JRE MMA Show #20 with Yves Edwards

1. 0:07 – 4:45

   Fanny packs, phone “book covers,” and roasting modern fashion

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      ... and we're live. Yves Edwards, ladies and gentlemen. You're one of those dudes that has that book cover for your phone. I tried to rock the book cover. After a while, I'm like, "What am I doing here with this extra step where I gotta open up a book to get to my phone?"

   2. YEYves Edwards0:23

      I like it because I forget things a lot, so like, I don't like having a wallet and a phone when I leave somewhere, like especially even a house. I leave the house with my phone, but I don't have my cash or my cards or something like that, so-

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:34

      Mm. I got a solution for you. It's called a motherfucking fanny pack.

   4. YEYves Edwards0:37

      (laughs)

   5. YVYoung Jamie Vernon0:37

      (laughs)

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:38

      That's right, Yves Edwards. You're a cool dude. You think you can g- you're cool enough to rock one of these? Like, are you cool enough to get past the social pariah aspect of this bag that you wear around your waist?

   7. YEYves Edwards0:50

      I don't have that much shit with me most of the time.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:52

      Well, it's not that much shit. There's a lot of shit in here, but this is a w- a weird day. I have like keys and sh... I have a knife in there and stuff. But most of the time it's just light. I travel light with that. Look at that. Who's ga- who's that?

   9. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:05

      Uh, I believe Quavo from Migos.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:07

       Uh, I have no idea who you just said.

   11. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:09

       (laughs) He's a popular rapper, so-

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:10

       But that is a ridic... He- Is he a popular fellow?

   13. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:12

       Yes.

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:12

       I'm an old man, dude.

   15. YEYves Edwards1:13

       Quavo's a popular-

   16. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:13

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       I'm an old man who listens to The Allman Brothers, all right?

   18. YEYves Edwards1:16

       (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:16

       (laughs) But that one that he's got on is preposterous.

   20. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:20

       He's very fancy.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:21

       You might as well have a laptop k- hanging around his waist.

   22. YEYves Edwards1:23

       Yeah, he's also got like holes in his jeans.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:25

       Yeah, that's ridiculous. What'd you get attacked by, a tiger, sir?

   24. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:28

       He's also got a lot of em- jewelry.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:29

       All that jewelry.

   26. YEYves Edwards1:30

       In the '80s.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       Yeah. He's kind of ridiculous looking. Go b- but make that, make that bigger again so I can take a look at this gentleman.

   28. YVYoung Jamie Vernon1:39

       Well, this is a light version too. I probably could have found a better picture.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:42

       He's got a lot going on. Those pants are preposterous. That's the most preposterous thing. Like, I guess the shoes, if you're like, you want to go out but you also want to go bowling, you might wear those shoes.

   30. YEYves Edwards1:52

       (laughs)
2. 4:45 – 5:51

   Training now vs. then: LA life, The Yard, and living with Mickey Gall

   1. JRJoe Rogan4:45

      No, no, no, no. Do you train anymore?

   2. YEYves Edwards4:47

      Yeah, I still train.

   3. JRJoe Rogan4:48

      Yeah?

   4. YEYves Edwards4:49

      Um, I haven't trained... The past few months have been a little bit hard, but now that things are settling down and I'm settling into this new life, um, things are good. Um, I've been training with Joe a lot, Schilling.

   5. JRJoe Rogan5:00

      Oh, okay, cool.

   6. YEYves Edwards5:01

      And Mickey Gall just moved out here.

   7. JRJoe Rogan5:02

      Are you in that area?

   8. YEYves Edwards5:03

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan5:03

      Are you in the downtown area?

   10. YEYves Edwards5:04

       Yeah, in Eagle Rock.

   11. JRJoe Rogan5:05

       Oh, nice, nice.

   12. YEYves Edwards5:06

       So I like it over there.

   13. JRJoe Rogan5:07

       The Yard's a great place.

   14. YEYves Edwards5:08

       The Yard is awesome.

   15. JRJoe Rogan5:09

       That's a great place to train.

   16. YEYves Edwards5:10

       Been going there for a while with him.

   17. JRJoe Rogan5:12

       I saw Mickey training with Joe on Instagram.

   18. YEYves Edwards5:15

       Yep.

   19. JRJoe Rogan5:15

       Yeah. Nice. So he's down there too?

   20. YEYves Edwards5:17

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan5:17

       Smart. Good move for him. That's what he needs, right? His striking, his ground game is very good.

   22. YEYves Edwards5:21

       Yeah, his ground is really good. He moved down here about a month ago and, and he actually, he's my roommate now.

   23. JRJoe Rogan5:26

       No shit?

   24. YEYves Edwards5:27

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan5:27

       You live with Mickey Gall? (laughs)

   26. YEYves Edwards5:28

       Mickey lives... Yeah, he came out to live with me.

