JRE MMA Show #35 with Israel Adesanya

1. 0:00 – 1:42

   Adesanya’s Vegas breakthrough and the long road to UFC readiness

   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. 1:42 – 2:46

   Internet highlight culture, technique breakdowns, and a taught-in-camp high-kick finish

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:42

      Well, you built up a lot of hype outside.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya1:45

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:45

      You built up some hype kickboxing, you built up some hype in MMA-

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya1:48

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:48

      ... but you built up a lot of internet hype.

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya1:49

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:50

      There was a lot of highlight videos made of you and people are like, "Oh, shit."

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya1:53

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:53

      "Look at this guy." And then dudes were breaking down your, your videos, like breaking down technique, like, "Look how he sets this up."

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya1:59

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:59

       There was one that... Was it Brendan Dorman who did it recently? Was it, uh, Lawrence Kenchen? No. Maybe it was Brendan Dorman. Like striking-

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya2:06

       I saw one yesterday. Yeah, Brendan Dorman.

   13. JRJoe Rogan2:08

       He did one where you set that dude up and then left high kicked him.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya2:12

       Um, oh no, that was, uh, Lawrence Kenchen, Lawrence Kenchen.

   15. JRJoe Rogan2:14

       It was Kenchen?

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya2:14

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan2:15

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, those guys are so important.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya2:16

       You know, fun fact about that kick, we're drilling it... Uh, he, Eugene taught it to me, that setup, probably seven days before. And he said, "If this lands, it's a finisher." He said that.

   19. JRJoe Rogan2:25

       Wow.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya2:25

       I'm like, "All right, whatever." And then in the fight, something happened and I didn't even think about it, just boom, and it landed, and I hurt my foot on his head actually.

   21. JRJoe Rogan2:33

       (exhales)

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya2:33

       I actually hurt my... 'Cause that was the third fight of the night. So it was a tournament, so the final fight, and I hurt my foot on his head and I was like, "Okay." 'Cause you kind of see me limp a little bit.

   23. JRJoe Rogan2:41

       Mm-hmm.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya2:41

       Then I went in on him and just, yeah, finished it off.

   25. JRJoe Rogan2:44

       (smacks lips) That was a beautiful high kick, man.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya2:46

       Yeah.

3. 2:46 – 4:25

   ‘Scramble the brain’: feints, erratic rhythm, and making opponents second-guess

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:46

      The way you set it up was so interesting too, because you forced him into this weird battle of erratic movement. Like, you, you did a lot of this with him. Yeah.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya2:53

      You gotta take care of this first.

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:54

      Mm-hmm.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya2:54

      A lot of guys think, like... With Firas Alhabbi, what he said-

   5. JRJoe Rogan2:57

      Yeah.

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya2:57

      ... take care of this, scramble your brain.

   7. JRJoe Rogan2:59

      Dude, Firas Alhabbi's-

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya3:00

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan3:00

      ... a treasure.

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya3:01

       100%.

   11. JRJoe Rogan3:01

       He's a treasure.

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya3:02

       I like the way he thinks. And I listened-

   13. JRJoe Rogan3:03

       I do too.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya3:04

       ... to that podcast and yeah, I li-... When he said that, I was like, "That's what I... That's what we do."

   15. JRJoe Rogan3:08

       Mm-hmm.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya3:08

       I li- I like to make these guys second-guess themselves.

   17. JRJoe Rogan3:10

       Yeah.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya3:10

       Like, just get stuck, like, "Okay, he's right here. Like, fuck it, I gotta reset right here. Okay, cool, cool. Oh, just got jabbed." And then-

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:16

       Mm-hmm.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya3:16

       ... they just get flustered. And they can talk all this stuff, "Oh, we're gonna do this and this and that, ra-" And it's different when you see it on TV, but when you're in f-... 'Cause I've had it done to me. I've got teammates that do it to me all the time. If I'm not on my game, they do it to me and I'm like, "So this is what it feels like."

   21. JRJoe Rogan3:30

       Mm-hmm (laughs) .

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya3:31

       Like, I don't wanna be on the other side of that, so...

   23. JRJoe Rogan3:32

       If you come in overtrained or-

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya3:34

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan3:34

       ... or sick or lazy-

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya3:35

       Or just, you know, I'm having my day.

