Joe Rogan Experience #10060 — Forrest Griffin, Clint Wattenberg & Dr. Duncan French Transcript

Transcript

0:00 from wild pig or something yeah yeah my buddy from uh australia gave me those in that head And you go well what is this going to be like I mean I'm so happy We were like, holy shit. from all sorts of different walks of life come through there. not only are we trying to align ourselves as the leaders in mixed martial arts but certainly leaders Yep. moment of fight day, to fuel up and to be really well-fueled for their performance.

3:05 ufc uh with a you know pretty unique combination of the nutrition the dietetics uh and then some like cheerleaders i'm like i know what i'm doing i'm not idiots uh little did i know little the few people that's just like i'll just take this up and be amazing because i'm gsp and then And having been a lifelong wrestler, that's when I started tuning in actually and taking pride in all the wrestlers,

5:42 straight for a college wrestling season and grind that out. But it's definitely been fun for me to watch wrestling as a component of MMA grow I mean, there's a lot of them in kickboxing and everything else as well, decathlon you're only ever as good as your weakest event right right so if you're a striker if you're And then Roman, our sports scientist, when can you be recovered enough for this practice?

8:12 Then it becomes, you know, now we can't support every athlete. conditioning how can we put those things together in time to get you ready on you know but never specific like instruction on how to deal Well, you think about the philosophy, right? even football, you've got 20-plus games to review. And you're like, yeah, oh, okay, I see what I'm doing wrong there.

10:25 I've moved on. There's only one VP of Athlete Development. when you say that that you're trying to figure out the best way is there a best way Yeah, I mean, there's plenty of different ways to do it. insight and removes the subjectivity where it can get objective understanding around physiology So ultimately, it's a three to five-minute assessment.

13:17 too to understand your your recovery how well you're recovered from the day before and those And people respond to the workloads, So you guys have been doing this now for how awareness of what different weight classes look like, what the challenges are to a fighter. So it's not just one tool that is giving us all the answers. Every other sport is easier to train for than MMA.

16:20 know i don't know how many data points at this point, but it's a lot. So they're anonymized, normalized, so you know what average looks like. Do you think they would benefit from more weight classes? I mean, there needs to be a percentage difference, but I don't know. So how do you decide Like what's your power How does your arm length All those things that Forrest said are really valid.

19:11 somebody's fat-free mass it's everything except for their fat is 90 you know is bigger than 99% Scientific level can I ask you how that works is Time whether it's whether it's a week or eight weeks. And that happens. like what just happened with Masvidal recently, And if that means you actually have to hit them, maybe it does. I mean, you'd be like,

21:36 or extra credit for it. He was a stunning He's an I don't give a fuck, I'll punch you in the face guy. I wish guys wouldn't ever fight go, look, this is a business. Anatomy of a Fighter? Super nice guy. Jesus Christ. There's never anything like this for boxing, where boxers can go and – leave with that right and then maybe you know you can't you you could speak to this better than anybody the results may vary right it is a wild goddamn sport

25:51 In terms of execution? followed by 2 to 3 times as much low-intensity work martial arts make it the most complex sport to figure out and build a structure and a development pathway against. Everybody's doing it a different way. He's constantly getting better. versus striking backgrounds you you can take something like power and you can differentiate

28:38 But if you look at things like, differences are don't worry important point we usually are a little more specific perhaps of preparation that can support or limit that athletes performance in the cage in all the other adaptations that are required to become that complete mixed martial artist. Do you ever do stuff like that? for guys that aren't currently in the UFC.

31:59 with guys that are already on the roster. No one can say. And different specialist the gsps of this world still hasn't necessarily risen to the top in the sport of MMA. we've had i don't know six seven eight guys that came in as training partners and are now on the those that came through for the Ultimate Fighter, evolution of the sport of mixed martial arts that that's in our mission statement as you've seen

35:09 So what we're trying to do is shift the barometer obviously but that's an aspiration and it's it's where people should understand in the sport of it's a large machine, right? needs and that's what we can offer through the performance institute the other thing we want to build that personalized approach and so here are the modalities here's the so then we could build that personalized approach. And so here are the modalities. Here's the philosophy that we've developed to help optimize athletes' needs around what we're measuring.

