The Joe Rogan ExperienceJRE MMA Show #170 with Michael "Venom" Page
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
150 min read · 30,017 words- 0:00 – 5:12
Why point-fighting footwork is MMA’s hardest puzzle (and why Rogan championed it)
- NANarrator
(drumming music plays) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (rock music plays)
- JRJoe Rogan
We're up.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
All right.
- JRJoe Rogan
MVP in the house.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yes.
- JRJoe Rogan
The most enigmatic-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... difficult dude to solve in all of MMA. That's you, man.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Bro, you know what? I, I always ... I wanna start simply because you ... What you have done for me specifically, I get a lot of criticism, a lot of hate, and especially obviously jumping, when I first got into the, into the MMA world. New to me, you know, I'm just like, "Okay, let me just be myself, do my thing." First fight goes well. Land this crazy kick, goes viral, and I get nothing but hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. But then having prominent figures like yourself that are constantly have been championing my style, uh, champion, championing the, like, the points element of things, I just appreciate you for that.
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, my pleasure brother.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I appreciate that.
- JRJoe Rogan
I appreciate you. It's almost like we called for you, because there was a time in the early days of MMA, like in the early 2000s, where I was like, "This is what's missing."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
"This ... What's missing is point fighters." And people would, like, mock me.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
They, they'd be like, "No, no, no, no, no, like, I've sparred with these dudes. You can't hit them. It's a different thing." I'm like, "They have a very specific skill. That skill of closing distance-"
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
"... and being elusive."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's not like any other sport.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's almost like fencing and MMA combined, or, uh, and martial arts combined.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah. I always tell people that, like, most of the combat sports in terms of kickboxing, the full-contact side of things, is more to do with the ... There's a fixation on power, knocking people out.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Whereas our element is just the speed element.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Just getting in and getting out.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Not getting touched. Like you said, the tag, tag kind of feel, fencing.
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- 5:12 – 6:54
Psychological warfare, “calm down,” and the myth of “fighting cans”
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And I always say that is 'cause I, you know, I've co- come up against guys, I was like, "Man, he can ... He's got big, big hit, a big punch on him." And I agree, I'm like, "Yeah, I get it," but power only means something if you land.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And my whole element is, like, not being touched.
- JRJoe Rogan
Which also fucking with people's heads.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
One of the, one of the things you did during the Jared Cannon neer fight after you hit him, you were like, "Calm down."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
"Calm down." I was like, "Oh, no."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause you imagine just getting popped, your eyes are runny, your nose hurts.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
And this dude's standing in front of you going, "Calm down. Calm down."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
I'm like, "No, he didn't."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Oh, no.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But that's the-
- JRJoe Rogan
It's psychological warfare.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But that's the, and that's obviously, that's k- kinda, like, part of my personality-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... coming out, and the entertaining side of me. And a lot obviously added to the criticism that I would get.... which, because of how I would make my opponents feel in terms of their frustration-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... and then obviously the antics on top of it, so many people, the, the, the main term that came with me was like, "Oh, he's fighting cans. He's fighting cans." That, that, my whole career was, "Oh, he's fighting cans, like, he can't..." But I always say to people is, "I'm just making it seem a lot less difficult than it actually is."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
These guys are super talented fighters-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... I'm just not fighting on the same wavelength and timing as them. As you said, these guys that plod around, they're so used to it, so when they're fighting other people it looks a- a very even, but when they're fighting somebody that they just can't get their hands on-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... and they're getting frustrated on top of that, so there's the mental side, the physical side, th-
- JRJoe Rogan
And you have a lot of power, so there's consequences.
- 6:54 – 11:24
The Cyborg flying knee: gruesome KO, Poké Ball celebration, and meeting him later
- JRJoe Rogan
... every now and then. Like, the Cyborg fight was one of the craziest-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(sighs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... knockouts in all of MMA history.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And, you know what, one thing I actually wanted to do, I actually brought some gifts for you, but one of the things I actually wanted to bring for you was-
- JRJoe Rogan
Don't tell me you brought a piece of his head.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
No. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
He wouldn't let me have that, so, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I'll tell you, actually wanted to... We, we basically had a Poke Ball come, it was a very specific one, and they messed up on delivery, but I'm gonna get it to you in Vegas.