   27. JRJoe Rogan3:36

       Yeah.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya3:36

       Like, Dan Hooker will catch me on some days and yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan3:37

       Dan Hooker's a beast, man.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya3:39

       Grrr.
4. 4:25 – 9:34

   New Zealand/Australasia striking lineage vs. America’s wrestling base

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya4:25

      Me and him go at it, me Carlos, me and John Vake, BJ Bland, like, so many s- like... People who don't know yet, I've told them, like, when K-1 was the, the, the pinnacle of combat sports, right? New Zealand Australasia was on top. You had Ray Sefo, Mark Hunt, Doug Viney, Jason Weimore, Jordan Tai, guys from that side of the world, like, run- like, running it. And other side of the worlds as well, but I felt like we fell off. And then New Zealand combat sports kinda took a little, a lull for a few years, a long time. And now it's, uh, we're doing it again, like guys like me, Dan, Shane, Kai. We're about to, like, take it to the next level and then bring, bring NZ sports again all the way up.

   2. JRJoe Rogan5:02

      Well, you know what's interesting is that New Zealand in, in particular, like, you guys, there's, there's something about having you guys come over here and d-... There's not, like, a long history where people think of-

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya5:14

      Mm-hmm.

   4. JRJoe Rogan5:14

      ... you know, like, Z- New Zealand MMA fighters, but New Zealand kickboxers.

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya5:18

      Mm-hmm.

   6. JRJoe Rogan5:18

      I mean, it's one of the most rich environments. Like, think about all the different high level kickboxers that came out of New Zealand-

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya5:24

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan5:24

      ... or Australia for that matter.

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya5:25

      100%. Australasia in general.

   10. JRJoe Rogan5:26

       Yeah.

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya5:27

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan5:27

       Crazy.

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya5:27

       100%.

   14. JRJoe Rogan5:27

       Crazy number of, like, really high level kickboxers.

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya5:30

       Like, when I came to help, uh, Rumble, uh, with his camp for Jon Jones, 'cause, uh, Rashad linked it up and said, "You should come help us out." And I said, "Yeah, sure." So I went to Blackzilians when it was still around, and I was surprised. I was like, "Man, the standup in America is not, not even close on our level." The grappling, the wrestling, 'cause you guys have it in, in schools and all the Brazilians-

   16. JRJoe Rogan5:50

       Mm-hmm.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya5:50

       ... come here and open schools and stuff like that, but the standup was not on our level. So I told Eugene that and he's like, "Good. I wanted you to know that." 'Cause Doug had the same thing when he went to Vegas and then he saw like, "Man, these guys, their standup's not really on our level." So we've always had that. Um, I don't know where it comes from. There's, like, a whole lineage of it. Even Ray Sefo, we come from the same school.

   18. JRJoe Rogan6:09

       Sure.

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya6:10

       The B- yeah, BLG school. But yeah, uh, grappling and stuff, I feel like we, we were behind at first because it's, you know, internet-Uh, we get seminars and shit like that. And I've got obsessive trainers like Adam Johnson. He's, uh, he's my jujitsu coach in a way, and he's just obsessed. So they're constantly like upgrading everything. And I, I think it went from... I didn't really get to use my jujitsu much, a little bit in that fight, but he... The take down defense, that's all Andrei as well, my wrestling coach. He's a Romanian guy. So we're... We don't need to like go anywhere else. I feel like we've, we've got people where we are and we're stacked enough to be able to level up and compete with the rest of the world, you know?

   20. JRJoe Rogan6:46

       Well, if you've got someone like Dan Hooker in your camp-

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya6:49

       Mm-hmm.

   22. JRJoe Rogan6:49

       ... just that alone. When you have guys like you and him together-

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya6:52

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan6:52

       ... that's what forces everybody to the next level.

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya6:54

       The rising tide.

   26. JRJoe Rogan6:54

       And everybody around you will rise up too. They'll see what you're doing. They'll see your fight with Tavares.

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya6:58

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JRJoe Rogan6:59

       They'll see some of your fights online. They'll see you in the gym.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya7:00

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan7:01

       And you, when you have a guy like that in the gym, I've always experienced this-
5. 9:34 – 12:07

   Why MMA (not boxing): avoiding ‘vulnerable’ rule sets and building a complete fighter

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya9:34

      Yeah, I like his style. But I think kickboxing, like... If I wanted to take the, the boxing blueprint, I could have done that because I'm six and one in boxing as well. So I could have done that and just got built up fighting like, you know, the cans, fight some champions, local champions, some national champions, and eventually on the world stage. But for me, I just... I never wanted to feel vulnerable. I never wanted to feel like another guy could kick my ass in another... Just like, you know, Floyd Mayweather. You, you're about to do this fight with McGregor part two, and they had all these stupid rules like, "Okay, no-"

   2. JRJoe Rogan10:05

      I think that was all fake.

