JRE MMA Show #64 with Khalil Rountree Jr.

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   And boom. (fists thudding) What's…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:03

      And boom. (fists thudding) What's up, man? How are you?

   2. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:06

      Good, man.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Thanks for doing this.

   4. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:07

      Thank you for having me on.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:08

      I was so impressed with, uh, your performance from that... past UFC that I had to, I had to talk to you.

   6. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:15

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:15

      I was like, that was a- I've seen guys make, like, you were always a very dangerous striker, from obviously, from the Gokhan Saki fight. Every guy- everybody got to see that.

   8. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:22

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:23

      But to see how fluid you were against a beast like Eryk Anders. I mean, Eryk Anders is a scary cat.

   10. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:29

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       He's d- he's coming for blood, right? And you were so fast, man. It was crazy to watch. It was really interesting.

   12. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:36

       Thank you.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:36

       Like, what b- If you had to give yourself a percentage leap that you've gone up over the last year, what do you think it would be?

   14. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:44

       Compared to like...

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:45

       Well, who you were before that.

   16. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:49

       Not that high of a leap. I mean-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:50

       Not that high of a leap.

   18. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.0:51

       Like, that performance for me was like, I feel good about it, but that was only four months. So I'm like, I know that there's so much more for me to gain.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       Right.

   20. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00

       That's why I'm like, yeah, I gotta go back. So the leap not, not too much because I know there's still a lot more to go.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       Mm-hmm.

   22. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:07

       A lot more. Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:08

       Wow. So you've decided... So for people who don't understand what we're talking about, you went to Thailand.

   24. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:12

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:13

       You spent four months down in Thailand. And, um, you, you, dude you f- were fighting like a Thai boxer.

   26. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:18

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:18

       It was crazy, like, Mark Dellograte, who, uh, works in the production truck-

   28. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:22

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:22

       He's the guy who picks out the instant replays. He and I talk back and forth sometimes while the fight's going on.

   30. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:26

       Mm-hmm.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      and conditioning, pummeling up against the, the wall. So you getting everything done there?

   2. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:04

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:05

      Yeah.

   4. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:05

      And that's Joseph Henley right there. He was on the, uh, on The Ultimate Fighter... I forgot what season. They called him Leonidas. He's a black belt out there, and he helped me out a lot, man. It- there's... You run into so many different people, and he's like, "Yeah, like, I'm a black belt. Any type of grappling you want, any positions you want to work, like, we'll go over it, we'll create a system, whatever."

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:22

      Hmm.

   6. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:23

      And... So he was really big help in this preparation-

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:25

      Beautiful.

   8. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:25

      ... for this fight, yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:26

      A bunch of free spirits living there, right?

   10. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:28

       Oh, so many.

   11. JRJoe Rogan15:29

       Yeah.

   12. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:29

       So many. But everybody's down there with a goal.

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:31

       Yeah.

   14. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:31

       Like, they want to get in shape, they want to get healthy or-

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       Yeah.

   16. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:34

       ... you know, spiritual path, whatever it may be, yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan15:36

       There's something romantic about the expat living in Thailand having a good time, you know?

   18. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:41

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan15:41

       Something romantic about that. It's, it's interesting, you know?

   20. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.15:43

       Yeah, it's really cool.

   21. JRJoe Rogan15:45

       Yeah, I mean, that whole culture, man. I mean, the, the Thai and Muay Thai culture, it's... What a phenomenon. If you look at combat sports and then this one that it's so tied into these stadiums, it's so tied into gambling and betting.

   22. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.16:00

       Mm-hmm.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:01

       It's so... I mean, it... Kids get indoctrinated into it at a very young age.

   24. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.16:04

       Super young. Super young.

   25. JRJoe Rogan16:06

       It's wild.

   26. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.16:06

       There's, there's guys at the gym that I was at, um, little kids, they'd come right after school, and they go to Muay Thai training, and they're training just like the older guys, and then they go right back to ho- like, home, eat dinner. But that's just their lifestyle. So it, it starts as a kid. It's like, go to school, Muay Thai, go to sleep. And then as an adult, it's like, Muay Thai, feed your family, Muay Thai, feed your family. These guys live at the gym, man.

