The Joe Rogan ExperienceJRE MMA Show #20 with Yves Edwards
CHAPTERS
- 0:07 – 4:45
Fanny packs, phone “book covers,” and roasting modern fashion
Joe and Yves kick things off with a riff on phone cases that hold cards, Joe’s fanny-pack evangelism, and a long detour into fashion choices. They roast ripped jeans, flashy jewelry, and debate why certain trends look ridiculous on men but not on women.
- •Yves prefers a phone-wallet case to avoid forgetting essentials
- •Joe pitches the fanny pack as the ultimate practical solution
- •Roasting celebrity outfits (ripped jeans, oversized accessories)
- •Double-watch/bracelet confusion and the absurdity of “trying too hard” looks
- 4:45 – 5:51
Training now vs. then: LA life, The Yard, and living with Mickey Gall
The conversation shifts from jokes to training routines and where Yves is at in his post-fighting life. Yves talks about settling into LA, training with Joe Schilling, and unexpectedly becoming Mickey Gall’s roommate/mentor figure.
- •Yves is still training, after a rough few months of transition
- •Training with Joe Schilling at The Yard; Mickey Gall’s move to LA
- •Yves and Mickey watch fights together—mentor/“son” dynamic
- •Joe notes Gall’s strong ground game and need to level up striking
- 5:51 – 9:46
Time capsule MMA: Hook ’n Shoot memories and early UFC weirdness
Joe pulls up old footage and they reminisce about the earliest days of MMA—when everything felt experimental. They discuss how it feels to watch your younger self fight and how promotions and commentary have changed.
- •Joe recalls seeing Yves in Hook ’n Shoot and early Aaron Riley fights
- •Watching old footage feels like “another life” for Yves (now 41)
- •Hook ’n Shoot’s Jeff Osborne and the end of the promotion
- •Early UFC era nostalgia and how much the sport evolved
- 9:46 – 14:04
Rules and officiating: 12-to-6 elbows, gloves, and what “realistic” striking means
They dive into MMA rule issues—starting with the infamous 12-to-6 elbow ban and how commissions misunderstood it. The discussion expands into how gloves, wraps, and protective equipment change the nature of striking and strategy.
- •Why the 12-to-6 elbow rule exists and why both think it’s misguided
- •Elbow power vs. cutting mechanics; what actually causes damage
- •Gloves and taped wrists enable punches you wouldn’t throw bare-knuckle
- •How rule sets shape styles and what changes would help vs. hurt entertainment
- 14:04 – 17:41
Scoring and judging reform: Pride-style evaluation, more judges, and bad takedown “points”
Yves argues that MMA borrows a boxing scoring framework that doesn’t properly value grappling outcomes. Joe agrees and adds that expanding the judging pool and judging the whole fight (Pride-style) would reduce absurd decisions.
- •Pride rules: judge the whole fight instead of round-by-round framing
- •Add more judges (5+) to dilute outlier scorecards
- •Takedowns without control shouldn’t score like successful actions
- •Corner influence and judge misunderstanding as a systemic problem
- 17:41 – 25:20
Khabib vs. Tony breakdown—and the Dagestan wrestling pipeline
They analyze the then-upcoming Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov matchup, focusing on scrambles, control, endurance, and stylistic chaos. The conversation broadens into why Dagestani wrestling produces relentless pressure fighters and how Khabib does ‘standard’ things at a superhuman level.
- •Tony’s scramble-first, submission-hunting style vs. Khabib’s control-and-maul game
- •Kevin Lee’s early success vs. Tony as a reference point—with staph/weight-cut caveats
- •New York Times piece on Dagestan wrestling as social pathway
- •Why Khabib’s dominance feels simple technically but extreme in intensity and execution
- 25:20 – 30:08
Weight cuts, durability, and ‘tank’ pressure: Khabib’s scares and Ngannou’s power vs. cardio
Joe and Yves connect weight cutting to durability and recovery, using Khabib’s difficult cuts and later nutrition changes as examples. They also shift to heavyweight extremes—Francis Ngannou’s power, Stipe’s strategy, and whether wrestling development can ‘complete’ a terrifying athlete late in his career.