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya10:06

      Yeah, I know. But like even if... The idea of it, I'm like-

   4. JRJoe Rogan10:09

      Right.

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya10:09

      ... "If you're gonna do it, just jump in."

   6. JRJoe Rogan10:10

      Right.

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya10:10

      What do we do? It's, "Okay, we... You're a man." Like, "Yo, fuck you. We're gonna do it man to man."

   8. JRJoe Rogan10:14

      Right.

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya10:14

      "But no kicks though. No kicks though."

   10. JRJoe Rogan10:15

       (laughs)

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya10:16

       "No, um, no knees. No elbows."

   12. JRJoe Rogan10:18

       No elbows.

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya10:18

       And I had that like... It's just... I, I don't understand that. I'm like, "Why... If you want to prove you're the best fighter, you have to fight people from other codes."

   14. JRJoe Rogan10:25

       Right.

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya10:26

       And this is... At the UFC, that's the highest level, you know. So I-

   16. JRJoe Rogan10:29

       Have you entered into any wrestling competition or jujitsu competition? Yeah.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya10:32

       Grappling competitions I have. Uh, I normally place. I've never been first.

   18. JRJoe Rogan10:35

       Submission grappling or-

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya10:36

       Yeah, submission.

   20. JRJoe Rogan10:37

       Yeah.

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya10:37

       I've neve- I've never been first, but I'm like either second, third, or somewhere else. But yeah, I've only ever done maybe four or five in my career.

   22. JRJoe Rogan10:44

       You have a specialty though.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya10:45

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan10:45

       And I, I've always felt like guys who have a specialty, if they can get to a certain amount of good at this other thing without abandoning their skills as a specialty-

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya10:53

       100%.

   26. JRJoe Rogan10:54

       ... they're always gonna have that giant advantage.

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya10:55

       Yeah, I agree.

   28. JRJoe Rogan10:56

       You know?

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya10:56

       And it's just the... It's the same thing. Whatever got them to what they're good at and they say boxing, wrestling, they can do the same thing.

   30. JRJoe Rogan11:02

       Sure.
6. 12:07 – 15:35

   Cages, space, and ‘boring’ fights: reading high-level striking vs. PTSD after damage

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya12:07

      And I c- They made this... The ring was-... probably if you put three of these tables together, that was the ring. It was a small-

   2. JRJoe Rogan12:13

      Jesus.

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya12:13

      But I cracked the-

   4. JRJoe Rogan12:14

      They were trying to rope you in?

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya12:15

      I crack, I cracked the code. I was able to get my footwork around them. Even this cage was big enough and people went, "Was the cage smaller?" I was like, "Yeah," but I, it was big enough for me.

   6. JRJoe Rogan12:22

      The thing about that Palms cage that I really like is that I feel, feel like it's the right size. I feel like-

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya12:27

      I like their setup.

   8. JRJoe Rogan12:28

      I feel like the u- regular UFC cage is big.

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya12:30

      Mm.

   10. JRJoe Rogan12:30

       And I like that it's big, but it might be too big.

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya12:33

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan12:33

       Might not need to be that big. No.

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya12:33

       That cage wasn't too big for me. It was, it was small, but it wasn't like-

   14. JRJoe Rogan12:36

       Too small, right.

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya12:36

       Oh my God, yeah, like in a phone booth or anything.

   16. JRJoe Rogan12:38

       No, I mean, it looked like you had massive... A lot better than a kickboxing ring.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya12:41

       Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Yeah, 100%.

   18. JRJoe Rogan12:42

       I mean, think about that. It's very rare you get a boxing ring that has anywhere near the kind of distance to, from corner to corner.

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya12:47

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan12:48

       The u- a good... But the UFC, there's, there's some p- pros and cons I think. But it's a con when it's a fight like Ngannou versus Derrick Lewis.

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya12:55

       (laughs) Oh.

   22. JRJoe Rogan12:55

       That's when it's a con.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya12:56

       I have a video of me before that fight that I was just yelling, "Somebody's gotta die." (laughs)

   24. JRJoe Rogan13:01

       (laughs) I know. Everybody thought that.