   27. JRJoe Rogan16:31

       Jesus.

   28. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.16:32

       They live at the gym, and they go home maybe two days after a fight just to take care of their families and then come right back to the gym and get ready for the next fight.

   29. JRJoe Rogan16:40

       Now, o- of course, at Tiger Muay Thai, you know, you've guys... Everybody knows, uh, dif- various people in different organizations.

   30. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.16:48

       Mm-hmm.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   You had to know…

   1. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.30:00

      You got to be prepared for a lot of things, or some guys block it out, but it's just like, like anything else. It's-

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      You had to know about halfway into the first round some special shit was happening though.

   3. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.30:11

      On this fight?

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      Yes.

   5. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.30:12

      Uh, after ... So after the first round, I was very happy. I sat down. My coaches were like, "Okay, this is good. This is good. You're doing this." And I was like, "Listen, I, I don't want to know what's good. What should I expect the next round?" Like, I was ready to go. I told this straight to George. I'm like, "Dude, I don't care. What do I need to do next? What should I prepare for?" And he's like, "Prepare for a little bit more pressure. He's probably gonna try to shoot for the takedown in this round." And I was like, "Okay, cool." So that ... I was just looking for that and using my tools to kind of-... to just prepare for that. But, uh, definitely midway through the second round, I was like, "Okay, like I know he's still got a lot of power, all this stuff, but I think that, uh, that leg, I should be able to, you know, buy some time and take away a little bit of damage, like coming at me for sure."

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:58

      It ... he, I mean he had to be in agony, and he never stopped coming.

   7. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:02

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan31:02

      I mean, he had to-

   9. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:03

      But he didn't wince at all.

   10. JRJoe Rogan31:04

       (takes a deep breath)

   11. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:04

       Like even on the cage, when I was just like ... when he was on the back and I was trying to kick his leg, he just ... his face, his facial expression never changed.

   12. JRJoe Rogan31:10

       He's a (laughs) fucking savage, man. He's-

   13. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:12

       It's crazy.

   14. JRJoe Rogan31:13

       He's a bad man.

   15. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:14

       Respect that guy.

   16. JRJoe Rogan31:15

       Yeah.

   17. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:15

       For sure.

   18. JRJoe Rogan31:16

       For sure, for sure.

   19. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:18

       (laughs)

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:18

       Yeah.

   21. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:18

       Even before, like even before the fight.

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:20

       Now, how do you think-

   23. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:21

       Before and after, he stayed the same.

   24. JRJoe Rogan31:21

       Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No. I mean, maybe even more so, man. Not everybody can do that.

   25. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:25

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JRJoe Rogan31:26

       Not everybody can take that. You know? And to do it the way he did it with 100% of his character intact, never shirked, never shied away from it, kept moving forward, that's a dangerous person. And he's still getting better.

   27. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:37

       Oh, yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan31:37

       That guy's just getting better.

   29. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.31:39

       Oh, yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan31:40

       When you were doing ... How much do you think the hypnosis helped you?
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   (laughs) …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      he's still, right now, the scariest guy-

   2. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:02

      (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:03

      ... in that cage. When he-

   4. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:04

      Exactly.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      When he's throwing bombs away, it's like you j- you just, like, go, "Uh, uh." When he knocked out Overeem, that was like an unca- that was an unheard of knockout.

   6. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:15

      Yeah. I sparred with him in, like, in preparation for that fight.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:18

      Oof.

   8. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:19

      And I actually almost got hit with that same punch. But, yeah, we went, Francis and I, and I went three rounds, um, in the cage.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:25

      Dude.

   10. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:25

       And then I remember, uh, Forrest was there and, and John, the head coach of Syndicate, and, uh, they were like, "Okay, you guys, tone it down," 'cause we were going at it. And it wa- I mean, like, it was fun. Like, I like to go hard.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:36

       Yeah.

   12. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:36

       But, um-

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       How often, though?

