JRE MMA Show #123 with BJ Penn
Joe Rogan (host), BJ Penn (guest), Narrator, Narrator
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Joe Rogan and BJ Penn, JRE MMA Show #123 with BJ Penn explores bJ Penn on MMA legacy, political fight for Hawaii’s future Joe Rogan and BJ Penn trace Penn’s evolution from prodigy jiu-jitsu world champion and two-division UFC titleholder to retired legend now running for governor of Hawaii. Penn explains how COVID lockdowns, high taxes, overregulation, and what he sees as government overreach pushed him into politics, despite a rough public past and no desire for power itself.
BJ Penn on MMA legacy, political fight for Hawaii’s future
Joe Rogan and BJ Penn trace Penn’s evolution from prodigy jiu-jitsu world champion and two-division UFC titleholder to retired legend now running for governor of Hawaii. Penn explains how COVID lockdowns, high taxes, overregulation, and what he sees as government overreach pushed him into politics, despite a rough public past and no desire for power itself.
They dive deeply into MMA history and technique—conditioning philosophies, weight cutting, coaching, fighters’ ‘prime’ years, and what true hunger and mental warfare look like at the highest level. Rogan repeatedly emphasizes judging fighters by their peak performances, using Penn, Anderson Silva, Usman, and others as examples.
Penn draws parallels between building a fight camp and building a governing team, arguing that honest humility, asking questions, and surrounding himself with experts are the key lessons he’s carrying from MMA into politics. The conversation also wanders into broader topics like government power, civil liberties, health, plastic pollution, and the psychological difficulty of walking away from fighting.
Key Takeaways
Judge fighters by their prime, not their decline.
Rogan and Penn stress that legacies should be anchored in an athlete’s peak (e. ...
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Elite performance is more about hunger and mindset than talent alone.
Penn argues the real differentiator at the top is who wants it more and how long they can stay truly ‘hungry,’ not who is technically best on paper; emotional fatigue and comfort eventually erode that edge.
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Strength and conditioning must support skill, not replace it.
Discussing trainers like the Marinovichs and Sean Sherk’s style, they note that insane conditioning amplifies existing skill but cannot substitute for technical mastery—otherwise you’re just “in great shape getting beat up longer.”
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Weight-cutting culture is irrational and harmful, and more weight classes could help.
Rogan pushes for divisions every 10 pounds (e. ...
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Government power tends to ratchet up and rarely rolls back.
Penn’s main political grievance is that emergency powers (COVID mandates, travel and business restrictions, mask rules) and security regimes (like TSA) expand state control but aren’t relinquished, eroding individual freedom over time.
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Fighting taught Penn to ask questions and lean on a team—skills he wants in politics.
He says MMA forces brutal honesty—pretending you know something gets you hurt—so as a potential governor he plans to admit what he doesn’t know and rely on subject-matter experts, like a fight camp with coaches for each discipline.
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Hawaii’s structural problems require new industries and more self-sufficiency.
Penn highlights high taxes, slow, anti-business regulation, reliance on tourism, the Jones Act’s shipping constraints, and lack of food/energy independence; he wants to attract innovators (e. ...
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Notable Quotes
“MMA is not a career. It’s an opportunity.”
— BJ Penn
“You have to judge a fighter by the heights they reached, not where they fell afterwards.”
— Joe Rogan
“Working the body heals the mind. Endorphins are God’s antidepressant medicine.”
— BJ Penn
“The antidote for anxiety is confidence.”
— BJ Penn
“They forgot that they work for us… ‘You’re just gonna have to listen’ is how a crazy person talks.”
— BJ Penn (quoting a Hawaii politician and critiquing the attitude)
Questions Answered in This Episode
If BJ Penn were elected governor, what specific first-year policies would most immediately change daily life for ordinary Hawaiians?
Joe Rogan and BJ Penn trace Penn’s evolution from prodigy jiu-jitsu world champion and two-division UFC titleholder to retired legend now running for governor of Hawaii. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How different would modern MMA look if weight-cutting were eliminated and fighters competed only at true walk-around weights?
They dive deeply into MMA history and technique—conditioning philosophies, weight cutting, coaching, fighters’ ‘prime’ years, and what true hunger and mental warfare look like at the highest level. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
What mechanisms, if any, can effectively force governments to give up emergency powers once a crisis subsides?
Penn draws parallels between building a fight camp and building a governing team, arguing that honest humility, asking questions, and surrounding himself with experts are the key lessons he’s carrying from MMA into politics. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How should fans and promoters balance celebrating a fighter’s prime with protecting them from fighting too long and sustaining unnecessary damage?
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Could Hawaii realistically become energy- and food-self-sufficient, and what trade-offs would residents accept to get there?
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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) Ladies and gentlemen, the future governor of Hawaii, BJ Penn.
(laughs) what's going on, Joe?
What's happening, brother? Good to see you.
Good to see you, man.
You're dedicated to this man.
Yes.
I need a shirt.
You got it.
I need one.
We got 'em here.
I need a "Penn for governor."
Thank you.
If I wear it in Hawaii, will I get mugged? Will they attack me and duct-
They'll-
... tape me and throw me in the back of a police van? (laughs)
They'll cheer you on and then you gotta tell them, "Are you guys registered?"
(laughs)
You make sure ... (laughs) They'll love ya.
How is it going? What is it... First of all, what made you deci- ... It was the COVID lockdowns, right, that made you decide?
You know what? That's the ... You know, people ask me, they go, "Would you be running for office if this pandemic didn't happen?" And I tell them all the same thing, I say, "This is the straw that broke the camel's back." I've always noticed the problems here with the economy, how anti-busines they are, how, uh, we've all ... Since I was in high school, we've always been in last place, our education, you know? So, uh, yeah, and-
When you say anti-busines, like, how are they anti-busines? What are they doing?
As far as, uh, with the regulations, it takes so long, you know. Go ... You go to the planning department and they hold you up for another eight months, and it's just ... You know, the taxes are so high. We got the highest, uh, high, the highest state income tax and-
What is the state income tax in Hawaii?
Um, what is ... (sighs) I don't think ... I don't got the exact number right now-
Well, we'll get Jamie, Jamie to pull it up.
... but, but we talk about that, yeah, we talk about that often.
Well, uh, I think California is like 13 something, 13+%. There's even talk there about raising it up. You know, it's, um, (clicks tongue) it's, it's a shame that you feel that everything is that bad, that you r- ... Like, you feel called to do it, but I know you, and I know you wouldn't do this unless you really felt like there was a need for change. You're not a guy that, like, wants to be running the government.
Y-
You're a guy who just doesn't wanna be fucked with and pushed around, and when you see th- b- what you consider your people, your friends, your family, your-
Mm-hmm.
... your neighbors getting their businesses fucked over-
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