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya13:02

       And then... 'Cause that next minute...

   26. JRJoe Rogan13:02

       Dude, coming into that fight. When I saw Francis weigh 253, I was like, "Oh, shit, he's in shape."

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya13:09

       Why, 'cause normally... Yeah. He looked jacked, he looked jacked.

   28. JRJoe Rogan13:11

       He's normally... Yeah. He looked, he looked like he took it very fucking serious.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya13:14

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JRJoe Rogan13:14

       I thought he was gonna realize that he got out-wrestled and out-conditioned, he's gonna come back guns blazing-
7. 15:35 – 18:24

   Adesanya’s origin story: Taekwondo, Ong-Bak-to-Muay-Thai pipeline, and finding the right coach

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:35

      When did you get into martial arts?

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya15:36

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

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:41

      Such a good one for kids, man.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya15:43

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

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:44

      Yeah.

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya15:45

      ... "Ta, do, se."

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:45

      (laughs)

   8. 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.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:53

      Mm-hmm.

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya15:54

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

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       Oh, Jesus.

   12. 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.

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Wow.

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya16:19

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:20

       That's crazy.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya16:21

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

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       How old were you?

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya16:25

       18. I was 18.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       Wow.

   20. 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.

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:39

       Yeah.

   22. 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.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:44

       Yeah, they get burnt out.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya16:44

       And then sometimes they come back as well, but sometimes they just find, "I don't, I'm sick of this, you know, I wanna do something else."

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:49

       You find that a lot-

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya16:50

       But for me-

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:50

       ... with like, uh, sons of trainers.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya16:52

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:52

       Sons of other fighters.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya16:52

       It was actually the son of, um, one of my, my first trainer. And he's doing something else now, but...
8. 18:24 – 21:50

   Hands down, trained eyes, and influences from Roy Jones to Prince Naseem

   1. IAIsrael Adesanya18:24

      And he could never understand it, he was like, "Put your hands up." And I, I like my... People say, y'all... And people still say, "Get your hands up." I'm like, that's textbook. I don't read the textbook. I had a look at it. It was all right.

   2. JRJoe Rogan18:34

      (laughs)

   3. IAIsrael Adesanya18:35

      And I li- I- I like the balance I feel when I'm over here. Like my take-downs, I was able to stuff them 'cause my hands are already low. And I can still shell up when I need to. I can still fight hands up when I need to but I like my hands down.

   4. JRJoe Rogan18:45

      There's a different consideration when you have to stop take-downs.

   5. IAIsrael Adesanya18:48

      Yeah, 100%.

   6. JRJoe Rogan18:49

      It just is.

   7. IAIsrael Adesanya18:49

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan18:49

      You, it-

   9. IAIsrael Adesanya18:49

      Even in kickboxing my hands were always down a lot of the times.

   10. JRJoe Rogan18:52

       Haven't the ability to get an under-hook or double under-hooks quickly.

   11. IAIsrael Adesanya18:55

       Yeah.

   12. JRJoe Rogan18:55

       But in kickboxing, y- the thing is-

   13. IAIsrael Adesanya18:57

       I like my jab from there, from the low, from the low.

   14. JRJoe Rogan18:58

       Right. You can't see where it's going.

   15. IAIsrael Adesanya19:00

       'Cause it's low. Mm.

   16. JRJoe Rogan19:00

       It's, there's definitely pros and cons to everything, but a guy who's got the kind of speed that you have can take advantage many times more of having hands low.

   17. IAIsrael Adesanya19:09

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan19:09

       It's re- it really dep- I mean, look at Roy Jones.

   19. IAIsrael Adesanya19:11

       Oh.

   20. JRJoe Rogan19:11

       How the fuck can you say, how can you fuck can you say hands down's no good?

   21. IAIsrael Adesanya19:14

       Yeah.

   22. JRJoe Rogan19:14

       Roy Jones Jr kept his hands down all the time.

   23. IAIsrael Adesanya19:16

       He had the eyes as well. You have to, I think you can train the eyes, 'cause my eyes weren't... I w- I was always, I had re- f- um, quick reflexes, but I think you can train the eyes-

   24. JRJoe Rogan19:23

       Mm.

