JRE MMA Show #90 with Rashad Evans
Joe Rogan (host), Rashad Evans (guest)
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and Rashad Evans, JRE MMA Show #90 with Rashad Evans explores rashad Evans Explains How Psychedelics, Veganism Transformed Fighting and Life Joe Rogan and Rashad Evans move from joking about wallets and fanny packs into a deep discussion on psychedelics, diet, and life after elite MMA. Evans details how powerful mushroom and 5-MeO-DMT experiences sparked an 'ego death,' ended his desire for meat, and shifted him toward a vegan lifestyle and more spiritual outlook.
Rashad Evans Explains How Psychedelics, Veganism Transformed Fighting and Life
Joe Rogan and Rashad Evans move from joking about wallets and fanny packs into a deep discussion on psychedelics, diet, and life after elite MMA. Evans details how powerful mushroom and 5-MeO-DMT experiences sparked an 'ego death,' ended his desire for meat, and shifted him toward a vegan lifestyle and more spiritual outlook.
He breaks down the physical and psychological fallout from multiple ACL surgeries, how they changed his explosiveness and identity as a fighter, and how psychedelics helped him process retirement and detach his ego from competition.
They also cover psilocybin research Evans is involved with through Unlimited Sciences and Johns Hopkins, the evolution of MMA training, equipment innovations like Trevor Wittman’s Onyx gloves, and a technical breakdown of current UFC matchups and judging controversies.
Throughout, Evans contrasts the mindset required to become a champion—anger, obsession, paranoia—with the calmer, more self-aware approach he’s trying to cultivate in himself and younger fighters today.
Key Takeaways
Deep psychedelic work can radically shift identity and behavior.
Evans describes 5-MeO-DMT and high-dose mushroom ceremonies causing an ego death and a visceral realization about “eating dead, rotting flesh,” which instantly erased his craving for meat and reframed his life mentally, physically, and spiritually.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Diet changes can enhance recovery and endurance, not just weight.
After going vegan and focusing on whole foods, greens, and medicinal mushrooms, Evans reports more stable energy, faster recovery, and the ability to spar hard for up to an hour, despite being older and training less often.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Unprocessed retirement and injury can damage a fighter’s psyche as much as their body.
Multiple ACL surgeries robbed Evans of his leg power and explosiveness, which were core to his style and identity; psychedelics helped him accept he wasn’t the same fighter and to separate his self-worth from being “elite.”
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Visualization is a powerful training tool when physical work is limited.
Evans used detailed mental rehearsals—round‑by‑round scenarios, executing perfect techniques, repeatedly overcoming adversity—to compensate for reduced hard training, increasing confidence and readiness on fight night.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
MMA judging and equipment are still behind the sport’s technical reality.
They highlight egregious scorecards in recent fights like Jones–Reyes, discuss how late-round dominance arguably should matter more, and show how current UFC gloves promote eye pokes—issues Trevor Wittman’s curved Onyx gloves directly address.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Great coaching systems create “second brains” for fighters in the cage.
Evans describes Mark Henry’s code-based system where combinations are linked to personal words (like family names), allowing the coach to call out codes mid-spar and essentially “control” fighters like Frankie Edgar in real time.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Psychedelics may be especially valuable for fighters in career transition.
Evans believes tools like 5-MeO-DMT and psilocybin can help late-career fighters re-examine their “why,” process downswings, and potentially create a new purpose beyond chasing titles, based on his own experience.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Notable Quotes
“It said, ‘You stink because you eat dead, rotting flesh. If you want life, then you eat life.’”
— Rashad Evans
“When I had the ego death, I felt my ego, who I thought I was, completely annihilated and I got to experience the ocean of consciousness.”
— Rashad Evans
“A real breakthrough psychedelic experience is gonna make you humble. It makes you realize this thin thing we’re touching right now is not everything.”
— Joe Rogan
“Towards the end of my career, I just wasn’t that same fighter anymore. The things that used to be my fuel, I made peace with them.”
