JRE MMA Show #172 with Gable Steveson

Gable Steveson 0:00 (drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast. Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Joe Rogan 0:06 Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) All right. What's happening? Pleasure to meet you, man.

Gable Steveson 0:14 How are you?

Joe Rogan 0:16 Great. I'm great. W- when you got a name like Gable, and you're named after Dan Gable, and you go on to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling, that is kind of- (laughs)

Gable Steveson 0:24 That's crazy, right? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 0:25 ... that's kind of prophetic.

Gable Steveson 0:26 Um, my mom, when I was young, she was trying to find names for me, and she liked Kale Sanderson because Kale was a guy at the time. But she was at a tournament in Iowa with my older brother, and she kept hearing, "Gable, Gable, Gable." And it was Dan Gable at the time. And you know, Dan Gable's a huge figure in the Midwest for wrestling, and so she was like, "Why don't I name you Gable Dan?" And the rest was history, which is really crazy-

Joe Rogan 0:46 That-

Gable Steveson 0:46 ... 'cause it- it- his whole timeline is my timeline, which is fantastic.

Joe Rogan 0:50 Except the MMA part.

Gable Steveson 0:51 That too.

Joe Rogan 0:52 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 0:52 Which I wish he would've done.

Joe Rogan 0:53 (laughs) Well, he would've been amazing at it, but-

Gable Steveson 0:55 I think he would've- I think he would've been amazing.

Joe Rogan 0:56 But it wasn't around, I mean, when he was wrestling.

Gable Steveson 0:59 Bare knuckle maybe? I don't know. Do it on a street or something.

Joe Rogan 1:01 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 1:01 (laughs) He could've found- he could've found a way.

Joe Rogan 1:04 It's kind of fucked that there's no real professional outlet for actual wrestling.

Gable Steveson 1:10 It is fucked, and, uh, wrestling needs a real way to go out there and, and be something big. And I think they have a really good one now with, um, RAF. If you haven't heard about it-

Joe Rogan 1:20 Yes, I have.

Gable Steveson 1:20 ... it's American Freestyle. They're trying, and I think they're trying really well, and I think it's gonna come to a point where, how do you make matchups continue? Because, you know, wrestling gets to the point where... And- and fighting and- and- and a lot of other sports, you can get to the point where, you know, maybe you draft a guy, and fighting, there's a next big thing.

Joe Rogan 1:36 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 1:36 There's a next guy out there that you can kinda create, and with wrestling, they're trying to create a- an atmosphere of how can you create that person. And I like it, and I think it might work, and hopefully it keeps going the way it needs to go.

Joe Rogan 1:46 (clicks tongue) It would be interesting if it... Well, the problem is MMA is so huge now, and people kind of associate wrestling with either MMA or pro wrestling now.

Gable Steveson 1:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:55 Like those are the two things that they think of. And it's one... I think it's one of those things like soccer, where soccer should be huge in America. It's huge all over the world, right? It's a very exciting sport. But nope.

Gable Steveson 2:09 You know what's crazy? How- how popular soccer players are, and I feel like in America, we have so many sports that, like, we can't hit that market for soccer, and I think that might be the biggest case why. Because if you go overseas, Ronaldo's paid-

Joe Rogan 2:23 Huge.

Gable Steveson 2:23 ... $500 million, and if he scores a goal, he gets a million dollars a goal or something.

Joe Rogan 2:27 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 2:28 So he's out here doing bicycle kicks. But it's- it's, like, we have so many professional sports that LeBron James is our biggest athlete, but even then, I think it's at a point where some people see LeBron and, you know, it's not like the- the crazy wow factors. If you saw a soccer player in Italy or Spain, you'd have been like, "Man, that's him."

Joe Rogan 2:45 Right. Well, they have less sports though, right? Like-

Gable Steveson 2:49 I- I think so.

Joe Rogan 2:49 Italy, like w-

Gable Steveson 2:50 I think Italy got, like, basketball, soccer.

Joe Rogan 2:52 Well, they're not really known for basketball though. Soccer's big, boxing-

Gable Steveson 2:56 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 2:56 ... there's a lot of boxers come out of Italy! But other than that...

Gable Steveson 2:59 Rome.

Joe Rogan 3:00 Yeah. (laughs)

Gable Steveson 3:02 (laughs) Oh, they got a couple fighters. Um, but other than that, I think, um, we're kind of at a halt with- with creating that- that big-

Joe Rogan 3:11 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 3:11 ... guy for America.

Joe Rogan 3:12 (inhales deeply) Well, it's just- it's just strange to me because it's such a... Wrestling itself is such an exciting sport. It- it really is very exciting to watch, and everybody understands it. It's not complicated, you know?

Gable Steveson 3:24 I think, I- I really think everyone understands it to a certain extent.

Joe Rogan 3:27 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 3:28 I think, um, the-

Joe Rogan 3:28 But they could learn-

Gable Steveson 3:29 They can learn.

Joe Rogan 3:29 ... the points and all the other stuff. I think-

Gable Steveson 3:31 Have you ever wrestled?

Joe Rogan 3:32 Yeah, I wrestled in high school.

Gable Steveson 3:33 How- how- how did you do?

Joe Rogan 3:34 Just one year. I was doing Tae Kwon Do at the same time.

Gable Steveson 3:36 Why just one year?

Joe Rogan 3:36 Because I was doing Tae Kwon Do, and I couldn't do both of them at the same time.

Gable Steveson 3:39 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 3:40 And I was pretty good at Tae Kwon Do.

Gable Steveson 3:41 You know what's crazy? I think since you've done Tae Kwon Do, maybe I should try.

Joe Rogan 3:44 (clicks tongue) You are such an athlete, you'd probably be awesome at it. You'd probably figure it out.

Gable Steveson 3:48 I might- I might be able to- to pull it off. I don't know if I can get to your level.

Joe Rogan 3:52 Well, you would figure it out, man. You'd figure it out. Are you flexible?

Gable Steveson 3:56 It depends how and what are we doing?

Joe Rogan 3:58 Well, you would get flexible. (laughs)

Gable Steveson 4:00 (laughs) And I'd get flexible.

Joe Rogan 4:00 The thing is, like, for a guy like you, you'd figure out how to get flexible.

Gable Steveson 4:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:03 The flexibility thing drives me nuts 'cause l- like, I've tried to show stuff to guys before, MMA fighters-

Gable Steveson 4:08 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:08 ... and they're like, "Oh, I'm not flexible." I'm like, "What does that mean? What does that mean?" This is not like you're not tall.

Gable Steveson 4:14 Okay.

Joe Rogan 4:15 Like, you can get flexible.

Gable Steveson 4:16 Okay.

Joe Rogan 4:16 Like, you just stretch.

Gable Steveson 4:17 Okay, we can rewind now, and I can say, "I am flexible." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:21 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 4:21 I am flexible. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 4:22 Well, you certainly could get flexible, like-

Gable Steveson 4:24 You can.

Joe Rogan 4:24 ... anyone can get flexible.

Gable Steveson 4:25 But it's- it's not can you get flex- do you want to get flexible?

Joe Rogan 4:29 (clicks tongue) That's a good question.

Gable Steveson 4:29 Like, do you wanna do something?

Joe Rogan 4:31 This is a good question. It's a lot of work to get flexible, and would it compromise anything? You know, there are some people say it compromises some stability, you know, like, to ha- to have, like-

Gable Steveson 4:40 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:40 ... completely over-flexible hips and flexible joints, that it could possibly compromise some stability, that maybe-

Gable Steveson 4:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 4:47 But I mean, Yoel Romero's pretty fucking flexible.

Gable Steveson 4:49 And he's explosive.

Joe Rogan 4:51 Crazy explo-

Gable Steveson 4:51 Super explosive.

Joe Rogan 4:52 Bro, how about that match with Pat Downey?

Gable Steveson 4:54 He went out there and made Pat Downey look like a beginner wrestler. And it- and it's crazy because Pat Downey's really good, but-

Joe Rogan 4:59 Really good.

Gable Steveson 5:00 ... Yoel's 48.

Joe Rogan 5:02 I know.

Gable Steveson 5:03 48 shooting blast doubles, like he just- like he's back in '04 Olympics.

Joe Rogan 5:06 It doesn't make any sense. He's a freak.

Gable Steveson 5:09 It doesn't.

Joe Rogan 5:09 He's a real freak, man. And, uh, I mean, he's 48 allegedly. We don't even really know how old he is 'cause he's from Cuba, you know?

Gable Steveson 5:17 (laughs) How old do you think he is for real?

Joe Rogan 5:18 Oh, I don't know, man.

Gable Steveson 5:19 35 at this point? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 5:22 (laughs) I mean, I- he's obviously at least 48, but it's just crazy.

Gable Steveson 5:27 But you know what the best part about it is? When- when guys get older and they kinda get a little bigger, um, they don't look good in a singlet. And this is crazy to say, but Yoel looks really solid in that singlet.

Joe Rogan 5:37 Oh, bro, he looks solid everywhere, man. He still got a six-pack.

Gable Steveson 5:41 Still does.

Joe Rogan 5:41 And, you know, now he's doing dirty boxing, and he's still fighting MMA. He's just... (sighs) He's a freak. I mean, and we really didn't even get him in MMA until he was past his athletic prime.

Gable Steveson 5:53 Yes.

Joe Rogan 5:53 I mean, he really started fighting in the UFC... How old was he when he first fought in the UFC? I wanna say he was like 35.

Gable Steveson 5:58 I don't know that, but it was... It- it seemed really late because when he was going through Olympics, he was-... sound in every position. And like you said, I mean, in a couple interviews back, if he would've started that early, just imagine.

Joe Rogan 6:09 Oh, my God.

Gable Steveson 6:10 Just imagine.

Joe Rogan 6:10 Yeah. The, it's... But that's the thing that you have too, is athleticism. And the thing about MMA is, the real freak athletes, they go to football, they go to basketball-

Gable Steveson 6:21 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:21 ... they go where all the money is, and they go where all the traditional-

Gable Steveson 6:24 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 6:24 ... sports avenues are. And it's just no- there's not a lot of freak athletes that wind up making their way to MMA, and when they do, they really shine.

Gable Steveson 6:32 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:33 You know, and when I s- first started seeing you competing, you know, first obviously in wrestling. And, you know, if you can win a gold medal in the Olympics in wrestling-

Gable Steveson 6:41 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:41 ... I mean, th- you have to have-

Gable Steveson 6:43 It's crazy.

Joe Rogan 6:43 ... everything. You have to have-

Gable Steveson 6:44 Sure.

Joe Rogan 6:44 ... everything.

Gable Steveson 6:44 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:44 You have to be a freak athlete, you have to be unbelievably dedicated, disciplined. Nobody gets there easy.

Gable Steveson 6:49 No.

Joe Rogan 6:49 That is not a, you know, like, "Oh, he's just gifted."

Gable Steveson 6:51 Sure.

Joe Rogan 6:51 It just d- it doesn't exist.

Gable Steveson 6:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 6:53 You gotta got to have, you gotta have everything, man. You got-

Gable Steveson 6:55 There's gotta be a lot of tools.

Joe Rogan 6:56 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 6:56 A lot, a lot of tools.

Joe Rogan 6:57 A lot of tools, and a lot of f- fortitude. The thing about wrestling that I've always said is like, not only is it the best base for MMA, because if a guy can dictate where the fight takes place-

Gable Steveson 7:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 7:07 ... that is the most important aspect of fighting, and you can learn everything else. But it's also, it's like the mental toughness that wrestlers have-

Gable Steveson 7:14 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 7:14 ... the ability to grind out those practices, the, the conditioning that's-

Gable Steveson 7:18 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 7:18 ... involved in wrestling. It's above and beyond, I think, all other sports.

