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JRE MMA Show #171 with Brendan Allen

Joe sits down with Brendan Allen, a professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. https://www.ufc.com/athlete/brendan-allen Perplexity: Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at https://pplx.ai/rogan. Buy 1 Get 1 Free Trucker Hat with code ROGAN at https://happydad.com Visit https://squarespace.com/ROGAN to save 10% off your first purchase of a website.

Joe RoganhostBrendan Allenguest
Dec 9, 20252h 52mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:0015:00

    (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast,…

    1. NA

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

    2. JR

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) All right, what's happening brother?

    3. BA

      Joe Rogan, thanks for having us. 2020...

    4. JR

      My pleasure. So, Jamie, what were you just saying?

    5. NA

      Yeah.

    6. JR

      I, I, I stopped you because it sounds-

    7. NA

      Yeah.

    8. JR

      ... so crazy.

    9. NA

      So, uh, Trump said there's gonna be eight to nine title fights at the White House UFC event, and that they're, I guess, in quotes, "withholding"?

    10. JR

      Okay, first of all-

    11. NA

      They're holding back title fights right now.

    12. JR

      ... there's only eight weight classes. So, how's there gonna be nine title fights?

    13. NA

      I don't know.

    14. NA

      (laughs)

    15. JR

      There'll be a b- BMF fight. Maybe add a BMF. Maybe you have all of them- I guess.

    16. NA

      ... in the BMF.

    17. JR

      I guess, but that's kind of a crazy thing. "We're gonna have 20 title fights!"

    18. NA

      (laughs)

    19. JR

      "All the title fights there's ever been!" Um, did he say any match-ups?

    20. NA

      No, he didn't say who. He just said they're gonna, I don't think, actually, if there's even like a tweet about it. But I just saw him talking about it. It was like a, I don't know, press conference or something.

    21. JR

      Well, if they don't do Jon Jones at the White House, I think it'd be a travesty.

    22. BA

      For sure. They have to.

    23. JR

      They need to do that.

    24. BA

      They have to.

    25. JR

      Come on. Dana's like, "You can't count on him." You can't fucking count on him. Come on. Stop.

    26. BA

      When he wants to, he's gonna-

    27. JR

      Yeah.

    28. BA

      ... he's gonna make it happen, for sure.

    29. JR

      At the White House? Come on. Jon Jones versus, let's see, what does it say here? "Donald Trump predicts eight or nine cham-" (laughs)

    30. NA

      (laughs)

  2. 15:0030:00

    Mm-hmm. …

    1. BA

      was like, uh, he came and trained and obviously you know Sean's huge. Super athletic guy, heavyweight, you know. And I'm talking about, I watched him and this other big man, they were sparring and they was literally like touching each other.

    2. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    3. BA

      So I asked him after 'cause everyone else is fighting. And I'm like, "Man, why, how come you don't spar so hard?" He looked at me and started laughing. He's like, "Brendan, I'm..." At this time I think he was like 270, two, somewhere around there and he's like, "I'm 270 pounds. I fought some of the biggest guys, like biggest names in the world at the time." He's like, "I know how to fight. If I, if I go full blast or he goes full blast, one of us is gonna get hurt and then we're not gonna fight anymore. Like-"

    4. JR

      Yeah.

    5. BA

      "... we're not gonna, we're not gonna make money for our family." So I always, I always took that in and obviously I'm not like a huge guy like they were, but it's like, even like when I was training in Florida, I knew when me and Robocop go, we're fighting. Like I know it.

    6. JR

      Dude, that guy is scary.

    7. BA

      You know?

    8. JR

      Both y- both you guys, like how the fuck are you making 185 pounds? And you're on a smaller side in comparison to him.

    9. BA

      Yeah, dude. It's, my weight cuts way h- harder than his.

    10. JR

      Is it?

    11. BA

      Yeah. He walks... Dude, surprisingly, I asked him before 'cause he, he has, you know, he has a great like physique, right? He's a big guy. When I see him I'm like, "Bro, how much you weigh?" He's like, "Oh, like 205." I said, "No way. No way." He's like, "I'll step on the scale right now." Steps on the scale, 206. I was like, "No way." I've seen him a little bit bigger.

