JRE MMA Show #72 with Andy Ruiz

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   And we're live. What's…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:02

      And we're live. What's up-

   2. ARAndy Ruiz0:04

      What's up?

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:04

      ... heavyweight champion of the world.

   4. ARAndy Ruiz0:05

      Mm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:05

      How's that feel, man?

   6. ARAndy Ruiz0:07

      It's amazing, you know. It's a big blessing. Just happy.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:11

      Does, does it seem real?

   8. ARAndy Ruiz0:13

      It's still ... Yeah, of course. It's real, uh ... For the first few weeks, the first few days, I was pinching myself, seeing if it was-

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:18

      (laughs)

   10. ARAndy Ruiz0:19

       ... if it was a dream or nothing, but, you know, I'm just really blessed to be here. Lot of big blessings.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:24

       What an incredible situation, right? You got ... So, s- so, like, how many weeks out did you find out about the fight?

   12. ARAndy Ruiz0:30

       Um, I think it was, like, a month, a month and two weeks.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       Wow.

   14. ARAndy Ruiz0:34

       A month and two weeks, I messaged Eddie Hearn. I told him, "You know what? Give me the opportunity." And wouldn't you know, he messaged back. Me and my girl were just all happy, like, "Whoa." It was crazy.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       Wow. And you were already in camp, right?

   16. ARAndy Ruiz0:47

       Mm-hmm.

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:47

       So, like, wasn't like you ... they called you out of shape?

   18. ARAndy Ruiz0:50

       No, um ... No, it was after my fight against, uh, Oleksandr Dymytrenko.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Oh, that's right. How much time did you have off to recover?

   20. ARAndy Ruiz0:57

       Um, I just took, like, a week and a half off.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       Oh, that's nice.

   22. ARAndy Ruiz1:00

       And I went back to the gym, and I was just ready and loose. So it was ... It couldn't have happened at a perfect time.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:06

       That's amazing. Um, do you like it like that, where you just experienced a big fight so you're already kind of used to the, the being in the ring, being on television, the whole moment of it all, and then, boom, it happens again right afterwards?

   24. ARAndy Ruiz1:19

       Yeah, of course. You know, 'cause I was already loose, I was already in fight mode. So especially from f- uh, having the heavyweight champion title, you know, um, the opportunity to get that, it's ... It was amazing.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:31

       It was an incredible fight, man. It was incredible.

   26. ARAndy Ruiz1:33

       Yeah, thank you.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:34

       It was really amazing. What was amazing was when you got dropped, you kept your composure. You got up and then he tried to move in for the kill, and then you started landing bombs on him and dropped him. And I remember jumping off the bed while I was watching going, "Oh, shit."

   28. ARAndy Ruiz1:50

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:50

       It was wild, man. It was a wild fight.

   30. ARAndy Ruiz1:52

       Yeah. Uh, it was my first time getting dropped. And, you know what, um, I don't feel super hurt, you know, because I, I ... When I got dropped, he hit me with, uh, a good right hand and I took it like a champ. But, psh, I got up, man, and I just throw him bombs.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Well, it's just, it's,…

   1. ARAndy Ruiz15:00

      is the only thing that I know, so thank God that it paid off.

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:03

      Well, it's just, it's, uh, it's such an amazing story. I love a story like that. It's such a Rocky story, such a Cinderella story.

   3. ARAndy Ruiz15:10

      A Cinderella? (laughs)

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:11

      It's amazing.

   5. ARAndy Ruiz15:12

      Well, yeah, everybody underestimated me. They're, they're just waiting for me to, uh, to get knocked down, and then when they, when they see me get knocked down, they're like, "Oh." And it's crazy that the announcers were, were saying, "Oh, Anthony's a great finisher. Look at how he's gonna finish him." And what do you know, I end up getting him with the, with the hook.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:28

      (laughs)

   7. ARAndy Ruiz15:28

      Yeah, it was crazy.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:29

      How many times you watch the fight?

   9. ARAndy Ruiz15:31

      Um, sh- probably, like, 30 times.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:34

       (laughs)

   11. ARAndy Ruiz15:34

       30 times. And I still got more-

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:36

       (laughs)

   13. ARAndy Ruiz15:36

       ... more to see, you know, because when he got me with the uppercut and the hook, um, I was kinda, I was kinda being on a lazy mode, you know? Uh-

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       Mm-hmm.

   15. ARAndy Ruiz15:44

       ... I think I need to put my geared up more and move the head more.

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:48

       Well, he's a big powerful motherfucker, but he's an outside fighter. He likes to fight on the outside-

   17. ARAndy Ruiz15:53

       Mm-hmm.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:53

       ... and drop big power punches. And that's where it became apparent that, like, when you're in the dogfight, when you guys are in tight, you have that advantage-

   19. ARAndy Ruiz16:01

       Mm-hmm.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:01

       ... of the fluidity and efficiency and your angles.

   21. ARAndy Ruiz16:03

       I think it's, I think it's the speed that I kinda messed him up, you know?

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       Mm-hmm.

   23. ARAndy Ruiz16:07

       And I, I'm not, I'm not just a one, two, three fighter, uh, puncher, you know? I, I try to throw more than, than one or two punches, so ...

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:16

       No, dude-

   25. ARAndy Ruiz16:16

       You know?

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:16

       ... you throw hailstorms.

   27. ARAndy Ruiz16:18

       Yeah. (laughs)

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:18

       There's shit coming your way-

   29. ARAndy Ruiz16:19

       Thank you, man.

