JRE MMA Show #65 with Corey Anderson

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Three, one, boom. (fingers snapping)…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      Three, one, boom. (fingers snapping) Corey Anderson, ladies and gentlemen. What's up? How are you, man?

   2. CACorey Anderson0:06

      What's going on, Joey? What's good?

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      We finally did it.

   4. CACorey Anderson0:08

      Finally did it. We here.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      Yeah. And, uh, got some TechnoHunt in as well.

   6. CACorey Anderson0:11

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      That, that... I told you about that game.

   8. CACorey Anderson0:13

      (laughs)

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      That game is very addictive, isn't it?

   10. CACorey Anderson0:15

       I'm already re- trying to get back out there to do some more when this is over, so-

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:17

       I know. You get itchy, right?

   12. CACorey Anderson0:18

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:19

       Yeah. No, it's amazing, man. That, that game is incredible. How long you been bow hunting for?

   14. CACorey Anderson0:23

       I've been bow hunting since I was 16 or 17, but I've been hunting my whole life.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Wow. What switched you over to bow hunting?

   16. CACorey Anderson0:30

       Uh, my high school teammate, actually. I used to go rabbit hunting and stuff with a shotgun, and I've been shooting a bow since I was, like, 12 or 11, just 3D shooting. He's like, "You ever been bowhunting?" I went like, "You can hunt with this?" He's like, "Yeah." Like, "We go hunting all the time." So one day before school, he picked me up and, like, we went over to my buddy's house and got up in the stand. Well, he got in the stand. I couldn't climb 'cause I didn't know what I was doing. I got stuck at the bottom (laughs) of the tree-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       (laughs)

   18. CACorey Anderson0:52

       ... sitting there with my bow in my lap, so... But that was my first time, and after that I just kept going. And every now and then in between practices and whatnot, but now when I got time between fighting and whatnot, I'm all hunting. That's it.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:03

       Oh, I can tell by your Instagram, man.

   20. CACorey Anderson1:05

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       I follow your Instagram. All... You're, you're constantly shooting and hunting and practicing, and s- it's- it gets in your blood.

   22. CACorey Anderson1:12

       I mean, it's just like fighting. Like I said, we were doing TechnoHunt is... I do it so much, it's just muscle memory. And like everybody think, "Oh, you spend too much time hunting, you're not training." When I go win a fight, and they're like, "Oh, that was impressive." Like, I still train two, three times a day, but I get home from the gym and my... I always have a bow in my truck. I have three bows and one is always in my truck. So I pull up, pop the doors open, grab my speaker, and the targets is right there. Get like 30 to 60 shots and then go in, spend time with the family, eat, go back to the gym, come... go to the range and shoot indoors when it's dark. And I'm always shooting, I just enjoy it.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:42

       Wow. So is it like a part of meditation for you, do you think?

   24. CACorey Anderson1:46

       100%. Coming off the OSP fight, that was actually the first time I hunted in Jersey. I've been in Jersey since 2014 when the show came out. And after OSP fight and all that stuff, and everybody told me like, "Don't pay atten-... You was winning that fight, you got caught. Don't let the people get in your head and tell you you're not there." So actually next day I went home, I went and bought my hunting license and bought a stand and hunted in Jersey for the first time, and that helped me. I didn't think about it all. From November to February 1st I was in a tree stand every day. And when I went back to training, like full camp with everything, my mind, I fou- forgot all about that OSP fight. And that's when I told my wife, "I found my balance." You know, the thing was-

   25. JRJoe Rogan2:20

       Wow.

