JRE MMA Show #163 - Protect Ya Neck
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Matt Serra (guest), Din Thomas (guest), John Rallo (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Guest (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, JRE MMA Show #163 - Protect Ya Neck explores rogan, Serra, Thomas dive deep into MMA, toughness, and chaos Joe Rogan hosts Matt Serra, Din Thomas, and John Rallo for a long-form, freewheeling MMA show that mixes technical fight breakdowns with gym stories, movie talk, and dark humor. They analyze current and upcoming UFC matchups, especially Alex Pereira, Khalil Rountree, Merab Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley, and Volkanovski’s recent decisions. A big chunk of the conversation centers on fighter safety: weight-cutting, eye pokes, gloves, PED eras, and how careers get derailed by bad cuts or late-career wars. They also veer into pop culture—chimp documentaries, classic Westerns and gangster films, Alien and zombie movies—using them as analogies for violence, fear, and how audiences consume combat sports.
Rogan, Serra, Thomas dive deep into MMA, toughness, and chaos
Joe Rogan hosts Matt Serra, Din Thomas, and John Rallo for a long-form, freewheeling MMA show that mixes technical fight breakdowns with gym stories, movie talk, and dark humor. They analyze current and upcoming UFC matchups, especially Alex Pereira, Khalil Rountree, Merab Dvalishvili, Sean O’Malley, and Volkanovski’s recent decisions. A big chunk of the conversation centers on fighter safety: weight-cutting, eye pokes, gloves, PED eras, and how careers get derailed by bad cuts or late-career wars. They also veer into pop culture—chimp documentaries, classic Westerns and gangster films, Alien and zombie movies—using them as analogies for violence, fear, and how audiences consume combat sports.
Key Takeaways
Never wear metal rings when training or lifting.
They describe gruesome ‘degloving’ injuries from metal wedding rings catching on mats or weights and strongly recommend silicone bands or no rings at all in the gym.
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A massive gas tank is a weapon on par with power or technique.
Merab Dvalishvili is held up as the template—his insane pace, clinch pressure, and ability to stay relentless from round one to five can break elite opponents even if they survive early exchanges.
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Weight cutting is normalized cheating and needs systemic reform.
They argue fighters’ ‘true’ weight should be measured hydrated (e. ...
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Eye pokes are fixable with better glove design.
Open fingers and current UFC gloves keep causing fight-altering pokes; covering fingertips or adopting curved designs like Trevor Wittman’s would reduce gouging without harming grappling.
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Late-notice title fights are legacy gambles that often backfire.
Volkanovski’s 10-days-notice rematch with Makhachev is used as a cautionary tale: the warrior mindset plus short prep and prior damage can lead to brutal KOs and shorten primes, even if the opportunity is historic.
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One-dimensional trash talk can cross into career-damaging territory.
They differentiate playful promotion from lines you shouldn’t cross—like bringing up dead relatives or spouses—arguing that some of Colby Covington and Conor McGregor’s comments move from hype into unforgivable disrespect.
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Modern prospects enter MMA far more complete than past generations.
Between ubiquitous fight footage, PI support, and kids growing up training mixed styles from day one, new contenders arrive with polished striking, grappling, and cardio that used to take veterans years to piece together.
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Notable Quotes
“It shouldn’t be the ultimate weight-cutting championship.”
— Joe Rogan
“Show me your friends, you show me who you are.”
— Matt Serra (on War Machine and Phil Baroni)
“This is what actual men are like when there’s no one around that can yell at you.”
— Joe Rogan
“If I get behind you and put that in there, you’re going night-night.”
— Matt Serra (on chokes and willpower not beating physics)
“We’re so spoiled. The most. With fights every weekend.”
— Din Thomas
Questions Answered in This Episode
How would MMA fundamentally change if promotions banned drastic weight cuts and enforced ‘natural weight’ classes?
Joe Rogan hosts Matt Serra, Din Thomas, and John Rallo for a long-form, freewheeling MMA show that mixes technical fight breakdowns with gym stories, movie talk, and dark humor. ...
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Should oblique kicks and side kicks to the knee remain legal given the risk of catastrophic joint damage, or are they a fair, defendable weapon?
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What’s the ethical line between effective promotion and unforgivable trash talk in combat sports, and who should enforce it?
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If you redesigned MMA gloves from scratch, how would you balance eye-poke prevention, hand protection, and grappling function?
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Which fighter’s late-career decline do you think most distorts how fans remember their prime, and how should we judge ‘greatness’ across full careers?
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Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. (rock music)
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. Gentlemen, we still don't have a name for this.
We're not the Cucks, right?
(laughs)
We got rid of that?
Cucks-
Guys, what was wrong with the Cucks?
What happened with Protect Your Neck?
Cucks is okay.
Protect Your Neck.
What happ- what happened with Protect Your Neck?
I think Protect Your Neck is best. That's the best one. Yeah, let's go with Protect Your Neck.
I'm down with that.
Protect Your Neck is-
Yeah, I'm down for that.
We could have the-
Protect Your Neck.
Yeah.
... Wu Tang theme song.
Yeah. Wu Tang, it's perfect.
Yeah.
Protect Your Neck.
Beautiful.
Yeah. We already, the theme song is already done for us.
Exactly. Yeah.
We got it.
There's two Wu Tang songs I always listen to when I'm going to an arena when I'm doing a show. It's Protect Your Neck and Gravel Pit. Those two-
Hmm.
... they just get you in the groove.
Yeah, yeah. Get you in, yeah, get you going.
Especially Gravel Pit. Oh. There it is. (hip hop music) That's our theme song, boys.
I like it.
Come on, that's all we got with- without getting kicked off of YouTube.
(laughs)
Even that might get us in trouble. You all right there, Ralo?
No, my headphone jack.
Are you fingering that skull?
Your headphones not working?
Yeah, not hearing anything right now.
Oh, for real? All right.
We gotta pause real quick, see if Jamie can fix this. We'll pause.
Really?
Can you hear now, Ralo?
Yes, sir.
There we go.
Hey, hey. You know what we never tried?
What?
The f- the smelling salts.
We got them right here.
Oh, yeah. You gotta do it.
But we gotta show, we gotta show Dean the sheathing.
Oh, what is the fucking sheathing? What does that mean?
It's when, when metal rings. We were all talking about it.
Oh.
I don't wanna see that shit.
The three of us have rings on, but they're rubber. These are like silicone, right?
All right. Lemme see. All right.
Get it or back it.
(screaming)
Look at this. Yeah, my nigga. Yeah, bro.
(screaming)
Oh, yeah.
Sure.
You look like chicken wings. (screaming)
Yeah.
That's what happens. Don't wear a ring on the mat, ever.
Oh. All right, all right.
Oh, fuck.
Turn it off, turn it off.
Don't wear a ring to the gym.
Yeah.
It, like, you could, uh, drop a weight on it or rip your finger off.
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