JRE MMA Show #81 with Dave Leduc

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   3, 2, 1. What's…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      3, 2, 1. What's up, Dave? How are you, brother?

   2. DLDave Leduc0:04

      And we're live, bitches.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:05

      Yes, indeed.

   4. DLDave Leduc0:06

      (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      (laughs) You wanted to say that, huh?

   6. DLDave Leduc0:07

      Yeah. I- I just thought about it.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      Just playing on it?

   8. DLDave Leduc0:09

      No.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      Uh, thanks for doing this, man. I appreciate it.

   10. DLDave Leduc0:11

       Thanks for having me.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:12

       Dude, I've watched you fight a bunch of times online and, uh, Lethwei is probably one of the most brutal combat sports in the world.

   12. DLDave Leduc0:20

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:20

       And it's so interesting watching a guy like you. Uh, uh, are you Que- Quebecois, is that what you said?

   14. DLDave Leduc0:26

       Quebecois. You're good.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       Yeah, um, from-

   16. DLDave Leduc0:27

       How's your French?

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       It's not bad.

   18. DLDave Leduc0:29

       Okay.

   19. JRJoe Rogan0:29

       It's terrible.

   20. DLDave Leduc0:30

       (laughs) It doesn't matter.

   21. JRJoe Rogan0:30

       It's way worse than I- um, I don't know anything in French.

   22. DLDave Leduc0:33

       (laughs)

   23. JRJoe Rogan0:33

       But y- how do you, how do you go from Montreal to being the king of Lethwei?

   24. DLDave Leduc0:37

       Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's, it's a crazy journey, man. And, uh, like, like in a way too, it was, uh, it wa- should we go there right away?

   25. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       Yeah, let's go there right away.

   26. DLDave Leduc0:44

       Yeah, basically, uh, when I was... I, I used to play baseball. I was a baseball... I was a pitcher in Pennsylvania. I was, like, doing a bunch of, uh, uh, like, university baseball, um, traveling team. And then I got into, uh, uh, like, a fight with my father. Uh, shout out to my father, uh, but-

   27. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       A fistfight with your father?

   28. DLDave Leduc1:00

       No. Th- i- it never went physical.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01

       Oh.

   30. DLDave Leduc1:01

       But it was, like, going very hard and they said, like, my par- both my parents said, "Dave, please le- please leave." Like, the, "You're," like, "you're kicked out of the house." And he goes s-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   That's disgusting. …

   1. DLDave Leduc15:00

      I have 10 Muay Thai fights." "Oh, Muay Thai? Well, he's, you know, 50 fights in Lethwei and you have 10 fights in Muay Thai. Well, let me, let me do something." He lied on the record. He said I have 40 fights. Okay? And then, uh-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:14

      That's disgusting.

   3. DLDave Leduc15:14

      ... I go over, uh, I go over there, I'm like, "I don't care." Because my coach, Sifu Patrick, and I, we were always, uh, like, you know, eye gouging and, and, uh, like, practicing. That's the mentality of it, like, aggressively, like fish hooking in the clinch, uh, or s- or in the grappling.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:27

      Can you do that in Lethwei?

   5. DLDave Leduc15:28

      No.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:28

      No.

   7. DLDave Leduc15:29

      But, I mean, you could probably eye, uh, fish hook if ... Probably.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:32

      Probably?

   9. DLDave Leduc15:33

      I mean, they don't care really.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:35

       Really?

   11. DLDave Leduc15:35

       Yeah. As, as long as there's no eye pokes, you know.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:38

       Right.

   13. DLDave Leduc15:38

       So anyway, so I was always ready for that. I wanted that, that, uh, aggressive f- fights. So, uh, um, I go to the fight and some kind of energy comes in my body. I don't know, uh, I don't believe in that stuff, but, like, uh, I just disfigured him. Like, he didn't touch me much. I was using my, my push kick to the thighs, I was keeping my distance and then I went inside, I used my elbows and I ... Like, if you see the fight, it's, uh, he was, uh, he really puffed up. Like, it was pretty cool. And, uh, then that was my first fight and the crowd, like, they were throwing bottles at, (laughs) a little bit. But they're-

   14. JRJoe Rogan16:11

       Why were they throwing bottles? 'Cause-

   15. DLDave Leduc16:12

       They-

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:12

       ... they're, he's their champion?

   17. DLDave Leduc16:14

       Yeah.

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:14

       Yeah.

   19. DLDave Leduc16:14

       But then they quickly saw that I did my, my, uh, Leh Kamun, which is the, the ch- challenge gesture, uh, you know, very old challenge gesture. And they, uh, they, they loved it. So they started really-

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       What is ... How does that work?

   21. DLDave Leduc16:27

       So basically, you, before the fight, you put your arm like this and you, you, you, you sp-

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:31

       So, explain to people that are just listening.

   23. DLDave Leduc16:32

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:32

       You put one arm under your, under your armpit?

   25. DLDave Leduc16:34

       Yeah. So yeah, for those at home, so you put your left arm under your armpit and the other arm in the air and you, uh, you hit with your f- ... Your, um-

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:42

       Cupped hand?