   26. CACorey Anderson2:20

       ... I was always in the gym and that's why the name 25VIII came because Corey never... At the time I didn't do anything else but train. You know, I would train, to go to the gym and train, to go to therapy, go back to the gym and train, go home, run, go to the garage, hit the heavy bag, go to Mark Henry's hit pads, and go train again. So like I was telling Will on the way here, when I first went to UFC, and now they say, "Oh, Corey's grew, he's gotten bigger." Like, I've always been a big guy. I was 300 pounds one time. But when I got down to 205, I always told myself, "I don't wanna get heavier than, like, 210, 212." So every day I had like a goal, I wanted to end the day off no heavier than 212. So if I was like 215 from eating too much and it's 10 o'clock at night, I gotta lace up and go for a run. So I was all... Every morning I wake up at 2:10. So that's why I took the fights like Jan Blachowicz on two, three weeks notice, Fabio Maldonado in Brazil on a week notice, 'cause I didn't have to cut weight. It was like, "Okay, just go." But when I got to Jimmy Manuel and he told me at the bar, he's like, "Bro, you're a good fighter. You're just too small." Like, I weighed in Friday, and Saturday I stepped in the cage looking the exact same. I gained like six pounds. And he told me, "You gotta eat. You gotta feed yourself." And after I did that, that was probably the best advice I ever got from a fighter, 'cause now I walk around like 235 and I feel great. Like, the last, well, fight with Glover on two weeks notice I was 236. I got the weight off and hydrated right back up and felt fine, fantastic, and went out there and did my thing, because I te- treat my body right now.

   27. JRJoe Rogan3:40

       So you're 236 up until like how far out of the fight?

   28. CACorey Anderson3:44

       I try to stay at least 230, 231 until like two weeks out, then I start tapering down to like 225 area and just get 20 pounds of water off. Lot of water, drinking the water load. And then Tuesday is the first day I hit it hard and just start trimming down.

   29. JRJoe Rogan3:59

       So you feel like that extra pounds helps you in what way?

   30. CACorey Anderson4:04

       It's recovery, as with getting rocked as well. Like, that was the thing in college, my coach was always training in wrestling, "We're gonna go a whole practice, nobody go get a water. If I see anybody go to the water fountain, we doing sprints, whatever, that mean you weak." You know, and it was great, 'cause we train, and then on the mat you see guys gasping for water. In third period-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      as shit. But he's a, he's a guy that relies on that explosive power. He's like a sprinter in a lot of ways. And you can only do that for so long. And you could say, like, somewhere around the second round, it was real obvious that you weren't slowing down at all.

   2. CACorey Anderson15:15

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:15

      And he was taking some big, deep breaths, and it's just, it's harder for him. Have you always had that kinda cardio?

   4. CACorey Anderson15:20

      I mean, I got it in wrestling. Like I said, I was big, you know. I was, especially when I got to 300 pounds and I was still working cardio, trying to get down as a heavyweight to wrestle and be... I always study little guys' films, you know. Like, the Henri Cejudo films and shit like that.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:34

      Mm-hmm.

   6. CACorey Anderson15:34

      When I was in college, that's just what I watched. My coach would be like, "Watch heavyweights." And I'd be like, "Nah, I wanna move, I want footwork, I wanna fake, I wanna take shots."

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:41

      Yeah.

   8. CACorey Anderson15:41

      Like, I led my team in takedowns as a heavyweight because I moved around as a big guy. And the same thing, I've had match... One match, the guy was beating me, what, 15 to one. He needed one more point to take me, going into the third point, but h- in the third round, but he gassed and I was still going. I came back and beat him in overtime.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:57

      Wow.

   10. CACorey Anderson15:57

       It's because I can just keep going. That was the mindset. Guys are gonna break eventually.

   11. JRJoe Rogan16:02

       Yeah.

   12. CACorey Anderson16:02

       My coach always said, "Act fresh. Even if you're tired as dog shit, stand up and act fresh. Like, no matter what."

   13. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       Mm-hmm.

   14. CACorey Anderson16:07

       "Look fresh." And you'll be surprised how your mind take over and you'll realize later on, you're not really tired. And when you're tired, keep pushing, 'cause the next time, you usually get tired around that three-minute mark, it'll make it to about the seven, eight minute.

   15. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       Yeah.

   16. CACorey Anderson16:19

       Then it's like 15... You start doing those grind matches and you go 30 minutes lie and when it's done, I'm able to walk, shake coach's hand, and go grab another partner or go get on a treadmill. It's because we always push as a big guy. So you gotta imagine, when I came down to 205, it was like... (grunts)

   17. JRJoe Rogan16:33

       Yeah.

   18. CACorey Anderson16:34

       It was crazy.

   19. JRJoe Rogan16:34

       Yeah.

   20. CACorey Anderson16:34

       Like, "This is, this is like magic. I can do this all day, coach."

