey Diaz 1:32:04 He was there 15 years and you learn every fucking second that you're there, you're learning.

Joe Rogan 1:32:09 Mm.

Yoel Romero 1:32:10 Tantas... Tú te puedes, je, imaginar. Acuérdate que estos son selecciones que te seleccionan. Ganaste y para tú estar allí tienes que ganar, tienes que mantenerte entre los cuatro primeros.

Joey Diaz 1:32:21 Yeah, but for you to be there, you have to be in the top four.

Joe Rogan 1:32:24 Mm.

Joey Diaz 1:32:25 So that's the pressure.

Yoel Romero 1:32:27 Remember. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:32:27 Right.

Joey Diaz 1:32:27 Always.

Yoel Romero 1:32:28 Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:32:29 The big-

Yoel Romero 1:32:29 Tú tienes que estar entre los cuatro primeros.

Joe Rogan 1:32:31 The top four in every division, in every sport.

Yoel Romero 1:32:33 Sí. Yeah. Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:32:34 Right, all together.

Yoel Romero 1:32:35 Yeah, because you losing, and now they, now they're turning, you losing the, this position. For, for example, in soccer. You, you... ¿Cómo se llama al portero?

Joey Diaz 1:32:45 The blocker, the goalie.

Joe Rogan 1:32:46 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:32:47 Okay, tú eres number four.

Joey Diaz 1:32:48 You're number four goalie.

Joe Rogan 1:32:49 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:32:49 Pero ahora salieron dos más, muchachos buenos ahora.

Joey Diaz 1:32:52 Two more came out and swapped them across town.

Yoel Romero 1:32:55 Sí, he, he better wi... Eh, la selección de cada deporte es, um, 20 people.

Joey Diaz 1:33:01 20 people per selection.

Yoel Romero 1:33:02 For, for example, uh, soccer player. So- so- so a soccer team, I think it's 30 or 24 people. I think so, 30 people.

Joe Rogan 1:33:11 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:33:13 So you're number three... (exhales) .

Joe Rogan 1:33:14 You're number three.

Yoel Romero 1:33:15 There's another guy who's, uh, the better in, in another cont- in another city. He say, "Okay, you're now number three." And now another guy, he push you. You need to move your ass. You need to move.

Joe Rogan 1:33:26 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:26 So you now okay, he coming and you go. (whistles) You go home.

Joe Rogan 1:33:29 You're gone.

Yoel Romero 1:33:30 Do you understand?

Joe Rogan 1:33:31 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:33:31 That's it, that's esquiva.

Joe Rogan 1:33:32 Right, so the pressure is just intense.

Yoel Romero 1:33:34 For 15 years stay I am-

Joe Rogan 1:33:37 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:37 ... see many people come and go. Uh, well, sometimes the people this year is good, another year they're still here, and three years this guy is coming again because he, he's beat it-

Joe Rogan 1:33:47 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:47 He's, he's better.

Joe Rogan 1:33:49 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:49 So he goes, "Hey man, you come by here." Oh, now it's for another sport.

Joe Rogan 1:33:52 He got better and came back.

Yoel Romero 1:33:53 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:33:53 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:53 For another sport, not only wrestling.

Joe Rogan 1:33:55 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:55 You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:33:56 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:33:56 I can't. Yo puedo vivir con esta gente.

Joey Diaz 1:34:01 He can live with this, what's going on with this guy.

Yoel Romero 1:34:03 Con lo que está sucediendo ahora en los UFC.

Joe Rogan 1:34:05 You can live with the competition, but it's not personal.

Yoel Romero 1:34:08 Puedo decirte personal. Yo puedo vivir con lo que, con este, con lo que está pasando ahora en los UFC.

Joey Diaz 1:34:13 He can live with it, he could... It's no big fucking thing.

Yoel Romero 1:34:16 Many people now who want to, uh, make it the same way that Conor do it.

Joe Rogan 1:34:21 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:34:23 But Conor is Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:34:25 They're not Conor, they're faking it.

Yoel Romero 1:34:27 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:34:28 They try too hard.

Yoel Romero 1:34:29 I used... I say (clapping hands) like this, I make it clap for Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:34:33 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:34:33 You know because... That's just the Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:34:35 That's his thing, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:34:35 This is him and now see maybe he what? Sí él no hace el que ahora calla, es guayo, eh. It's a fake.

Joe Rogan 1:34:43 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:34:44 You know because Conor is not like this.

Joe Rogan 1:34:46 Right, right. Well, it's interesting like, Anderson Silva made it to the top without ever talking shit. (sniffs) Never talked shit.

Yoel Romero 1:34:55 ¿Él dice eso?