   27. JRJoe Rogan5:30

       That's cool. Uh, that's gotta be fun.

   28. YEYves Edwards5:33

       It's fun. Uh, uh, it's, it's fun also because he's so young.

   29. JRJoe Rogan5:37

       Yeah.

   30. YEYves Edwards5:37

       It's, it's, it's almost like having a son that did what you-
3. 5:51 – 9:46

   Time capsule MMA: Hook ’n Shoot memories and early UFC weirdness

   1. JRJoe Rogan5:51

      Yves Edwards, I saw you fight in Hook and Shoot in like the fucking '60s.

   2. YEYves Edwards5:56

      (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan5:56

      I think you were wearing bell-bottoms when you came out into the cage.

   4. YEYves Edwards5:58

      That's... I- I was. There was one, yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:01

      I remember you fought Aaron Riley. I think you were like 12 years old.

   6. YEYves Edwards6:04

      (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:04

      How old were you? (laughs)

   8. YEYves Edwards6:06

      I was about 20.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:08

      (laughs)

   10. YEYves Edwards6:08

       So I was still a kid.

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:09

       Those were good fights though, man.

   12. YEYves Edwards6:11

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan6:11

       Those were good fights.

   14. YEYves Edwards6:13

       That was, um ... I was watching that fight. Actually, Mickey and I watched that fight together a couple weeks ago, um.

   15. JRJoe Rogan6:18

       Is it weird?

   16. YEYves Edwards6:19

       It is weird.

   17. JRJoe Rogan6:20

       Does it seem like you? Does it seem like another life? It's kind of another life, right?

   18. YEYves Edwards6:25

       It is.

   19. JRJoe Rogan6:26

       Like, how old are you now?

   20. YEYves Edwards6:27

       I'm 41.

   21. JRJoe Rogan6:28

       When you, when you think back about yourself at 20, like how much memory do you really have of that? You got like little flashes.

   22. YEYves Edwards6:36

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan6:37

       Like I could see little pic- images of sh- and then I have a narrative that I play out in my head that I, I think happened and so I can repeat it. Here you go. Look at that.

   24. YEYves Edwards6:46

       Oh.

   25. JRJoe Rogan6:46

       20 year old Yves Edwards bouncing around. Wow, dude.

   26. YEYves Edwards6:52

       Yeah, that ... Look at the hair.

   27. JRJoe Rogan6:53

       Wow. Yeah, you had like this-

   28. YEYves Edwards6:55

       I had this curl thing going on.

   29. JRJoe Rogan6:56

       You had that Kool Moe Dee thing going on too.

   30. YEYves Edwards6:58

       Yeah.
4. 9:46 – 14:04

   Rules and officiating: 12-to-6 elbows, gloves, and what “realistic” striking means

   1. JRJoe Rogan9:46

      Yeah. Are you, um, like do you think the rules are okay?

   2. YEYves Edwards9:50

      No.

   3. JRJoe Rogan9:51

      What do you ... What would you change?

   4. YEYves Edwards9:51

      (clears throat) I, um, (clears throat) I would definitely change the 12 to six elbow. That's one.

   5. JRJoe Rogan9:56

      Yeah.

   6. YEYves Edwards9:56

      I, uh, I always thought that was funny.

   7. JRJoe Rogan9:57

      That's the big one.

   8. YEYves Edwards9:58

      Um-

   9. JRJoe Rogan9:59

      You know why that one's illegal, right?

   10. YEYves Edwards10:00

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan10:01

       It's so stupid.

   12. YEYves Edwards10:01

       I used to watch those, those, um, the karate things.

   13. JRJoe Rogan10:04

       The breaking demonstrations?

   14. YEYves Edwards10:04

       Yeah, I used to wa- they used to come on late at night on ESPN when I was a kid.

   15. JRJoe Rogan10:07

       Yeah.

   16. YEYves Edwards10:07

       I used to watch those things all the time. I used to love them too. Even wh- even when I was fighting, I was still watching those things-

   17. JRJoe Rogan10:12

       (laughs)

   18. YEYves Edwards10:12

       ... because it was entertainment.

   19. JRJoe Rogan10:13

       (laughs)

   20. YEYves Edwards10:14

       Um ... (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan10:16

       Those things are so silly. Yeah.

   22. YEYves Edwards10:21

       Those, they, they get, they get so intense too, you know?

   23. JRJoe Rogan10:24

       Yeah.

   24. YEYves Edwards10:24

       And then-

   25. JRJoe Rogan10:24

       So p- the athletic commissions really thought that you couldn't do that to a person 'cause you'd kill them, so they made that technique illegal.

   26. YEYves Edwards10:30

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan10:31

       Out of all the shit. Like we have that power cube thing in the back, where-

   28. YEYves Edwards10:35

       Yep.

   29. JRJoe Rogan10:35

       ... Ngannou registered that power punch. If you go out there and elbow that thing, you'd be shocked at how weak ass your elbow is.

