Joe Rogan Experience #10108 — Stephen Thompson Transcript

Transcript

0:00 The Joe Rogan Experience. Glad to be on with you. at the top of the fucking food chain because i was real recently that you beat him yeah it was i It's crazy, isn't it? knocked out then get just the crap beat out of me for five five and around have I know. We pretty much sold out that arena. You know? Yeah. It bothered me for a while that, you know, why did I not see it coming? I normally see this stuff coming. Do you

3:50 That's all I remember. I'm going to slap you. I guess I asked him the same question. I kept saying, you know, feel like it's a relief well you know it was such a worry you know I've knocked out people I've seen knocked out they want to get right back in there and like oh you're asking for trouble because you i don't think we had anybody the u UFC should have made it Anthony Pettis.

6:44 Yes. What organization OSP was fighting. and i'm knocking them out in the second round and I almost threw up all in the I was a lot faster than the guys that were heavier than me, I think it was in Atlantic City. I definitely watched you fight in those events, And I was like, man, I'm telling you, if you find a guy who really understands karate, do and you lean back like a snake when you go forward I'm like that's a totally

10:18 Is it Kyokushin style? Let's find out. not geared toward real applications. And even- Shotokan. Wow. But this And people were always making fun of point fighting. Because everybody else, like if you're a Muay Thai guy, To learning how to blitz. whole range where they And for 170, you're pretty tall and long too. Crazy. I told myself, if I ever in a street situation, hopefully I'm never in one, but I'm like,

14:26 nicest mma fighter the nicest street fighter i will tell you i was in some scuffles you know Right. you know if you look ugly she saw you look ugly she's obviously she's more He backs, I hit him right in the chest. that kind of situation before, maybe once or twice. That was it. And, um, it was just like, middle school just beat you up right so yeah man i can I don't know. When did you start karate? Three years old. Wow.

17:21 No shit. He's completely disassociated. No. You never seen this? I can watch it. It's not hurting him because he's high. Really? he's talking about pulling out your neck look how high he is Look at him. Why? In the Stars and Stripes Gee. Look how he lifts his leg up like that. Like, a lot of people would dismiss hook kicks. where you just have to learn

20:19 That's what's so special Yeah. And I bet you it wasn't even as hard as you could. is you sneak things around the shoulders. Was it the first fight? you stay to the outside of that you know they start to get more relaxed and start but Conor McGregor when he fought Jose Aldo, You know what I'm saying? I talked about taekwondo kicks to someone once. Then learn all the other shit.

23:31 Because when they spar, they don't really hurt each other, you're doing more sparring drills than anything, learning how to block. you're gonna try to do something different like even like your your style originally you didn't It was a Muay Thai fight. an, you know, a spot to kick or find an opening when you can create that by just kicking somebody in the leg.

25:20 days, if you didn't have the natural ability to do the He was drill, so he grew up in a military school pretty much. what inspired him he loved his he loved his uh western movies and he did like yeah he loved him Really? How heavy were the gloves? It was wild. Wow. What did they say? I believe that was one of the very first no-holds-barred events It's held in a different country every two years.

28:38 these kids are fast. He was asked to fight a guy. Maybe he was just blowing smoke. Yeah. Yeah, I think after this fight he ended up doing more Muay Thai stuff. effectiveness of leg kicks and Rick Rufus was a bad mother I mean he was so Because back then, all the guys were kicking with their insteps. Isn't it crazy? Like, what the? Look at the calves on that guy.

31:55 And Rick doesn't know what to do. It was like a... He's in real trouble. and eventually Rick's legs are just chopped meat, Yeah, I wonder if there is that allowed in Muay Thai but he keeps landing it on Jimmy, You know, instead of the shin. So that may be why sometimes I'm limping afterwards. Mm-hmm. you're like, wow, this is crazy. with Cejudo He survived

35:40 are so exposed there. And I think that's the beauty of that karate style as well. You're right-handed. Most everybody tries to do with my movement is just try and low calf kick work mm-hmm take my legs out and all it takes for me to but everybody wants to know how to condition their shins. lower part of the muay thai bag is harder than the than the rest everything kind of sinks down you spend a lot

38:28 Because I don't know if you saw when Luke Rockhold, He had that thing wrapped up. Yeah, still? Do you see the fight that he had with Jan Bohovic? Yes. He had that thing wrapped up. have to take care of that. I can sit there and watch that on YouTube all day. on that top of the shin right below your knee. Does it show what you're doing up there? I don't know if it does or not. Yeah, they're right there, Jim. And it's not hard. And I try and do it three times a week.

40:09 did you go to a Thai gym? I knew that the legs were additional targets, so we really focused on that. You tore every ligament? and I guess they didn't clean up I was trying to catch him when he switched and then I had ran in for some reason um I had slipped a little bit as I was And I'm sitting on the ground rolling. So that's where I slipped there.