Gable Steveson 7:22 Yeah. It's, I think it's a next-level thing. And then you, you see in UFC right now, the guys that are dominating and winning are kind of putting that wrestling base first, but making it MMA/wrestling.

Joe Rogan 7:31 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 7:32 You know, um, I feel like when a lot of guys, lot of D1 wrestlers come to MMA, they kind of don't make the switch of how to take the right shot, and how to finish the right shot, and how to use your feet to trip their feet out on the cage. And if you get stuck with a, stuck in a guillotine, how do you move from that spot? And I think, um, you see the guys that are doing it best, the Eslams, the Khamzats, are really going out there and attacking, and making sure that people can understand that, "Hey, you gotta fear this, and then next, I'm gonna come with the hands."

Joe Rogan 7:57 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 7:57 And so, I think that's the biggest thing that we're working on now, is that I've wrestled my whole life, and I've, I've done great things, and won the Olympics and multiple national championships. But I think the main thing is going out there and understanding that you are that bad dude, but when you show them hands, now you got to, have to respect both. And I think that's where a lot of this is gonna come into play, when I finally get to that point of, of reaching that, that competition.

Joe Rogan 8:19 (smacks lips) Now, how long you been striking for?

Gable Steveson 8:23 I've been going into a little... So, I'm from Minnesota, Apple Valley. I'm actually from Portage, Indiana. I moved to Apple Valley, Minnesota when I was 11 years old. And, um, in college I met a guy named Billy Simon. He's from Prior Lake. He fought, um, nothing too big, just on a regional scene in Minnesota. He has a house on Prior Lake, and he has a place in his basement that is built out for, for MMA and stuff like that. When I was maybe 21 years old, I started hitting the pads. And mind you, stiff as a board, don't really know what I'm doing. But he's kind of started and guided me along the way to kind of-

Joe Rogan 8:52 And how old are you now?

Gable Steveson 8:53 I'm 25.

Joe Rogan 8:54 So, just four years.

Gable Steveson 8:55 Just four years, but I think really, really striking, seven months.

Joe Rogan 8:59 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 9:00 Like ... (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:02 That's so crazy.

Gable Steveson 9:04 Like, really, after-

Joe Rogan 9:05 That's so crazy.

Gable Steveson 9:06 ... really time-consuming, "Hey, this is what I wanna do. I'm not gonna wrestle. I'm doing MMA," I would say seven months.

Joe Rogan 9:13 But when you watched that, your Dirty Boxing match, I would've never believed that.

Gable Steveson 9:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 9:17 Except, I know what an athlete you are. It's just, it's so crazy how someone who really knows how to use their body can learn other things.

Gable Steveson 9:26 Well, I think the main thing also is, I'm all ears. You know, you, you can't have, you can't go out there and, and, and think that you can, you can do something without putting that time and effort in. Like we talked about, with the Olympics, or like you talked about. But I think the main thing is, if I can go out there and, and be all ears, and, and soak up game from the people that are trying to, trying to show me the way, I think I can do a lot of great things. And that's all I do, I'm all ears. I wanna show up twice a day. I wanna do the best thing that I can. If I gotta show up three times a day and I feel like it, I'ma go do it, because-

Joe Rogan 9:53 Well, it's al- it's also to be an elite athlete like yourself, you, you have to be coachable. You have to really ... Like, the, the guys who, like, already know things, like, "I'm gonna do it my way," like, they d- never get elite.

Gable Steveson 10:04 It doesn't work.

Joe Rogan 10:05 No.

Gable Steveson 10:05 And I think, um, you gotta put that guard down. You gotta trust somebody. And if you don't trust anybody, and, "Man, I think I can do it alone, I think I can kind of wing it, I think I can maybe not practice today," you gotta trust somebody, and you gotta put your heart into somebody. And I feel like I have a groo- good group of people around me to kind of put that heart into. And they're kinda, they're not even there kinda, they're leading me in the right direction. And I'm, man, I'm grateful.

Joe Rogan 10:26 So, you were doing a bunch of different things, right? So, you, you become an elite wrestler-

Gable Steveson 10:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:31 ... and then for a while you were thinking about playing football.

Gable Steveson 10:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:35 So, you played football for a short amount of time?

Gable Steveson 10:37 Buffalo Bills, yeah.

Joe Rogan 10:38 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 10:38 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 10:39 How long did you play it for?

Gable Steveson 10:40 I never played football in my life.

Joe Rogan 10:41 Ne-

Gable Steveson 10:41 I never played.

Joe Rogan 10:42 Never played?

Gable Steveson 10:42 No, that was the first-

Joe Rogan 10:43 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 10:44 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 10:45 He just said-

Gable Steveson 10:45 I, that was, that was the first time I played football, I promise.

Joe Rogan 10:47 That's crazy. First time you played football was professional?

Gable Steveson 10:50 It was in NFL. My mom was always scared.

Joe Rogan 10:52 Wow.

Gable Steveson 10:52 Um, the high school coach at Apple Valley High School in Minnesota were like, "K could play football." They were trying to call my mom and dad. And I'm like, "You're not gonna convince her. She is scared to death of football." The whole time, I'm wrestling. So, what, where do we bridge this gap at?

Joe Rogan 11:05 Right, right.

Gable Steveson 11:06 And, um, I just get done with WWE, um, and I go out there and I'm, I'm chilling. I get a call saying, "Hey, you wanna try out for the Bills?" And I, I tell Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane, I said, "Hey, don't expect much." But I could put on shoes, but I've never had football cleats on, I'd never had pads on. I don't even know how to put the tights on, anything. And I went out there and, um, I sprinted my ass off, though, in that tryout. I was sprinting down and back and forth. I said, "Hey, if I don't know any technique for D-line, you're gonna see effort." And McDermott saw effort, and that's all he needed to see, and he gave me a chance.

Joe Rogan 11:38 What was that like? Like, j- jumping into a completely new sport?

Gable Steveson 11:43 Hard, because it's not just football. It's-

Joe Rogan 11:45 And how old were you when you did that?

Gable Steveson 11:47 20 ... I just turned 24.

Joe Rogan 11:49 Wow.

Gable Steveson 11:49 I just turned 24. Um, it's ...

Joe Rogan 11:51 Ooh.

Gable Steveson 11:54 I know you see it. You see that stance? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 11:55 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 11:56 That's the beginner stance. That's the beginner stance. But I came out there no gloves, just winging it.

Joe Rogan 12:01 Uh-huh.

Gable Steveson 12:01 And I told them, "Just, just give me a good chance." But football is not just football. There's the playbook.

Joe Rogan 12:06 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 12:06 And the playbook is crazy, because I went from, "Hey, go out there and wrestle someone one-on-one," to see if the guard is light on his feet, or see if he's leaning forward, or see if the center is, is gonna silent count maybe, or see if he... See if the guard taps the center to snap the ball. There's a lot of different things that you gotta know. And I'm out there with this big-ass helmet on. I've never put a helmet on, Joe. So, I'm out there with this big-ass helmet on. My head's, like, down and I can't look up. Um, and I don't know what I'm doing. But I knew if I gave effort that someone would give me a chance. And I, I went out there, and my first game, I feel like... I think I had a tackle, a QB rush. And that was kind of unheard of at the time 'cause I've never played ball before. But, um, it was crazy. Once-in-a-lifetime experience, most definitely.

Joe Rogan 12:46 And when you got cut, did you think about trying somewhere else? Did you think about doing it more?

Gable Steveson 12:52 Mm-hmm. Yeah. Once I got cut from Buffalo, I was the last one to get cut from the, from the room. I remember going in to see Bean and, um, and McDermott in a, in a... They were gonna do practice squad. But, um, I knew they were gonna do practice squad. So I was like, "Yo, just send me home. I'll figure it out. I'll try again." So my plan was to go back to college and wrestle already. But I sat around for maybe a month. Um, Baltimore Ravens call me, and Baltimore was like, "Hey, do you want to come to a tryout?" I said, "Okay." Um, you know, I never played football before. Just to let you know, like, if it's a little shaky. I went out there and I, I dominated the tryout. And I had, like, 10 minutes of work, but it was a great 10 minutes. And they're like, "Okay, we're gonna take your physicals. You're gonna be here and stay." The injury report comes back, and the injury report says they need a, um... Um, what's it called? They need a DN and a linebacker. So, you gotta compensate for the spot 'cause you need someone to play next week. And I probably needed, like, six weeks on practice squad to play. And so, I- I get sent home. They say, "Gimme a week, we'll bring you back." A week comes, they don't bring me back. And so I'm like, "Okay, I see the writing on the wall. Let me move on." I sit for a little bit. Indianapolis Colts call. They just got ran over by their... by a team. They said, "We need a run stopper." So I go out there, do this tryout. I think it went well. They said, "We're not taking anybody today." And then from there, I was like, "Uh, you know, maybe, maybe this is not it." And so I went back to wrestle.

Joe Rogan 14:09 And did you ever think about MMA at that time? Was it in the back-

Gable Steveson 14:13 Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 14:13 ... your head?

Gable Steveson 14:15 MMA was in the back of my head since the Olympics. But I wanted to make sure that if I was gonna go to MMA, that... Let me try things first before going all in on something that I need to go all in on. And I did my tryouts, I did my things, and now I wanna go in all in on something that, that is finally here.

Joe Rogan 14:32 And when your mom was scared of you doing wrestling, how did she feel about you doing MMA?

Gable Steveson 14:36 Oh, you know, she's shittin', shittin' all over. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 14:39 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 14:41 Oh my God. She can't even watch. She didn't even watch me wrestle. And so now I'm like, "Mom, I got a dude about to punch me in the face. Maybe, if he can get to me. Um, are you sure you want to come and watch?" And she's like, "Yeah, I'll come watch." And she comes, have... Has a good time and has her drinks. And when I step out, I'm like, "Where were you?" "Oh, I was in the back." "So you ain't even see me fight?" (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:03 (laughs) Oh, that's ridiculous.

Gable Steveson 15:03 So I'm like, "Why you even... Why you even come then?" So she... Out of the three fights I've had, she's sat in the back and, and she'll be like... The... John will go and get her, and, and be like, "Gable's done." And she'll be like, "Oh, what happened?" And John will be like, "Good, it's all day." (laughs)

Joe Rogan 15:18 (laughs) So does she get nervous? Is that what it is?

Gable Steveson 15:20 Oh my God, she's sweating and she's nervous. But I'm just like... Um, I- I kinda... I'll give her that look of like, if it's... If this is one of them ones, I'm gonna tell you. Um, but I haven't gave her those looks yet.

Joe Rogan 15:31 Hmm.

Gable Steveson 15:31 So, she'll know.

Joe Rogan 15:32 So when you make this... So you decide football's not gonna happen.

Gable Steveson 15:36 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 15:36 WWE is not gonna happen.

Gable Steveson 15:38 Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 15:38 You did... You did, like, one televised match with WWE, right?

Gable Steveson 15:40 I did, yes.

Joe Rogan 15:41 Yeah. What was that like?

Gable Steveson 15:42 Um, honestly, I had a... I had a great... From, from me being real and, and honest, I had a great experience. I have no, no... Nothing wrong with anybody there. Um, TKO was great. Triple H, Paul Levesque was great. Stephanie, Vince, everybody was great. Um, I just had a competitive drive that I needed to get out.

Joe Rogan 15:58 Right.

Gable Steveson 15:58 And so, you know when you have... That gap is there, you can't do both.

Joe Rogan 16:02 Right.