   30. YEYves Edwards10:41

       Yes.
5. 14:04 – 17:41

   Scoring and judging reform: Pride-style evaluation, more judges, and bad takedown “points”

   1. YEYves Edwards14:04

      Uh, yeah, some- some things. Like, I- I like the Pride rules, man. (laughs)

   2. JRJoe Rogan14:06

      Yeah. Pride rules aren't bad.

   3. YEYves Edwards14:08

      Still like the Pride rules. Uh, uh, including with the judging, the Pride rules. Judge the whole fight.

   4. JRJoe Rogan14:11

      Yeah. Judge the whole fight, I agree with that.

   5. YEYves Edwards14:13

      I like that.

   6. JRJoe Rogan14:14

      I agree with that. And I think, um, more judges, you know, um... But I think that's a big one. I- I was talking about that with Pat Miletich the other day. We're saying, like, five judges or more, you know.

   7. YEYves Edwards14:25

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan14:25

      Like, why only three?

   9. YEYves Edwards14:26

      Yeah, yeah, I agree.

   10. JRJoe Rogan14:27

       Uh-huh.

   11. YEYves Edwards14:27

       I agree. With more judges you'll get a little more diversity. Also, though, I think, um, you gotta change s- change the- the scoring c- criteria. I mean, we are using a boxing criteria but like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan14:39

       Yeah.

   13. YEYves Edwards14:39

       ... like when you talk about wrestling and when I see guys go, "Oh, he scores a take-down." When a guy goes down he pops right back up.

   14. JRJoe Rogan14:44

       Mm-hmm.

   15. YEYves Edwards14:44

       I'm like, "That's not a take-down. It's not two."

   16. JRJoe Rogan14:46

       Right, right. It's not two.

   17. YEYves Edwards14:46

       You know?

   18. JRJoe Rogan14:47

       Yeah.

   19. YEYves Edwards14:47

       So- so, like, why can't we implement some of the thing? Because we're taking aspects of all these different styles of fighting.

   20. JRJoe Rogan14:53

       Mm-hmm.

   21. YEYves Edwards14:53

       Like, the ru- the scoring system and the values for things should- should come from that to some degree.

   22. JRJoe Rogan14:59

       Yeah. A take-down with an immediate stand up, like if someone takes you down and you're right back up, that is not a whole lot different than you blocking a kick.

   23. YEYves Edwards15:06

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan15:07

       You know? Does blocking a kick count? If you get your knee up and your elbow up and you catch one right here, are you counting that as something that got through?

   25. YEYves Edwards15:13

       As... Yeah.

   26. JRJoe Rogan15:14

       Right? No.

   27. YEYves Edwards15:14

       No?

   28. JRJoe Rogan15:14

       You're not.

   29. YEYves Edwards15:15

       So w-

   30. JRJoe Rogan15:15

       You know who does?
6. 17:41 – 25:20

   Khabib vs. Tony breakdown—and the Dagestan wrestling pipeline

   1. JRJoe Rogan17:41

      If you read MMA articles, they're really good writing in a lot of these, like, mainstream websites. There's, like, a lot of experts out there talking about stuff. That's why a fight like next weekend is so fascinating, because between Tony and Khabib nobody knows what the fuck is gonna happen. It's one of those fights where everybody's like, "Damn, I don't know." And you got all these people breaking it down on one side, and then you got people making compelling arguments on the other side and you're like, "Hmm, okay. This one's gonna be weird."

   2. YEYves Edwards18:11

      I've been, I've been bouncing back and forth between my pick for that fight-

   3. JRJoe Rogan18:14

      Mm-hmm.

   4. YEYves Edwards18:15

      ... but, um...I guess because I've been bouncing back and forth, this isn't necessarily where I'm gonna stay.

   5. JRJoe Rogan18:21

      Right.

   6. YEYves Edwards18:21

      But, I, I feel like, okay, I don't see how that can change. But again, like you said, there are people that are making these arguments and if somebody convinces me of something that kinda defeats this argument-

   7. JRJoe Rogan18:32

      Mm-hmm.

   8. YEYves Edwards18:32

      ... then it's like, man now you've opened the door for this again. And what I think is like, what I firt- my first thought was, Khabib is this guy, he takes everybody down and he controls you and beats you up.

   9. JRJoe Rogan18:41

      Yeah.

   10. YEYves Edwards18:42

       Right? And you think he's gonna do that. And then, um, but Tony is this guy, he just does not... He's like one of these submission first kinda guys.

   11. JRJoe Rogan18:49

       Yeah.

   12. YEYves Edwards18:49

       Remember that argument? Submission or position?

   13. JRJoe Rogan18:51

       Yeah.