   21. JRJoe Rogan16:38

       (laughs)

   22. CACorey Anderson16:38

       Five rounds, that first Jim... My five-round fight with Jimmy, when they called me, like, "Oh, it's the main event now. You gotta train six rounds." Like, "Okay." Like, we was in the middle of the cage, we did three rounds, Mark like, "You know you're doing six today?" "That's fine." Gave me three new partners, went, and they was tired and I was still good. Like, "Dude, your cardio's crazy." It's just a mental... Even when I'm tired, I never show it. It's like, I just gotta act fresh and get through it. It can only last so long.

   23. JRJoe Rogan16:59

       Yeah.

   24. CACorey Anderson16:59

       My father told me that forever.

   25. JRJoe Rogan17:00

       It is a weird thing, isn't it, that your, your mind can give you more energy. Like, you know that feeling that sometimes you're on a treadmill or something like that and you're running and a great song comes on. And all of a sudden you're like, "Whoo."

   26. CACorey Anderson17:12

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan17:12

       You, like, feel it, like, you got, like-

   28. CACorey Anderson17:14

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan17:14

       ... all of a sudden extra, like, where's that coming from?

   30. CACorey Anderson17:16

       Every time.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Is that the first…

   1. CACorey Anderson30:00

      in love with it there.

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      Is that the first time you worked with him?

   3. CACorey Anderson30:02

      That was the first... Uh, you ask him to this day, when Wiz in the back, the first fight to get in the house, and that was the last fight. And I told my coach, uh, I like to warm up early. They said... So I wanted to start warming up before the first fight just to get my heart going. It was a wrestling thing, go hard and then just chill 'til time. And when I was going, he was like, "Have you ever done this before?" I had no background in anything, just a wrestler that can throw a one-two. That was it.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:20

      Mm-hmm.

   5. CACorey Anderson30:21

      And he was like, "I'm gonna show you this." And he kept telling me to do it and I was listening, like, "Bro, you listen so well." Like, "When we're wrestling, you have to listen." And that's when me and Mark clicked from that day. And I remember when they flipped a coin and it came out Frankie, saying Frankie get the first pick, I remember hearing Mark in the back, "Corey! We want Corey! He listens, he's a wrestler. This and this."

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:37

      (laughs) He listens.

   7. CACorey Anderson30:37

      And me and Mark have been like this since.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:39

      Wow.

   9. CACorey Anderson30:39

      And we have that bond. But I remember coming the first day of this house, I got the jersey, is... That's how I got there. Mark was the one text me. Frankie Ru- said, "Oh, come out." Ricardo, I met everybody together. But Mark was the one that was more hands on, texting me while I was back home with the family. "Work this, work that, work this, work that. Go to Ruefus Sport and work your kicks. We need to have the kicks good by the time you get here."And it was in the basement. He's like, "All right, so..." And you see, like, this whole piece of paper, like, all the way down, like, codes. Everybody's code's-

   10. JRJoe Rogan31:03

       Yeah.

   11. CACorey Anderson31:03

       ... wrote out on paper. And what is that? He's like, "Oh, that's the combos." Like, "That's like 100 combos." Like, "Oh, yeah, we got codes." Like nobody ever knows this is- (laughs)

   12. JRJoe Rogan31:10

       And he changes the code for each fight, right?

   13. CACorey Anderson31:12

       Yeah. And I'm like, "What is that?" And you see my paper just blank. He's like, "All right, so this is your schedule." He had me on the first go. "This is your schedule." And that was just packed with like 13 weeks of non-stop going. He was like, "And this is what we're gonna work for your code. So today we're gonna start with the jab, cross, give you the codes for that, and movement." About three rounds in, I was like, "Yo." Like, I'm flat-footed. I couldn't move. Like, I, I can't do this. He's like, "You can do it. It's like a tandem dance. If we join a dance team, the first day we learn this new routine, we're gonna be all over. We're tripping each other every day. And the next day, we get a little better. In a week, we got it kinda like the first, the first course, we got it. By the end of the time, when it's time to perform, we're gonna look beautiful, I promise you." And sure enough, he, he's, uh... (laughs) I found he had the pizzeria. Like, "I want a slice of pizza." He's like, "I want you to learn how to move. Like, you learn how to move, I'll give you a slice of my pizza."

   14. JRJoe Rogan31:56

       (laughs)

   15. CACorey Anderson31:57

       He said, "When you can move, I'll bring you a slice of pizza."

