JRE MMA Show #35 with Israel Adesanya

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (cog whirring) Four, three, two,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (cog whirring) Four, three, two, one. (door knocking) Stylebender, ladies and gentlemen.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya0:07

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      Salut, sir.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya0:08

      Salut.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      Congratulations, man. Mm. (drink slurping)

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya0:12

      Thank you, thank you.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:12

      Dude, your fight, (cup thudding) your fight Friday night was, um, (smacks lips) that was what you would call, like, a coming out party-

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya0:18

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:19

      ... you know?

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya0:19

       In America, in America.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:19

       In America.

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya0:20

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:20

       Yeah. People got to see.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya0:22

       First fight in Vegas, first f- main event, uh, first top 10 guy. And I feel like I got to kinda, like, show a lotta people up 'cause before that fight, a lot of people were kinda like, "Shit, it's too much. It's too soon." Like-

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:35

       The hype, yeah.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya0:36

       Yeah. It's like, "Oh, he's this and that." And for me, I, I, I wouldn't take insult to it 'cause they don't know, you know? You can't, um, you can't fault them for it, so yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Well, you did a smart thing in the way you handled your, your transition to MMA too.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya0:48

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       I mean, you really, you really took your time and did it right.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya0:51

       100%.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:51

       When did... You and I talked for the first time about this how many years ago?

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya0:54

       2015, I think.

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Mm-hmm.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya0:56

       Yeah, we talked... You, you hit me up on Instagram and said, you know, when am I gonna call one of your fights?

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       Yeah.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya1:01

       And I was like, "Yeah, we'll take our time." 'Cause my coach, he's the g- the mastermind behind all this, Eugene Behrman. And without him, my career would be in the shitter. So he kinda let... Just take our time. There's no rush. You're young.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       Smart way to do it.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya1:14

       100%. 'Cause you see, like, looking for a fight-

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       Mm-hmm.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya1:16

       Guys like, example, Sage Northcutt, he's been up and down in the UFC fight, you know, like his rise and stuff like that. But you have to... You can't just come in here with, like, maybe three fights, unless maybe you're like a Micky Gall who also has extensive background in something else-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   (laughs) …

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya15:00

      show them how to sprawl, show them how to, how to wrestle, and they're beasts. Like, you-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      (laughs)

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya15:03

      ... 10 Ngannous, 10 Jon Joneses just walking down the street.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      Really?

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya15:06

      I'm the, I'm... I had the same size head and I was just a skinny boy, so I looked like a lollipop. I was a runt, bro, honestly.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      (laughs)

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya15:13

      Like, just a runt of the, of, of, of, of the litter. But I had to work, I had to develop. I think maybe like around 15 I started to get taller. So, every time I'd come back from school or from a holiday after school, they'd be like, "There you got taller. There you got taller." And then somehow I just filled it out, realized I got athleticism. And then later on, like, I was never the athletic kid playing basketball or anything like that. I was just the, the runt.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:35

      When did you get into martial arts?

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya15:36

      I started in Taekwondo when I was a kid just 'cause after school programs and it was fun.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:41

       Such a good one for kids, man.

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya15:43

       Yeah, yeah. It was fun. That's why I liked that, like-

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       Yeah.

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya15:45

       ... "Ta, do, se."

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:45

       (laughs)

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya15:45

       All that kind of stuff. Yeah, it was cool. But, um, yeah, and then, uh, I think I almost got my yellow belt, then my mom kind of pulled me out 'cause I was just wrecking shop around the house.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:53

       Mm-hmm.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya15:54

       Kicking everything. I broke my arm doing backflips off the couch.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       Oh, Jesus.

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya15:57

       And she was just like, "Nah. No more." And, um, yeah, I found, you know, Ong Bak, the Tony Jaa film? I found that, uh, maybe in two, uh, 2008. Yeah, 2008, early 2008 I found that when I was about 18. And then I was like, "Yo, this is cool." I didn't know what this is and then I found out it was Muay Thai. Found a Muay Thai gym and then six weeks later I had my first fight.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Wow.

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya16:19

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:20

       That's crazy.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya16:21

       Yeah, I, I found a video of that first fight actually. I'll throw it up when they-

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       How old were you?