   14. YEYves Edwards18:51

       Tony isn't, isn't too worried about position. He'll create scrambles. He's, he's aware of where he is at all times and what he's giving up. So, I feel like he would just continue to scramble. He'd be able to get back to his feet at least. Um, and then I go back to Khabib and seeing Tony against Kevin Lee. And Kevin Lee kind of controlled him early in that fight. You know, he was able to pass his guard and do some, some good controlling things.

   15. JRJoe Rogan19:13

       Mm-hmm.

   16. YEYves Edwards19:13

       Now, if a guy like Khabib can do that, right? Then he's not getting back up and Khabib is going to be able to take him down. He is the best wrestler in the game. Like-

   17. JRJoe Rogan19:22

       Without a doubt.

   18. YEYves Edwards19:23

       ... bar none. You know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan19:23

       Yeah. Good arguments, good arguments. You know, I think another argument is that Kevin... When Kevin Lee fought Tony, I think everybody knew Kevin had a staph infection. I knew, I saw him walk into the cage, I looked at his chest.

   20. YEYves Edwards19:35

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan19:35

       I was like, "Holy shit, that guy's got staph." I knew he was gonna be weak. I knew in compared to the Kevin Lee, the destroyer that you see when he's on point and in shape, I was like, "This guy's gonna be compromised."

   22. YEYves Edwards19:46

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan19:46

       And he's also a big 155, so it's a hard cut for him. Whereas Tony makes it... I mean, Tony can get pretty heavy, but he's super disciplined. He makes it easy. Tony's endurance, his endurance is off the charts.

   24. YEYves Edwards19:58

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan19:58

       Off the charts. Impeccable. He was posting the other day that he went on a six, six-mile run at 1:00 in the morning. It's like extra credit. He wrote #extracredit.

   26. YEYves Edwards20:06

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan20:06

       I mean, he's an animal. I mean, Eddie Bravo trains with him up there in Big Bear all the time. He says he's never seen anything like it. So the dude's just... Everybody else, like, pacing everybody up the hill, coming back down. They're still trying to make it up the first time. He's running past them the second time. He's a fucking animal. Like he's-

   28. YEYves Edwards20:21

       He wants it.

   29. JRJoe Rogan20:22

       Oh, he wants it bad. But so, he knew that Kevin going into that fight was compromised. So if he knew Kevin was compromised, maybe he decided to just let him work, let him work that first round.

   30. YEYves Edwards20:32

       Yeah.
7. 25:20 – 30:08

   Weight cuts, durability, and ‘tank’ pressure: Khabib’s scares and Ngannou’s power vs. cardio

   1. JRJoe Rogan25:20

      Michael Johnson... But Michael Johnson clipped him though. But here's the thing about that fight which is interesting to me. Khabib came into that fight with the same problem he went into the Tony Ferguson fight that was canceled. He cut too much weight and his liver apparently shut down making weight for that fight.

   2. YEYves Edwards25:34

      (clears throat)

   3. JRJoe Rogan25:35

      So then they went into the next fight, um, and he didn't make weight at all.

   4. YEYves Edwards25:39

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan25:39

      He got rushed to the hospital. Then he hires a nutritionist, looks fucking fantastic at bent- against Barboza. Has zero problems making weight, now he's got it all under control. But you gotta wonder if he was compromised in the Michael Johnson fight, how much of a factor did that play into-

   6. YEYves Edwards25:54

      Getting him getting stunned.

   7. JRJoe Rogan25:55

      Yeah, he got, he got clipped.

   8. YEYves Edwards25:56

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan25:56

      He got clipped. And you know as well as anybody that when you're dehydrated or you have been dehydrated, you just don't take a punch as well.

   10. YEYves Edwards26:02

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan26:03

       I mean-

   12. YEYves Edwards26:04

       Dehydration, conditioning, those things, you know, those things help you recover when you, when you're hydrated and your conditioning is, is up to par.

   13. JRJoe Rogan26:10

       Yeah.

   14. YEYves Edwards26:11

       Um, yeah, I don't know. He, you seen him take some punches. He always backs guys up. He's always coming forward and he, he does eat a lot of shots coming forward.

   15. JRJoe Rogan26:20

       Yeah.

   16. YEYves Edwards26:20

       But, you know, if his conditioning is fine, and that's the only time that I can remember him getting hurt, uh, in a fight from taking shots. Like, the same thing with Barboza. Barboza was throwing at him hard.

   17. JRJoe Rogan26:29

       Hard.

   18. YEYves Edwards26:29

       You know? Especially early.

   19. JRJoe Rogan26:31

       Walked it off.

   20. YEYves Edwards26:32

       Yeah, just-

   21. JRJoe Rogan26:32

       Walked off everything.

   22. YEYves Edwards26:32

       He's like a zombie.

   23. JRJoe Rogan26:33

       He got wheel kicked a couple of times. It's nothing.

   24. YEYves Edwards26:35

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan26:36

       Club to the back of the head with wheel kicks. "Nope, sorry."

