JRE MMA Show #171 with Brendan Allen
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Brendan Allen (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, JRE MMA Show #171 with Brendan Allen explores brendan Allen Talks UFC Politics, Mindset, Weight Cuts, Future Title Shot Joe Rogan and Brendan Allen dive into the chaotic landscape of modern MMA: Trump’s proposed White House UFC event, outdoor cards, extreme injuries, and the evolution of the sport’s skill level and coaching. Allen breaks down his path from 13-year-old jiu-jitsu kid to UFC middleweight contender, including brutal early sparring, training-camp politics, and moving camps to work with Belal Muhammad’s team in Chicago. They explore weight cutting, hydration hacks in ONE, injuries fought through, stem cells, recovery tech, mental performance coaching, and how judging and rule interpretations shape careers and strategy. The conversation closes with Allen’s candid desire to fight Dricus du Plessis next, why he’s drawn to ‘dangerous’ opponents, and how he’s managing fear, confidence, and longevity in the sport.
Brendan Allen Talks UFC Politics, Mindset, Weight Cuts, Future Title Shot
Joe Rogan and Brendan Allen dive into the chaotic landscape of modern MMA: Trump’s proposed White House UFC event, outdoor cards, extreme injuries, and the evolution of the sport’s skill level and coaching. Allen breaks down his path from 13-year-old jiu-jitsu kid to UFC middleweight contender, including brutal early sparring, training-camp politics, and moving camps to work with Belal Muhammad’s team in Chicago. They explore weight cutting, hydration hacks in ONE, injuries fought through, stem cells, recovery tech, mental performance coaching, and how judging and rule interpretations shape careers and strategy. The conversation closes with Allen’s candid desire to fight Dricus du Plessis next, why he’s drawn to ‘dangerous’ opponents, and how he’s managing fear, confidence, and longevity in the sport.
Key Takeaways
Outdoor and novelty events add huge risk and variables for fighters.
From Trump’s proposed White House card to Abu Dhabi and Louisiana outdoor shows, Allen and Rogan highlight heat, humidity, rain, bugs, and security as major performance and safety factors that fighters have to mentally and physically absorb on top of the fight itself.
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Modern fight camps need a true ‘maestro’ coach, not just random sessions.
Allen admits he was essentially self-directing camps at Kill Cliff, avoiding certain classes and drills he didn’t trust, and says shifting to Chicago under a tighter, integrated coaching structure (with Belal Muhammad’s team) has been one of his biggest performance upgrades.
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Weight cutting remains an unhealthy arms race, with creative rule workarounds.
They describe ONE Championship hydration hacks (drinking then sweating before urine tests) and extreme UFC cuts like Alex Pereira’s 40+ pound rehydrations, agreeing that fighting at true walking weight would be healthier but unlikely given current incentives.
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Almost no one fights at 100% health; managing damage is part of the job.
Allen fought with foot fractures and a previously torn ACL that reattached lower on the bone, while Rogan cites compartment syndrome cases and gruesome leg-breaks, underscoring that high-level MMA is always played through pain and lingering injuries.
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Controlled, intelligent sparring dramatically extends careers and accelerates growth.
Allen contrasts early days of ‘new guy beatdowns’ and broken jaws with heavyweights like Shawn Jordan and gyms that emphasize light, technical work—saving full wars for rare occasions to avoid unnecessary brain damage and time off.
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Judging interpretation can decide careers, so fighters tailor styles to the rules.
Allen details his frustration with the Fluffy Hernandez loss, arguing damage vs. ...
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Sports psychology and reframing negative thoughts are critical at the top level.
Allen talks about working with a sports psychiatrist on ‘catching’ negative emotions early, dissecting fears (e. ...
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Notable Quotes
“I don’t mind losing to someone that’s better than me. I can take it. I haven’t found that man yet, but I know it’s gonna happen. To lose to myself? That eats me alive.”
— Brendan Allen
“Nobody fights at 100%. Or very few people. Very, very rarely there’s no injuries.”
— Joe Rogan
“If you think you’re gonna come out here and… He said in his interviews, ‘I’m a front runner.’ I was like, ‘All right, we’ll see.’ And it kind of backfired.”
— Brendan Allen (on De Ridder)
“There’s too many people out there that haven’t proven themselves. Every time they go out, they’re trying to prove themselves.”
— Joe Rogan
“The end is a lot closer than the beginning. I know that. So I’m trying to make the most of it.”
— Brendan Allen
Questions Answered in This Episode
How much should athletic commissions and promotions prioritize fighter safety over spectacle when planning outdoor or unconventional events?
Joe Rogan and Brendan Allen dive into the chaotic landscape of modern MMA: Trump’s proposed White House UFC event, outdoor cards, extreme injuries, and the evolution of the sport’s skill level and coaching. ...
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Given Allen’s experience, is the current win-show pay structure fair when judging mistakes and stylistic biases can cut a fighter’s paycheck in half?
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What would it take—politically and financially—for MMA to seriously move toward no weight cutting and true walk-around-weight divisions?
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How can more fighters practically integrate sports psychology and tools like journaling, ‘good’ reframes, or pre-fight readings into their routine without feeling it’s ‘soft’?
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With prospects like the 18-year-old Dagestani killers Allen describes, how much higher can the overall level of MMA realistically rise over the next decade?
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Transcript Preview
(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music plays) All right, what's happening brother?
Joe Rogan, thanks for having us. 2020...
My pleasure. So, Jamie, what were you just saying?
Yeah.
I, I, I stopped you because it sounds-
Yeah.
... so crazy.
So, uh, Trump said there's gonna be eight to nine title fights at the White House UFC event, and that they're, I guess, in quotes, "withholding"?
Okay, first of all-
They're holding back title fights right now.
... there's only eight weight classes. So, how's there gonna be nine title fights?
I don't know.
(laughs)
There'll be a b- BMF fight. Maybe add a BMF. Maybe you have all of them- I guess.
... in the BMF.
I guess, but that's kind of a crazy thing. "We're gonna have 20 title fights!"
(laughs)
"All the title fights there's ever been!" Um, did he say any match-ups?
No, he didn't say who. He just said they're gonna, I don't think, actually, if there's even like a tweet about it. But I just saw him talking about it. It was like a, I don't know, press conference or something.
Well, if they don't do Jon Jones at the White House, I think it'd be a travesty.
For sure. They have to.
They need to do that.
They have to.
Come on. Dana's like, "You can't count on him." You can't fucking count on him. Come on. Stop.
When he wants to, he's gonna-
Yeah.
... he's gonna make it happen, for sure.
At the White House? Come on. Jon Jones versus, let's see, what does it say here? "Donald Trump predicts eight or nine cham-" (laughs)
(laughs)
"... championship fights." Uh, okay.
That'll be good.
It would literally have to be every weight class fighting for the title, which would be nuts. Every, everyone's a championship fight. Everyone's a legendary type of fighter. Yeah, he's actually holding back fights right now for six months so he can do it in the 15th of June, Trump continued, me- uh, seemingly meaning 14th of June. Uh, yeah. Uh, arena's gonna be 5,000 or 6,000 seats, right in the front door of the White House. 100,000 people in the back where they're putting up eight or 10 very big screens. What kind of fucking security are they gonna have for this?
Gotta be insane.
Yeah. Are you trying to get on this?
I mean, not really.
Come o- Not really? (laughs)
No.
It doesn't seem-
I can't, I can't imagine, like you said, the security, the behind the scenes. How much stuff's really gonna happen? I'm just like, ah.
A lot of weird pressure too.
Probably.
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