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya16:25

       18. I was 18.

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       Wow.

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya16:26

       Yeah. But I'm glad. People are like, "Oh, isn't that a little bit too late?" But I'm glad that happened because I didn't feel like I was worn out. 'Cause I've seen some kids who, proteges, fighting from like the age of 12 or 10 in the, you know, like in those smoking shows.

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:39

       Yeah.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya16:39

       And then like, they get to a certain point and they just like, "I wanna do something else." Not all of them, some of them.

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:44

       Yeah, they get burnt out.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      Weidman.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya30:00

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      You know, a guy who's trying to fuck him up. He doesn't have, like, someone who you really give a chance to.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya30:04

      Someone who's level, quote unquote.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:05

      Right, right. I mean, there's never been a situation-

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya30:07

      Because the next fight's gonna be good and it's gonna be tough.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:07

      ... where, like, Mighty Mouse, Mighty Mouse had Achille Sonnen who had him down on points in the fourth round, fucking him up, and then he catches him in a triangle.

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya30:14

      No, that flyweight, oh, I ... I, the thing-

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:16

      No. Flyweight, and he dominates, man. He just runs through people.

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya30:20

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:20

       You think, you think he's gonna fight, um, what's his name? TJ? Cejudo, he's fighting-

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya30:23

       Cejudo? Oh, next. Okay, yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:23

       Yeah, Mighty Mouse is fighting Cejudo in a rematch, which he stopped-

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya30:27

       He's got better.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:27

       Yeah.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya30:28

       Cejudo got better in the, um, since the first fight.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:30

       Yeah, Cejudo's a, a Olympic gold medalist in wrestling.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya30:33

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:33

       That's all you need to know.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya30:34

       And his stand-up as well is clean. He's kinda improved.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       Oh.

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya30:37

       I'll give him cr- I'll give him credit, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       The Wilson Reys fight?

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya30:39

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:39

       He looked like Machida.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya30:40

       I, I liked his flow, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       He was crazy.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya30:42

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       He was, like, almost like McGregor or Machida.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya30:44

       Yeah, it's that flow, the in and out.
4. 45:00 – 56:35

   Well, everyone in a…

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya45:00

      But after I seen Icarus, everyone's on steroids.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      Well, everyone in a lot of countries.

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya45:05

      Bro, holy shit.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:05

      How crazy was that documentary?

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya45:07

      Holy fuck, I was just like, everyone... Not, but like, there's, the cheaters are always gonna be ahead of the, the solution, the guys who are catching them. So whoever is on the new shit-

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:16

      Right.

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya45:16

      ... they can't get caught just yet, till they update their testings.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:19

      Yeah.

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya45:20

      You know what I mean? So it's like, I watched that and I realized, if you have the team behind you and you have people who can fund it, everyone's on steroids.

   10. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       Don't you think that USADA, they, they hold their piss for a long time, right?

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya45:30

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan45:30

       Don't they hold your piss for like eight years?

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya45:32

       Yeah, I tell them just, yeah, "Use it for research," whatever.

   14. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       Yeah, but I think they hold onto it-

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya45:35

       Or-

   16. JRJoe Rogan45:35

       ... just in case new testing comes out.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya45:36

       ... comes out, so they can test it again.

   18. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       'Cause again they took gold medals away from two Russian cats-

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya45:40

       Oh, yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan45:40

       ... in the 2000s-

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya45:42

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan45:42

       ... because they went back and with new testing found, I think they found EPO in their system.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya45:46

       Shit.

   24. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       Yeah, it's a, uh, interesting thing. That documentary was amazing.

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya45:50

       It changed my, it opened my eyes. And I had a piss test the next day as well-

   26. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       (laughs)

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya45:53

       I came to my gym, I was like, yeah, and I told the guy, "I've seen this, I saw this on, on the documentary last night." The, uh, the little cup they were using. He's like, "Yeah." I was like, "Who knows who's on steroids now?" And when USADA came through, you know the guys that kind of like, their bodies changed-

   28. JRJoe Rogan46:08

       Oh, yeah.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya46:08

       ... some of the people dropped off?

   30. JRJoe Rogan46:09

       Radically.

Episode duration: 1:55:32