   26. YEYves Edwards26:38

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan26:38

       "Not today." (laughs)

   28. YEYves Edwards26:41

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan26:41

       Just, just, just constantly charging forward, man. He's a fucking tank. Terrifying guy.

   30. YEYves Edwards26:46

       Yeah.
8. 30:08 – 33:36

   Eye pokes and glove design: finger coverage, Bellator/Pride curvature, and unintended grappling benefits

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:08

      Yeah, I agree. I think they sh- they've gotta figure out something with the eye pokes.

   2. YEYves Edwards30:12

      Yeah.I, I, I feel like there's, I think some- I don't know, it might have been you. I feel 'cause it was a, it was a, an announcer or commentator or something talking about it. But having like a, a glove just that covers the fingers-

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:25

      Yeah.

   4. YEYves Edwards30:25

      ... but it doesn't really change anything. Even, even so much so that like it's a webbing.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:30

      Yes.

   6. YEYves Edwards30:30

      And that your fingers are still virtually individual.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:33

      Mm-hmm.

   8. YEYves Edwards30:33

      You know, but you can bring them all down together or you can just put those two on.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:37

      Yeah.

   10. YEYves Edwards30:37

       And these two are gonna be tugged at, but it takes no effort.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:39

       Right.

   12. YEYves Edwards30:39

       You know what I mean?

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       Yeah.

   14. YEYves Edwards30:40

       Um, something's, a, a covering like that with the padding over the front-

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       Mm-hmm.

   16. YEYves Edwards30:44

       ... so that it doesn't go in the eyes as a single point. You know, but, are, is, is there anybody even playing with prototypes or something like that and, and d- doing a, an exhibition or demonstration?

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       It's a good question.

   18. YEYves Edwards30:58

       You know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:58

       I haven't seen anything compelling. I haven't seen anybody come up with anything. Yeah, it was my idea. My idea was to have it like, um, like, like a, like a old school bag glove.

   20. YEYves Edwards31:08

       Yeah, yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan31:09

       You know? Like those old school-

   22. YEYves Edwards31:10

       Like oven mitt almost.

   23. JRJoe Rogan31:10

       You see Joe Louis with those old school bag gloves? Those, it's a very thin glove-

   24. YEYves Edwards31:14

       Yep.

   25. JRJoe Rogan31:14

       ... that would like cover the tips and they used to hit the bag with them back in like the fucking 20s.

   26. YEYves Edwards31:18

       Yeah, it was just like leather.

   27. JRJoe Rogan31:19

       Yeah.

   28. YEYves Edwards31:19

       It's all... And then maybe, maybe that's what it is.

   29. JRJoe Rogan31:22

       Yeah.

   30. YEYves Edwards31:22

       Like, um, keeps the, the glove-
9. 33:36 – 44:11

   Medical horror story: post-fight hospital pressure to operate on Poirier’s swollen shin

   1. YEYves Edwards33:36

      You know what commission doesn't know what they're doing? Not, not the commission, um, the hospitals after the, after the fight itself in New York.

   2. JRJoe Rogan33:44

      Really?

   3. YEYves Edwards33:44

      The man in Brooklyn, I had the, the, the crazy... Well, I had, it wasn't me. Dustin Poirier had the craziest trip. We... So after that fight with Jim Miller, with all those shin kicks-

   4. JRJoe Rogan33:55

      Right.

   5. YEYves Edwards33:55

      ... they were both, they both went to the hospital with the calf kicks. And, um, Dustin's calf and shin was swollen and they were, um, giving him some morphine in the, in the truck when we got there. And they, the, the doctor came in and they wanted to perform a surgery on him there. They wanted to slice his shin open, um, and, and relieve the, the pressure 'cause they were saying, "You're gonna lose nerve tissue and, and your nerves are gonna die. And, and, um, you, if you start not feel... When they go it's no, there's no coming back. You can't re-, fix, you can't fix those things." Um, they were really pushing for this thing. It was just a crazy situation, right? So we were like, "Hey, Dustin, man." And then, um, I called Mike Brown back there and we start having this discussion about... It's just like a, it's leg kicks. We've seen this all the time in the thigh-

   6. JRJoe Rogan34:39

      Right.

   7. YEYves Edwards34:39

      ... and what not. No, no, no, they're not... And Dustin's like, "Yeah, I don't wanna do that." Um, then they started... He was like, "Yeah, I wanna get out of here," basically. And he was like, "Can I just have something for the pain?" A- and it felt like they were like, "No." Uh, they said, "No, um, we're not gonna let you leave here on pain medication." And I felt like they were trying to keep him there, entice him to stay (laughs) with fucking pain medication. It wa- it was just a really weird situation and we were there for way too long, and they were really pushing for this. Like three or four different doc- no, three different doctors came in trying to convince him to get this surgery done that night.

   8. JRJoe Rogan35:13

      Whoa.

   9. YEYves Edwards35:14

      It was crazy.