Gable Steveson 16:02 And I was trying to bridge both, and I wasn't giving my 100% to the business. And if I'm not gonna give 100% to the business, then you might as well X me out-

Joe Rogan 16:11 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 16:11 ... because it's already over with. So, um, I just... That's how... That's practically how it happened.

Joe Rogan 16:15 Yeah. No slight on pro wrestling, but it's just like, if you really want to compete, compete...

Gable Steveson 16:20 You gotta get it all out.

Joe Rogan 16:21 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 16:21 And so I- I would love to go back in the future. I would love to, to, to do a sport and go out there and dominate and then, hey-

Joe Rogan 16:27 Maybe after, be UFC heavyweight champ.

Gable Steveson 16:29 For sure.

Joe Rogan 16:30 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 16:30 Maybe after a couple times. (laughs) And so-

Joe Rogan 16:32 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 16:33 ... I would love to go, and if it... if it meant will, and I would do it again. Most definitely. Because I have no hard feelings to them, um, and, and that's how it goes.

Joe Rogan 16:40 So when you make the decision that you're going to go into MMA, h- what is that like? Like, what, what are the steps that you take?

Gable Steveson 16:48 I got done with NCAAs and I said... I, I flew down to Miami. Um, I met with, um, John and, and a couple other people, and I said, "Hey, I want to fight." Um, and you know... You know John had me in his camp. Um-

Joe Rogan 16:58 So we're talking about Jon Jones. And did you-

Gable Steveson 17:00 Yes.

Joe Rogan 17:00 Did you know John before this?

Gable Steveson 17:02 I knew John because... I knew John from Instagram. John liked wrestling.

Joe Rogan 17:05 Oh, okay.

Gable Steveson 17:06 So I knew John from IG. He sent me a DM, he sent me his number. And if you know John, he don't answer the phone worth anything, and it's crazy. But, um, he sent me his number. He said, "Call me." So I called him, and this was before he got hurt for the first Stipe fight. He was like, "I want you to come practice with us. You know, I want a wrestling partner." Um, I left and went and played football. The next year comes... No, I'm sorry. Um, I was... I don't even know where I was at at the time. But Skip, um, we go and he's like, "I want you to come back for the second camp." He's going through it. Me and John hit it off like that.

Joe Rogan 17:36 Wow.

Gable Steveson 17:36 We hit it off immediately.

Joe Rogan 17:38 And so when you guys started training together in camp, is that when it really sunk in your head when you're like, "This is what I want to do?"

Gable Steveson 17:45 Yeah. He really, he really... I needed somebody to kind of engrave it in me. Um, with wrestling, I had my father, I had the University of Minnesota. I had a lot of p- good people around me kind of like say, "Hey, this is how we're gonna do it. This is where you need to go, and this is how you're gonna... This is how it's gonna happen." And when I saw John, I saw that drive of, like...... damn, you know, this guy's winning. And, and people get close, but they can't get past him, and why is that? So, I really sat back and, like, watched his mental and, like, how he went about a lot of things. How he talked to people, how he greeted people, how he walked, how he punched, maybe how he looked when he was in the p- in the pocket, um, when he needed to get out, when he rested his hands. And I saw everything, and I was like, "Wow, like, man, this guy's a superstar, super superstar." And we all know that, and, and, and, and people known that for a long time now. But I really saw him and I was like, "Damn, I wanna be there." And that's what kinda-

Joe Rogan 18:34 Hmm.

Gable Steveson 18:34 ... that's what flipped my switch right there.

Joe Rogan 18:36 What an amazing opportunity. You know, you haven't done any MMA and you get to go in there and train with the GOAT.

Gable Steveson 18:42 It's crazy. It's w- man, you know, it's hard to explain. I tell people. People ask me all the time, like, "What was it like, um, seeing Jon for the first time?" 'Cause I'm 25, so when Jon was like super peak-

Joe Rogan 18:54 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 18:54 ... I was like 12, 13 years old.

Joe Rogan 18:56 Right.

Gable Steveson 18:56 And I'm looking at this guy beat Gustafsson, Reyes, and Tiago Santos, and stuff like that. So, it's, um, different. You see a different side of people. And, and when I saw Jon, I was like, "Wow." Like, "I've seen you for my whole life and now I get to see you in person." Like, how cool is that?

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Gable Steveson 20:35 Probably. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 20:36 That's really all it is.

Gable Steveson 20:37 That's true. That's true.

Joe Rogan 20:37 100%. Jon was partying and he was, what I would call, playing with his food. You know?

Gable Steveson 20:42 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 20:43 Like, h- he d- he didn't like t- like... The Gustafsson fight is a perfect example. Didn't train at all for the Gustafsson fight. I mean, I talked to-

Gable Steveson 20:51 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 20:51 ... Greg Jackson and he was like, "I swear to God, he barely showed up." I'm like, "That is so crazy." And then, he gutted it out in the last rounds. That's what's crazy. It's a close decision, but he wins the fight by gutting it out in the final rounds when he's done relatively no strength and conditioning.

Gable Steveson 21:07 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 21:09 So crazy.

Gable Steveson 21:09 It's fantastic to see.

Joe Rogan 21:10 Then really gets motivated for the second fight was Gustafsson-

Gable Steveson 21:14 And blows him out.

Joe Rogan 21:14 ... and just smokes him.

Gable Steveson 21:15 Blows him out.

Joe Rogan 21:16 Which is what you expect. Which ex- when Jon is in prime form, he's the greatest of all time. And-

Gable Steveson 21:23 Most definitely.

Joe Rogan 21:23 ... for you to be able to be a young guy who's thinking about MMA and train with the, the greatest of all time, two d- now, two division world champion, it's crazy.

Gable Steveson 21:35 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 21:35 Amazing opportunity.

Gable Steveson 21:35 You don't... And it's, it's amazing because you don't see the guy that's, um... You see the best of the best right away.

Joe Rogan 21:40 Okay. Whoop, we're back. So anyway, where were we?

Gable Steveson 21:44 Jon Jones.

Joe Rogan 21:44 So... Yeah. So, you're saying you... So you were t- you're talking about like what it's like to first start training with him?

Gable Steveson 21:51 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 21:51 So, you were... Y- you had no MMA training really before that at all? You had just been doing-

Gable Steveson 21:56 Nothing.

Joe Rogan 21:56 ... a little bit of striking with this guy?

Gable Steveson 21:58 Joe, I kid you not, I didn't even know really how to defend punches. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 22:05 (laughs) That's crazy.

Gable Steveson 22:05 I didn't know how to defend punches. And you, you probably saw the video of him throwing the knee at me.

Joe Rogan 22:09 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 22:09 Because I'm so hardheaded, I'm like, "Let me shoot on Jon." But whole time I forgot he's a national championship wrestler.

Joe Rogan 22:14 Right.

Gable Steveson 22:14 So, I didn't know how to defend a punch. I didn't know how to defend a kick. I didn't know how to do anything. But I went in there and I said, "Hey, if you need somebody, i- i- it's gotta be me."

Joe Rogan 22:22 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 22:22 And that's how hungry I was and I feel like that's how kids should be nowadays about getting that opportunity. Man, just be hungry, 'cause someone's gonna respect you.

Joe Rogan 22:29 Yeah, for sure, but I mean, not a whole lot of people get that opportunity.

Gable Steveson 22:33 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:33 That's a crazy opportunity.

Gable Steveson 22:34 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:34 It's also, like, Jon is an elite wrestler as well. And so like learning how to incorporate elite wrestling into all the other aspects of MMA, and to be able to go right into camp with Jon is just-

Gable Steveson 22:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 22:47 ... this is amazing. Incredible opportunity.

Gable Steveson 22:49 It's, it's super incredible. I'm grateful for it, uh, every day. And especially as he's still here in my corner to this day. We talked this morning. Um, he's still giving me all the pointers, all the advice, even when we're not even fighting. Um, just telling me how I should say things, what I should say, how I need to go about life, how I need to go about, um, business and, and meeting people and, and greeting people. So, it's a, it's a true opportunity.

Joe Rogan 23:09 That's awesome. That's really awesome. So, when you were in camp with him, um, you're, you're going through the camp. Were you planning on MMA then? Or like, how d- how does it work? Like what were you think... Were you just like, the moment you started training with him-

Gable Steveson 23:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 23:22 ... is that when it really started to fire in you?

Gable Steveson 23:25 Yes. I had a little bit of burn for it but, um...

Joe Rogan 23:28 Like in the back of your mind.

Gable Steveson 23:29 Yes, but a little burn. You gotta have the heart.

Joe Rogan 23:31 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 23:31 You gotta have the heart. Um, so what, what... Kinda what was the stamp on it was I went to, I went to Madison Square Garden with him and, and Jon was just doing Jon things, you know, just being a superstar. Everybody knew who he was and I was like, "Man, you know, I got an Olympic gold medal. You know, like maybe I should be getting some too. Like, you know, like Jon show me the way a little bit."

Joe Rogan 23:51 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 23:51 So I'm trying to have him show me the way and he's bringing me to every place, meeting every person, you know, showing me the opportunities that he has and he looks at me and he was like, "You can have this too." And that was kinda the cherry on the top but...... we can put another cherry on the top and do a double one when he won the fight, and then I'm holding the belt with him, and like I see this guy face to face and, you know, he just the, the most popular man on earth for that day. And it's kind of like, wow, like, you don't get, you don't really get to see the backstage moments. You get to see the guy-

Joe Rogan 24:19 Right.

Gable Steveson 24:19 ... go out there on TV and fight, but I got to see the backstage of everyone taking the pictures with him, the superstars. You know, I'm walking out the Knicks game and I see Queen Latifah and I'm like, "Damn, like that's Queen Latifah." And who-

Joe Rogan 24:31 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 24:31 I'm s- I'm taking a selfie with Queen Latifah. I'm like, "Yo, can I take, can I send this to my mom?" And she's like, "Yeah, go ahead." And I see Fat Joe talking to him and everybody, and I'm like, "Wow, like this is what it is to be like a real fighting star." Like-

Joe Rogan 24:42 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 24:43 ... and, and fighting is one on one and people wanna watch someone fight, but I think in, in other sports, like we talked about earlier, there's a full team with helmets on, with jerseys on. But in fighting, people wanna meet that badass dude.

Joe Rogan 24:55 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 24:56 And they wanna meet the champ.

Joe Rogan 24:57 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 24:57 And that's what I wanna be.

Joe Rogan 24:59 (smacks lips) Yeah. Um, so what is, what is training with John like? Like what is the training camp like? Like when, you know, you, you obviously haven't gone into training camp with any other elite fighters-

Gable Steveson 25:10 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:12 ... but one of the more interesting things that separates John from everybody else is like John doesn't take no short notice fights. John game plans for everybody. He studies tendencies. He's, his, uh, fight IQ, I mean it's obvi- it's obviously he has, obviously he has everything. He obviously has all the skills, obviously has all the drive, and everything else, but the fight IQ is the big one. That's the big one. Because if you don't have a good driver, who gives a fuck how fast your car is?

Gable Steveson 25:40 True.

Joe Rogan 25:40 It's really the mind behind it that-

Gable Steveson 25:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 25:43 ... puts it all together.

Gable Steveson 25:44 He's um, he's sitting in a Ferrari with Ferrari, um, gas. A lot of people sit in a Ferrari with 87 gas and the car don't work. Um-

Joe Rogan 25:51 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 25:52 So when I, when I got to see those tendencies of him watching people, and he does it to me now w- where he'll send me videos on Instagram of, of the top UFC guys, be like, "Oh, watch how he steps," you know, "watch when he throws a punch, how he comes back and he doesn't reset this certain way." And he's kind of already installing, installing those, um, tendencies in me.