- JRJoe Rogan
Okay.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
So when we go over to Vegas-
- JRJoe Rogan
All right, beautiful.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I'm just making sure-
- JRJoe Rogan
Beautiful.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... I, I get that to you, because again, it's something that you've spoken about with me, and it's a big, it's a big part of my, my history, uh, in MMA, just that, that, that Cyborg fight, so- (swoosh)
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Bro, that was the most gruesome injury I've ever seen.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
I've seen a lot of broken bones-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... I've never seen someone with a caved in head.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah. The doctors were saying that, um, what we were hearing back from them, they said, "He's only ever seen that in a car accident, never in, in-"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, that's his head.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
"... in MMA." Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
That is so crazy.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And that was his last fight. And I know after the fight, he was like, "We're gonna fight again." The doctor's like, "Hey!"
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Cause I think he was-
- 11:24 – 19:47
From “MMA isn’t for me” to London Shoot Fighters: learning grappling by tapping constantly
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But interestingly though, when I was in... At the time that I, he was around, uh, I was still very, like, heavily focused on the points fighting, kickboxing, so... But a friend of mine was training at Chute and he was like, "You need to come and train with these guys. Like, these guys are serious," and, but for me MMA was just never gonna be a thing that I'd ever see myself in.
- JRJoe Rogan
Really?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I've always seen it as, I guess like your average fan back in the day and some fans now have like, "Ah, it's brutal man." Like, I-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And again, I'm a points fighter, it's like I, I don't see myself being good enough to, or tough enough to fight these guys. Like-
- JRJoe Rogan
What changed?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... obviously in my, had a successful career in the kickboxing, but it didn't really go anywhere. It's like you're fighting the same people. Like the amount of times me and Raymond have fought, and we were like the, some of the top two guys. Like, if we're both in the competition, like we both walk in the room, everyone was like, "Oh my God, are these guys gonna fight?" Like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... we were the guys. But I'm fighting the same people, and it's just like everything, everyone hoping that you're gonna lose or your fans are kinda like supporting you. And then I come back to reality, come off a plane, I've traveled, I've fought all the, you know, the whole week or whatever, won a world title, and I've come back home and then nothing. Like-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... I come back home to just me being myself, just me being me, which I'm okay with.
- JRJoe Rogan
No recognition.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But there's no recognition-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... there was no sponsorship. I, you, I paid to do everything and as m- I, I loved it and if I could choose the route again, I'd still do it 'cause I absolutely loved it. But there comes a p- I'm getting older and this comes a point where I have to st- and I'm now starting to... Uh, but at the time, I'm, I'm a kid, but now it's getting to the point where I have to work and so on. Now it's like, "I can't do this forever," but at the same time, I know I want to compete for a living. I just didn't know what, in what. So then I said to myself, "Okay, cool. Let me... I need to take a step away from this. I know while I'm in this, this will be a distraction, I'm not gonna be able to focus on things 'cause another competition that I'm gonna wanna win is gonna come up and it's gonna turn my attention." So I said, "Look, I'm gonna..." I said to everyone, "I'm retired." I thought, "Let me say it to as many people as possible so then it's hard for me to turn back on it." So I'm just like, "Yeah, I'm, okay, yeah, I'm, I'm retiring now, not fighting again, yeah, this my last fight," da da da da. And I said, "Cool." Started to go around looking at boxing gyms, looking at full contact kickboxing, looking at MMA gyms, and the first gym I actually went to was, uh, in Miami, Coconut Creek, uh, American Top Team.
- JRJoe Rogan
Ah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah. 'Cause my sister, uh, used to live in that area, 'cause I got, uh, siblings over in America as well. So came out there, and I, in my head at the time, there's only few people from the UK that was doing anything in MMA. So when I was like, "Maybe I'm gonna try MMA," I was like, "Obviously I have to go to America." And I'm lucky enough to have siblings that live over there, so I'm good. So get to America, get to American Top Team, I go in there, I'm like, "This is where I'm gonna start." Like, I met a couple of the coaches and just kinda just like general chitchat. I didn't tell them who I was or anything, just kinda saw the vibe. The, the facilities are amazing. I was just like, "Yeah, this is, this is gonna be my new life." And then I get back to England and a good friend of mine, Marvin Francis, was like, "Just in case, just have a look at some gyms over here. You don't know." Just walk before, 'cause obviously I've got things to sort out before I can just make the full move. "So while you're doing that, let's have a look at a couple of gyms." And we did some research, we went to a couple of the Gracie gyms, went to a few other gyms that was around. Then I found London Shoot Fighters. I hadn't done any research, and at this time, I personally wasn't watching MMA at all. The only person I knew-
- JRJoe Rogan
What year is this?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Uh, so I would've been... I'd have been what? 24? So what's that about? (clears throat) So over 12, 13 years back. And I was trying to think, the only guys in the UK would have been Brad Pickett was fighting, uh-
- JRJoe Rogan
Solid fighter.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Solid fighter. Michael Bisping was fighting. But, and nobody had like achieved anything of big quality from there. Everything, everything was in America.