   25. IAIsrael Adesanya19:24

       ... in certain ways, just through-

   26. JRJoe Rogan19:25

       But Roy could just land that lead left hook-

   27. IAIsrael Adesanya19:28

       Left hook.

   28. JRJoe Rogan19:28

       ... like a jab.

   29. IAIsrael Adesanya19:29

       Yeah. And he throws it-

   30. JRJoe Rogan19:29

       Just whack.
9. 21:50 – 26:48

   Calling out Paulo Costa, ‘levels’ of experience, and why UFC rankings/judging matter financially

   1. JRJoe Rogan21:50

      So, uh, on the same card, Uriah Hall fought Paulo Costa.

   2. IAIsrael Adesanya21:54

      Oh, yeah. Botezinha.

   3. JRJoe Rogan21:54

      That's, uh, a lot of people are thinking that might be the next fight for you.

   4. IAIsrael Adesanya21:57

      I told Dana (laughs) , funny story. So went to, um, a- after my fight, I chilled in my hotel room, just hung out with my boys. But then after Dan's fight, we went out and, um, someone told me, "Oh, Dana's in this club. He's staying..." I was, "Oh, cool." That's, whatever. And went and I got some money, and I was talking to the guy that led me. And then, 'cause he found out I'm a UFC fighter, he just led me to the private room and I see McMahon. I'm like, "What the hell?" And then we just start yarning, uh, talking to people and he's like, "I'll introduce you to Dana." And I finally meet Dana properly and we start talking and I drop this name in there. I say, "Yeah, I want to fight Paulo next." And he's like, "Mm, they have other ideas." You know, fair enough. But I can... They've done this a long time, they're promoters, you know. So I think what they want is me, you know, being a bigger name, Paul being a bigger name, and we fight like in some super fight.

   5. JRJoe Rogan22:43

      Mm-hmm.

   6. IAIsrael Adesanya22:43

      You know what I mean? And I can see what that, you know, why that. But for me, I wanna, I wanna take him out now.

   7. JRJoe Rogan22:48

      (laughs)

   8. IAIsrael Adesanya22:48

      He just knocked out Uriah Hall.

   9. JRJoe Rogan22:49

      Yeah.

   10. IAIsrael Adesanya22:49

       Who was talking mad shit as well. You know? But yeah, I want to take him out now before... 'Cause he's gonna, he'll probably fight again. Will probably fight more than once 'cause he's, he's one of those guys. Well, we'll see what happens, how long his, uh, UFC career lasts. But I think he'll probably fight, me and him will probably fight more than once.

   11. JRJoe Rogan23:05

       Yeah, I would imagine that as well. I was very impressed with him-

   12. IAIsrael Adesanya23:08

       Mm-hmm.

   13. JRJoe Rogan23:08

       ... versus Uriah Hall. It's interesting because the contrast between your fight on Friday night and his fight on Saturday night. I mean-

   14. IAIsrael Adesanya23:13

       That was just a brawl. Like a technical brawl.

   15. JRJoe Rogan23:15

       Mm-hmm. He got hit with a lot of jabs but he is a relentless, marauding motherfucker.

   16. IAIsrael Adesanya23:20

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan23:20

       That guy's... He's very aggressive.

   18. IAIsrael Adesanya23:22

       He comes forward. Yeah. And this thing's free footwork. Uriah Hall, I was watching, I'm like, "Why are you right there?" It's easy to look good against someone who just sits right there like a punching bag, you know?

   19. JRJoe Rogan23:31

       Uriah, um, had f- tremendous potential.

   20. IAIsrael Adesanya23:34

       Mm-hmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan23:34

       When we saw him in The Ultimate Fighter. But-

   22. IAIsrael Adesanya23:35

       We all saw it.

   23. JRJoe Rogan23:36

       But it also might be similar to what you were talking about with Sage Northcutt.

   24. IAIsrael Adesanya23:40

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan23:40

       Where, who I also think has trum- still has tremendous potential and still very young.

   26. IAIsrael Adesanya23:44

       Yeah. Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan23:44

       I think there's an approach to take that you took that I think is really smart.

   28. IAIsrael Adesanya23:48

       You know where I got it from? One of the talk shows, UFC talk shows, Kenny Florian just said it.... he said, um, "Get your experience outside the UFC before you go into the UFC."

   29. JRJoe Rogan23:58

       Wise words.