Joe Rogan 26:09 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 26:09 And so now, when I was wrestling, I never used to watch people wrestle. Like I'd, I went out there on a limb and I was just beating guys. Even in Olympics, I never watched anyone wrestle, I never watched their film.

Joe Rogan 26:19 Really?

Gable Steveson 26:19 Never. I told coaches, "Don't show me one video," because I don't wanna focus on that one thing he did. And that was me being hard-headed. Like if-

Joe Rogan 26:26 Hmm.

Gable Steveson 26:26 ... if a guy had a great double leg and I'm like, "Damn, how do I stop this double leg?" And I'm worried about stopping the double leg instead of doing my offense.

Joe Rogan 26:34 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 26:35 And so I never watched anybody. I went to the Olympics and I said, "F- show me, show me the guys I'm wrestling." And I said, "Let's do it."

Joe Rogan 26:41 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 26:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 26:43 The only guys right now-

Gable Steveson 26:44 I said, "Let's do it. Come on."

Joe Rogan 26:45 ... just banging their head against the wall listening to this going, "What the fuck?" (laughs)

Gable Steveson 26:47 Like damn, he did that to me?

Joe Rogan 26:48 That's crazy.

Gable Steveson 26:49 I, I said, "Let's do it." I said, "It's me or you, it's do or die." And this tournament, I'm not dying. Like you can't beat me in any way possible. And that's when I was at my best when I had that mindset, and he's kinda putting that back into me and I feel really good about it.

Joe Rogan 27:02 That's amazing.

Gable Steveson 27:02 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:03 It's amazing. So when he's sending you videos, like do you have like a, d- do you save all this shit? Do you have like a folder where you have all these different fighters and different moves and d- 'cause you're, you're basically brand new-

Gable Steveson 27:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:15 ... at something. But so like, just let me just tell you some, what I said. You had a, a fight, an MMA fight where you hit that dude with a left hook and then took-

Gable Steveson 27:22 Yes.

Joe Rogan 27:22 ... him down while he was out cold.

Gable Steveson 27:24 With the double leg.

Joe Rogan 27:24 I sent Dana White a text message, I said, "Everyone's fucked."

Gable Steveson 27:27 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:27 I did.

Gable Steveson 27:28 Well I appreciate it. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 27:28 Because I was like-

Gable Steveson 27:30 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 27:31 ... that kind of speed is crazy. Like that kind of speed and-

Gable Steveson 27:35 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:35 ... incorporated with elite wrestling is crazy. I'm like what do you... The, the heavyweight division is so shallow right now.

Gable Steveson 27:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:42 You got Tom Aspinall, Ciryl Gane, Jon Jones if he chooses to fight again, Francis, if some, by some miracle they can work something out and bring him back to the UFC.

Gable Steveson 27:52 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:52 Other than that, there's no one compelling for like a championship caliber fighter.

Gable Steveson 27:57 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 27:58 It's, there's basically four or five guys on earth that are in this like championship caliber like-

Gable Steveson 28:05 Yes.

Joe Rogan 28:06 ... class. And you're already there, which is nuts.

Gable Steveson 28:10 I appreciate it, man. Thank you.

Joe Rogan 28:10 And you haven't even fought in the UFC yet. When I watched you move and I watched you fight, I was like, "Okay, how do you stop that?" Like w- what, what do you, who is, who's got the skills-

Gable Steveson 28:19 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 28:20 ... to be able to stop that? And in my mind, there's like only a few guys where it's gonna be a problem. There's like the Francis Ngannou's, the, the, you know, the Ciryl Ganes and the Tom Aspinauls. That's it. There's like a few guys. And everybody else on the way up, it's, the only problem is gonna be you getting fights. Like that, that kind of speed is just bananas for a 250 pound man. You know? And when you have that and you're 25 years old, it's like this is a, uh, it is a very rare thing that you see in MMA.

Gable Steveson 28:52 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 28:52 And it's kind of crazy because the heavyweight division is, of course, the most prestigious division-

Gable Steveson 28:57 Yes.

Joe Rogan 28:57 ... in the world. The heavyweight champion of the UFC is the baddest motherfucker on the planet. And, you know, right now, it's, it's kind of a tossup, right? Because Ciryl Gane had this fight with Aspinall, John is kind of semi-retired. Whatever he decides to do.

Gable Steveson 29:15 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 29:15 It's, you know, it's kinda up in the air.

Gable Steveson 29:16 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 29:16 He'll probably have one more fight, right?

Gable Steveson 29:18 I, I want him to. I think he's got the juice in him, um, but I-

Joe Rogan 29:22 The White House.

Gable Steveson 29:22 Oh, he would love the White House.

Joe Rogan 29:23 Yeah, the White House.

Gable Steveson 29:24 He's told me many times he wants to, he wants to be main event out of the White House and he wants me to be a couple slots behind him and, and kinda have us both win, and that's, that's his last leg right there.

Joe Rogan 29:32 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 29:32 I would love, I would love for him to do one more. If, if he really wanted to in his heart, he should, but if he doesn't, John's not gonna do it.

Joe Rogan 29:39 They should do Alex Pereira in here with the White House.

Gable Steveson 29:42 I, I told people, I said, "Alex Pereira would be a great matchup for Tom."

Joe Rogan 29:45 A b- a heavyweight version of the BMF belt.

Gable Steveson 29:47 It would be per-

Joe Rogan 29:47 You know what I'm saying?

Gable Steveson 29:48 It'll be perfect. There's n- there's nothing else to it besides two guys going out there. It's Alex Pereira, the baddest light, light heavyweight, and that's Jon Jones baddest heavyweight right now.

Joe Rogan 29:56 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 29:56 And regardless if someone else has the belt, Jon Jones is still-

Joe Rogan 29:59 It doesn't matter.

Gable Steveson 30:00 ... the baddest heavyweight out there.

Joe Rogan 30:01 It doesn't, the belt doesn't mean jack shit when it's Jon Jones.

Gable Steveson 30:03 Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 30:03 Doesn't mean jack shit.

Gable Steveson 30:04 It doesn't.

Joe Rogan 30:05 It's l- you know, there's, so many fighters could do that. They could just step away from the belts, abandon the belts, and then come back and all, uh, uh, it's really just about the fighter. Everybody knows who John is.

Gable Steveson 30:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 30:14 Everybody knows what John does. It's like people will pay to... They, they, you don't need a belt. A belt doesn't mean anything.

Gable Steveson 30:20 Yo, this is a crazy story. I, I came...... my, I had a French bulldog that passed away. So I like to go out there and, and I adopt French bulldogs. And I kinda give them a better home, and I either ship 'em to a new home or I keep 'em. And so, at the time, I had a baby French bulldog. He passed away, and I, I told John, I was like, "Yo, my dog died. I gotta go home." He let me go home. I came back, and I came back on a Tuesday. I didn't see John till Thursday. And mind you, this is a week before he's gonna go out there for Stipe. He's sick, like super sick. And I watch this guy do five rounds on a Thursday, and they sent, they shark baited him, five new people, and he's dead tired. And this is when I knew he was unstoppable. He went out there, nobody could touch him. And I'm telling you, high class PFL fighters, ex-UFC fighters, ex-Glory kickboxers were going in there after him, and he was just mopping them. And I was like, "Damn, this dude is beyond next level." And that was like... You know you gotta see greatness.

Joe Rogan 31:12 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 31:12 And I see it at the fight. But you also gotta see it when, how does this guy be great before the fight? And I saw that and I was like, "God damn." Um, I said, "Excuse me, John, um, you think I can go in there with you?" And he was like, "No." And I was like, "Why you think so?" Um, he was like, "You don't know how to defend." And it was kind of a funny joke, because the guy, a partner got hurt. And I was like, I raised my hand. I told Greg Jackson, I said, "Greg let me in there." And Greg was like, "Not today, Gable." (laughs) And this was when I didn't know how to defend or anything. He was like, "Gabe, not today." And I was like, "Man, why? You know I can go in there and take him down." And he was like, "This is different." And when I saw that, that was like the epitome of, like, super greatness in my eyes. Because I like hard workers. I like guys that beat on guys. I don't like guys that go out there and, and do the little extras that they, to look cool. I mean, just go out there and dominate and let's go home. And I saw that and I was like, "Yeah, it's over with for Stipe. It's gonna be a long night."

Joe Rogan 32:06 Well, unfortunately, they met when Stipe had already had a lot of miles on the clock, and-

Gable Steveson 32:11 A lot, a lot of miles.

Joe Rogan 32:12 ... and John was still elite. It's crazy that John essentially developed a spinning back kick, a real spinning back kick, when he's 36 years old.

Gable Steveson 32:18 Crazy.

Joe Rogan 32:19 It's so nuts, 'cause I mean, he tried it earlier in his career. But it was like, he would spin instead of go straight, you know what I mean?

Gable Steveson 32:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 32:27 But when he hit Stipe, it was perfect. It was per-... You, that picture, we, we, we showed a video of it and then Freeze froze the, the, the heel.

Gable Steveson 32:36 It was like boom.

Joe Rogan 32:36 It was halfway into his ribcage. It was crazy.

Gable Steveson 32:39 I wouldn'ta got up either.

Joe Rogan 32:41 Well, very few people would. Very few human beings can top... That kick is so powerful, and when it comes from a big guy like John with those long-ass legs and all that leverage with perfect technique, and it goes right into the sweet spot like that, like good luck. But it's such a brilliant think-... It's such brilliant thinking on his side, 'cause he's like, "Okay, I have to fight heavyweights, and I need something that can take them out with one shot." Like, what is that? Well-

Gable Steveson 33:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:06 ... it's the most powerful kick, which is the spinning back kick. And so, he trains it constantly.

Gable Steveson 33:11 Constantly.

Joe Rogan 33:12 You know, which is just... Very few people have the mindset to be able to do... Very few guys develop new skills late in life, you know, late in their career-

Gable Steveson 33:22 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 33:22 ... they start incorporating new skills like that.

Gable Steveson 33:26 I think that's a, that's a thing where he was a-... He's always all ears too, and that's kinda what he's putting into me also. Um, I watched him do a spinning back kick the night before at midnight when we were practicing in the hotel lobby, um, and-

Joe Rogan 33:37 So he was just planning on that.

Gable Steveson 33:38 He was planning on it s-... He was-

Joe Rogan 33:39 Being the-

Gable Steveson 33:39 ... planning on it. He-

Joe Rogan 33:39 ... the showstopper.

Gable Steveson 33:40 He told me he wanted to take Stipe down, and then all of a sudden he does a spinning back kick, and I was like, "You sly motherfucker."

Joe Rogan 33:48 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 33:49 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 33:49 Did he bring in a TaeKwonDo coach? Where did, how did he develop that technique so quickly?

Gable Steveson 33:53 He's got a, there's a, there's a kickboxing TaeKwonDo coach named, um, Alex. He's got a long, he's got a long last name 'cause I think he, he married a, um, Thai lady, so he, I think he changed his last name.

Joe Rogan 34:02 Oh, okay.

Gable Steveson 34:03 But he's from New Mexico. He works out of Jackson. He's got a lot of tattoos on him. And nobody... You would, if you saw him, you would never know, but the dude can kick hard as shit. And it's crazy.

Joe Rogan 34:13 And so he, he worked with John on that?

Gable Steveson 34:15 Yes.