- JRJoe Rogan
Hm.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Um...
- JRJoe Rogan
Was Bisping still living in England or had he moved to America yet?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I think he was still in En- yeah, I think he was still in England. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but again, I was only learning it as I got more into it. But initially I just thought... I made the decision without actually researching anything, which is very much like me. I'll just-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... jump in headfirst. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Figure it out.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I'll figure it out afterwards, right? (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- 19:47 – 28:06
Childhood grind: losing for years, then a ‘matrix’ breakthrough at ISKA Worlds
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... ev- like, he was, for me, he was the more talented one. But I mean, like, every single weekend we're driving to Birmingham, to Manchester, to Scotland, to... We did trips everywhere. Like, my, my dad started a gym and he was going around everywhere. And every weekend, there, it's like f- three hours that way, four hours this way, there's... Coming back and I'm just got a bust lip (laughs) like iced.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And they're just, their medals are just like cling, cling, cling, cling, cling. Like, they got all the medals and they're talking about how they spin kicked some guy, and they did this, and I'm just like, "Yeah, yeah, cool. Cool story." And I got destroyed for four, five years and when I is, uh, I got to a qualifiers, uh, it was in Birmingham, uh, it was an i- ISKA, uh, qualifiers, and I managed to win that, which that in itself was success for me, like, I'm like, "Oh, man, I g- I qualified to go to the World Championships. I've already done well." Everyone else was there so they were supposed to do it, like, they're good enough to have the expectation of themselves. So then I get to the World Championships and the way they seed fighters in the US was very different to the UK at the time. So I had one fight, another fight, another fight, and I'm winning and I'm, like, happy, I'm like, "I must be in the finals already." And then they're like, "Okay, bring the seeders, fighters in," and there's, like, a shitload of fighters joining your, your, your mat and I'm like, "Oh." And my, and my dad would tell me, he's like, "Yeah, I think you're in a s- in the, in the semis. I think you're in the quarters." And then he was like, "Bro, just keep fighting." (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
How much did you fight?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
He said he couldn't work it out. I don't know. Seriously, I, I genuinely don't remember. I just remember just feeling tired and, like, I didn't understand why this was still going on, 'cause in the competitions, three, four fights you're in a final.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And I'd, I was at least 10 fights deep (laughs) and still felt like I was fighting.
- JRJoe Rogan
All in a day?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
In a day.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
So there's a, again, the ISKA, um, World Championships is in Orlando, Florida and it's, it's a, it's the- was the big, at the time, the biggest, uh, points kickboxing competition, so there's thousands and thousands of competitors, kids, adults, doing forms, doing, you know, katas and all this stuff. And then the, you had the points fighting, the light contact fighting and that was it. Um, and yeah, it just, all day, and then it literally got to this, like, okay, uh, I won a fight and the guy was like, "Okay, you're in the final next." The referee said that to me and I was like, "Oh," like, "I can't believe I'm in the final." And this guy was very good. I can't remember his name. We was young. I was, I think I was, like, 12 or 11 at the time, and I won the fight, I just collapsed to my, like, my, my back, I was just like, "Oh, my God." Everyone ran in there, 'cause again, nobody expected that of me, and I remember going in there, the trophy itself was six foot tall.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And in my head I was like, "I just want one in my house." (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And I managed to, to win that, but something that competition clicked, so all the times I was getting beaten up, all the competitions I was getting destroyed at and I wasn't even, like, close, so I was getting destroyed, I won, I won this competition and I went back home and every person I used to get destroyed by, I was smoking them. Like, something was different.
- JRJoe Rogan
Instantaneously?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
There's, there was a weird shift that just went click.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And all the kicks that would, I'd walk into-
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... face first I was like, "Oh, actually I can do this." I was like... (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow, you entered into the matrix.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I'd literally, I'd dest- I, to the point, to the point where, so when I w- when I went back home it's like 12 and for the year of that circuit I'd, I didn't lose a fight.