   30. IAIsrael Adesanya23:59

       Get, like, 10 fights-
10. 26:48 – 35:35

    GOAT debates and elite fight breakdowns: Anderson Silva, Mighty Mouse, DC vs. Stipe, and Jon Jones’ reads

    1. JRJoe Rogan26:48

       And you have a window there. Like Anderson Silva, when he was, like, 30 to 32, whoa.

    2. IAIsrael Adesanya26:53

       Mm-hmm. He was going. I remember that, uh-

    3. JRJoe Rogan26:55

       Oh.

    4. IAIsrael Adesanya26:55

       ... longest rain.

    5. JRJoe Rogan26:56

       You would watch him, you just feel like put your hands to your head and go, "Jesus."

    6. IAIsrael Adesanya26:58

       The first one I saw live was UFC 90.

    7. JRJoe Rogan27:01

       Wh-

    8. IAIsrael Adesanya27:01

       Uh, he fought Patrick Cote.

    9. JRJoe Rogan27:03

       Oh.

    10. IAIsrael Adesanya27:03

        And he just-

    11. JRJoe Rogan27:03

        That was an interesting one.

    12. IAIsrael Adesanya27:04

        Yeah.

    13. JRJoe Rogan27:04

        'Cause Patrick-

    14. IAIsrael Adesanya27:04

        No. But, like, for me, that first round-

    15. JRJoe Rogan27:05

        ... fought very smart.

    16. IAIsrael Adesanya27:06

        But that first round, he used, like, probably seven different styles to just hit him. And then I keep saying he used telekinesis on his knee, he just blowed it out. But, like-

    17. JRJoe Rogan27:14

        Patrick had a fucked-up knee going into that fight, I think.

    18. IAIsrael Adesanya27:16

        Already. Yeah.

    19. JRJoe Rogan27:17

        It's hard, hard to tell, but-

    20. IAIsrael Adesanya27:18

        Yeah.

    21. JRJoe Rogan27:18

        ... it just seemed like it gave out.

    22. IAIsrael Adesanya27:19

        It was a good fight. It was a good fight.

    23. JRJoe Rogan27:20

        Yeah.

    24. IAIsrael Adesanya27:20

        But he just stood out there and just, like, ah.

    25. JRJoe Rogan27:22

        Yeah.

    26. IAIsrael Adesanya27:22

        Fucked up. He, like-

    27. JRJoe Rogan27:22

        I thought he went to, like, throw a front kick and it just buckled on him-

    28. IAIsrael Adesanya27:25

        Sure.

    29. JRJoe Rogan27:25

        ... and popped out.

    30. IAIsrael Adesanya27:26

        Yeah. No, but, like, that fight, that first round, the way he just handled him, I was like, "That."
11. 35:35 – 38:44

    Adesanya’s self-scouting, improvisation, and ‘deception’ as a system

    1. IAIsrael Adesanya35:35

       Everyone does it, yeah. Every, every level, even Jon Jones. Myself, when I was watching my fight, I've only seen it once. That was after the fight, rewinding. I took about an hour and a half to finish watching it, just rewinding, playing, drinking with my friends and whatnot, 'cause they understand, like, I just like to be by myself and just chill, so they're just doing their own thing, and they were just playing games. But I watch it to see what I did right.And I enjoy it. I was like, "Okay, this is what I did good, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." But then I see how if I was fighting me, how would I fuck me up now?

    2. JRJoe Rogan36:01

       Ooh. (laughs)

    3. IAIsrael Adesanya36:02

       Yeah.

    4. JRJoe Rogan36:03

       Yeah.

    5. IAIsrael Adesanya36:03

       So I, yeah, like-

    6. JRJoe Rogan36:03

       That's a good way of looking at it, man.

    7. IAIsrael Adesanya36:04

       And I, I can, I can see certain things like, "Okay, this is, I need to work on tendencies, certain tendencies, and change it up." Confuse people, scramble them. Some of the things I was doing in that fight I've never done in training because example, elbow pads, we don't... I haven't really worn elbow pads in training, just knee pads. I was using that, um, Ong Bak elbow to set up how to close a distance. And I was watching, I was like, "Where did I learn that from?" I don't know. Like, you watch, I did it probably three times. I'd use the fake Ong Bak elbow to close the gap and I'd gallop in and catch them with a right hand or something. But I never... Like, certain, certain things like that were, were things I did good, but then I can't really say the kind of things I did bad.

    8. JRJoe Rogan36:39

       Do you think... But that, yeah, don't, don't give it up.