   10. JRJoe Rogan35:15

       Just for some swelling?

   11. YEYves Edwards35:16

       For swelling in the calf and the shin.

   12. JRJoe Rogan35:18

       That doesn't make any sense.

   13. YEYves Edwards35:20

       It doesn't. I, I, honestly, my-

   14. JRJoe Rogan35:22

       Why, why would they think that it would cause nerve damage to have so much swelling?

   15. YEYves Edwards35:28

       The, the, the, the swelling was pushing up against the blood vessels supposedly and there wasn't, um, circulation coming through, that's what was happening.

   16. JRJoe Rogan35:37

       Wow.

   17. YEYves Edwards35:37

       I- this is, this is what they... I, and this was over a year ago, so I'm trying to remember exactly and I'm not a med- I'm not a doctor. (laughs)

   18. JRJoe Rogan35:44

       Right.

   19. YEYves Edwards35:44

       Um, but the, the swelling and they were asking him about, um, 'cause he was having some, some loss of sensation, right?

   20. JRJoe Rogan35:52

       Right.

   21. YEYves Edwards35:52

       In his toes. But he had just fought, you know?

   22. JRJoe Rogan35:56

       Right.

   23. YEYves Edwards35:56

       And they'd given him morphine and all this other stuff. So, um, they've been, you know, poking at his toes with the pen or something. "You feel that? You feel that?" He's like, "Yeah, a little bit. No." And, you know-

   24. JRJoe Rogan36:04

       Right.

   25. YEYves Edwards36:04

       ... all these different answers. And, um, they would, they claimed to be concerned about it. They were telling him that this is what, this is a possibility and this is what's gonna happen and we wanna prevent it.... eh, they- they weren't like, "Well, this is guaranteed that this is what's going on-"

   26. JRJoe Rogan36:17

       Hmm.

   27. YEYves Edwards36:17

       "... This is just the realistic possibility and we wanna prevent it."

   28. JRJoe Rogan36:21

       Oh.

   29. YEYves Edwards36:21

       And it was just like, he wanted to wait as long as possible and they- they were just, they- they just seemed to be really pushy about wanting to do this.

   30. JRJoe Rogan36:28

       So where were they gonna make the incision?
10. 44:11 – 54:02

    Sleep, recovery, and mental clarity: ‘sleep on it,’ morning workouts, and discipline

    1. YEYves Edwards44:11

       That's the thing about, about sleeping though, right? That's when, um, when your body... Everything else is off.

    2. JRJoe Rogan44:16

       Yeah.

    3. YEYves Edwards44:17

       So all your body can do is, is, is heal.

    4. JRJoe Rogan44:19

       You know what else happens, man? You make good decisions. Like, that term "sleep on it", that's not a joke.

    5. YEYves Edwards44:26

       Yeah.

    6. JRJoe Rogan44:27

       There's something about going to sleep with a problem, waking up in the morning and you have a new perspective. You're like, "Ah, it's not that big a deal." Or, "Ah, it's all right." Or, "Ha, I don't care." Or, you know, or, "Maybe I should do something about this." Or, "Maybe I should apologize. Maybe I should..." You know, something about sleeping on something, I don't know what it is, man, but it, it gives me a truer compass as to which direction I should go.

    7. YEYves Edwards44:47

       There's a thing about that too, there's, um, (clears throat) sleeping on it. I, I had to teach myself some things about, like, car mechanics (laughs) . And I, I, I had a problem, but somebody was like, "That's your alternator." I was like, well, 'cause my engine wouldn't stay on, you know?

    8. JRJoe Rogan45:01

       Right.

    9. YEYves Edwards45:01

       Um, I was like, "Really?" I was like, "How much does that cost?" And I was broke, it was, I was in f- I was just fighting (laughs) you know? I was, there was no UFC even on the horizon yet. Um, and, um, I'm like, "How much does that cost?" And I was like, "Too much. Shit." I was like, he's like, "I can do it for you." He was like, "You can do it?" I was like, "How many you gonna..." I was like, "I can't afford that either."

    10. JRJoe Rogan45:20

        Right.

    11. YEYves Edwards45:20

        "But if you can do it, I'll figure it out." So I went to the store, I was like, "Hey, I need to buy an alternator for this, this model car." They were like, "Okay." They bring it out and they're like... They weren't going, they weren't gonna give it to me 'cause you have to give them the other one back. You have to exchange it.

    12. JRJoe Rogan45:34

        Really?

    13. YEYves Edwards45:35

        Yeah. Like, at least this is the way it was in like 2000 Texas, you know?

    14. JRJoe Rogan45:38

        Oh, okay.

    15. YEYves Edwards45:39

        So, um, but fortunately one of the managers at that store was one of my students-

    16. JRJoe Rogan45:43

        Oh.

    17. YEYves Edwards45:43

        ... who lived right across the street from my gym. So I was like, he was like, "Here, you can take it, just bring the alternator back." I was like, "Awesome." Because I didn't know what an alternator was.