37:35 they can maximize their ability to train, to adapt, to perform, They've got to find that guy. and as professional athletes 52 weeks of the year. They've got their own guys. where athletes already have resources, provide that feedback back to their strength coaches, for us when you were coming up you mean you were a real pioneer i mean that was that was not

40:36 So I think just understanding that everything has to work together, existed on pure savagery um when you step back and look at your career like how how amazing is it to Like, look, here's the 10,000 mistakes I made. probably couldn't compete with the guys fighting today. to bounce ideas off, to essentially beta test things Everybody that's done it has done judo boxing on an Olympic level.

43:18 I'm like, yeah, that actually isn't going to work out for me. we knew in the house that i don't know he's just crazy so much enthusiasm still he's not gonna He's been in the UFC for 15 years now. still. Yeah, they'll give him a vase for his top i'm just average 35 that's that's when you start to fall apart when you look back now with what So I figured, oh, better be tough.

46:05 with people i would spar with vanderley chuck uh randy in boxing they don't spar with people other roll wrestle like control your training especially guys that are in the same weight you just have this insane level of fighter. Wanted to be a badass. Like a real life superhero. like she's had a million fights like what what is she doing so like in my opinion she did the more damage in that fight, and I was shocked. But that's, I mean.

49:33 What I was getting at before when you were talking about little kids, when I was rather talking about kids coming up and amateur fighters, it would certainly add to that. sport with so many different backgrounds so are you going to chop that that x access route to to I'm sure it's the same for other disciplines of martial arts, that this is a pathway into, you know, into becoming an elite mixed martial artist.

52:50 innumerable ways to get into it think about when you're doing jiu-jitsu you had to like struggle There was nowhere to move. wrestling program yeah there you go yeah wrestle like a girl i'm on the the advisory board so i'm They're doing a lot more fast and morning training. I was just like, the female physiology and the weight cut, that's just a whole, like

55:08 He was limping around, but, you know. He was in the building for the whole time, I don't want to know who's got a nagging injury. Guys always think the UFC is out to get them. It gets out. Kamaru and every other athlete we work with comes in with sensitive injuries, on the body. athlete that doesn't have a history of missing regardless of the training style that they're engaging in.

58:31 it's a nine or 10 out of 10 in terms of intensity, and they're doing that fasted or they're doing So for every athlete, we're looking at how their body uses substrate energy, the energy with their skill-specific training. sports athletes to, to fat at rest., it depends on the sport type. Again, see anybody come in and try to fight on a ketogenic diet because i know quite a few guys were doing

1:02:00 And again, I'll… and essentially adipose development but it didn't. partners at the ufc performance institute is this meal prep company called Trifecta Nutrition. And Like, you're stealing food. to fuel you through the entire event yep so there's a number of levels so i'll get there in So it's not roster-wide yet as we're working through a lot of the operational stuff.

1:05:33 We identified this as a real need. cornell university um for for a year he was an intern with me he worked at exos for two years all the way through, you know, 30 minutes pre-fight, including all the supplements, the night before to support rehydration, electrolytes, to optimize the gut repopulation I mean, I think one of the benefits that we would get out of having more weight classes available is that fighters could get their body to the weight class where they're optimally at.

1:08:30 Was it? They're not even going to check. And we, as the UFC, the performances too, we have the health and safety of our fighters in mind at all times. But because of the promotional nature of the UFC, it's limited. I want to be a professional. Just, I mean, you can, there are weight classes, all right? your fight weight that's not your fight weight you know just making very good points just just

1:11:37 I don't know if that's necessarily the move. crazy no nobody's going to disagree with you but but what's the best way to figure it out? creating some competitive parity in the cage, I think, is a really critical point Because it's not just a unilateral decision where we tell our employees, this is what From the inside It can be done If you could eliminate that.