    9. IAIsrael Adesanya36:40

       (laughs) I, I-

    10. JRJoe Rogan36:40

        But do you think that maybe that when you learn, it's almost like you're learning words.

    11. IAIsrael Adesanya36:48

        Mm-hmm.

    12. JRJoe Rogan36:48

        Like, and these words are techniques and then combinations are sentences. And then in-

    13. IAIsrael Adesanya36:53

        I like that.

    14. JRJoe Rogan36:53

        ... like, having the mastery of all these words, you just see a new sentence that you could say.

    15. IAIsrael Adesanya36:57

        Yeah. I was like, "Oh, that's nice."

    16. JRJoe Rogan36:58

        You already know how to throw those, obviously.

    17. IAIsrael Adesanya37:00

        Yeah.

    18. JRJoe Rogan37:00

        Even though you don't do it a lot in sparring. You just see there's something he's doing, like, "You know what? This is what it... I'm gonna this and then come in here and..."

    19. IAIsrael Adesanya37:06

        Yeah. There was... Like, that one was nice, but there was one in my last fight before that in Arizona. Um, Shaun O'Malley throws this, like, spin and then the head kick.

    20. JRJoe Rogan37:14

        Mm-hmm.

    21. IAIsrael Adesanya37:14

        And in the fight, I was like, "It feels right." Boom. First time I ever landed it-

    22. JRJoe Rogan37:18

        (laughs)

    23. IAIsrael Adesanya37:18

        ... and it caught him on the back of the head. And I was like, "Oh, good." And I just kept on moving with it.

    24. JRJoe Rogan37:23

        Yeah, or when Yair Rodriguez 360 roundhouse kicked BJ Penn in the face. I was like-

    25. IAIsrael Adesanya37:28

        Yeah.

    26. JRJoe Rogan37:28

        ... "You gotta be fucking kidding me, man."

    27. IAIsrael Adesanya37:30

        Yeah. It was crazy.

    28. JRJoe Rogan37:30

        'Cause I was always wondering, "When are we gonna see this?" In a real high-level fight.

    29. IAIsrael Adesanya37:32

        I've done one. I knocked a heavy... Or knocked him, I knocked a, I knocked down a heavyweight with it, like a tornado kick.

    30. JRJoe Rogan37:36

        (laughs)
12. 38:44 – 44:53

    Leg kicks, historic kickboxing moments, and the brutality of damage over time

    1. JRJoe Rogan38:44

       ... where he was fucking him up in the first round. We played it back because it was a really interesting moment. I think on YouTube it's labeled as the most important fight in kickboxing.

    2. IAIsrael Adesanya38:53

       Oh.

    3. JRJoe Rogan38:53

       And what it was was the first fight where we got to see Rick Rufus in his prime face a Thai champion.

    4. IAIsrael Adesanya38:59

       Yeah.

    5. JRJoe Rogan38:59

       And this dude... And Rick was winning in the beginning, and one of the things that he hit him with, he hi- he did that touch side kick spin back kick in the air.

    6. IAIsrael Adesanya39:06

       Yeah.

    7. JRJoe Rogan39:06

       This is it, the fight that changed history. Is this, uh, Lawrence Kenchin as well?

    8. IAIsrael Adesanya39:10

       Yeah.

    9. JRJoe Rogan39:11

       Yes.

    10. IAIsrael Adesanya39:11

        Lawrence.

    11. JRJoe Rogan39:12

        Uh, that guy's a treasure. 50-

    12. IAIsrael Adesanya39:13

        Love his work.

    13. JRJoe Rogan39:13

        Yeah, go-

    14. IAIsrael Adesanya39:14

        Yeah, yeah.

    15. JRJoe Rogan39:14

        ... Google him, uh, uh, or check out-

    16. IAIsrael Adesanya39:17

        Yeah.

    17. JRJoe Rogan39:17

        ... his videos on YouTube. He's got so many awesome breakdowns.

    18. IAIsrael Adesanya39:21

        He and Jack Slack, and I like the way-

    19. JRJoe Rogan39:21

        Mm-hmm.

    20. IAIsrael Adesanya39:21

        ... they kind of work off each other as well. Like, a lot of these guys, they're not really, um... There's no competition. They're all working through, together for, for their greater good.

    21. JRJoe Rogan39:28

        Well, they're all very important. And Robin Black as well.

    22. IAIsrael Adesanya39:30

        Yeah.

    23. JRJoe Rogan39:30

        Like, all these guys.