    12. JR

      How was he, he got bird bones? That doesn't even make any sense.

    13. BA

      I have no idea. I thought the same thing. But me, I step on the scale, I mean right now I'm probably like 225 but I haven't done nothing since I fought. But I stay around 215, 220. And I'm the runt of my family so like my body wants to get bigger but I'm like, "Uh, I got unfinished b- business here."

    14. JR

      (laughs)

    15. BA

      So yeah. Joe's, Joe's a, a big 85er. Joe Pyfer.

    16. JR

      Oh yeah.

    17. BA

      He's...

    18. JR

      He's a huge 85er.

    19. BA

      He has a hard cut.

    20. JR

      He's huge.

    21. BA

      He has a hard cut. That's why I'm like when he gets... (sniffs)

    22. JR

      Yeah, like how is that guy-

    23. BA

      Look at this one hand.

    24. JR

      How is that guy 185?

    25. BA

      Dude, he is.

    26. JR

      When I stand next to him I'm like, "How?"

    27. BA

      Same.

    28. JR

      I can't believe he walks around 205 'cause that doesn't even make sense.

    29. BA

      That's what I seen him at. I, hey, if it's a lie, guys, strike me down now 'cause...

    30. JR

      I think he rigged that scale.

  3. 30:0045:00

    I- …

    1. BA

      I've been pretty, pretty messed up. I think my worst was when I fought Imavov, to be honest.

    2. JR

      I-

    3. BA

      Physically, I was like, like as far as, like, how my body was, was pretty good, but I didn't realize, like, how much of a toll, 'cause I, like, have a thyroid problem and I, I went years without getting it checked. And, um, for, like, a while I was feeling, like, real sluggish, real tired. Um, no sex drive, nothing. Like, I didn't wanna get out of bed.And, um, my weight was just steady going up for the first time in my life. At that point I hit 220 and I was like, "What is going on?" Like, I'm still training, I'm eating clean. And, uh, anyway, I went to a specialist in Florida and they tested everything, like T3, T4, and I'd never had T3 checked ever. And it was, like, seven times the normal value, whatever that was supposed to be. I have it on a paper or whatever. They gave me that and they were like, "Hey, man, I'm gonna let you know," I was, I was fighting in three, three or four weeks in France. And they were like, "Hey, this is gonna take a month and a half, two months to regulate and fully settle out." I was like, "I don't got that kind of time. Just give me enough to where my, where my weight will come down," 'cause I wasn't losing anything. They're like, "It's gonna do that, don't worry. Within a week or two, that's gonna happen." I was still pretty tired, but I just kept pushing. We get to f- We went to, uh, London first, stayed there a week 'cause it was cheaper for us than going to France 'cause he had, my friend had family there. Then we went to France, and then, um, I was still feeling, like, tired. I, that was the first camp in my life I couldn't do more than two and a half rounds the whole camp.

    4. JR

      Really?

    5. BA

      I, I, I w- Uh, Bisping was the only person that I had to train with. Greg was hurt, um, other guys were out, so I had Bisping every day. I paid him to, to train with me every day whenever I wanted, sparring, anything. And, um, I ask him, I do good for the first round, halfway through the second. After that, I was dead. Like, dead. And I'm still hitting my runs, my lifts every training session. Like, I'm doing everything normal, but man it was terrible. So the fight comes and, um, they, the, the commission kinda, like, did super weird stuff. Like, I made weight and they're like, "Oh, you're getting drug tested." I'm like, "Okay, no problem." They're like, "No, no, no, you're gonna get drug tested now, not the night of the fight like normal." I was like, "What?" I was like, "I literally just cut weight, like I don't gotta pee. I'm just now drinking fluid." They're like, "Doesn't matter. You can go to your room." I was like, "All right. I'll wait for a couple minutes." I waited for, like, 10 minutes, I was like, "Hey, man, I'm just gonna go to my room, try to sleep." And they were like, uh, "No, we don't have enough people. You need to stay here." I stayed there for two hours. They did, uh... Finally I peed, just barely. Peed and they did two vials of blood, and they c- they got mad because th- they did that one that they put on and press?