1:14:48 More We have 50 independent do have that as a primary kind of area of focus. the beginning or at least from the time the weight classes started being instituted We'll go back to that. Yeah. Cage fighting Well, you say cage fighting. Yeah. sports performance so how does that does do you have to go to conferences and find out what the yeah it's a real problem yeah so you know the ability to process it is is what makes the

1:18:03 Hey, Clint, come here. puts it intimately in terms of in the UFC, everyone's training hard. got you know everything that you would expect in a in a world-class facility what we're starting to in the water and do hot cold plunges it's just it's going to stress them out more so You'll know them when you smell them, I guess. It's supposed to be a great benefit of that, right?

1:20:23 Absolutely. will tell you is that the fascia and the fighter posture that that joint right so just the the difference in terms of symmetry and balance within the body exercises do you guys incorporate a lot of that stuff as well oh for sure but again it's it's you varies and if you got like a stiff wrestler or someone who's like just never really worked yeah

1:23:14 certain amount of time right and then there's more of a benefit of going into you've got to periodize your recovery that's a lactate kind of response. and they'll contract in the cold. for 20 minutes you know so it's it's still not the science not the the data and the information of it due to extreme cold exposure i think that's been proven i think cytokine developed

1:25:56 Because now we're tapping into psychology So that's critical. but we don't want to eliminate the adaptive response to the training session. there's a number of spices that are included in a lot of different things, Nope. Yeah, and the other thing which I would say is this is at no cost to the fighters. and the sport and the level of sport evolve Come by, do some testing.

1:29:17 how we're working our sports science into the sport of mixed martial arts, and to try and capture our philosophy and our approach from a facility development perspective through to kind of our educational processes through to the way we're the, that can help the development process. We had Macy Barber, actually. as part of essentially the completion of her fight camp

1:31:27 that voice is forrest griffin ladies and gentlemen no one else uh when you um when you treat these I mean, we use force plates in certain particular… we will share that with both physical therapy And it was accurate. Then your knee started hurting. Obviously, our support is going to be important for the adaptation. and then kick it over to them. There's many cases where they would assess something,

1:34:32 to be a priority before they went into a heavy camp or something like that right you can't resolve that is going to be on the outcome of the fighter. We'll take you out back and shoot you. approach but again in in physical therapy and strength and conditioning now that's not those little pads and shocks? I was the test dummy. right so again when we're talking about fascia and changing fascia and releasing fascia,

1:37:05 Not that I'm aware of, but I might be completely wrong. Forrest, what'd you do? Yes. bike it's a it's a perishable skill as me and clinton now know so how long ago but i have three I got grasped in yesterday For all the PT rehab I honestly some incredible stuff if you're you're really interested you should talk to uh dr roddy mcgee Yeah, that's rough.

1:39:52 Stuff for mobility or stuff for – are you doing clubs? No worries. in cold and like let's see what happens now how much how much time do you spend uh on sort of Now, you guys have been in action now for two years. us more and you know again just the opportunity to speak to more coaches more athletes again we're servants to the fight community and we're sports scientists therapists clinicians and the

1:42:32 And this is available? Everybody knows a UFC fighter, right? is obviously moving forward to really ramp up our educational platforms to support the if young fighters people coming up yeah get it right you really could influence a lot of folks awesome place. hey, we want insights back quicker can they not work with like a mom and pop car accident chiropractor to get like a

1:45:43 KPIs? any last words? Clint, you want to say something? I was just going to add that a lot of what we're There's a huge amount of, I guess, risk for lack of a better term, No, I mean, this is a trip. I'm very excited that you guys are around. been there i mean since ultimate fighter season one you know i mean it's crazy your fight i mean It really did.

1:48:23 But they know that something crazy happened during that fight. and then the door opened, and people started pouring through. But now the PI, the UFC itself, the stars today, it's only building. But seriously, I'm super happy that you guys exist. So thank you.