JRE MMA Show #93 with Alexander Volkanovski

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   ... to the left,…

   1. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:00

      ... to the left, and... Okay.

   2. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      No, here we go. Three, two, one. The champ is here! How are you, sir?

   3. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:06

      I'm good, I'm good. How are you?

   4. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      Pull this, uh, sucker up about, like, a-

   5. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:08

      Get closer?

   6. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      Yeah.

   7. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:09

      Okay.

   8. JRJoe Rogan0:09

      Like, a fist from your face is good.

   9. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:10

      All right. Is that good?

   10. JRJoe Rogan0:11

       There you go. Good to see you, brother. What's happening?

   11. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:12

       Oh, nothing much, mate. Nothing much. Just-

   12. JRJoe Rogan0:14

       Ha. Has it settled in that you're the champ now?

   13. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:16

       Uh, yeah. Yeah.

   14. JRJoe Rogan0:17

       Does it still feel real or is it-

   15. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:18

       Yeah, yeah. It's, it's settled in. You know what I mean? Like, it, it's weird. It's, uh, hard to explain. Like, I'm, I'm the type of person that, you know, as soon as I'm home, I'm Daddy, I'm the regular bloke that everyone knew me 10 years ago.

   16. JRJoe Rogan0:28

       Mm-hmm.

   17. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:29

       But at the same time, obviously, you've got, you know, the, the media obligations and everything that needs to be done. So it's, uh... You know, it is different. You're gonna get recognized a little bit more on the street, but-

   18. JRJoe Rogan0:38

       What is it like in Australia now? Do people get excited to see you now?

   19. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:41

       Yeah, yeah. Australia, you know, obviously, you know, it's where I'm from, so that's, uh... You know, the supports are big, especially where I am locally. Like, you know, every time I fight, literally, our, our, our, you know, our city, like, stops, you know, just to watch the fight.

   20. JRJoe Rogan0:52

       What's the city?

   21. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:53

       Uh, Wollongong. The Gong.

   22. JRJoe Rogan0:55

       What?

   23. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:55

       The Gong.

   24. JRJoe Rogan0:55

       Say it again?

   25. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:55

       Wollongong.

   26. JRJoe Rogan0:56

       Wollongong?

   27. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:57

       The Gong. Yes.

   28. JRJoe Rogan0:58

       The Gong. Where's the Gong?

   29. AVAlexander Volkanovski0:58

       Yeah, w- we're called The Gong.

   30. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Where?
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Uh, yeah. …

   1. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:00

      he, uh... I'm pretty sure it was John Wayne Parr that was... I need to actually hit him up. I need to hit up my cousin, be like-

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:04

      Uh, yeah.

   3. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:04

      "Was he, was, uh, John Wayne Parr the main event of that?" Because I remember watching and, and-

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:07

      I'll connect you and John Wayne if you'd like.

   5. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:09

      Um, yeah.

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:10

      I look forward to it.

   7. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:10

      Well, actually... Yeah, all right. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:12

      Yeah, yeah.

   9. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:12

      Sweet. For sure.

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:13

       Yeah.

   11. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:13

       But again, like, uh, I've al- I've always been a fan of him too, like, but when I got a little bit older, but-

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:17

       Mm-hmm.

   13. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:18

       ... you know? But, but yeah, again, like, it's something that I've always been fascinated about, all, all combat sports.

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:23

       So you decided to make the leap. Was it the rugby season was over and you were like, "You know what? I'm done."?

   15. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:29

       Yeah, well, I was... While I was fighting again my last year, I, I had a couple of fights in-

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:33

       How many fights did you have before you quit rugby?

   17. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:35

       I think I had two.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:35

       You had two?

   19. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:35

       I think I had two fights.

   20. JRJoe Rogan15:36

       And that was enough?

   21. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:37

       Uh, yeah, I think so. Uh, you know, I'm a pretty competitive type of guy. And the fact that, you know, I wasn't at the highest level in rugby league yet, you know, I was 22. And, you know, at that, that age you usually, you know, if you're not in, you know, not NRL as that's the, the highest. If you're not in the NRL by like 22, you, you're pretty much yanking in, like sort of, sort of like that.

   22. JRJoe Rogan15:58

       Yeah.

   23. AVAlexander Volkanovski15:58

       And that's how I was. And I'm, again, I'm competitive. So I was like, "I don't know if I'm gonna make it to the top," even though I was, I was pretty good, you know, made a lot of rep sides and stuff like that. But I was just, "Nah, you know, I want to take this one. I reckon I can go the whole way."