    6. JR

      Mm-hmm.

    7. BA

      The gravity one? And they couldn't get enough, like, and they were like-

    8. JR

      'Cause you're dehydrated.

    9. BA

      Exactly.

    10. JR

      Do you think they were fucking with you because you were fighting in France against a French guy?

    11. BA

      It was me and Moicano. We were the o- m- us two and one other person, American.

    12. JR

      Was that when Moicano was fighting Benoit Saint-Denis?

    13. BA

      Yes, sir.

    14. JR

      Ah.

    15. BA

      He, he bitched about the same thing, but somehow he had-

    16. JR

      They, they were fucking with you guys.

    17. BA

      Them two were up sleeping in their room, chilling.

    18. JR

      Oh, that's so-

    19. BA

      But it's not an excuse. I-

    20. JR

      It does not have to be an excuse. That's so dirty.

    21. BA

      It was, it was, it was frustrating, but that's why I like when... I, I still think Ermolava's a cool guy, you know? Like, he's deserved his title shot. I think he's fully earned it, don't get me wrong, but I, I want to f- fight him again where it's like, I sparred him, like, a month after that. He was at the gym and I showed up at the gym and we sparred, we had a good time. But, um, I still think he's a nice guy, I think he deserved his spot, but I just wanna fight him where everything's-

    22. JR

      Right.

    23. BA

      ... equal. And, uh, like you said, we're not gonna come in 100%. He's not, I'm not. Fine. I don't care if I got a messed up hand, foot, whatever, but just an equal plate. Like-

    24. JR

      Well, it just sounds-

    25. BA

      You know?

    26. JR

      ... like you were compromising. Look-

    27. BA

      That's all right.

    28. JR

      ... a good example of that was Petr Yan's first fight with Merab.

    29. BA

      Man, he looked great this week.

    30. JR

      Fuck. (laughs)

  4. 45:001:00:00

    Wow. …

    1. BA

      I'm about to have two with my current wife, and she has, uh, a son from her previous, so stepson.

    2. JR

      Wow.

    3. BA

      Yeah, so ... And he's 14. My daughters just turned six and four. My son's about to turn one, and then we'll have another one in about a month and a half.

    4. JR

      So you got a lot of work to do.

    5. BA

      Yeah.

    6. JR

      Yeah.

    7. BA

      But it's, it's nice. Um, it's hard right now. Um, you know, kids have schedules, and now, like, my, my little girls do jujitsu. My stepson was playing football for the first time this year, and he- he's a basketball player 'cause my wife was a pro basketball player. And, um, so he's always got something going on. But at my new house that I'm working to build, I have, like, two gyms, full gyms, so, like, I don't have to leave, you know?

    8. JR

      Oh.

    9. BA

      So-

    10. JR

      That's nice.

    11. BA

      ... yeah, I could bring people in to train. I have a f- my full cage that I used to have for my promotion, so ...

    12. JR

      Well, even if you only, you realize only, I only have 40 minutes before I have to leave, but I can get a half-hour workout in real quick.

    13. BA

      Exactly.

    14. JR

      And you can really burn it out for a half an hour, just to keep, keep the machine oiled.

    15. BA

      Exactly.

    16. JR

      But, you know, the argument about taking time off, it does reset the brain. Like, y- you know who used to do that? I know he's not a fighter, but Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie Coleman is ... Crazy as he used to lift when he was Mr. Olympia, and he was one of the heaviest lifters of all time. I mean, he would do-

    17. BA

      He's a freak.

    18. JR

      He's a freak. Ronnie, when he would, like, get done with Mr. Olympia, he would be like, "I'm not doing shit." He wouldn't do anything for, like, a couple months. Like, no training at all. And they'd be like, "Nothing at all?" He'd go, "Nope, nothing. Nothing."

    19. BA

      Yeah.