    24. IAIsrael Adesanya39:31

        He's crazy. (laughs)

    25. JRJoe Rogan39:31

        Yeah. What I really love about Lawrence, though, is that, you know, he breaks down things and shows them in slow motion, as is Brendan Dorman and, and Jack Slack. There's a lot of these guys that do this.

    26. IAIsrael Adesanya39:39

        What weight was that?

    27. JRJoe Rogan39:41

        (sighs) I don't remember.

    28. IAIsrael Adesanya39:42

        He looks lighter. Yeah.

    29. JRJoe Rogan39:43

        I don't remember how much Rick weighed. I know he went up-

    30. IAIsrael Adesanya39:46

        Damn.
13. 44:53 – 52:25

    PED reality check: Icarus, USADA retesting, and the ‘Golden Snitch’ humor

    1. IAIsrael Adesanya44:53

       With all the sub, um, PED kind of talk, for me I kind of th- I thought, yeah, some people par- you know, take steroids or whatever. 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.
14. 52:25 – 1:16:25

    Life after the fight: weight cuts, rehydration protocols, diet cravings, and elk-cooking tips

    1. IAIsrael Adesanya52:25

       Yeah. I walk around 205 if I'm healthy. Uh, like if I'm-

    2. JRJoe Rogan52:28

       Yeah.

    3. IAIsrael Adesanya52:28

       ... if I'm DC'd out.

    4. JRJoe Rogan52:29

       Well, that's good.

    5. IAIsrael Adesanya52:30

       Mm-hmm.

    6. JRJoe Rogan52:31

       That's a good amount of weight to cut.

    7. IAIsrael Adesanya52:32

       Yeah.

    8. JRJoe Rogan52:32

       Like I bet when you get real lean, you probably lose like six, seven, then you're only losing, really cutting like, what, 10, 10, 13?

    9. IAIsrael Adesanya52:38

       This, this camp, I didn't use a sauna, I didn't use a bath for this fight.

    10. JRJoe Rogan52:41

        Nice.

    11. IAIsrael Adesanya52:41

        Normally, like the last two I did, and I was underweight. Just, and I would only cut a little bit as well. But this one, I woke up on weight.

    12. JRJoe Rogan52:47

        Do you use an expert to help you, like a Lockhart or something?

    13. IAIsrael Adesanya52:49

        Uh, I'm gonna maybe for the fight week use Lockhart next time, maybe. But like normally I just, I, I've done this for a long time so my, I know my body. And I, I'm always accurate as well. I can feel like, "Okay, I'm about 98 kg or 93 kgs today. I'm about 85 kgs right now, I can tell."

    14. JRJoe Rogan53:03

        And what about rehydration? Do you-

    15. IAIsrael Adesanya53:05

        Yep. Lockhart Method, the old one. Um, there's a whole system like with the Waxy Maize amino acids, eating pineapples with crackers and honey and whatnot. So I follow the list and my coach-

    16. JRJoe Rogan53:15

        Why, why pineapples with cracker and honey?

    17. IAIsrael Adesanya53:17

        Um, I don't know. It's on the list. It's a Lockhart one. It's, uh, yeah.

    18. JRJoe Rogan53:21

        Huh.

    19. IAIsrael Adesanya53:21

        I-

    20. JRJoe Rogan53:21

        So it's like carbohydrates from the crackers and the honey and-

    21. IAIsrael Adesanya53:24

        You're talking to the wrong guy. (laughs)

    22. JRJoe Rogan53:26

        Huh.

    23. IAIsrael Adesanya53:26

        I wouldn't know all that kinda stuff. Like for me, I just, that's the thing, I have guys like my, my coach Eugene who knows why, you know?

    24. JRJoe Rogan53:32

        Mm-hmm.

    25. IAIsrael Adesanya53:32

        And he'll just tell me, "Do this." And I trust him.

    26. JRJoe Rogan53:34

        Right.

    27. IAIsrael Adesanya53:34

        Yeah. But it's, uh, I know it's a Lockhart Method and they've updated it 'cause I talked to Ian and he said that was the old one. I sent it to him and he said they've updated it.

    28. JRJoe Rogan53:40

        Oh.

    29. IAIsrael Adesanya53:40

        So I said, okay. Next time probably I'll use them to, for the fight week weight cut and then the rehydration. I'll try the new one.

    30. JRJoe Rogan53:48

        What's the, the toughest you've ever cut? Like how, how heavy have you ever gotten?

Episode duration: 1:55:32