Joe Rogan 34:15 Yeah. The only g- other guy that I would say developed a, a crazy new technique late in his career was Vitor. When Vitor was like 35 or 36, he developed a wheel kick. It was crazy, outta nowhere, when he fought Luke Rockhold. All of a sudden he's throwing wheel kicks. Like, Vitor never-

Gable Steveson 34:32 Wheel kicks is crazy.

Joe Rogan 34:33 Crazy. Vitor never threw wheel kicks.

Gable Steveson 34:35 It's crazy. But, uh, I think it's honestly gotta be cool from... 'Cause you sit right next to the cage, so it's gotta be cool to, like, see people grow up through their career and then all of a sudden-

Joe Rogan 34:43 Oh, yeah.

Gable Steveson 34:43 ... at the end you see, like, a guy does a spinning wheel kick or, or a guy does a spinning, spinning back kick and you're like, "Damn," like, "Where'd that come from?" And I feel like it, I feel like... Does it give you a high to kinda see, like, a person grow through a new stage of, like, seeing a new move from them?

Joe Rogan 34:58 I just love excellence. That's what I love. I love when someone shines, when they just figure a way to eclipse everyone else, when they figure a way to... When they just... Like the Petr Yan, Merab Dvalishvili fight. When you see a guy like Petr Yan, who loses the first fight to Merab and comes back and dominates in the second fight, like I love that shit. I love it. I love watching someone put in an insane amount of work and dedication and then shining on fight night. I love it.

Gable Steveson 35:30 It's, it's fas-... It's cool too because you see Petr Yan as the new, like, blueprint for-

Joe Rogan 35:36 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 35:36 ... guys that are coaching kids to do moves. I mean, he went out there and threw a fake hook and liver kicked-

Joe Rogan 35:42 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 35:42 ... Merab, and then he goes out there and hits a osoto gari and trips guys. And I mean, what other, what other film tape blueprint can you use from someone else? I mean, he's done everything in all of his fights. His flow state is amazing.

Joe Rogan 35:55 His flow state's incredible, and he's so good at mixing up trips along with, like, inside fighting. His standup is so good. He's so hard to hit clean too.

Gable Steveson 36:05 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:06 I think the only guy who really hit him clean was Sugar Sean. Sean hit him with a knee, like a really good knee, timed it perfectly in their fight and dropped him. But other than that, he very rarely gets hit. And when you do hit him, you're, you're, you're hitting him and he's kinda rolling with it. You know, he keeps that super high guard.

Gable Steveson 36:24 He does that high, yeah.

Joe Rogan 36:25 Uh-huh. Yeah, he keeps his hands straight in front of you.

Gable Steveson 36:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 36:28 He's, he's something special, man. And, you know, that dude's still only 32 years old.

Gable Steveson 36:33 He's only 32?

Joe Rogan 36:33 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 36:34 Ooh.

Joe Rogan 36:35 I know. It's crazy.

Gable Steveson 36:36 Just, what do you think if, if he doesn't lose-

Joe Rogan 36:38 32 or 34.How old is Petr Yan? He's either 32 or 34. But, you know, we've seen him and... I think he's 32.

Gable Steveson 36:46 32?

Joe Rogan 36:46 32, yeah. I mean, we've seen him in the UFC since he was, like, in his mid-20s.

Gable Steveson 36:50 Super young.

Joe Rogan 36:51 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 36:51 If, if he doesn't lose to Merab that first time, where do you think his path goes?

Joe Rogan 36:56 It's a good question. You know, I mean, because he did lose to other guys as well.

Gable Steveson 37:00 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:00 He lost to Sean and he lost to... The Aljamain fight was fucked.

Gable Steveson 37:04 Super fucked.

Joe Rogan 37:04 So the first fight was fucked, but the second fight, Aljamain dominated him.

Gable Steveson 37:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:08 But I think he probably overestimated himself in the second Aljamain fight. It doesn't seem like he was as prepared. And the thing about Aljamain is, like, his wrestling is very good, and his back control is the fucking best in the business. When Aljamain gets your back, you're in deep shit.

Gable Steveson 37:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:25 He's so good at back control. He's so good at rear naked chokes. And, you know, Alj-... But just, Aljamain just really struggled to make that 135.

Gable Steveson 37:33 That's gotta be hard.

Joe Rogan 37:34 Oh. But if you got it right, and he got it right in that second fight, you know.

Gable Steveson 37:38 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:39 And, and he just, he just did what he does at, at his best. It was one of his finest performances.

Gable Steveson 37:43 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 37:44 So he lost that fight, but it didn't mean that he was done. It just mean, like, he realized, like, okay, he had to have a camp like he had for Merab in order to beat Aljamain.

Gable Steveson 37:54 Yes.

Joe Rogan 37:54 You know? And I just don't think everybody's willing to go through that kind of camp every, every fight.

Gable Steveson 37:59 Merab went through four?

Joe Rogan 38:01 Yeah, four in a year.

Gable Steveson 38:02 I think so also.

Joe Rogan 38:02 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 38:02 Do you d-... Um, for blueprint, how do you like that? Because I know guys kinda take-

Joe Rogan 38:07 I think it's too much.

Gable Steveson 38:07 ... the two fight a, the two fight a year approach, or maybe three-

Joe Rogan 38:09 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 38:09 ... if you're doing well.

Joe Rogan 38:11 I think that's more, more sustainable. Alex Pereira did the same thing. Like, he's, he's fought a lot of fights, and he's fight, fought fights short notice.

Gable Steveson 38:19 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 38:20 But you gotta admire that mindset of a guy who's like, "I don't give a fuck, let's fight." You know? And, but Alex has fought with broken toes.

Gable Steveson 38:26 He's done everything.

Joe Rogan 38:27 He fought with a norovirus and, you know, he had a fucked up hand the first time he fought Ankalaev. But then, you know, same thing, like, he comes in for the second fight with Ankalaev fully healthy-

Gable Steveson 38:36 And he's just ready.

Joe Rogan 38:36 ... and just smokes him. Smokes him in the first round.

Gable Steveson 38:39 If you, if you, um... What do you think about if you gave Alex Pereira like a, a solid, great wrestler, like an Islam of light heavyweight, heavyweight, how do you think that he does?

Joe Rogan 38:48 It'll be a problem. Yeah, I mean, I think less of a problem certainly now than early in his career.

Gable Steveson 38:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 38:54 Like, if you see his first fight with, uh... In the UFC with Mikaelidase, he gets taken down in the first round. Uh, that's not gonna happen now. And if it does, he gets up, you know, it's different. But against... Gets up against who?

Gable Steveson 39:06 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:06 Does he get up against a guy like you? You know, it's a d- it's a different... There's different levels, right? You really saw that with Jack Della Maddalena-

Gable Steveson 39:12 Yes.

Joe Rogan 39:12 ... and Islam, right?

Gable Steveson 39:13 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:13 There's levels. And when you got a guy that's at Islam's level, that's just an, uh, super elite grappler, unless you've faced that before, you don't know what to prepare yourself for.

Gable Steveson 39:25 It's hard.

Joe Rogan 39:25 I think-

Gable Steveson 39:25 I tell people all the time.

Joe Rogan 39:26 That's the thing with Petr Yan, he had been in there with Merab-

Gable Steveson 39:29 (clears throat)

Joe Rogan 39:29 ... for the first fight, and so he knew what to expect, and he's, he'd seen all those crazy fights. He saw the fight with Sandhagen. He saw the fight where... This was the rematch with Sugar Sean, where he submitted him. He's like, "Okay, this guy's a fucking monster."

Gable Steveson 39:42 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:43 "He's a monster now. You gotta prepare for a monster." And he was ready. But un- unless you've experienced that before, it... There's really no one like that in the light heavyweight division, unfortunately.

Gable Steveson 39:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 39:53 There's not some, like, super elite grappler in the light heavyweight division. And I think that's one of the reasons why Khamzat is thinking about going up to light heavyweight.

Gable Steveson 40:01 And I think he should. I'm a big fan of Khamzat. I love his style, I love his intensity. His intensity is the best thing ever.

Joe Rogan 40:06 Oh, it's an animal.

Gable Steveson 40:07 His... It's the best thing ever to watch. Because I... When I was wrestling, I liked to go out there and just, you know, put the hammer down and dominate. Um, and he's got it.

Joe Rogan 40:14 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 40:14 He's got that touch.

Joe Rogan 40:15 Oh, yeah. He's an animal. And, you know, that, that animal part of him almost killed him, because he, he refused to stop training when he had COVID.

Gable Steveson 40:23 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:23 When he had COVID, he was just showing up at the gym and putting in two and a half hour sessions and vomiting blood.

Gable Steveson 40:29 Whoo.

Joe Rogan 40:29 Like, it's a nut.

Gable Steveson 40:30 That's crazy.

Joe Rogan 40:31 Yeah, they said the real problem with Khamzat was that you, you couldn't get him out of the gym, and he was always overtrained.

Gable Steveson 40:37 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:38 So then he brings in Sam Caldevedo. And Sam Caldevedo monitoring...

Gable Steveson 40:42 From Training Lab, right?

Joe Rogan 40:42 Right.

Gable Steveson 40:43 Yes.

Joe Rogan 40:43 So he's monitoring his heart rate, he's monitoring his recovery, and he's working on him, h- with his strength and conditioning, and they're doing it scientifically.

Gable Steveson 40:50 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 40:51 And then you see in the Dricus du Plessis fight, I mean, he's just... Didn't gas at all.

Gable Steveson 40:54 Well, it... That was the same thing as Islam and, uh, Maddalena.

Joe Rogan 40:57 Very similar.

Gable Steveson 40:57 They, they tried to do the, um, the, you know, maybe what if, what if he can outbox him? But it, it's hard when you gotta worry about so many things.

Joe Rogan 41:04 Exactly.

Gable Steveson 41:04 And I think Islam did a great job of showing the leg kicks, making Jack switch.

Joe Rogan 41:08 Oh, yeah.

Gable Steveson 41:08 Jack didn't really push forward, and Islam, when he did, shot the double, or he shot an outside single. And that's hard.

Joe Rogan 41:14 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 41:14 It's hard when you gotta think about so many things.

Joe Rogan 41:16 Yeah. Well, you know, Khabib is without doubt one of the all-time greats. One of the greatest-

Gable Steveson 41:21 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:21 ... to ever do it. But the difference between Khabib and Islam is Islam is elite standup-wise.

Gable Steveson 41:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:28 Like, Khabib was very good standup, but Islam knocked out Volkanovski with a head kick, you know. That's not in-

Gable Steveson 41:34 It's crazy.

Joe Rogan 41:34 ... Khabib's repertoire. Islam is on another level. It's like one more level above. He can knock you out standing, he can knock you out on the ground, he could submit you, he could take you down. He's fucking huge for the weight class, especially at 155.

Gable Steveson 41:47 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:48 It's like st-... There's so many aspects, and you're always thinking about that grappling when you're striking.

Gable Steveson 41:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 41:54 So when you say like, "Oh, you know, who's a better striker, Islam or Jack Della Maddalena?" Well, it depends, because if you gotta worry about that take down, your striking is not gonna be the same.

Gable Steveson 42:03 Oh, come on. Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 42:03 It's just not gonna be the same, 'cause you're... Everything he does, you're-

Gable Steveson 42:06 That's right. It's a twist.

Joe Rogan 42:06 You're always looking for that take down. And that factor, uh, it leads to guys getting hit all the time.

Gable Steveson 42:12 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 42:13 Like, if you go back and watch the old fights like Kevin Randleman versus Cro Cop, Kevin Randleman knocked out Cro Cop because Cro Cop was worried about the take down. He was worried about the take down, all of a sudden Randleman comes with a big left hook.

Gable Steveson 42:23 And Kevin Randleman was a NCAA champ where?