    20. JR

      He goes, "I gotta reset. Gotta reset." But-

    21. BA

      That's what it was.

    22. JR

      ... imagine being so driven that you could train the way that guy trained, and yet so wise that you're like, "I'll get it back. Let me just, like ... Let me just chill."

    23. BA

      Yeah.

    24. JR

      "Let me just chill."

    25. BA

      That's what it feels like.

    26. JR

      And it wasn't like it turned him into a lazy person. Like, that's what everyone's afraid of. "Oh, I'm gonna lose this momentum. I'm doing so good. Everything's going so great. I'm working so hard. I wanna keep working hard." 'Cause we've all had ... I- if you live a life, you're gonna have ups and you're gonna have downs. And like you were going through your thyroid issue, there's gonna be times where you don't have a lot of energy. So when you're feeling good, you wanna keep going.

    27. BA

      Right.

    28. JR

      Right? And this guy gets to Mr. Olympia, but he has the wisdom to go, "You know what? I can get that back. Right now, let's just not do shit, and let this, let this mind recover, let this stress just al-

    29. BA

      Yeah.

    30. JR

      ... go away, let it slip out of my life."

  5. 1:00:001:02:46

    Dude- …

    1. JR

      just hope. In today's day and age, how can you hope that people don't know how to fight?

    2. BA

      Dude-

    3. JR

      I think if you run into 10 guys, one of them can fight today.

    4. BA

      Right.

    5. JR

      And it's probably the most in human history, in terms... other than, like, Spartan days, most in human history. And even back then, how good was their technique?

    6. BA

      V-... Exactly.

    7. JR

      You know what I'm saying? Like-

    8. BA

      It's crazy.

    9. JR

      ... y-... They probably didn't even know about calf kicks. (laughs)

    10. BA

      (laughs) Dude, it's like, my dad grew up boxing, right? So my dad, he would always tell me, like, growing up, he was a little bitch. He was like, "I used to get my ass kicked," until he had...... he had to move in with his grandfather. His grandfather, World War II vet, shot twice, grew up boxing, um, probably the most rugged man that you'll ever meet. I met him once before he passed away. His voice was so gruff, like he's a man's man, you know? Like one of those. Doesn't say nothing really. And, uh (laughs) , so he raised my dad, and he used to t- step outside, m- like kind of mess with him, box. Like, he put him in boxing, but he knocked my dad out one time. He was like, you know, "Well, man, come on, let's test it."

    11. JR

      Ooh.

    12. BA

      Stepped on his foot and slept him.

    13. JR

      (inhales deeply)

    14. BA

      And, uh, but anyway, so like when he was on high school though-

    15. JR

      That's a fucked up thing to do to your kid.

    16. BA

      Dude, he said, my dad said he didn't care about nothing. My dad said he literally watched him smash his finger flat with a hammer. The nerves flew out. Like, they were still attached, they flew out.

    17. JR

      Oh my God.

    18. BA

      Hit his head on, uh, throwing, uh, bales of hay in the loft. Smoked his head on a railroad spike that was in the wood. Uh, cracked his skull. He didn't know till two days later. They said if he would've waited a couple, like 12 more hours he would've been dead-

    19. JR

      (exhales loudly)

    20. BA

      ... 'cause all the swelling on his brain.

    21. JR

      (laughs)

    22. BA

      They had to cut his brain, uh, his skull off to let the f- fluid come out.

    23. JR

      Oh, God.

    24. BA

      Crazy old, just stubborn old man, you know?

    25. JR

      That's crazy what your grandson though, sle- sleeping like that.

    26. BA

      Dude, he said, my dad said-

    27. JR

      That's so crazy. (laughs)

    28. BA

      My dad said, he s- he said, we were messing around, he's like, "All right," like, "Quit messing with me." He always told him that. "Leave me alone." He kept on, he kept on. He stepped on his foot and my dad said, "Y- quit stepping." He said that's all he remembers.

    29. JR

      Oh, wow.

    30. BA

      Old school trick.

Episode duration: 2:52:14

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