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And this is from, this is from getting warped.
- JRJoe Rogan
That's crazy.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And this is all- I'm fighting all the same guys that I k- I grew up with.
- JRJoe Rogan
And they must have been like, "What the fuck?"
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, "What the hell's going on here?" Then the, when I was 13 I asked my dad, I was like, "Can I please fight in the seniors?" And the seniors are 18s plus and he was like- and he said it to me, he said it to me later on, he was like, "As a coach, I knew you could. As your dad," I was like, "Hell no." And I begged him, like, every competition we go to I was like, "Please can I fight in the seniors? Please." And there was a big, uh, British Championship competition and (clears throat) I was- I begged, I was like, "Please," he's like, "You can do this one."And again, I don't think he... Remember, these guys are 18+, we- all different sizes as well. I d- I don't think... He knew I'd do well, but not as well as he, I did. So I won the s- my senior division-
- JRJoe Rogan
Wow.
- 28:06 – 31:14
Origins of “Venom,” creativity, and why unpredictability beats pattern recognition
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah. Well, funny you say that. I... That's where my name came from. So, Venom came from when I was nine, and the only kids that was in my dad's class at the time, mainly, b- bar a few others, 'cause y- at the time he did... It was basically one class. He didn't really separate the kids and adults, so just one class. So you're... I'm trying my best, ah, throwing everything in to hit adults.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And they're not moving, but I'm trying my best to just get some kind of reaction. And then when I started hitting people my own size, even though I was losing 'cause they were, they just... O- obviously, I was tall for my age as well, so I was fighting kids slightly more naturally developed than me, but I had a, had a whack on me.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And-
- JRJoe Rogan
That's a great way to put it. (laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
You know what I mean? Like, ju- even though I, I... You know, like, I wasn't beating these guys, these guys were just way too fast for me, but when I hit them, they felt it. And it was one of my... Uh, uh, again, Marvin was literally just like, "Hey, you got some venom in you, man."
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we was very into, like, kung fu movies back in the day, and then, uh... And I was very, um, creative mind. Like, I loved just, just... Even with my martial arts, I learn a jab like this and now I have to add something-
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Uh, or I can't do things conventional. I've never, never liked to do it. If there's a... Everyone's walking that way, like, I wanna see what's over there.
- JRJoe Rogan
(laughs)
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
I kind of just... I don't know what is wrong. I don't know what's wrong with me, but...
- JRJoe Rogan
Or what's right with you.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Or what's right with me, but I just got that. Like, I was just curious and creative. And so there's a film called The Five Deadly Venoms, like old school, old school kung fu classic. And he would be like, "Yeah, five deadly venoms, let's make a move for each, like, uh, thing." So he'd be like scorpion or toad, and I would make up weird moves and try to add it into... And that was always my thing, I'd see something on the, in the movies and I'm like, "I'm gonna try it in the, in there." This is all while I'm still getting beaten up, by the way, as well. But that never left me. So even when I started beating all these people now, I'm doing it with the style and flare of like, "What more can I do?"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
You know what I mean?
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
So, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
But it's so perfect for martial arts for you, for MMA, because...... a lot of MMA is pattern recognition.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
You get, you get a- a- accustomed to certain types of movements. "I know this guy's gonna do this. The calf kick's gonna be available. I'm gonna feint with this, and then I'm gonna throw that. I'm gonna shoot that double here because I know he's gonna come with the overhand right."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
All these patterns.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
You don't have, you don't have normal patterns.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
At all.
- JRJoe Rogan
So, you're moving around, and your hands are down-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... you're sideways. They're like... And they have to make up new patterns-
- 31:14 – 49:30
Sparring scarcity, exhaustion from feints, and heavyweight talk: Aspinall, Jon Jones, Ngannou
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
It's weird though. It's a blessing and a curse. Uh, blessing, obviously, being ab- being... Having the advantages of a fight. But sparring, headache. Earlier, a lot of people wanted to kind of like, "Hmm, I wanna see what this is about." Then word spreads (snorts) quite quickly, and I struggle with sparring. I think it's starting to come back now. People are a bit more willing, but I struggled with sparring.
- JRJoe Rogan
You just couldn't get sparring?