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:19

       ... from all kinds of angles. It's awesome, man. So, you're in this amazing position now. Um, when you're, you're headed into this fight, how long did it take to negotiate the rematch? I'm sure you had-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Tyson Fury, I think…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      to you, to be, like, the, the best matchup after that?

   2. ARAndy Ruiz30:03

      Tyson Fury, I think he's, he's one of the biggest names out there, you know.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:07

      Mm-hmm.

   4. ARAndy Ruiz30:08

      Um, I, I like Dyl- Dylan White. So, you know, he was coming up.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:11

      Mm-hmm.

   6. ARAndy Ruiz30:11

      But...Um, he got caught up with-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:13

      He pissed off.

   8. ARAndy Ruiz30:13

      He did.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:14

      Yeah. What'd he ke- what'd he get caught with?

   10. ARAndy Ruiz30:15

       I don't know. I think it was PED or something.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:18

       Some sort of performance-enhancing drug.

   12. ARAndy Ruiz30:19

       I don't know why they do that. Why?

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:21

       (coughing) Oh, I know why.

   14. ARAndy Ruiz30:22

       For what?

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:22

       I know why. They wanna win.

   16. ARAndy Ruiz30:23

       Shit, uh, you don't need it, man. Look at me, I, um-

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:26

       (laughs)

   18. ARAndy Ruiz30:27

       ... It do- it doesn't look like if I take anything, you know? It's just-

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:29

       Yeah.

   20. ARAndy Ruiz30:30

       ... all natural.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:31

       Well, you're consistent and, eh, even though you, you carry body fat, you're always in great shape. You know, you never have a problem with fatigue in your fights.

   22. ARAndy Ruiz30:38

       I have a six-pack under my abs, under my belly.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       It's in there. (laughs)

   24. ARAndy Ruiz30:42

       You know, it's in there somewhere.

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       Yeah, I mean, that's deceptive, you know. There's, uh, quite a few fighters like that, that you look at them on the outside and you can get real confused.

   26. ARAndy Ruiz30:50

       Mm-hmm.

   27. JRJoe Rogan30:50

       You know? But you have always been consistent. Like, you had a consistent amateur career, a consistent-

   28. ARAndy Ruiz30:55

       Mm-hmm.

   29. JRJoe Rogan30:55

       ... professional career. Some fighters, just, like, they ... maybe they just feel like they need something else, you know? They just don't feel like they're doing enough and they wanna, they want a shortcut, you know?

   30. ARAndy Ruiz31:06

       Yeah, I don't know.
4. 45:00 – 58:07

   Nice. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      get? Uh, well, I think you reposted it and it got a lot more views than it did on his page. His got like 736- His- ... thr- uh, 735,000. Mm-hmm. But on mine it was- Yeah, it was a lot more. ... millions.

   2. ARAndy Ruiz45:10

      Nice.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:11

      (laughs) Yeah, no, it's crazy. He's- he does a lot of great shit in MMA and in, uh, boxing. There's been a lot of that, right? A lot of memes?

   4. ARAndy Ruiz45:18

      Yeah, I like that, you know? And now they have my own one, so it's- it's amazing.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:23

      They have your own one what?

   6. ARAndy Ruiz45:24

      Like the- the memies that- that- that they put of- of me hitting, uh, Anthony Joshua, you know, stuff like that.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:31

      Yeah.

   8. ARAndy Ruiz45:32

      Having me there and looking at it, I'm just like, "Wow, man, this is crazy."

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:36

      Yeah, wild, right?

   10. ARAndy Ruiz45:37

       (clears throat)

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:38

       So, you- uh, you didn't emulate anybody when you were coming up? It's not like Chavez or- or Barrera-

   12. ARAndy Ruiz45:44

       Um...

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:44

       ... or anybody that you- you, like, tried to imitate their style? Or Tyson?

   14. ARAndy Ruiz45:47

       Of course. Yeah, of course, like Tyson, you know, everybody wants to knock everybody out like Tyson. And, um, Chavez, always going to the body, you know?

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:55

       Mm-hmm.

   16. ARAndy Ruiz45:55

       I'm one of the heavyweights that I like to hit the body a lot, you know? Get them tired. Um, uh, but like I said, I- I think I have my own style, you know? I like- I like my style.

   17. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       Have you had the same trainer your entire life?

   18. ARAndy Ruiz46:09

       No, I went through... I learned from a lot of different trainers. You know, my first, um, real professional trainer was Freddie Roach. That's when I met-

   19. JRJoe Rogan46:16

       Oh, really?

   20. ARAndy Ruiz46:16

       Yeah, that's when I met Manny Pacquiao.

   21. JRJoe Rogan46:17

       I love Freddie.

   22. ARAndy Ruiz46:18

       Freddie... me too, uh-

   23. JRJoe Rogan46:19

       Such a great guy.

   24. ARAndy Ruiz46:21

       Freddie, uh, helped me out through my whole professional career until like the- my 10th- uh, or 12th fight. He had me, so I learned a lot from him.

   25. JRJoe Rogan46:30

       Why did you stop training with him?

   26. ARAndy Ruiz46:31

       Um, they sent me to Las Vegas. Uh, Top Rank sent me over there. Uh, and then, um, some guy, Jeff-

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:38

       Who were you training with over there?

   28. ARAndy Ruiz46:39

       ... Jeff, some guy. J- Jeff Grzymosa. Some big guy was training me over there. And then we moved from there when we went to Abel Sanchez when I fought for the- for the world title for the WBO against Joseph Parker.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:50

       So, you were up in- up in Big Bear with Abel?

   30. ARAndy Ruiz46:53

       In Big Bear. I was in Big Bear for... I think for like a month and a half, for the fight.

Episode duration: 58:07