Joe Rogan 42:27 Ohio State, I believe. Wasn't it Ohio State? I... I believe he was an O- Ohio guy.

Gable Steveson 42:31 184 or 197?

Joe Rogan 42:33 I don't know.

Gable Steveson 42:33 Or was he heavyweight?

Joe Rogan 42:34 I don't know. Oh, yeah. Three-time Big 10 wrestling champ out of Ohio State.

Gable Steveson 42:40 What, uh... He never won the tournament?... wow, who'd he lose to in the tournament?

Joe Rogan 42:50 Oh, that's says heavyweight. Hold on, uh...

Gable Steveson 42:52 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 42:52 I'll look that up real quick.

Gable Steveson 42:52 Mm-hmm, okay. But, but that was the thing about Randleman is, like, the speed and the take-down was always this big threat. And so because of that, you're thinking about one thing, and boom, you get hit with a big shot. I've seen Kevin Randleman wear shoes in his matches. What's a, what's the difference-

Joe Rogan 43:07 The early days.

Gable Steveson 43:08 Um, what's the difference of wearing ... I've seen a guy wear shoes now. It was on Instagram and I saw maybe a kickboxing match, um-

Joe Rogan 43:13 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 43:13 ... or something like that. Why can they wear shoes now? Is there a rule that you can't?

Joe Rogan 43:16 It's not now. All those things are old.

Gable Steveson 43:18 Those are old? Okay.

Joe Rogan 43:18 Yeah, those are all old. Pride used to allow you to wear shoes.

Gable Steveson 43:21 Okay.

Joe Rogan 43:22 Uh, early UFC, you used to be able to wear shoes.

Gable Steveson 43:24 I saw that.

Joe Rogan 43:24 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 43:25 I remember the first, the first, like, UFC video I seen was that big, huge dude and that little dude that knocked him out. Was he the big Black dude?

Joe Rogan 43:31 Which guy?

Gable Steveson 43:32 It was like a old video. Super old. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 43:35 (laughs) There's somebody in that? That's not descriptive enough. (laughs)

Gable Steveson 43:37 Okay. I'm sorry. (laughs) Give me a second.

Joe Rogan 43:39 Big, huge dude-

Gable Steveson 43:40 What, what about-

Joe Rogan 43:40 ... and a little Black dude.

Gable Steveson 43:41 I-

Joe Rogan 43:41 Bob Sapp, maybe?

Gable Steveson 43:42 No. That wasn't UFC.

Joe Rogan 43:43 Okay.

Gable Steveson 43:43 Who was the big video and then the white dude came out there and he was just whooping him, and then the big dude tried to grab him? I might be tripping, but I saw the video.

Joe Rogan 43:50 Hmm. Well, I don't think you're tripping. I mean, there's been so many fights. It's so hard to, like, figure out what fight you're talking about.

Gable Steveson 43:56 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 43:57 But, there's, there's an advantage to wrestling shoes, for sure, without a doubt. I mean, the grip on the ground. I mean, how many times you seen guys-

Gable Steveson 44:04 Yeah, this one.

Joe Rogan 44:05 Oh, Keith Hackney. Yeah. And Keith Hackney had, like, a very strange style. It was like, uh, I think he was a Kenpo guy. And he, he hit him with, like, a bitch slap.

Gable Steveson 44:15 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:16 You know what I'm saying?

Gable Steveson 44:17 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:17 Like, you ever see how he, he knocked him down? Like, look at the difference in the size. Emanuel Yarbrough, who was a sumo wrestler.

Gable Steveson 44:23 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 44:24 But, E- Emanuel was probably like ... Look at that, see?

Gable Steveson 44:26 Oh.

Joe Rogan 44:27 He overhand bitch slapped him. Let me see this again. This is crazy.

Gable Steveson 44:31 You think he-

Joe Rogan 44:31 He basically stepped in and, and palm striked him to the head.

Gable Steveson 44:35 You think he looks ... If he's s- if he's still alive, you think he looks back at this video and be like, "Damn, I got slapped."

Joe Rogan 44:39 Uh, probably.

Gable Steveson 44:40 Damn.

Joe Rogan 44:41 I mean-

Gable Steveson 44:42 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 44:42 ... Emanuel fought a bunch of different things. He fought, uh, I think he fought, uh, in Pride as well. If I'm, I'm, I'm not-

Gable Steveson 44:50 Oh.

Joe Rogan 44:51 Oh, they forgot to lock the cage.

Gable Steveson 44:52 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 44:52 He got fl- flew out the cage.

Gable Steveson 44:54 Um.

Joe Rogan 44:54 Look at thin, big John McCarthy. He lost to Mark Rylan.

Gable Steveson 44:57 Mark Rylan of Iowa.

Joe Rogan 44:58 Hmm, okay. There you go. That's random, but we're talking about history.

Gable Steveson 45:02 Yes. Um, yeah, the old days were wild, man. It's wild. It's, it's wild to go back and watch those fights. It's like phew. Since you, um, since you've been kinda like, um, like a, a huge figure your whole life, have you gone back and, like, watched Fear Factor?

Joe Rogan 45:17 (smacks lips) Uh, I watched it because my kids were watching it. My kids were watching Fear Factor because th- there was, like, a whole Fear Factor channel.

Gable Steveson 45:24 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:24 Was it TruTV or one of those-

Gable Steveson 45:26 TruTV. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:26 It had-

Gable Steveson 45:26 Or Spike TV, maybe. I don't know.

Joe Rogan 45:27 One of those things. They had Fear Factor on, like, all day long, and my kids were watching it. They thought it was hilarious.

Gable Steveson 45:32 Man, I was watching it too. I'm just gonna tell you right now.

Joe Rogan 45:35 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 45:35 And all the shit they was doing, hell no.

Joe Rogan 45:38 Yeah. A lot of it is in your head.

Gable Steveson 45:40 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 45:40 Like, a lot of the stuff that they had to eat is not that bad. Some of it was fucking disgusting.

Gable Steveson 45:45 Yeah, was y- were you trying some while they were trying some?

Joe Rogan 45:47 I, I ate a bunch of things.

Gable Steveson 45:48 What was the worst thing?

Joe Rogan 45:49 (inhales deeply) (sighs) None of the things I ate were that bad. You know, like, I ate a Madagascar hissing cockroach. It's like a, a cockroach the size of, like, this lighter.

Gable Steveson 45:59 Damn.

Joe Rogan 46:00 Yeah. Yeah. Uh-

Gable Steveson 46:01 That wasn't bad? What, it was just crunchy, huh?

Joe Rogan 46:03 It didn't have much ... Yeah, it doesn't have much flavor to it.

Gable Steveson 46:05 Hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:06 Yeah. It's-

Gable Steveson 46:06 What was the-

Joe Rogan 46:07 ... more in your head than anything.

Gable Steveson 46:08 I'm, I'm sure. What was ... Uh, being, being on that show, what was the worst thing you saw, like, someone tense up about?

Joe Rogan 46:15 (smacks lips) The worst thing was what they had to eat. You know, p- and watching people throw up. Like, people ... I, I watched people throw up every day. You know how, like, the smell of throw-up makes you wanna throw up?

Gable Steveson 46:25 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:25 That went away after a while.

Gable Steveson 46:27 It was that bad?

Joe Rogan 46:28 Yeah. Yeah, I, I s- I saw people throw up every week. Every week, I was watching four, five people throw up.

Gable Steveson 46:33 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:33 It's just, like, totally normal to be around puke.

Gable Steveson 46:35 You were just ... It was like a candle for you.

Joe Rogan 46:36 'Cause they were throwing up in front of me, and I was telling them that they can keep going. I'm like, "Don't worry. You can keep going. You can keep going."

Gable Steveson 46:43 Wait-

Joe Rogan 46:43 "Don't put that outta your head. This is a task."

Gable Steveson 46:46 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 46:46 "Just ... You, you wanna win? Okay, you can do this."

Gable Steveson 46:49 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 46:49 "I can help you ... I'll go- talk you through this. But you just gotta just ... You, you are in control of your body. Force yourself to eat it. Chew it, swallow it, get it down, let's go." But that was the worst, is the eating shit. Holding your breath underwater was hard. There's a lot of things they had to do-

Gable Steveson 47:04 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:04 ... that was hard. It's a crazy fucking show.

Gable Steveson 47:06 They, um ... There was one where they had to jump out a helicopter and, like, swim and grab something-

Joe Rogan 47:11 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 47:11 ... while the helicopter propellers were, like, blowing the water, so they couldn't-

Joe Rogan 47:14 Uh, we did a few of the things like that. Yeah.

Gable Steveson 47:16 Were you ever scared?

Joe Rogan 47:18 Um-

Gable Steveson 47:18 For some of them?

Joe Rogan 47:19 I was worried when they had to ride bulls. That one scared the shit out of me 'cause I was like, you know ... (laughs)

Gable Steveson 47:25 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 47:25 The, the stunt, stunt men are animals. If you ever meet stunt men-

Gable Steveson 47:28 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:28 ... they are some of the, the bravest, toughest dudes alive. And, uh, the stunt guys had this attitude about the bull, like, eh. They're like, "Oh, that's a stunt bull. That's a practice bull."

Gable Steveson 47:39 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:39 And I go, "Does a fucking bull know he's a practice bull?"

Gable Steveson 47:42 He, he don't know shit.

Joe Rogan 47:42 "I bet he doesn't. I bet he didn't get that m- memo."

Gable Steveson 47:44 He don't know that.

Joe Rogan 47:45 "He's just a bull."

Gable Steveson 47:46 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 47:46 "That's a fucking huge animal, and you're gonna get 100-pound lady to ride this huge animal. That's crazy."

Gable Steveson 47:51 It's over with.

Joe Rogan 47:52 And they got launched and almost got kicked, and we ... They rolled the dice a lot and got lucky that no one got seriously injured, I think. And the bull one was the big one for me. I was like, "You can't predict that." Like, you can ... If you got a car stunt, you gotta jump a car off a building into, like, this big cushion. Like, okay.

Gable Steveson 48:11 Cool.

Joe Rogan 48:11 You kind of know-

Gable Steveson 48:13 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 48:13 ... what's gonna happen.

Gable Steveson 48:14 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 48:14 Y- g- y- you know, though, y- this is the thing. This could go wrong, and this is how we're gonna prepare against it going wrong or prepare for it. But you can't prepare for a bull. Like, there's not much you could do. If the bull decides to stomp this person, that person could die.

Gable Steveson 48:27 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 48:28 Like, that, that's a real possibility, especially people that have no business riding bulls.

Gable Steveson 48:32 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 48:32 Bullriding's hard for bullriders.

Gable Steveson 48:34 Bullriding's tough.

Joe Rogan 48:35 It's crazy.

Gable Steveson 48:35 And they got a good seven seconds on that bull if they're great.

Joe Rogan 48:38 If they're great.

Gable Steveson 48:38 If they're great.

Joe Rogan 48:39 And when you're watching it, you're like, "Oh my God." You're watching the bull kicking and jumping up in the air and ...

Gable Steveson 48:44 It's crazy. I know their lower back kills after that.

Joe Rogan 48:46 Oh, th- uh, we had one guy on Fear Factor who was a professional bullrider, and his shoulder was so destroyed. He, uh, he took his shirt off to show me. He has scars all around his shoulder. He's like, "My shoulder pops out all the time."

Gable Steveson 48:59 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 48:59 It just will pop out a socket. He'd go reach for something, his shoulder would pop out a socket. It was just destroyed. It was hanging on by a thread.

Gable Steveson 49:06 Geez, that's disgusting.

