CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 3:43
Settling in with Bisping: flags, accents, and moving to the U.S.
Joe and Michael open with a loose, comedic exchange about the Hawaiian flag’s British-looking design and the history of colonization. Bisping talks about living in America, how his accent has changed, and the practical realities of adapting speech for TV and everyday life.
- 3:43 – 5:41
Post-fight analyst life: commentary ambitions, retirement planning, and eye-injury reality
Rogan praises Bisping’s work on the UFC desk and asks about commentary roles. Bisping explains how his serious eye injuries forced him to plan ahead and build a career outside fighting, making retirement smoother than it is for many fighters.
- 5:41 – 8:31
Side hustles and the Playline pitch: fantasy gambling, big prizes, and cheating concerns
Bisping outlines his podcast and his fantasy/gambling venture Playline, emphasizing its simplified format and huge advertised prizes. Rogan raises concerns about fixing/cheating, leading into an anecdote about how gambling lines broke professional pool.
- 8:31 – 10:27
From The Ultimate Fighter to UFC champion: career longevity and legacy wins
The conversation pivots to Bisping’s long UFC arc starting with The Ultimate Fighter and the shock of how far the sport has come. They discuss how meaningful it was for Bisping to retire having won the belt, and what wins felt most satisfying.
- 10:27 – 14:25
Bisping vs Anderson Silva: the mouthpiece moment, motivation, and surviving adversity
Bisping recounts the controversial moment where Silva kneed him as he gestured for his mouthpiece, and why it felt 'cheap' even if legal. They explore how trash talk can genuinely change an opponent’s intensity and how Bisping had to dig deep to win.
- 14:25 – 19:58
Steroids, USADA, and the TRT era: murky incentives and fighter trust
Rogan and Bisping get blunt about PED suspicion in MMA and how testing games used to work. Bisping argues TRT made the sport especially murky by creating a semi-legal pathway to enhanced performance, using Vitor Belfort as the prime example.
- 19:58 – 24:55
Fight promotion psychology: why trash talk works and when it fails
Bisping explains trash talk as both mental warfare and a business tool for selling fights. They compare different personalities—McGregor’s ability to make opponents fold versus fighters like Nate Diaz who are immune to verbal pressure.
- 24:55 – 32:37
Modern fight talk: Holloway–Ortega, weight cuts, Tony Ferguson bad luck, and fighter wear-and-tear
They analyze Max Holloway’s style and the Ortega fight, including Bisping’s earlier concern about Max’s slurred speech and possible weight-cut effects. The discussion jumps to Tony Ferguson’s freak knee injury, then into the physical toll of training—especially knees and necks.
- 32:37 – 38:10
Injury management and recovery tech: neck decompression, Regenokine/Regenokine-like treatments, and scary examples
Bisping details chronic neck nerve issues and the numbness/‘stinger’ sensations that still affect him. Rogan suggests decompression tools and regenerative treatments and shares cautionary tales about catastrophic neck injuries from takedown mechanics.
- 38:10 – 48:51
Boxing heavyweights and combat-sports safety: Fury–Wilder drama and when refs should stop fights
They break down the Fury–Wilder fight, weight disparity, power, and Fury’s legendary recovery from a near-finish. That leads into how referees decide stoppages and a sobering discussion of serious boxing injuries like Adonis Stevenson’s brain bleed.
- 48:51 – 59:37
Slaughterhouse stories to hunting ethics: how meat, morality, and conservation collide
A surprising detour: Bisping recounts working at a slaughterhouse at 16 and describes the process in graphic detail. Rogan connects it to why he started hunting (to avoid industrial slaughter), and they debate trophy hunting, Cecil the lion, and conservation economics.
- 59:37 – 1:12:47
Winning the belt on two weeks’ notice: the Rockhold call, chaotic cut, and coach Perillo’s mindset reset
Bisping tells the full story of accepting the Rockhold title fight while filming Triple X, including finding out via media before directly confirming it. He describes sprinting through Toronto to start the weight cut, the role of coach Jason Perillo, and the exact left-hook finish that changed his life.
- 1:12:47 – 2:04:24
Fighting with one good eye: retina surgery, oil in the eye, depth perception, and the cost of pushing on
Rogan and Bisping dig into the medical specifics of Bisping’s eye damage and how he continued competing while effectively blind in one eye. Bisping explains retina detachment procedures, oil vs gas options, barely meeting commission vision thresholds, and why the risks finally outweighed the reward.