    18. JRJoe Rogan45:50

        Right.

    19. YEYves Edwards45:50

        My plan was to grab it, go look at my engine and s- like find (laughs) just find the like thing.

    20. JRJoe Rogan45:55

        Right.

    21. YEYves Edwards45:55

        You know? So that's what I did, I found the like thing, I put it in there, um, I changed it. I took the other one back, but I couldn't get the belt on.

    22. JRJoe Rogan46:02

        Of course.

    23. YEYves Edwards46:02

        I did everything that... I was trying to do everything and somebody was like, "The tensioning bolt." And I was like, "I don't know what you're talking about." And I slept on it. I went to bed that night, I went to sleep and I woke up, (snaps fingers) ran downstairs, connected it. You know? Like, I, I, 'cause overnight-

    24. JRJoe Rogan46:16

        Yeah.

    25. YEYves Edwards46:16

        ... th- there was something about being relaxed and not being, like, stressed about trying to find it right now. It's right in front of me.

    26. JRJoe Rogan46:21

        Yeah.

    27. YEYves Edwards46:22

        I'm just away from it and I see the whole engine in my sleep and it's like, you put the ratchet in there and you pull on it, and that's, that's the tensioning bolt.

    28. JRJoe Rogan46:30

        I have a, a crazy spiritual idea about that. I think when you go to sleep you go into the spirit world. When you come back, you're refreshed. I think you live a new life every morning. Think you live on the momentum of your past life-

    29. YEYves Edwards46:44

        Yeah.

    30. JRJoe Rogan46:44

        ... but I think you have a new life every morning. You just return from the spirit world with the mess that you left behind-
11. 54:02 – 1:01:14

    Gym legends and evolution: conditioning pioneers, weight manipulation, and the lost UFC lightweight era

    1. JRJoe Rogan54:02

       It's kinda crazy when you go back and look at, like, old school strength and conditioning workouts that fighters used to do and, you know, comparison to what, all the crazy shit that guys do today.

    2. YEYves Edwards54:12

       Who, which, which camp ... Well, it's an argument.

    3. JRJoe Rogan54:16

       It's okay.

    4. YEYves Edwards54:17

       But which camps ... I'll go with camps 'cause I feel like there's two. Which camps really started that, that, that-... like, the conditioning thing, who were ahead of the game?

    5. JRJoe Rogan54:25

       I always think ATT. I always think of them, 'cause they were like... When Lambert created that place, Dan Lambert, the fucking man. That guy, that guy's done a lot for MMA.

    6. YEYves Edwards54:35

       Yeah, he has.

    7. JRJoe Rogan54:35

       And doesn't get his horn blown enough.

    8. YEYves Edwards54:37

       Yeah, he has.

    9. JRJoe Rogan54:37

       All, all due respect.

    10. YEYves Edwards54:39

        (laughs)

    11. JRJoe Rogan54:39

        Uh, he, uh, he put a shit ton of money into American Top Team, and one of the things that they did about it was make it a full... Like, they have everything. They have great wrestling coaches, great striking coaches, great Jiu-Jitsu, huge facility, everything's state of the art. And I always felt like those guys were at a very high level early on.

    12. YEYves Edwards54:59

        (burps)

    13. JRJoe Rogan54:59

        Like, I remember Thiago Alves was making weight. This is back when like Thiago Alves was a gorilla. Remember how big he was at 170?

    14. YEYves Edwards55:08

        Yep. Yep.

    15. JRJoe Rogan55:08

        Remember when he fought Matt Hughes?

    16. YEYves Edwards55:09

        Matt Hughes.

    17. JRJoe Rogan55:09

        And he didn't make the weight, and he looked like he weighed about 400 pounds?

    18. YEYves Edwards55:12

        (laughs) Yeah.

    19. JRJoe Rogan55:13

        He didn't even look like a human, man.

    20. YEYves Edwards55:14

        (laughs)

    21. JRJoe Rogan55:14

        He was so jacked. Well, he was making weight once, and it was, uh, a fight that they did. I think it was at the Hard Rock. I don't remember. Um, but it was somewhere where they had... Maybe it was at The Palms. Some- somewhere where they had like the smaller ring, I think. I don't know why I remember this. But what I remember was, he was warming up for that day's fight. Um, he had made weight and then, um, after making weight, they had a workout that they would do to put weight back on him. And one of the things that they would do is really burn him out. So, they had him... He was in the gym. I wish he was here, I could ask him exactly what this was 'cause I'm talking many years ago. And he goes through this really hard pad work out. It's like, "Ba-ba-ba-bam, ba-ba-ba-bam, ba-ba-ba-bam." And they're, they were saying they wanted to pump everything up full of blood, and then they fill him up with carbs. And it would just, psh, everything would blow back up. So, like, the muscles get super dehydrated, 'cause he's draining himself out big time. You know, he was walking around north of 200 pounds.