Joe Rogan 49:07 Ugh.

Gable Steveson 49:08 How do you live like that, though?

Joe Rogan 49:09 I don't know, man. I guess you just deal with it.... I guess you just, that's the price you pay for greatness, you know?

Gable Steveson 49:15 Gotta pay something.

Joe Rogan 49:16 Yeah, well they all pay. Every bull rider pays. You see those guys later in their career, they're all stiff 'cause they got fused discs and fucking-

Gable Steveson 49:23 Messed up.

Joe Rogan 49:23 ... bolts in their back and shit. They're all fucked up.

Gable Steveson 49:25 Their spine's rubbing. Woo.

Joe Rogan 49:26 Oh, yeah. It's a terrible-

Gable Steveson 49:27 It gets messed up.

Joe Rogan 49:28 ... terrible way to live. Yeah.

Gable Steveson 49:30 I can't, I can't believe that, um, bull riding's a real thing.

Joe Rogan 49:33 I know. It's nuts.

Gable Steveson 49:34 It's fascinating though, because you could really see guys go out there and be like, "You're facing the devil."

Joe Rogan 49:39 Literally, yeah.

Gable Steveson 49:39 The bull is gonna win all the time.

Joe Rogan 49:41 Every time. The best you could do-

Gable Steveson 49:42 Even if you get back- (laughs)

Joe Rogan 49:43 ... is hang on for seven seconds. There's no goat who could just hang on the-

Gable Steveson 49:46 No.

Joe Rogan 49:46 ... the bull as long as possible.

Gable Steveson 49:47 No.

Joe Rogan 49:47 "I'll hang on that bull for 30 minutes." Keep kicking, bitch.

Gable Steveson 49:50 He gonna get you off.

Joe Rogan 49:51 He's gonna get you off.

Gable Steveson 49:51 He gonna get you off.

Joe Rogan 49:51 Like, everybody goes flying eventually. Everybody.

Gable Steveson 49:54 Everybody. It, it's gonna happen one way or another.

Joe Rogan 49:56 Yeah, there's no human being that could just stay on a bucking bull-

Gable Steveson 50:00 No.

Joe Rogan 50:00 ... and just like, "When I decide, I'll get off."

Gable Steveson 50:02 Have you rode?

Joe Rogan 50:03 No.

Gable Steveson 50:04 Okay, I haven't either.

Joe Rogan 50:05 Fuck that.

Gable Steveson 50:05 I don't think Black people do that.

Joe Rogan 50:07 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 50:08 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 50:08 I think there are. I think there's-

Gable Steveson 50:10 Is there a couple?

Joe Rogan 50:10 Oh, there's gotta be.

Gable Steveson 50:11 Yo, if there is-

Joe Rogan 50:12 There's gotta be.

Gable Steveson 50:12 ... if there is-

Joe Rogan 50:12 Yeah, let me look at pictures I have.

Gable Steveson 50:13 There is (laughs) -

Joe Rogan 50:14 Ezekiel Mitchell. Oh, look at that dude, right there. Right there. Bam. Ezekiel Mitchell. Look at the size of that thing. Crazy. It's crazy.

Gable Steveson 50:21 And look at his angle, you know what I'm saying?

Joe Rogan 50:22 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 50:22 He is so, the, the bull is so athletic that he's damn near doing a handspring-

Joe Rogan 50:27 Exactly.

Gable Steveson 50:27 ... with the dude on his back.

Joe Rogan 50:29 Right, and he weighs 2,000 pounds. He's just throwing his body up and through the air. That is, fuck all that. Like right there, like y- you easily could get stomped to death right there, easily.

Gable Steveson 50:40 It's game over.

Joe Rogan 50:41 You fall wrong, he lands on your face, and that is a wrap. Your fucking head is pulverized.

Gable Steveson 50:47 I wonder what the-

Joe Rogan 50:47 The size of that thing, God.

Gable Steveson 50:50 Yeah. I wonder what the numbers are, on like if a bull stomps, like the velocity of, and the mass of it, like, what is the, the degenerated force from it?

Joe Rogan 50:57 Oh, it's gotta be insane.

Gable Steveson 50:59 Gotta be crazy.

Joe Rogan 50:59 How many guys have died? Pshh, I mean-

Gable Steveson 51:02 None that I know, hopefully.

Joe Rogan 51:03 None that I know, but I mean, there has to be like a enormous number of guys that have died bull riding.

Gable Steveson 51:08 What's the, what's like the, um, since, since like we're on a crazy topic, what is, what is like the craziest thing outside of like maybe fighting, TaeKwonDo, that you've done that you're like, "Damn," like, "That shit felt good."

Joe Rogan 51:19 I never did anything other than, I did, I had k- three kickboxing fights, but other than fighting, that was the, the scariest shit that I ever did.

Gable Steveson 51:26 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 51:27 Yeah, I mean, I've never done anything. I'm not like a, I don't parachute.

Gable Steveson 51:29 You're not a jumping for it?

Joe Rogan 51:30 No.

Gable Steveson 51:31 Okay.

Joe Rogan 51:31 I'm not a bungee jumper. I mean, I've done bungee jumping on vacation. I did ziplining. I was like, "What am I doing? This is stupid." I don't like doing stuff like that.

Gable Steveson 51:39 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 51:39 I'm, I don't like dumb risks.

Gable Steveson 51:41 No. I'm big, so I went on a ziplining one time, and you know, you gotta jump off the thing.

Joe Rogan 51:45 Right.

Gable Steveson 51:46 You gotta jump off the platform.

Joe Rogan 51:47 Uh-huh.

Gable Steveson 51:48 I thought I was gonna f- I, Joe, I'm kidding to you? No, that might've been my last day on Earth if that, that line didn't hold me.

Joe Rogan 51:52 Right, because what do you weigh, about 250?

Gable Steveson 51:54 Like, 255.

Joe Rogan 51:55 Yeah, and then it bounces, you know, like ooh.

Gable Steveson 51:56 Uh-huh.

Joe Rogan 51:57 I was in Thailand, and I went to do this thing. It was a bungee jump k- core thing, and they said I couldn't do it 'cause I was only 200 pounds, and I was like, "That's crazy." Like-

Gable Steveson 52:05 Crazy.

Joe Rogan 52:05 ... what happens if you get a guy that lies about his weight?

Gable Steveson 52:08 It's over with.

Joe Rogan 52:09 Yeah, because people lie about their fucking weight all the time.

Gable Steveson 52:11 I seen the ones where the guys, they got the, the, the squirrel suit on.

Joe Rogan 52:15 Oh, God.

Gable Steveson 52:15 And they jump off the building, or they jump off the rocks and they-

Joe Rogan 52:18 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 52:18 ... they go down and they come up.

Joe Rogan 52:19 Uh-huh, and sometimes they don't.

Gable Steveson 52:21 Sometimes they don't come up.

Joe Rogan 52:23 My friend, Andy, did that, jumping out of a fucking plane.

Gable Steveson 52:25 He made it?

Joe Rogan 52:26 Oh, yeah.

Gable Steveson 52:26 Okay, good.

Joe Rogan 52:27 He's, he wa- he held the world record at one point in time for the longest, uh, squirrel suit flight. What is it called, what do they call those things? Wing suit. Wing suit.

Gable Steveson 52:35 Wing suit?

Joe Rogan 52:36 He, he held the record for it. It's ridiculous. It's cr- but Andy's nuts. He's a Navy Seal and- 18 miles. 18 miles?

Gable Steveson 52:43 18 miles? (laughs)

Joe Rogan 52:44 Yeah. Jesus Christ.

Gable Steveson 52:44 One flight.

Joe Rogan 52:45 That's just-

Gable Steveson 52:46 What do you think he's thinking-

Joe Rogan 52:47 Wow.

Gable Steveson 52:47 ... at like mile nine? "Maybe I dropped?"

Joe Rogan 52:48 Uh, he's a psycho. I don't know.

Gable Steveson 52:50 18 miles is crazy.

Joe Rogan 52:52 Yeah, that's crazy.

Gable Steveson 52:53 I would never do nothing like that, ever.

Joe Rogan 52:55 Mm-mm.

Gable Steveson 52:55 Never?

Joe Rogan 52:55 No, I'm not interested in parachuting. I'm not interested in any of that shit.

Gable Steveson 52:58 I might get on a wake boat and surf. That's about all.

Joe Rogan 53:01 Eh, you fall in the water.

Gable Steveson 53:02 Yeah.

Joe Rogan 53:02 Not that big a deal.

Gable Steveson 53:02 With a life jacket.

Joe Rogan 53:03 Yeah, yeah. That sounds reasonable.

Gable Steveson 53:06 That sounds very reasonable.

Joe Rogan 53:06 It's a reasonable thrill, falling out- (laughs)

Gable Steveson 53:08 Hey, (laughs) falling out the sky is crazy.

Joe Rogan 53:11 Falling out the sky's crazy, but at least falling out the sky, you have equipment, you check the equipment, you make sure, you double check, you, you've done it before. It's done. You know when to do it. With a bull, there's no, there's no safeguards.

Gable Steveson 53:24 Mm-mm.

Joe Rogan 53:25 You know? You, I mean, you have like some sort of a chest protector on some people. You have a helmet. You're not, there's no safeguards. He could land on your hip. You're never gonna walk again.

Gable Steveson 53:34 It's over with.

Joe Rogan 53:34 Fuck that.

Gable Steveson 53:35 It's game over. I couldn't, I can't fathom riding a bull.

Joe Rogan 53:38 Yeah. Doesn't Donald do it? Doesn't Donald Cerrone? He, he rides bulls. That'd be-

Gable Steveson 53:42 So, he got the name Cowboy, he better do something.

Joe Rogan 53:44 He's out of his fucking mind.

Gable Steveson 53:44 He gotta do something with the name Cowboy.

Joe Rogan 53:46 That's a dude that has a real adrenaline problem. He's got a re- he's real-

Gable Steveson 53:49 I mean, rightfully so. He look-

Joe Rogan 53:50 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 53:50 ... he looks crazy. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 53:53 (laughs) He is.

Gable Steveson 53:53 He's got a real adrenaline problem.

Joe Rogan 53:55 He gets crazy. He told the story about getting trapped in a, a water, he, he was diving and he got trapped in a cave, and the, the guy he was with panicked 'cause his cords got tangled up and the, the water was cloudy and he couldn't figure out how to get out. That was one of the most terr- I knew he was okay, 'cause he was right here telling me the story, but it was one of the most terrifying stories anybody's ever told me, but that dude loves that kind of shit. He loves like thrills.

Gable Steveson 54:18 I can't. I don't think I can get behind thrills. I can't.

Joe Rogan 54:21 No.

Gable Steveson 54:22 It's, it's too much, and especially-

Joe Rogan 54:23 Your heart be like...

Gable Steveson 54:24 Mm-hmm. (heart thumping)

Joe Rogan 54:26 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 54:26 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 54:26 It's just not worth it.

Gable Steveson 54:28 It's like, "Yo, is today my day?"

Joe Rogan 54:29 It can't be-

Gable Steveson 54:29 It can't be my day.

Joe Rogan 54:30 This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company. So here we are, it's the new year, which means it's about time to hit reset. Just because it's January doesn't mean you need to disappear into a cold plunge and never drink again. Just rotate in some Athletic non-alcoholic beer. You get the taste, the perfect meal pairing, and the night out, but you wake up without the hangover. With over 185 taste awards, they brew all kinds of styles, IPAs, Goldens, Hazies, you name it. Athletic is proud brewed in America and sold at over 75,000 grocery or liquor stores, bars, and restaurants across the country. You can also purchase a variety of limited styles exclusively on their website. Go to athleticbrewing.com/rogan to find stores near you or get brews shipped right to your door. Use code Rogan to get 15% off your first online order. Near beer terms and conditions and certain limitations apply. Athletic Brewing Company, fit for all times. Was fighting for the first time, was that, what did, what was the different in the, the difference in the way it felt the first time you fought versus wrestling?