42:15 I pull in. you on yeah that's i tore my mcl during that fight in the first or second round wow yeah now i actually I did patella on my left leg and I did cadaver on my right. It would hurt pretty bad. It doesn't bother me at all. It hurts so bad to be on your knees. so I asked the doctor. I go, I want to see it. Let's go. Yeah, it was pretty weird.

45:25 it where I can yeah my dad's 6'2 I can jump over my dad you know just doing crazy tricking martial What's his name who was doing the body roll mess it up I know I guarantee I messed it up I tore it again they had the whole time my dad's been there with me 24 7 7 days a days a week, training. And I wanted to quit. And he's my pops, man. And then this happened, right?

48:10 They were like, you've got to stop doing martial arts. You're fixing it, right? I'm like, shut your fucking hole. And that was one of the causes of me injuring my knees so much. and his student was kind of over there just like this, you know. Shoot. Shoot, I know there was more. And I was up there helping him out. That's so smart. So because of that style, that was his original style, that karate style.

51:23 You never see me throw it. Stephen, just remember, it wasn't your wrestling that got you here it was the Matt Brown fight it was the fact man i just came off of knocking this dude out in the first round got the bonus you know and it was camp and I felt great you know and realizing that everything was going great until I had to cut the weight but I remember almost passing out

54:04 of course that whole weight cutting process was still new to me. And I know for a fact we didn't rehydrate. Like, my first fight, first fight ever, we went to a Longhorn Steakhouse. I had about a gallon of sweet tea. Like, three baked potatoes, cheese fries. And even though I knocked the guy out in the second round, I almost vomited everywhere. I had zero water.

54:50 That's one thing I have a hard time not drinking during fight camps. difference and that's trying that's just trying to trying to do it you know is it because you And I've just felt how powerful that dude was i mean he was just he was a different animal when i then he was very smart in how he explosive movements. because after that, so good at it that he didn't take a whole lot of damage maybe and he was just able to do that i

57:30 beat world champions up until in his late 40s I'm trying to raise on that I don't give a shit. He always fought like super technically and clever. no no I mean Chris Weidman throws me around like a rag doll. he's just i don't know it's just it's a different different weight throwing around at that level to get accustomed to being, just having But that advantage is, it's diminished quite a bit by takedowns, by the threat of takedowns,

1:00:38 Yeah. It's got like a... Similar. playing football, there's no fence, there's no cage, and they're running full blast. They're fine with this basketball floor, but we have to have everybody caged in watching it at home. You get a better view at home. and someone gets a blown out knee. So Rashad had to pull out of the fight with Shogun. He looks massive.

1:02:46 yeah to get up that just And there was a guy, Adonis. Oh, my God. He's taking it easy on me. now she's fighting in MMA, and she's still young, man. She's big. PFL. Pettis is there. because obviously you know what it's like when a real world-class judo player thrown around like, Just the gorilla strength Well, So he looked like the beast from X-Men.

1:06:07 and he said Marcel. Ridiculous. Liotta Machida, Yes, he did. I was thinking of him and Vitor Belfort. And I forgot who he was going up against. I'm telling you, that kid's a motherfucker. the two of those guys together it's just that fucking Guido energy yeah that academy You've got Gordon Ryan, who is pretty much universally regarded At the most, I think he's 26.

1:08:37 In jiu-jitsu, that's crazy. Donaher was— They're in what, Cuba? he has people come over tomorrow? what about Christmas? look, the results speak for themselves. Yeah. But I, there's something with that because I train Yeah. When I was going up there to train with him, he was in GSP's corner. You got the whole TriStar. It's amazing affiliation. He's one of the most elite grapplers on the planet, too.

1:11:11 Where they check your hydration. That was the big kicker for me too from going from kickboxing too. I didn't cut anyway. winging it. We were asking people. So how did you and still losing weight really oh yeah how are you doing that what are you doing differently I stay there. And then after that, I just saturate my body with water. like little butter balls, man,

1:14:01 it just gets rid of all those cravings. And I'll still work out once a day. started with uh george lockhart i'm not sure When I talked to Lockhart about it and he was explaining the science behind weight cutting, Or Tyron. Like when you see a guy like, you know, fill in the blank for some guy who cuts a shitload of weight, But it's not healthy for the fighter.

1:16:01 He's walking around like a guy from The Walking Dead. And that's one of the reasons why I walk around lighter. really flourished once they moved up in I'm ready for the Adesanya fight. It depends on what else That was crazy. was crazy that was because when he fought Bohovich he didn't even gain any weight And also grappling ability. Legendary Polish power.

1:18:31 Boom. It'll slow you down. A body kick. He just looks like you couldn't pick him up. I would love that fight, actually. That's crazy. Yeah. He's massive. Possibly. I think he's had two neck surgeries. so many all time greats, like we talked about Randy Couture of your tissue, that's the problem. Knee surgeries. Yeah. I was going to see if maybe I could send him to –

1:22:10 He was so pinched. Like he couldn't activate his tricep. And that's one of the reasons why he got the disc done in his neck. They push everything out. It's all titanium. the spongy part is starting to get pushed away. I know. The older you get, too. Punched and kicked and this happening. but his discs, he had no more meat in between the bone, tree growing around a mailbox.