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:08

       Mm-hmm.

   25. AVAlexander Volkanovski16:08

       And again, like, I already pictured myself winning world titles-

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:11

       (laughs)

   27. AVAlexander Volkanovski16:11

       ... and stuff like this. And I even told people, like, before I even started that, "I wanna be UFC champion one time." And they're probably thinking, "Where are you even getting this?" You know, I'm sure a lot of people say that, but I've actually gone and-

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:22

       A lot of people have said it, yeah.

   29. AVAlexander Volkanovski16:23

       Yeah, exactly.

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       (laughs)
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yep. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      vegetarian 'cause she loves animals and I'm like, "Let's go catch a fish. It'd be great. You know, you'll, you'll catch a fish and you eat it." And... 'cause she had like started eating like a little bit of meat.

   2. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:08

      Yep.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:09

      So I take her. We catch a marlin five minutes into the trip. They pull it on board, beat it to death with a club right in front of her. She's like, "Oh." And it's big, right?

   4. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:17

      Far out, yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:17

      Like the size of a dog, right? And they're beating this thing with clubs. You see the look on her poor face. She was like, "Oh." (laughs)

   6. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:25

      Oh. (laughs) Well, welcome back to the-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:26

      It, it didn't die quick either. It kept making noises.

   8. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:29

      Oh, no.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:29

      And it would flop around. Every now and then it would like come back to life a little bit and flop around. It was like...

   10. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:33

       Did she go back to, uh-

   11. JRJoe Rogan30:35

       No.

   12. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:35

       ... vegetarian after that? (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan30:37

       No, she cheats meat. Cheats meat. But it was-

   14. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:38

       Oh, okay.

   15. JRJoe Rogan30:38

       It was a bit traumatic.

   16. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:39

       Yeah, I could imagine.

   17. JRJoe Rogan30:40

       To put it lightly. Yeah. But I love fishing, man.

   18. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:42

       It's just...

   19. JRJoe Rogan30:42

       It's one of my favorite things to do.

   20. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:44

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan30:44

       I love it.

   22. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:45

       Yeah, well, I've watched it, uh, 'cause I'll, um, I get into the, I do a bit o' hunting an- and stuff myself. So, you know, I've watched the ... I made it up. I've watched the-

   23. JRJoe Rogan30:52

       Yeah.

   24. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:52

       ... you know what I mean? There were a couple of times, yeah, that's cool, I actually-

   25. JRJoe Rogan30:53

       Do you hunt in Australia?

   26. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:54

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan30:55

       Australia's a great place to hunt.

   28. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:56

       Yeah, yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       Yeah. Shout out to my friend Adam Greentree.

   30. AVAlexander Volkanovski30:58

       Yeah, yeah.
4. 45:00 – 56:21

   Mm-hmm. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      Adesanya could have done.

   2. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:01

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:01

      And Yoel, like, I mean, I guess he's- he's selling that Izzy didn't do anything.

   4. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:07

      Mm-hmm.

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:08

      That he wouldn't fight him man to man, but that's not true.

   6. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:10

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:10

      Because he didn't come forward.

   8. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:12

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:12

      Like he's- he's selling as if he was chasing Izzy and Izzy wasn't doing anything, but that's not what happened.

   10. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:18

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:18

       Like Izzy was-

   12. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:19

       Exactly right.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:19

       ... trying to get him to engage and he didn't want to engage. He was literally standing there-

   14. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:23

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:23

       ... at the beginning of the fight, standing still-

   16. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:26

       Yeah, man.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:26

       ... which is kind of crazy.

   18. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:27

       It was that. It was like a solid minute or something, or more.

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:29

       Standing still. And then he would switch stances a little bit. Choo, choo.

   20. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:32

       Yep.

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:32

       Stand still. Choo, choo.

   22. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:33

       Like up a little.

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:34

       He ... But he's lulling you to sleep and you saw that when he- he-

   24. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:38

       Mm-hmm.

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:38

       ... did land a couple good left hands-

   26. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:40

       Yep.

   27. JRJoe Rogan45:40

       ... when Izzy did try to connect, when he did try to get close, he tried ... Bought into it a little bit and Yoel threw that fucking left hand.

   28. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:48

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan45:49

       It's crazy how fast that guy is.

   30. AVAlexander Volkanovski45:50

       Yeah, man. So again, like, you know, when you're just ... You can sense that as soon as I do commit to anything, he's just gonna come guns blazing.

Episode duration: 1:43:41