Gable Steveson 55:42 My, when I, when I wrestle, I'm not really nervous. I'm more anxious to like s- perform and put on a good show. When I, when I went out there for my first fight, my heart was beating out my chest.... because the pin drops, and it's like, "It's me or you." And I always had the mentality of like, "It's me or you. It's do or die. Today's not my day. You gotta go." But, um, that first time, you're like... I kid you not, my heart was like jumping. And, and John had to like look at me in the eyes and be like, "Yo, you're good. Rely on what you know. We've been here before. You've done this before. Um, there's 2,000 people here. You, you've wrestled in front of 20. Um, just think about it like that." And when I thought about it like that, my heart rate calmed down. You know, you kinda get like shaky a little bit. Your, you kinda feel like your legs are not there. And that was kinda my first time fighting. After that, at Dirty Boxing, I wanted to kill that dude. (laughs)

Joe Rogan 56:27 (laughs) Which is really crazy because you couldn't even rely really on your wrestling in that.

Gable Steveson 56:33 Which is what I wanted.

Joe Rogan 56:34 Right.

Gable Steveson 56:34 I wanted to, I wanted to go out there and show you that, that I can throw punches without having to look down at that leg. And that's exactly what we did.

Joe Rogan 56:42 D- Was that a calculated decision to try to do that as well as just like to just have a pure striking fight?

Gable Steveson 56:48 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 56:48 Just, just so you could show that you could do it, and then in your own mind, not have your, your main skill set to rely on?

Gable Steveson 56:56 Yes. I really wanted to handicap myself 'cause I wanted to show the people that... And I, and I kinda... Hopefully I did just show 'em a great show, and I wanna-

Joe Rogan 57:03 Oh, you definitely did.

Gable Steveson 57:04 I wanna show the people, I wanna show the, the people at home that are, are casual viewer that who doesn't know Gable, like, "Hey, can I turn on Dirty Boxing?" And the mom and dad and kids are sitting there watching saying, "Hey, what is about Gable Stevenson that's special?" And, "He's a wrestler, so what can be special besides wrestling?" And then I go out there, and I get this knockout, and I jump over the ring. And, and I'm, I'm doing-

Joe Rogan 57:24 That was crazy.

Gable Steveson 57:24 ... and I'm doing the Arthur Jones, um-

Joe Rogan 57:26 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 57:26 ... sack dance.

Joe Rogan 57:27 The, the crazy thing was the way you leapt over the ring like it was nothing.

Gable Steveson 57:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 57:31 That was banana. What does it feel like to not have... Oh, there it is. Boom. But this is the, the nuttiest part right here.

Gable Steveson 57:41 The big jump.

Joe Rogan 57:42 Ooh. (laughs)

Gable Steveson 57:43 (laughs)

Joe Rogan 57:44 Like, it was nothing. Like, it was nothing. I mean, that is, that is crazy athleticism. But it's, it's... What's wild about that is you look like a, like a really good boxer, and you-

Gable Steveson 57:56 Somehow.

Joe Rogan 57:56 ... have only been boxing for a very small amount of time.

Gable Steveson 57:59 Just, I just, uh, I don't... I would had, um, very good confidence in myself. I've always spoke about myself highly. I've always like wanted to be over the top, you know, like, um, like a WWE. You know, when he gets on the microphone to John Cena's like, "You can't see me."

Joe Rogan 58:12 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 58:12 Or Roman Reigns, like, "Acknowledge me." You know, when I go out there, I don't wanna have to say those things. I wanted to when you see me, that's him. And, and I've always tried to be just the, the bigger-than-Gable person. But also, like if we had like a routine convo, you can see like, man, how he's real human. You know, you can talk to him. He does real things. We put on the, we put on shoes the same way. We put on pants the same way. And I feel like a lot of superstars don't really show people that side of them. And if, it's up to them if they want to or they not, but I've always really liked showing the families and the kids that like, "Man, look at Gable." You know?

Joe Rogan 58:43 He is a normal human being.

Gable Steveson 58:44 I can relate to him.

Joe Rogan 58:45 But when you compete, you're special.

Gable Steveson 58:47 It's different. It's different.

Joe Rogan 58:47 But it's just crazy to be able to do that in a sport that you're relatively new at. I mean-

Gable Steveson 58:53 Just, man, just think big about yourself. I t-

Joe Rogan 58:55 I get it.

Gable Steveson 58:56 I tell every kid. I tell everybody.

Joe Rogan 58:57 W- What's crazy about that, honestly, is like I know you're just gonna get better at it.

Gable Steveson 59:01 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 59:01 That's what's crazy. When you watch someone strike that well early in their striking career.

Gable Steveson 59:07 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 59:07 Like, your striking journey is so new that y- the sky's the limit as far as your, your potential.

Gable Steveson 59:13 Uh, Joe, in, in the nicest way possible, I really wanna say this, that's the worst I'll ever be.

Joe Rogan 59:17 Hmm.

Gable Steveson 59:18 The worst-

Joe Rogan 59:19 Of course.

Gable Steveson 59:19 ... I'll ever be.

Joe Rogan 59:19 Yeah.

Gable Steveson 59:20 And, and, and for whoever who's gonna watch this, that's the worst I'll ever be. Just think about it. Um, 14 seconds. And then now think about if I, you're gonna put some time into me, some effort into me, and I'm putting effort into myself, that, that Dirty Boxing is probably the, the weakest I'll ever be in the sport of MMA.

Joe Rogan 59:37 I believe you. I believe you. I mean, it, it only makes sense-

Gable Steveson 59:40 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 59:40 ... if you've been training that short amount of time in striking. Now, when you train striking, are you training boxing? Are you doing Muay Thai? Like, what, what kinda striking training are you doing, or are you incorporating it all together in MMA?

Gable Steveson 59:51 I do it all. Um, so a lot of days, I go in... So, I kinda have like a really good schedule right now since I'm, I'm not gonna go into a fight. So, I do every day besides Sunday, some days are two-a-days, like 'cause I go to Lifetime and play basketball. I go to Lifetime and sit in a cold tub and, and, and, uh, and sauna and stuff. Um, but when I strike, I go in there, one round's maybe boxing, next round is kicks, teeps, knees, everything, elbows. The next round is what, um, the blueprint I have of what moves I need to really do to get in to kinda get to my shots, or I'm gonna fake shoot and punch. Um, and, and then the n- I probably go 10 rounds, 12 rounds of that, five minutes each.

Joe Rogan 1:00:28 So, you d- you always incorporate all the MMA skills-

Gable Steveson 1:00:31 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:00:31 ... together in a workout?

Gable Steveson 1:00:32 I try to.

Joe Rogan 1:00:33 What's interesting when I was talking to Ilia Topuria, um, when he's, particularly when he's not training for a fight, he doesn't do that. He is very rare in that, like, when he goes and he works on his boxing, he, he'll just box. He just boxes. When he works on his jujitsu, he just t- does jujitsu. When he works on his wrestling, he just does wrestling.

Gable Steveson 1:00:53 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:00:54 And then he puts them all together with MMA training. But he spends an exorbitant amount of time on each individual skill by itself to really like hone and tighten those things up.

Gable Steveson 1:01:05 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:06 Which is, it's an interesting choice. And obviously, for him, it's worked out spectacularly.

Gable Steveson 1:01:11 Yes, it has.

Joe Rogan 1:01:11 But there's no real, like... I guess, if you wanna be like an elite soccer player, I'm sure there's a program that they've kinda devised, like, "This is the very best way to become a good soccer player."

Gable Steveson 1:01:24 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:24 They have, you know, coaches, and they game plan. They know what to do. With MMA, there's all these different approaches. Everyone... Alex Pereira's approach is different than Merab's approach, which will be different than your approach.

Gable Steveson 1:01:37 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:01:37 Everybody's got a different thing.

Gable Steveson 1:01:39 Yeah. It's just, it... Like you said, it depends a person, and it also depends the team that you have. Um, I'm just really big on... I'm just still very new, so I'm really big on just trying to make sure I can absorb all the information possible, and kinda when I go into these fights, these f- these first few fights come, kinda showcase what I can. Um, and sadly, they have ended early. Not sadly, but... And in a good way, you know what I'm saying? Um, but just go out there and showcase who I am. And, and when I go train, man, I don't mind sitting in there all day. Sometimes me and, me and John will practice for hours.... just sitting there repeating, repeating. And then, all of a sudden, we going to 8:00, it's midnight. Um, but I like that though, because it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like there's someone invested in me, and it makes me feel like I'm here for a purpose. And it makes me feel like this is what I'm... There's, there's someone out of the country, there's someone in Russia, when I'm sleep, he's up.

Joe Rogan 1:02:26 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 1:02:27 And I don't like that. He's up working. So when I can get all the time possible, I'm making sure I get all that time, because I don't want that dude to show up one day and he's got a little inch on me.

Joe Rogan 1:02:36 Mm-hmm.

Gable Steveson 1:02:36 And I just can't, I can't think about that happening.

Joe Rogan 1:02:39 I always have that thought in my head with, in terms of like UFC fighters. Like, there's such a shallow division. The heavyweight division is so shallow. I'm like, "There has gotta be some elite Russian wrestlers that are thinking about g- going the Fedor Emelianenko route."

Gable Steveson 1:02:55 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:02:55 Like, they're thinking about... I know Nemkov, who just won the PFL title.

Gable Steveson 1:02:59 Yep.

Joe Rogan 1:02:59 He's a very high-level guy. But there's, there has to be some like really high-level wrestlers that are m- considering going into MMA.

Gable Steveson 1:03:07 Right now, Russian heavyweights are really, um, not as good as people think in wrestling.

Joe Rogan 1:03:12 Really?

Gable Steveson 1:03:12 Um, they got a guy named Abdurakhshisadulov. I don't know if you heard of him.

Joe Rogan 1:03:15 I have.

Gable Steveson 1:03:16 Six-time...

Joe Rogan 1:03:16 DC told me about him.

Gable Steveson 1:03:17 Man, he is crazy. If he came to fighting, it's over with. Not for heavyweights, for the other groups, because he's gotta go through me-

Joe Rogan 1:03:24 (laughs)

Gable Steveson 1:03:24 ... if he comes (laughs) if he comes heavyweight. But Iran- Iranians heavyweights are really good. I think that's where the heavyweight field should start coming from, is Iran. They got a lot of good... They got two good guys that are, one's my age, um, 25. And another one is, I think, 22. They're, they battle for the Olympic spot every year, but the older one wins just by a little. But-

Joe Rogan 1:03:43 Mm.

Gable Steveson 1:03:44 ... the time is gonna pass where that guy steps up and he's gonna take the spot. So, I would, I would watch out for him.

Joe Rogan 1:03:50 You know, what's interesting with, uh, MMA is some guys have a background in wrestling, and then they learn how to strike, and then they fall in love with striking. And then they hardly ever wrestle when they fight, you know?

Gable Steveson 1:04:03 Mm-hmm.

Joe Rogan 1:04:03 It's, it's kind of weird. Like you would-

Gable Steveson 1:04:05 It is weird.

Joe Rogan 1:04:05 ... see that a lot in the earl- like Josh Koscheck is a good example, who was a very good amateur wrestler, and then when he fought in MMA, very rarely wrestled. It was