   16. JRJoe Rogan31:59

       I heard he's got some killer pizza.

   17. CACorey Anderson32:00

       Yeah, it's pretty good. I think, like, it was week 10 before the fight, I had 13-week camp. He's like, "You, you actually moved a little bit. I'll tell my wife to bring you (laughs) home a slice."

   18. JRJoe Rogan32:08

       (laughs)

   19. CACorey Anderson32:09

       He said it was a slice. Like, I got his approval. And ever since then, like, it's just been a thing, that movement and his, his scientific ways. Like-

   20. JRJoe Rogan32:16

       Yeah.

   21. CACorey Anderson32:17

       Like, I've seen Chris Weidman do it, Rashad Evans. We got Lance Palmer and Claudia now, different people, like-

   22. JRJoe Rogan32:22

       Mm-hmm.

   23. CACorey Anderson32:22

       ... watching and trying to learn. You can just see-

   24. JRJoe Rogan32:24

       Oh, Lance Palmer's out there too now?

   25. CACorey Anderson32:26

       Yeah, he just came out recently.

   26. JRJoe Rogan32:28

       Mm-hmm.

   27. CACorey Anderson32:28

       He was out, uh, last week right before I left, he showed up.

   28. JRJoe Rogan32:30

       Who else is out there? Who would you say?

   29. CACorey Anderson32:31

       Uh, Claudia.

   30. JRJoe Rogan32:31

       Claudia D'Elia?
4. 45:00 – 56:04

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      you don't need any, any other information. You're getting plenty of information, you know? Fuck all that shit. You shouldn't even look at it.

   2. CACorey Anderson45:06

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      You should post and just run away. Just post something and don't even look at it.

   4. CACorey Anderson45:11

      Don't even read.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:11

      Just keep going. Just keep going. Just-

   6. CACorey Anderson45:14

      I gotta work it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      Yeah.

   8. CACorey Anderson45:15

      I know I gotta work on it. Definitely.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:16

      Because what you're saying right now, all the things you were saying about beating Glover, about beating Ilir Latifi, yeah, but you're saying it like you're arguing with somebody.

   10. CACorey Anderson45:25

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:26

       You're saying it like someone told you you can't do it. But who gives a fuck what they said? You did do it. So why argue with someone who clearly doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about anyway, right? But in your head, you're like, "They said I couldn't do this. They..."

   12. CACorey Anderson45:38

       (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:38

       Like, so you still have that... (laughs) See, you know what I'm talking about.

   14. CACorey Anderson45:42

       Yeah, 'cause-

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:43

       You have that battle with you.

   16. CACorey Anderson45:43

       100%. 'Cause Mark, they tell me all the time like, "Bro, quit feed..." Like-

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       Don't, don't even read it.

   18. CACorey Anderson45:48

       Where I come from, small... Me and my brother, we also had that mentality, like people like to talk this and this.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:53

       Yeah.

   20. CACorey Anderson45:53

       We weren't the type to... We ain't gonna sit there and talk back and forth.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       Right.

   22. CACorey Anderson45:55

       It's like I... N- My first response to anybody they talking shit, like, "All right, put your hands up. Let's-"

   23. JRJoe Rogan46:00

       Right.

   24. CACorey Anderson46:00

       "I'm ready to fight." (laughs) "You saying that shit, I'm gonna prove you wrong."

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:03

       Right.

   26. CACorey Anderson46:03

       "That's gonna be my time." Like, they always said, "Cory couldn't do this, you wouldn't do that, you wouldn't do this," my whole life. Like in college, they're like, "Cory, you're not good enough to go to Midlands. We only take five guys on the team. And you... I guarantee you Coach ain't gonna take you." For the two years I was there, I was the guy that went to Midlands the first pick every time. Like, I'm always shooting to prove somebody wrong and they didn't stop that.

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:20

       Do you feel like that's a part of your motivation?

   28. CACorey Anderson46:22

       Yes. It's always been that way.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:24

       But you're also... Your motivation is obviously excellent, so there's no way it could just be to prove someone wrong as hard as you work.

   30. CACorey Anderson46:30

       No, but that's just... That's what... That's how I got to the mentality and the work ethic I got.

Episode duration: 3:10:51