   14. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:38

       How often do I like to go hard?

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:39

       Yeah.

   16. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:40

       Uh, every now and then. Yeah, every now and then.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:42

       Do you do mostly technical?

   18. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:45

       Yeah. So like, in Thailand right now, it's like everyday technical-

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:48

       Mm-hmm.

   20. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:49

       ... one day sparring. Or one or two days sparring, yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:51

       And when you say sparring, MMA sparring?

   22. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:52

       MMA sparring, yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       Yeah.

   24. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.45:54

       And then the other days are just, like, technical grappling, grappling, and technical striking, and then, you know, wrestling and then, uh, yeah, I spar on Fridays.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:03

       Now, when they break it up, um, l- do, do you have someone who makes your schedule for you, like, for the week? Do you have all your training routines, like what, what your, the schedule set up for morning, evening, all that? Do you have that-

   26. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.46:16

       Yeah, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       ... planned out-

   28. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.46:18

       So, um-

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:18

       ... deep in advance?

   30. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.46:19

       So they ha- like, so, for instance, like, the gym has a schedule of all the classes.
5. 1:00:00 – 1:08:19

   So you said you…

   1. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:00

      And I think that morning I actually ended up cutting the last little bit of my weight the morning of weigh-ins too, which is not usually like me, I usually cut it the night before.

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:09

      So you said you like to start your day off with a run, um, are you doing that every day?

   3. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:13

      Yeah, definitely.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

      Really?

   5. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:14

      So that's one thing that I learned too is just training every day, not learn, but it just feels different. Now I, I, I have to go and train every day. When I was in Vegas, like, "Oh, I gotta drive 30 minutes," you know, all these things I had a lot of excuses to make up and now with the convenience of how training is now, I don't even make up excuses. I'm like, if I'm tired, I still, it's a two-minute walk, get your ass to the gym, you know?

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:38

      Right.

   7. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:38

      And so, yeah, every, every single day training and then weekends off for sure.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:42

      So you're running every single day, then you're training every single day?

   9. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:45

      Before Muay Thai, it's mandatory you, you run. That's how they train.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:47

       That's, like, that's how they train? Really?

   11. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:48

       The trainers won't even let you train unless you run first.

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:50

       How-

   13. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:00:50

       You show up, you run. The day, the first day I showed up, uh, at, at Tiger's Muay Thai class, I didn't even have tennis shoes, I just showed up with my flip-flops 'cause I was staying right across the street. And I showed up, I start wrapping my hands and the trainer, he's like, "Are you gonna train?" And I was like, "Yeah, I think so." He's like, "You think so? Well, go run." And I was like, "I don't have shoes, I only have my flip-flops." And he's like-... just pointed like, "So? Go run." And I had to run like, I think it was like eight kilometers in- in flip-flops before I could-

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:01:19

       Jesus.

   15. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:19

       ... even train. Yeah.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:01:20

       That's like four miles, right?

   17. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:22

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:01:22

       Somewhere around there? Five and a half. Five and a half?

   19. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:24

       Yeah. It's like f- four, like four miles, something like that. We just had to run, run, run, run, run, run.

   20. JRJoe Rogan1:01:29

       Yeah.

   21. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:29

       I asked the girls like, "How long do we run for?" She's like, "Usually like five to six kilometers," or something like that. It was like-

   22. JRJoe Rogan1:01:34

       Yeah. 5K is like three and a half miles. Yeah. I was gonna say that.

   23. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:36

       Yeah. Five... I'd say like just cutting it short, 5K.

   24. JRJoe Rogan1:01:39

       Wow.

   25. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:39

       And then w- in flip-flops.

   26. JRJoe Rogan1:01:41

       That's ruthless.

   27. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:41

       And I was like, "Okay, cool." Yeah. I never, I never forgot my shoes again. I would always show up.

   28. JRJoe Rogan1:01:44

       How bad that fuck your feet up?

   29. KJKhalil Rountree Jr.1:01:46

       It wasn't too bad, actually.

   30. JRJoe Rogan1:01:47

       No?

Episode duration: 2:19:37