   27. DLDave Leduc16:42

       ... cupped, cupped, cupped hand on the triangle shape of your elbow and you ... (slaps hands) Three times. That actually gives me more goosebumps before ... 'Cause that, that's how I triggered that to the fight, right? And this is a, is a, uh, very old gesture f- uh, from Myanmar, from the Burmese army back in the days when they were in the trenches and they were fighting enemies. Uh, you challenge with honor and courage your opponents and, uh, you do that, and that simulates the wing of an eagle.

   28. JRJoe Rogan17:07

       Oh.

   29. DLDave Leduc17:08

       You know, and you, like-

   30. JRJoe Rogan17:09

       So they saw you do that and they get f- they got fired up-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah, also disfigured him,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      Yeah.

   2. DLDave Leduc30:00

      Yeah, also disfigured him, too.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:02

      Yeah?

   4. DLDave Leduc30:02

      Yeah. And we had a little bit of rivalry. And, uh-

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      He's a very good fighter.

   6. DLDave Leduc30:05

      Very good fighter.

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:06

      Yeah.

   8. DLDave Leduc30:06

      But he was able ... He was running around the entire freaking fight.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:08

      He's a shorter guy too, right?

   10. DLDave Leduc30:10

       He was 5'10", I believe.

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:11

       Is he?

   12. DLDave Leduc30:12

       Yeah, 5'11".

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:12

       Yeah, okay.

   14. DLDave Leduc30:12

       I'm not sure. But he was a bit shorter than me, but, uh, yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:15

       He's a guy that throws a lot of spinning techniques too, right?

   16. DLDave Leduc30:17

       Yeah. And I was aware of that. And I was ... I wanted to make sure that, you know, I, I keep my distance.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:21

       Mm-hmm.

   18. DLDave Leduc30:21

       But then, I had ... I knew I had a better inside game than him.

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:24

       Oh, okay.

   20. DLDave Leduc30:24

       So I want ... I didn't wanna ... I wanted to go inside fast. Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:27

       Hmm.

   22. DLDave Leduc30:27

       Yeah. So him and a couple of ... Um, yeah. But the, the biggest name was the, the Burmese guys, you know.

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:33

       Mm-hmm.

   24. DLDave Leduc30:33

       They're like 55 million people. For, for people at home that ... There's 55 million people in Myanmar and their national sport is Lethwei.

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       Yeah.

   26. DLDave Leduc30:40

       And it's like a religion there.

   27. JRJoe Rogan30:41

       That is crazy.

   28. DLDave Leduc30:42

       It's crazy. It's a-

   29. JRJoe Rogan30:43

       It's crazy that it's so popular there. And most people ... Unless you're a hardcore martial arts fan, you don't even know about it.

   30. DLDave Leduc30:49

       Yeah. It's, it's-
4. 45:00 – 57:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      sure.

   2. DLDave Leduc45:00

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      You know, that there's like a face that speaks English that, you know, is the-

   4. DLDave Leduc45:04

      Yeah, you couldn't see p-

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:04

      ... the, the head guy.

   6. DLDave Leduc45:05

      You couldn't have like two men speak in English, right?

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:07

      Right, right, it's hard to get excited about it. Sometimes that's all it takes is like someone who crosses over becomes the best at it from another country, and then you can speak English clearly, and so they're basically-

   8. DLDave Leduc45:16

      Not bad. No accent, Lethwei.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:17

      Well, yeah, you obviously have an accent-

   10. DLDave Leduc45:18

       Fuck.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:18

       ... but it's clear. But it's clear.

   12. DLDave Leduc45:20

       Do you know I actually learned English, uh, (laughs) while watching Fear Factor?

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:23

       No, you didn't.

   14. DLDave Leduc45:24

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:25

       Get the fuck outta here.

   16. DLDave Leduc45:26

       I was watching it incorrect.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       Yeah. Maybe. But that's not how you learned English.

   18. DLDave Leduc45:28

       Hey, that's why I swear so much. (laughs) I'm joking.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:31

       I never swore on Fear Factor.

   20. DLDave Leduc45:33

       (laughs) I'm joking.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:33

       It doesn't even make any sense.

   22. DLDave Leduc45:34

       (laughs) I'm teasing you.

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       How many fights have you had over there?

   24. DLDave Leduc45:36

       Um, um, over 10. Uh, it's like I choose right now, at first, uh, my first couple years I was doing like six fights, like, uh, like f- like four or five fights a f- and I was getting like super, uh, not m- not depressed but like it was ver- very redundant. You know? It's like every two months, same, same techniques, same pad session, same thing, same running, same hills. It was like-

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       Mm-hmm.

   26. DLDave Leduc45:54

       And I had like, whoa, and I was like getting injured everywhere, like my elbows were hurt, my knuckles were swollen, so I'm like, I called my wife and I, uh, I, I, I called her after training, I was like, "Can we just take a break?" (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:04

       Yeah.

   28. DLDave Leduc46:04

       And I s- and now, um, I negotiated like, uh, a very good contract with the WLC and they take care of me, so I, uh, I'm able to take, you know, one or two fights a year.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:15

       Oh, that's great.

   30. DLDave Leduc46:15

       Yeah. Yeah.

Episode duration: 1:58:10