JRE MMA Show #139 with Bas Rutten
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Bas Rutten (guest), Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, JRE MMA Show #139 with Bas Rutten explores bas Rutten, Karate Combat, and Breathing: Fighting’s Next Edge Revealed Joe Rogan and Bas Rutten catch up on life after leaving California, settling into Texas, and the cultural difference in gun-friendly states, before diving deep into modern martial arts promotions like Karate Combat and bare-knuckle boxing.
Bas Rutten, Karate Combat, and Breathing: Fighting’s Next Edge Revealed
Joe Rogan and Bas Rutten catch up on life after leaving California, settling into Texas, and the cultural difference in gun-friendly states, before diving deep into modern martial arts promotions like Karate Combat and bare-knuckle boxing.
They analyze striking evolutions—low kicks, calf kicks, ax kicks, clotheslines—while revisiting classic MMA history, from BJ Penn and Fedor to Chuck Liddell and early UFC days with minimal rules and safety standards.
Bas explains how point-karate strikers are successfully transitioning to full-contact Karate Combat, highlighting its unique pit, rules, and fan-governed crypto-token model that shares upside with both viewers and fighters.
In the final section, Rutten lays out his philosophy on mental approach, training obsession, and especially breathing—detailing diaphragmatic breathing and his O2 Trainer device as a scientifically-backed way to radically improve endurance and even help asthma.
Key Takeaways
Texas offers fighters and entertainers a lower-stress, friendlier base than California.
Both Joe and Bas describe Texas as less crowded, more polite, and culturally different—helped in part by widespread gun ownership and looser regulations—which many ex-Californians now prefer.
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Karate Combat is successfully turning point-karate athletes into full-contact stars.
With five-second ground-and-pound windows, banked walls, and no cages, point stylists like Rafael Aghayev, Ross Levine, and others are adapting their blitzing and timing into high-KO, TV-friendly fights.
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Karate Combat’s fan-token model could be a future template for fight promotions.
Their $KARATE token lets fans essentially ‘bet’ without losing principal, earn more when their fighter wins, and send 10% of those winnings directly to fighters—while also influencing matchmaking and potential rule changes.
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High-level striking still evolves—new tools like calf kicks, ax kicks, and even “clotheslines” are underused weapons.
They note how calf kicks changed MMA, how fighters like Andy Hug and Alfie Davis weaponize ax kicks, and Bas argues a properly thrown forearm clothesline is a devastating, legal shot that almost no one uses.
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Mental framing and obsession are as critical as physical talent for elite fighters.
Bas explains how he rewired his response to fatigue (“I love getting tired”), meticulously fixed weaknesses like submissions with 2–3 daily sessions, and learned to fight only for himself—not family, not fans—to remove performance pressure.
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Modern recovery science—stem cells, peptides, TRT—can meaningfully extend functional health.
They discuss shoulder and systemic recoveries from stem-cell therapies in Panama, Mexico, and U. ...
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Most people breathe incorrectly; training breathing muscles can dramatically boost endurance.
Bas details how nearly everyone chest-breathes instead of diaphragmatic breathing, how inspiratory muscle training (IMT) with his O2 Trainer is backed by sports science and used by Olympians, and claims 15–20% endurance gains while eliminating his lifelong asthma in weeks.
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Notable Quotes
“Do what you don’t like. That’s usually the thing you’re bad at.”
— Bas Rutten
“We thought the tough guys were boxers and kickboxers. That’s not true.”
— Bas Rutten
“If bad people have guns, I want to have them too. It’s very simple.”
— Bas Rutten
“Fighting was peaceful for me. My ADD brain finally had only one thing to focus on.”
— Bas Rutten
“Most coaches don’t train breathing at all. You’re an idiot if you ignore that.”
— Bas Rutten
Questions Answered in This Episode
How sustainable is Karate Combat’s crypto-token model, and what risks does it pose for both fans and fighters long-term?
Joe Rogan and Bas Rutten catch up on life after leaving California, settling into Texas, and the cultural difference in gun-friendly states, before diving deep into modern martial arts promotions like Karate Combat and bare-knuckle boxing.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
If knees to the head of a grounded opponent were reintroduced into MMA, how would it change common positions like the turtle and takedown defense strategy?
They analyze striking evolutions—low kicks, calf kicks, ax kicks, clotheslines—while revisiting classic MMA history, from BJ Penn and Fedor to Chuck Liddell and early UFC days with minimal rules and safety standards.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What’s the realistic performance gap between elite point-karate strikers and top-tier MMA strikers once takedowns and clinch work are factored in?
Bas explains how point-karate strikers are successfully transitioning to full-contact Karate Combat, highlighting its unique pit, rules, and fan-governed crypto-token model that shares upside with both viewers and fighters.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Given the clear benefits Joe and Bas describe from stem cells and peptides, why are these therapies still so tightly regulated or inaccessible in many countries?
In the final section, Rutten lays out his philosophy on mental approach, training obsession, and especially breathing—detailing diaphragmatic breathing and his O2 Trainer device as a scientifically-backed way to radically improve endurance and even help asthma.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How much could systematic breathing training (like IMT and diaphragmatic breathing) change outcomes if it were adopted across an entire MMA gym or fight team?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
(drum roll) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (energetic music) We're up. Mr. Rutten, good to see you, sir.
Been a while.
It's been a while.
Yeah.
Yeah, it was exciting running into you out here-
Yeah.
... in Texas. You're a Texas resident.
Texas, I got a hat and everything.
(laughs)
I need a belt buckle.
Did you get a hat? (laughs)
(laughs) Oh, yeah, yeah. I got the boots-
(laughs)
... and I rode a longhorn for, uh-
Good sh- (laughs)
... in, where was it? In the, in this little village here somewhere, B- Banderas. Like a big, big freaking longhorn.
You got on one of those things?
Oh, I got one, yeah. I dro- rode one, yeah.
Did they let you ride him, or they try to buck you off?
He, no, he, he said this, this guy is, uh, hanging out with kids, like 6-year-olds.
Oh.
He's very, very calm, so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Those longhorns are wild, huh? Longhorns are insane.
Dude, it's crazy, if you see it. Giant... Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, everybody, the whole street will stop, like, again.
When did you, uh, come out here?
July, uh, 4th, the 4th of July last year.
Yeah.
Fireworks and everything. I was at the top building, we had an apartment for a year, so it was give us time, a year to find a home, which we did. So we're probably gonna move in next week. But the top building, it was the park, Landa Park, in the New Braunfels where they have the fireworks. I mean, that was, it was nice. They welcomed me on the 4th of July with the fireworks.
(laughs)
(laughs)
That's nice.
Yeah.
You finally get fed up with California, huh?
(clears throat) Yeah, doesn't everybody? That's crazy.
Yeah.
It's too much.
It's a fucking... I would've never imagined five years ago-
Yeah.
... that there'd be this mass exodus.
Yeah.
And that most of my friends would live out here now. It's crazy. So-
But also Ventura County, where I'm from, is like Orange County, still the laws are a little bit easier-
Yeah.
... right? Than, than LA, LA. But, you know, once it starts getting there, uh-
Mm-hmm.
... my wife already said for six years, "Hey, we gotta go."
Yeah.
"This is gonna go wrong." You know?
Yeah.
'Cause-
Well, I, I was wanting, always wanting to get out, but I was so connected to The Comedy Store that I always felt like, "God, I can't leave that place behind."
Yeah.
You know? And, but then when the pandemic hit, it's like, "Well, I guess we're not even doing comedy anymore, so fuck it."
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