Joe Rogan 1:34:55 Anderson Silva was always respectful and people, people went to see him and bought his pay-per-view just 'cause he was a bad motherfucker and they wanted to see him fight. It was 100% based on his ability.

Yoel Romero 1:35:04 You see what happen in the fight Anderson beat Bétar?

Joe Rogan 1:35:11 Mm-hmm, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:12 That is not fake.

Joe Rogan 1:35:14 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:14 That is not fake, you understand?

Joe Rogan 1:35:16 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 1:35:16 He is quiet, but these days he's (growls)

Joe Rogan 1:35:19 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:19 He put the, the, the-

Joe Rogan 1:35:20 The mask on.

Yoel Romero 1:35:21 The mask on-

Joe Rogan 1:35:22 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:22 ... and now, and now he's get (growls)

Joe Rogan 1:35:23 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:24 That's just not fake.

Joe Rogan 1:35:24 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:35:24 He know-

Joe Rogan 1:35:25 Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:25 He no needed a imitation Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:35:28 Because Bétar was saying that Anderson was fake.

Yoel Romero 1:35:31 Yes.

Joe Rogan 1:35:31 That he wears a mask and that's not who he really is.

Yoel Romero 1:35:33 You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:35:34 So Anderson took it very personal.

Yoel Romero 1:35:35 Yeah, that's personal.

Joe Rogan 1:35:36 Yeah, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:37 But I never see Anderson like this.

Joe Rogan 1:35:40 No, that was the most personal-

Yoel Romero 1:35:40 Everything quiet, very professional, you understand?

Joe Rogan 1:35:43 Mm-hmm, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:44 That's what I say. And now the people want the money. No man, you, you, you, you no comment, you, you no actor, you are a fighter.

Joe Rogan 1:35:51 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:35:51 You fighter. Go and kill the people, take it in hand.

Joe Rogan 1:35:56 The hand, yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:35:56 Like a wrestler en la mano and now the people pay you.

Joe Rogan 1:36:00 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:36:01 But now when you, uh, fight again the people pay pay-per-view because the people want to see you.

Joe Rogan 1:36:07 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:36:07 The people don't want to you (growls) . Okay, so you want to say something? Say but no, no imit... Uh, no imites a Conor.

Joey Diaz 1:36:17 No, don't imitate Conor.

Joe Rogan 1:36:18 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:36:19 You know?

Joe Rogan 1:36:19 There's too many people... There's definitely a lot of people that are doing that, doing a bad job of it.

Joey Diaz 1:36:23 So que fue lo que tú le dijiste a Luke Rockhold?

Yoel Romero 1:36:27 Man, le conté lo que... Lo, lo, lo, le, le expliqué, le conté para que no se olvidara de las cosas que él...

Joey Diaz 1:36:33 Dile, dile Joe lo que tú le dijiste.

Yoel Romero 1:36:35 I say, "Hey Luke, and now you seeing and now you remember? When you taken me and you say you want to go to a hungout, uh, go, go out, go to the party and when you stay with me you say me, 'Hey wait, you want to fight me?'" He said, "No, why you ask me? Why you ask?" He said, "No, you want to fight with me?" He said, "No, that's not the question. The question is do you want to fight me?"

Joe Rogan 1:36:59 So this is before the fight, you guys had a conversation?

Yoel Romero 1:37:01 S- long time before.

Joe Rogan 1:37:03 A long time ago and he said he didn't want to fight you?

Yoel Romero 1:37:05 Yeah, he said he don't want to fight me. He said, "Okay bro, so you don't want to fight me, I no fight you." You understand?

Joe Rogan 1:37:10 But what was that about? Why would you guys say that? Why would you have this conversation?

Joey Diaz 1:37:13 Porque te... Oh, porque usted-

Yoel Romero 1:37:15 Right.

Joe Rogan 1:37:15 You're in the same division.

Yoel Romero 1:37:17 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 1:37:17 Why would he say that he doesn't want to fight you?

Yoel Romero 1:37:19 I don't know. You need to ask him, no me.

Joe Rogan 1:37:22 Okay.

Yoel Romero 1:37:22 Because I know yo no, yo no empezaba la conversación.

Joey Diaz 1:37:25 He didn't start the conversation.

Joe Rogan 1:37:26 Right, okay.

Yoel Romero 1:37:28 You need to ask him.

Joe Rogan 1:37:29 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:37:32 Because I know you stay in the same co- in the same division.

Joe Rogan 1:37:36 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:37:36 So you don't want to fight me, lose it.... oh, so you don't wanna stay, you don't wanna fight, move it.

Joe Rogan 1:37:42 Right. Either go up-

Yoel Romero 1:37:44 Yeah, go up-

Joe Rogan 1:37:45 ... or quit.

Yoel Romero 1:37:45 ... or, or lose it.