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Couldn't get sparring 'cause-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Also, I... And I kinda see it from other people's point of view. It's like, "Well, why... I'm not gonna fight anybody like that, so why, why, why am I coming over?"
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah, but if you saw that, if you, with your mindset-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, I'm going over.
- JRJoe Rogan
... you would be like, "I gotta figure out-"
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, 100%.
- JRJoe Rogan
"... what the fuck he's doing."
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
100%.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And my teammates, they're forced to.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And a lot of them, they even say, like, "I'd spar you, and then I go spar someone else, and they feel so slow."
- JRJoe Rogan
Mm-hmm.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
'Cause I'm... When I'm with you, my eyes are like this. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm forced-
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... to be, like, ultra alert. And then I go, and someone's throwing a punch. I'm like, "Oh." (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
That's the thing too, it's exhausting.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It's exhausting. Your style's exhausting because you always have to be at high alert.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
There's no moment... 'Cause there's so many times where you've done, like, like, a, a shift in rhythm-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and it looks like you're slowing down-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm, and then speed back up.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and then you explode and crack people.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
And you've done that so successfully so many times, that if they've watched any tape, there's... They know there's no s- there's no moments-
- 49:30 – 1:02:02
How fighters become stars: branding, walkouts, mic work, and lessons from WWE/Chael/Conor
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's the thing. That's the, it's the marketability of people. This is what I knew I had to get right as well.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
And a lot of... I, I say that to my teammates as well. I'm like, "Do you know how you're gonna market yourself?" And they're, "Oh, no, just, you know, if I beat people up." It's like, it doesn't always just work. Unfortunately, it should, but it doesn't, that's not what's gonna get you... If I have to, as a promotion, uh, owner, I'm the person managing everything, I'm either gonna pick you that's beating everybody but nobody cares about, or this guy that's, you know, is pretty decent but everyone's making noise about. Gonna pick that guy. So you need to be able to market yourself. And I, I knew that from the jump, and this is before really social media was massive, massive as a, as a thing. But I said to myself, "Okay, I need to look in... How am I gonna market myself?" 'Cause we don't have that much time like on the mic. Uh, the, the interviews at the time, I don't feel like people got the recognition. People just cared about the fight. They just wanted to watch the fight, they didn't care what you said beforehand.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Unless you're arguing or shouting at each o- you know, there's, there's beef.
- JRJoe Rogan
Unless you grab that mic and go crazy.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yeah.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
You gotta go crazy.
- JRJoe Rogan
Chael Sonnen was the first guy who figured it out.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Oh, he's the best. Yeah, he was-
- JRJoe Rogan
He figured it out before anybody.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
He's the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
Anderson Silva!
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
You absolutely suck!
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
(laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
He's the best fighter pound for pound in the world.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But he's still go-... This is why he's on the mic now.
- JRJoe Rogan
Yes, but it was-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
He's the best.
- JRJoe Rogan
... perfect.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
It was perfect.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
But there was balance with that.
- JRJoe Rogan
He's, he's the king.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
There was, for me, there was a perfect balance. Like it, it wasn't too far.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right, right, right.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
It was, it was, it was exactly what you wanted.
- JRJoe Rogan
Right.
- 1:02:02 – 1:31:17
Elite skill vs. performing under pressure: Lerone Murphy, “all gas no brakes,” and unseen gym monsters
- JRJoe Rogan
Listen, it's... Aaron Pico is as talented as they come, right? That dude is a fucking vicious boxer.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Incredible wrestling.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
Gold-chip prospect-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
... from the very... But Lerone Murphy-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, beast.
- JRJoe Rogan
... is another guy-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... was not... I was saying before that this is the guy-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... that's not getting the credit he deserves.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Oh, yeah, 100%.
- JRJoe Rogan
'Cause you've got all these loud killers at-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... 145.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
- JRJoe Rogan
But you've got this one dude-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah. (laughs)
- JRJoe Rogan
... that does everything perfect.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he's beating everybody, just-
- JRJoe Rogan
He's beating everything.
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
... etching away, etching away.
- JRJoe Rogan
And he doesn't take damage-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
And he's clever-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Yeah, yeah.
- JRJoe Rogan
... and he's slick-
- MPMichael "Venom" Page
Mm-hmm.
Episode duration: 2:33:57
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Transcript of episode 5Er_88yJov4