- •Dehydration’s role in punch resistance and recovery
- •Khabib’s past weight-cut/liver shutdown concerns and later improvements
- •Ngannou’s unmatched power contrasted with cardio limitations
- •The challenge of adding elite wrestling later in life and style-balance at heavyweight
- 30:08 – 33:36
Eye pokes and glove design: finger coverage, Bellator/Pride curvature, and unintended grappling benefits
They workshop practical solutions to eye pokes, including a glove that covers fingertips without ruining grappling. Joe notes that certain glove shapes (Pride/Bellator-style curvature) naturally reduce extended-finger incidents and could even improve grip and some submissions.
- •Proposed glove tweak: cover fingertips to prevent single-point eye contact
- •Why individual finger dexterity isn’t essential for most MMA grappling
- •Bellator/Pride curved gloves and fewer eye pokes historically
- •Gloves can hinder chokes; altered design might help grappling
- 33:36 – 44:11
Medical horror story: post-fight hospital pressure to operate on Poirier’s swollen shin
Yves recounts a tense night in a Brooklyn hospital after Dustin Poirier’s fight, where doctors pushed an aggressive surgery recommendation. The story spirals into discussions of medical incentives, unnecessary procedures, and how fighters navigate high-stakes decisions while medicated and exhausted.
- •Doctors proposed incision/drainage for swelling and circulation concerns
- •Pressure-test needle proposal sounded extreme and invasive
- •Fighter vulnerability: morphine, pain, late-night decision-making
- •Broader skepticism: unnecessary surgeries and profit incentives
- 44:11 – 54:02
Sleep, recovery, and mental clarity: ‘sleep on it,’ morning workouts, and discipline
A discussion about cold medicine and rest turns into a deeper look at how sleep resets perspective and improves decisions. Joe and Yves share personal routines—morning training, fasted runs, and the mental decluttering that comes from physical exertion and structured lists.
- •Sleep as recovery plus a perspective reset (“sleep on it” is real)
- •Yves’ alternator story: insight arriving after rest
- •Joe’s case for early-morning workouts to clear the mind
- •Discipline tools: lists, routines, and reducing mental drag
- 54:02 – 1:01:14
Gym legends and evolution: conditioning pioneers, weight manipulation, and the lost UFC lightweight era
They compare old-school and modern strength-and-conditioning, crediting early innovators (Frank Shamrock, Miletich) and later super-gyms (ATT). Joe argues Yves’ era was disadvantaged when the UFC temporarily removed 155, forcing elite lightweights to compete elsewhere during prime years.
- •ATT’s early ‘complete facility’ model and evolving S&C culture
- •Extreme weight regain strategies (post-weigh-in pump + carbs)
- •Tibau and other extreme weight-cut examples at 155
- •UFC’s 155 division hiatus and its career impact on that generation
- 1:01:14 – 3:11:59
Mindset, ‘wars,’ and performance under stakes—plus a long turn into society, education, and incentives
They explore why some fighters thrive under real stakes while others are only great in the gym, using examples like Darren Elkins’ comeback and Diego Sanchez’s wars. The discussion expands into attitude, personal responsibility vs. structural disadvantage, then into politics: incentives, education funding, free college ideas, and how online learning collides with distraction and discipline.
- •Why ‘gym killers’ can fail in fights: fear, risk, and trigger-pulling under pressure
- •Examples of indomitable spirit (Elkins vs. Bektic) and ‘blood-and-guts’ archetypes
- •Attitude as fuel vs. toxicity (“I can’t catch a break” mindset)
- •Public investment debates: schools, healthcare, military spending, free college, online education vs. distraction