Joe Rogan 1:37:46 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:37:46 So you win, I don't win, the fight is you, boom.

Joe Rogan 1:37:49 Right. If you win-

Yoel Romero 1:37:50 Face to face.

Joe Rogan 1:37:50 ... and I win, we're gonna have to fight.

Yoel Romero 1:37:51 Yeah. That's it.

Joe Rogan 1:37:52 So when you finally did fight him, that was when you felt he was disrespectful. He was talking a lot of shit.

Yoel Romero 1:38:01 That's what I think. (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:38:05 Uh, before what happened with USADA.

Joe Rogan 1:38:12 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:38:13 That's what happen every time with hey, Sidney. That's, that's a (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:38:17 Every time-

Joe Rogan 1:38:18 So let's explain what happened. You got ahold of a tainted supplement. There was something in the supplement that was, uh, forbidden.

Joey Diaz 1:38:25 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:38:26 No, no-

Joe Rogan 1:38:27 They found that it was in the supplement, so you got cleared.

Yoel Romero 1:38:29 No, no, n-

Joe Rogan 1:38:29 But you had a small suspension.

Yoel Romero 1:38:30 It's not food, it's not food. It, it, is, it's a supplemental (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:38:36 He was a stranger.

Yoel Romero 1:38:37 That's what I know. And, and, believe me, I don't understand what happened.

Joe Rogan 1:38:40 Hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:38:41 It very serious, you know, because this supplement, I take it.

Joe Rogan 1:38:46 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:38:47 I take it. Why this supplement-

Joe Rogan 1:38:52 Have something forbidden in it. Yeah.

Yoel Romero 1:38:53 See, why-

Joe Rogan 1:38:54 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:38:55 ... why no before?

Joe Rogan 1:38:56 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-

Joey Diaz 1:39:16 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:39:17 (Spanish) .

Joey Diaz 1:39:18 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.

Yoel Romero 1:39:29 That's the way people see me.

Joey Diaz 1:39:30 (Spanish) .

Yoel Romero 1:39:32 (Spanish) .

Joe Rogan 1:39:34 This has happened to a lot of guys.

Joey Diaz 1:39:36 Can I ask you a question?

Joe Rogan 1:39:37 Sure, yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:39:37 Can I ask you both a question? Is it true I can go into GNC and buy shit that could get jacked?

Joe Rogan 1:39:42 Yes.

Joey Diaz 1:39:43 GNC?

Joe Rogan 1:39:44 Yes.

Joey Diaz 1:39:44 I've heard you talking on the podcast, not when I'm on, with other people.

Joe Rogan 1:39:48 Yeah, yeah.

Joey Diaz 1:39:48 So I could go into GNC and take this guy aside-

Joe Rogan 1:39:50 There's, there's a lot of stuff that you go, if you go into GNC, you'll buy stuff that's on the shelves for a little while, then they pull it. And, uh, when companies sell stuff to them, sometimes they'll say there's one thing in it, but there's other things in it as well. That's a real common thing, especially if something works really well. Like, a lot of times the stuff that works really well, people find out, yeah, it works really well because there's fucking steroids in it. Yeah. You could, I mean, it might not even just be GNC, just any vitamin store.

Joey Diaz 1:40:13 Okay.

Joe Rogan 1:40:14 No, no necessarily GNC. But there's a bunch of them. Legal steroids at GNC, Vitamin Shop and Walmart, and more. Yeah. See this is very, very common. When you, when you go to these places and buy these things, there's a lot of stuff at a regular vitamin store that'll make you test positive by USADA. You'll test for banned substances from stuff you just buy in a store.

Yoel Romero 1:40:34 Yo, um, you know, many time I think, ef- after the, the, this happen, I think, uh, many time invitation people from Cuba. Take the people, say, "Okay, you and you and you and you and you, come to Cuba."

Joe Rogan 1:40:52 Mm-hmm.

Yoel Romero 1:40:53 For maybe 20 days. I wanted the people see because the genetic for Cuba-

Joe Rogan 1:41:05 Off the charts.

Yoel Romero 1:41:06 No for the, no for the athletic people. No, no, no. Normally.

Joe Rogan 1:41:12 Everybody. Normal people have incredible genetics.

Yoel Romero 1:41:14 Yeah, no, I want the people invitation.

Joe Rogan 1:41:15 Right, right.

Yoel Romero 1:41:17 You need-

Joe Rogan 1:41:18 To see.

Yoel Romero 1:41:18 ... to see.

Joe Rogan 1:41:19 Right.

Yoel Romero 1:41:20 An open mind.

Joe Rogan 1:41:21 Right, right, right.

Yoel Romero 1:41:22 And, he know. That's what I say.

Joe Rogan 1:41:25 Well, here's the thing about a guy