— Rashad Evans
“Now I’m to the point where I just want to help people. I lived a lot of my life for myself; now I want to help other people achieve what they want in life.”
— Rashad Evans
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can combat sports organizations responsibly integrate psychedelic-assisted therapy for athletes dealing with trauma, injury, and retirement?
Joe Rogan and Rashad Evans move from joking about wallets and fanny packs into a deep discussion on psychedelics, diet, and life after elite MMA. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
To what extent are dietary transformations like Evans’ vegan shift reproducible for other high-level athletes, and how do we distinguish placebo from genuine physiological change?
He breaks down the physical and psychological fallout from multiple ACL surgeries, how they changed his explosiveness and identity as a fighter, and how psychedelics helped him process retirement and detach his ego from competition.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How should MMA judging criteria evolve so that late-fight dominance, cumulative damage, and “who would win if it kept going” are weighed more appropriately?
They also cover psilocybin research Evans is involved with through Unlimited Sciences and Johns Hopkins, the evolution of MMA training, equipment innovations like Trevor Wittman’s Onyx gloves, and a technical breakdown of current UFC matchups and judging controversies.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What safeguards are needed if real-world psilocybin data from projects like Unlimited Sciences begin to influence public policy and clinical guidelines?
Throughout, Evans contrasts the mindset required to become a champion—anger, obsession, paranoia—with the calmer, more self-aware approach he’s trying to cultivate in himself and younger fighters today.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How can coaches balance the ruthless, ego-driven mindset required to become a champion with the long-term mental and spiritual health of their fighters?
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
3, 2, 1, bo- You can tell a lot about a man whether or not he's one of those dudes that has one of them-
(laughs)
... wallet phone cases.
(laughs)
Rashad Evans, you're a wallet phone case guy.
(laughs)
You, you pack it all into one package.
You know what? I wasn't always a wallet phone case guy. It's kinda something that just, you know, I kind of evolved into. I was one that was carrying around the, the, uh-
Man purse?
... the man purse for a while.
Mm.
And, and after a while I kinda transitioned to just the, the, the wallet case.
That's a lot of work, though. Look how thick that sucker is.
It's, it's like a Costanza now.
Look at that thing.
It, it, it, it ... I know. And there's the thing-
That thing's giant.
Every single time I clean it out, I tell myself I'm not gonna put any more cards in there except for the ones I need. But, it just attracts the cards.
Yeah, that's a problem. I have one of those Ridge wallets. You know what those are?
Yeah, yeah.
Those are the shit because you can't really get much in there. I get, like, a credit card or two and my license, and that's it.
See, that's- see, that's what I need. I need to have that discipline-
Yes.
... where there's nothing else to carry but what I have to carry.
And it's got a little money clip on it, so I'll s- sh- shove a couple bills in there, and that's it.
That's it. See, that's-
I go out like that.
That's what I need. I got it.
That's what you need, front pocket.
Uh-huh.
All this nonsense. That's so thick.
It's thick, I know.
You might as well go back to the man purse.
But you know what? (laughs)
Might as well get a backpack or a fanny pack.
(laughs) A fanny-
I'll send you one of these. I just sent two to Stipe Miocic.
Those look all right, though.
That's pretty dope, right?
Yeah, it is pretty dope.
It's ... My own company makes ... Well, we don't make them.
I see.
We buy them from Roots.
Yeah.
And we put our stamp on it. Yeah, leather, right? You might want to get one for you.
Yeah, I do want one. Yeah.
Right? Yeah. You're a bold man, you can wear a fanny pack.
Yeah.
You're Rashad Evans.
You know, I was rocking, I was rocking the man purse before anybody else was wearing it.
Really?
I mean, out, out in America.
(laughs)
Uh, out in Europe they were doing it a long time ago.
Install uListen to search the full transcript and get AI-powered insights
Get Full TranscriptGet more from every podcast
AI summaries, searchable transcripts, and fact-checking. Free forever.
Add to Chrome