    22. YEYves Edwards56:19

        Yep.

    23. JRJoe Rogan56:20

        Cutting down to 170. And then after the weight cut, they would swell him back up again. So, they gotta put 30 pounds back on him in 24 hours. And that was one of the methods that they used, was exercise followed by fuel.

    24. YEYves Edwards56:35

        (laughs) I guess it, it, it kinda makes sense.

    25. JRJoe Rogan56:39

        Kinda.

    26. YEYves Edwards56:39

        But it also confuses me.

    27. JRJoe Rogan56:40

        It confuse me too, 'cause I'm a dummy.

    28. YEYves Edwards56:42

        (laughs)

    29. JRJoe Rogan56:42

        And I was listening to him talking about this. I was like, "Okay, okay, why is this? Like, what's happening? How are you doing this?"

    30. YEYves Edwards56:47

        Like, what's... Like, I, I get the principle that you're saying, but what's the science behind it?
12. 1:01:14 – 1:06:09

    Mindset, ‘wars,’ and performance under stakes—plus a long turn into society, education, and incentives

    1. JRJoe Rogan1:01:14

       We... No one... Uh, no one could say better than you, 'cause you've been in there, that... How much those wars will just take out of you.

    2. YEYves Edwards1:01:22

       They will. And a guy like, like... The wars that Gilbert and Josh went through at Strikeforce.

    3. JRJoe Rogan1:01:28

       Woo.

    4. YEYves Edwards1:01:28

       And then Gilbert is that kind of guy. He's just... Just like his fight with Diego.

    5. JRJoe Rogan1:01:32

       Blood and guts, you know?

    6. YEYves Edwards1:01:33

       That's it. They're not, they're not backing down and, um, they got the chins to take it.

    7. JRJoe Rogan1:01:37

       Yeah.

    8. YEYves Edwards1:01:37

       You know? There's not, there's not a lot of guys that can, that can take it like that. Um, I haven't been in a lot of wars that, that were back and forth. Even if the, the fight had some attrition, there was a lot of times it was, um... I was winning the striking battle and I wasn't taking as many shots as those guys have taken.

    9. JRJoe Rogan1:01:54

       Right.

    10. YEYves Edwards1:01:54

        Um, and they... You have to have a chin to do that.

    11. JRJoe Rogan1:01:57

        Yeah.

    12. YEYves Edwards1:01:58

        Man, like I, I couldn't imagine (laughs) to this day, having been in... Having... I have like... My record shows like 60-something fights, I have like 80-plus fights overall and I still... Like, I look at some of those fights like Diego and Gilbert and I'm like, man.

    13. JRJoe Rogan1:02:16

        (laughs)

    14. YEYves Edwards1:02:16

        I'm so glad... I... Joe, I remember as a kid, I was laying on my couch watching Vernon White and Pancrase. And I'm laying there watching and he's getting his ass beat and then it gets to the third round and he turns it around, knocks the guy out, right? And I'm like... I roll off of the couch, I get on my knees and I'm like, "God, please let me have fights like that. That was the kind of fights I want to have. Please, please, please." I'm like this young kid, you know, I just... And I want to do that. I want to have epic fights like that, right? But now that I'm done and I'm looking back at it, like there, there are times... I watched that Staudt fight and when I get hit I'm just like, oh. It was... It, it still... It hurts.

    15. JRJoe Rogan1:02:48

        Yeah.

    16. YEYves Edwards1:02:48

        It didn't hurt then, but like it hurts now.

    17. JRJoe Rogan1:02:51

        Right.

    18. YEYves Edwards1:02:51

        Like I feel like a, a slight physical pain from it. Not like it breaks my heart, it's... Yeah, that part will always hurt but I mean like that looks brutal. It looks painful.

    19. JRJoe Rogan1:03:00

        Yeah.

    20. YEYves Edwards1:03:00

        It's not, but it looks that way. But you know those fights where with Gilbert and, and... Like Gilbert and, and Diego when they're still in it.

    21. JRJoe Rogan1:03:10

        Mm-hmm. Yeah.

    22. YEYves Edwards1:03:10

        That shit hurts.

    23. JRJoe Rogan1:03:11

        Yeah.

    24. YEYves Edwards1:03:11

        (laughs) You know?

    25. JRJoe Rogan1:03:12

        Well, Gilbert didn't have to fight him that way.

    26. YEYves Edwards1:03:14

        Yeah.

    27. JRJoe Rogan1:03:14

        That's why it was so crazy.

    28. YEYves Edwards1:03:15

        Yeah.

    29. JRJoe Rogan1:03:15

        Is that Gilbert decided to use his skills and fight a technical fight. He would have been... You know, he, he was the better fighter, technically, at the time.

    30. YEYves Edwards1:03:25

        Yeah.

Episode duration: 3:11:59