JRE MMA Show #11 with John Danaher
Joe Rogan (host), John Danaher (guest), Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and John Danaher, JRE MMA Show #11 with John Danaher explores john Danaher Dissects Jiu-Jitsu Systems, Leg Locks, MMA and Greatness John Danaher traces his journey from philosophy PhD and nightclub bouncer to becoming one of jiu-jitsu’s most influential coaches, explaining how grappling revolutionized his understanding of real fighting. He details how a single sentence from Dean Lister led him to systematically rethink leg locks, turning a taboo, low-status tactic into a dominant, control-based subsystem in modern jiu-jitsu. Danaher then broadens out to mixed martial arts, outlining his systems approach to MMA skill areas, his work with Georges St-Pierre, and how he structures training camps around tactics rather than short-term physical transformation. Throughout, he analyzes top fighters like Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, and Yoel Romero, using them to illustrate principles of control, pace, direction, and strategic evolution in combat sports.
John Danaher Dissects Jiu-Jitsu Systems, Leg Locks, MMA and Greatness
John Danaher traces his journey from philosophy PhD and nightclub bouncer to becoming one of jiu-jitsu’s most influential coaches, explaining how grappling revolutionized his understanding of real fighting. He details how a single sentence from Dean Lister led him to systematically rethink leg locks, turning a taboo, low-status tactic into a dominant, control-based subsystem in modern jiu-jitsu. Danaher then broadens out to mixed martial arts, outlining his systems approach to MMA skill areas, his work with Georges St-Pierre, and how he structures training camps around tactics rather than short-term physical transformation. Throughout, he analyzes top fighters like Demetrious Johnson, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, and Yoel Romero, using them to illustrate principles of control, pace, direction, and strategic evolution in combat sports.
Key Takeaways
Treat jiu-jitsu and MMA as systems, not collections of moves.
Danaher emphasizes breaking fighting down into clear steps and subsystems (e. ...
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Prioritize control before submission—especially in leg locks.
He distinguishes sharply between the mechanism of control (ashi garami, wedges, inside position) and the mechanism of breaking (heel hook, toe hold); if you can immobilize the opponent’s hips and both legs, you can finish ‘at will’ instead of chasing fast, low-control taps.
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Reframe ‘taboo’ techniques by challenging their underlying logic.
Leg locks were dismissed as dangerous, ineffective, and ‘positionally unsound,’ but Danaher shows those arguments are either contradictory or equally applicable to accepted techniques; the real issue was that leg locks didn’t fit the traditional top-position system, so he built a new one where they did.
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Exploit directionality and dilemmas to open submissions.
Traditional BJJ moves from legs to head; adding leg locks makes it bi-directional (head-to-legs and legs-to-head), allowing you to play constant dilemmas—threaten the upper body to expose the legs and vice versa, or jab to draw reactions into takedowns (as with GSP).
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Structure fight camps around problem-solving, not radical physical change.
In 6–8 weeks you can’t transform VO2 max or vertical jump dramatically, but you can change fight outcomes by sharpening tactics, setups, and specific skills targeted at one opponent’s tendencies, which is how Danaher approaches preparation for title fights.
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Recognize the three pillars of winning fights: setups, pace, and direction.
Danaher argues dominant fighters consistently control (1) the setups to meaningful exchanges, (2) the pace of the fight, and (3) the direction (standing vs. ...
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Injury and physical limits can be catalysts for technical innovation.
Severe knee and hip damage limited Danaher’s own athleticism and forced him to rely on deep analysis, precise control mechanics, and verbal/positional teaching, ultimately driving the detailed systems that made his students elite leg lockers and grapplers.
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Notable Quotes
““Why would you ignore 50% of the human body?””
— Dean Lister, as recalled by John Danaher
““If you give a man a point of view, you can change him.””
— John Danaher
““The man whose feet dominate the inside position will always dominate the ashi garami game.””
— John Danaher
““Jiu-jitsu is a systems-based approach to fighting.””
— John Danaher
““You show me a fighter who can dominate the setups, dominate the pace, and dominate the direction, and I’ll show you a fighter who can win 95% of the fights he gets into.””
— John Danaher
Questions Answered in This Episode
How can recreational grapplers practically incorporate Danaher’s ‘control before submission’ and ‘double trouble’ principles into everyday training without significantly increasing injury risk?
John Danaher traces his journey from philosophy PhD and nightclub bouncer to becoming one of jiu-jitsu’s most influential coaches, explaining how grappling revolutionized his understanding of real fighting. ...
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What would a fully developed, modern leg-lock curriculum look like for a traditional gi school that has historically avoided heel hooks and ashi garami?
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How might Danaher’s idea of integrated subsystems in jiu-jitsu translate to designing training systems in non-combat fields like business, software, or education?
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Given his criteria of setups, pace, and direction, how would Danaher predict and break down a future Khabib vs. McGregor-style matchup in technical detail?
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To what extent can Danaher’s emphasis on tactical, opponent-specific preparation in fight camps be reconciled with strength-and-conditioning programs that claim camp time should be mostly physical?
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Transcript Preview
And we're live. John Danaher, thank you very much, sir. Very nice to see you.
It's my pleasure, Joe. Thank you for having me here.
Uh, nice to be with a fellow fanny pack proponent as well. And, uh, now you, you have one of the, the beautiful Higher Primate leather bags. I like that, huh?
Joe Rogan has just given me one of the most beautiful fanny packs that I've ever seen in my life. Um, I, I wear a very cheap fanny pack and this, this is a thing of beauty. I was just telling Joe about, uh, my student, Gordon Ryan, was recently given a Gucci fanny pack.
(laughs)
It's literally the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. When he wears it around me, I get insanely jealous. And-
But would you buy one of those?
No.
It's like a $800 fanny pack.
Just on, just on principle, just on principle, I can't buy an $800 fanny pack. But I could definitely stab Gordon Ryan in the back with a knife and steal it from him-
Wow.
... and blame it on Nicky Ryan. I could do that easily.
Blame it on his brother?
Absolutely.
Wow.
Make a great TV series.
(laughs) The fanny pack is making a comeback. It's a slow comeback that a lot of people are reluctant to join. They're, they're scared. They, they worry about their position in the sexual food chain.
(laughs)
And-
With, with good reason, by the way.
I don't know why. I feel like anybody that won't fuck you 'cause you have a fanny pack, you don't wanna fuck them. They're too much work.
Strong point. Strong point.
Yeah, it's just not worth it.
Essentially it's always a battle of, uh, appearance versus function.
Yeah.
Um, fanny packs score very, very low on appearance, but very high on function.
I feel like that one bucks the trend.
I think (laughs) you're right.
Uh-
Between this and the Gucci, we've got something going on here.
There's a video that I put up the other day of my, uh, archery game, this techno hunt thing, which is this big crazy elaborate thing. I got more comments on the fact that I was wearing a fanny pack in the video than anything.
Were they positive or negative comments?
Mostly negative.
Yeah.
(laughs)
'Cause it's my experience. (laughs) But that's just the internet. The, the internet is- The internet is extremely angry. That's the first thing you learn about the internet. They ... You can, you could literally save a baby's life i- i- i- from ... And 80% of the internet will, will call you an asshole for doing so. It's, uh, it doesn't matter what you do, the internet is very angry.
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