JRE MMA Show #140 with Gillian Robertson
Narrator, Joe Rogan (host), Gillian Robertson (guest)
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Joe Rogan, JRE MMA Show #140 with Gillian Robertson explores gillian Robertson Reveals Mindset, Method, And Madness Behind MMA Success Joe Rogan and UFC flyweight Gillian Robertson discuss the realities of modern MMA life, from cannabis and CBD use for recovery to training methods, weight cuts, and the mental strain of fighting. Robertson breaks down her evolution from shy animal-shelter volunteer to elite submission specialist coached by Dean Thomas, detailing her unique rear-naked choke system and top-pressure game. They explore the technical divergence between MMA grappling and sport jiu-jitsu, the role of drilling versus sparring, and the merits of being a specialist versus fully rounded fighter. The conversation also touches on fighter lifestyles, The Ultimate Fighter experience, Florida’s wild environment, and what it means to build a long-term career and identity in a violent sport when you’re more afraid of social interaction than of cage fighting.
Gillian Robertson Reveals Mindset, Method, And Madness Behind MMA Success
Joe Rogan and UFC flyweight Gillian Robertson discuss the realities of modern MMA life, from cannabis and CBD use for recovery to training methods, weight cuts, and the mental strain of fighting. Robertson breaks down her evolution from shy animal-shelter volunteer to elite submission specialist coached by Dean Thomas, detailing her unique rear-naked choke system and top-pressure game. They explore the technical divergence between MMA grappling and sport jiu-jitsu, the role of drilling versus sparring, and the merits of being a specialist versus fully rounded fighter. The conversation also touches on fighter lifestyles, The Ultimate Fighter experience, Florida’s wild environment, and what it means to build a long-term career and identity in a violent sport when you’re more afraid of social interaction than of cage fighting.
Key Takeaways
CBD and cannabis are deeply integrated into fighter recovery and stress management.
Rogan and Robertson describe CBD’s impact on inflammation and pain (topicals, pills) and how many fighters use marijuana both to calm pre-fight anxiety and to cope with the chronic stress and damage of training and competing.
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A world-class submission game can be built around relentless focus on one ‘simple’ move.
Robertson has spent years obsessively drilling a specific style of rear-naked choke, to the point where she often finishes with one hand and prioritizes the choke before hooks; she notes that the move is basic, but the feel, pressure, and patience are what make it elite.
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MMA grappling and sport no-gi jiu-jitsu are now effectively different sports.
She points out that many of her MMA solutions—punching to open guards, using strikes to create submissions, and her choke mechanics—don’t translate cleanly into no-gi tournaments, where leg locks and positional battles dominate without strikes.
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Consistency and drilling often matter more than traditional strength and conditioning.
Robertson trains MMA 5–6 hours a day year-round, does minimal formal S&C, and gets her cardio from hard technical rounds (e. ...
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Losses to better, more experienced opponents can be critical developmental accelerators.
Entering TUF at 3–2 and facing champions early, she willingly took ‘overmatched’ fights, using them to learn under UFC lights; she believes you must accept tough matchups, analyze what went wrong, and keep showing up to grow.
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High-level MMA requires both specialization and broad competence.
They debate whether it’s better to be an extreme specialist (world-class striker or grappler) versus a complete mixed martial artist, landing on a hybrid: early-career fighters should train everything, while late-entering world-level specialists should protect their A-game and build defensive skills around it.
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A fighter’s ‘cage persona’ can be radically different from their everyday self.
Robertson describes herself as socially awkward and more afraid of social situations than fights, yet flips into “The Savage” once her walkout music hits, even blacking out on some post-fight gestures; she sees that switch as vital to performing in extreme environments.
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Notable Quotes
““I’m more afraid of social interaction than I’m afraid of cage fighting.””
— Gillian Robertson
““I went from a jiu-jitsu girl who did MMA to an MMA fighter.””
— Gillian Robertson
““You only have so many hours in the day… I choose to invest my time into technical abilities.””
— Gillian Robertson
““Jiu-jitsu’s the one martial art that delivers as promised, where the smaller trained person can defeat the larger untrained person.””
— Joe Rogan
““If I work hard, doors keep on opening.””
— Gillian Robertson
Questions Answered in This Episode
How would Robertson’s choke-centric MMA back game adapt if rule sets suddenly banned strikes on the ground?
Joe Rogan and UFC flyweight Gillian Robertson discuss the realities of modern MMA life, from cannabis and CBD use for recovery to training methods, weight cuts, and the mental strain of fighting. ...
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What psychological tools can non-fighters borrow from her approach to managing extreme nerves and turning them into performance fuel?
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Given her minimal use of formal strength and conditioning, what might happen if she added a targeted program—or would it risk disrupting her style?
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How should prospects balance taking high-risk, short-notice fights for exposure against the long-term damage that early mismatches can cause?
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As no-gi leg-lock meta keeps evolving away from MMA, should fighters largely ignore that subculture or selectively integrate its safest and most transferable elements?
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Transcript Preview
(drumming music) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (rock music) How long can y- do you have to stop smoking weed before you'll test positive?
Uh, usually about five days. Uh-
Five days before a fight?
... if you're smoking straight flower. But, uh, if you're smoking, like, oil, dabs, anything like that, then you need a little bit more time.
You got it down to a science?
Uh, I figured it out when I tested positive-
(laughs)
... one fight (laughs) 'cause I was smoking oil, and I stopped five days out.
Oh, smoking oil. Those wacky kids and their dabs and oil. (laughs)
Because you guys go too far.
(laughs)
You guys go too far.
There is a, there's way too many ways now, I feel like. (laughs)
(Exhales sharply) You go to dark places.
(laughs)
You do dabs, you go to dark places. You go-
Yeah, especially with dabs. And like that's the, the, like, next level extreme.
Yeah, I'm not interested in that. You just get too far gone. Like, you don't even know how to move your hands right. You just-
Uh, there's this stuff that, that I have... I'm a medical patient in Florida, and there's stuff you can get from the, uh, dispensary. It's like literal nose drops, and that shit, like, makes you... Like, literally I feel like I can't form sentences.
(laughs)
(laughs)
Is this a spray?
Yeah, it's just like a nasal spray.
There, there are so many wacky people in Austin spraying ketamine up their nose.
(laughs)
It is a real issue. We had a girl go into a K hole at our comedy club the other night.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, and her boyfriend's like, "She just did a lot of ketamine," and it was like Jesus fucking Christ.
(laughs)
Do that at home, you nut. They're doing ketamine and going to see comedy.
Uh, yeah, from the moment I got here, it's been offered to me frequently, and I'm like, "What are you doing?"
What is going on? How's ketamine? Ketamine's a fucking tranquilizer, right?
Yeah.
It's a powerful psychedelic too, right?
It's also available in clinics for people to defeat, like, you know, PTSD work and stuff.
(laughs) I feel like there's a lot of people that are doing it, like, every day though.
Mm-hmm.
Have you done it?
No, no, I've never messed with anything like that.
I took a little of Duncan's. Duncan had one. I think he made it in his bathtub.
What did it feel like? Do you remember?
Weird, but it was very little. "You just, just, just take one pump." So I took, like, one pump and I was like, "This is odd," but I know the source, and I know where he's getting it, and it's l- all medical grade and legit, but it's like err. What is that?
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