1:25:27 was older i think when he fought henzo gracie i think that's who he fought um but pat someone had said that he had neck surgery and they wanted to make sure that he was still okay to fight after Yo, Boss is messed up bad. He'd probably still fuck you up to that left. In Pancrase. What? He had to go and get stem cells. that bosses look at that yeah like actual screws. That's insane.

1:27:59 crazy. He's got five Oh. Practice I It just looks like it feels so good, though. see i went to a chiropractor and this motherfucker for a year was telling because i had a bulging And I was not good. in medical school zero second you only say like zero zero not a second they In the 1800s. It feels good. I'm sorry. And some of it's the placebo effect.

1:31:53 How do you say her last name she French no well? She's American, but she's awesome Right. Yvette? But just, you should read that. He's like, here it is. and you lie on a table. And I knew that Peyton Manning had gone to Germany for that and Kobe Bryant did it. is they take your blood, they spin it in a centrifuge. We've talked about how this works It took many months of no yanking on my neck, no guillotines, no nothing, no craziness.

1:34:52 Yes. Oh, I get it. The response to it, it docks there, and after that, all sorts of bad things happen. And he is the founder. So for me, the disc and all the tightness and the inflammation, once I got the Regenequin treatment, Yeah, fairly new. So through this technique, it reduced the inflammation in the area, There's images on my Instagram of me getting it in my back.

1:37:39 Dang. Wow. need new knees, new hips. How are your hips? My hips are great. Really? No problems at all. It just feels stronger. Yeah. It's just like these two crazy composite materials together that are on the surface of your knees. You can have a new knee and fight. He had a bad bulging disc in his neck and won the world with it like that. They're all by the end of like when they get into their 40s and they're all, their backs

1:40:52 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yep. So he went and did it like he was trying to escape. teabag respect respect to Jordan no need to see the teabag Google Kyle Dake what It reminds me a little bit of some of the stuff that Nick Curzon is doing and some of these other really innovative strength and conditioning trainers. Not there, one second. Twice a week. But there are weeks where I'm doing like – where I am kind of bulking, right? And then I do a week where it's more a cardio base,

1:44:28 who was one of our fighters. Josh Reynolds. We had this one strength and conditioning guy, and he just had so many problems, man. I'm talking like just crying. Oh, no. even though you don't see it a whole lot. my favorite fights of yours thank you cuz you you were on fire in that fight I feel like that power went away when you saw the showed up I can I could say yes and I there's a lot of people I know GSP had said some

1:47:28 and he was a fucking monster when he was younger. John Fitch? Yeah. I like to try and break guys down. So, because, you know, I met Ryan Hall out in Montreal training at TriStar. going for those hill hooks and i was like he's going to try and he'll he's going to try to get When Ryan Hall pulled that off on BJ Penn, I love that guy. Really? Okay. There's something sinister behind those eyes of Ryan's.

1:50:35 He was trying to heel hook Ryan hard. He's the sweetest guy ever, That I'm just like this all the time. I see it. Yeah, these guys on social media. You should have done this. You should have done that. You can't read that shit. Oh, I know. The Jeff Neal fight had to be particularly satisfying, though, to draw out of their they're hard to draw out out there They they they're keep they're so disciplined to their positioning is in for my style. That's my goal

1:52:55 And I remember getting headbutted in the first round. anything you know but it was uh but his skull but there were some flurries there and uh i couldn't I try and get in a flow state where I'm not thinking. And I had broken my hands in that fight, both of them. I've hit guys with half of what I hit him with, and they've gone down. Yeah. I mean, Tyron had lost every single round.

1:54:47 Tyron's a killer. Because, you know, when you share something like And with somebody is it's almost like an intimate Dean Thomas is there, who knows him inside and out. That's the thing like after that fight looking at him like bro Some of the best, like the guys that took shots better than anybody, in there. Yeah, his mind. not betting on me or fans.

1:57:12 Came in late, man. Really? Is that what you think? And then fucked him up in the second. And that was last minute, correct? He took it. So his nose was fucked. I think he's great. And he's just, I think he's great. had to do to win the Masvidal fight. But if you take any consideration of the fact that he had a broken nose going into the fight, I've seen it.

2:00:10 He is who he is. happen oh we had planned it out there He was wanting to work his way up He went on a reality show. He had to go into villages, try to get food. Maybe he didn't prepare correctly. One of the most popular guys in the UFC. Holy shit. Oh, my goodness. Grabbed his front hand, pulls it down, and hits it with a left. People think, oh, he just ran at him and threw a flying knee.

2:03:03 which even more activates Askren's natural desire to grab you. The whole lead up to that was awesome. Angry look on his face. there it is wow that's that one in the middle is the one I'm talking about. I was there. that was crazy shit at Usman with a full camp Usman. We talked about it on the podcast too. He tries to break people. sparring partners home you know pack their bags and just send them home yeah so i'm in there and

2:06:51 Talk about going into the fire, right? he was there I love this sport Loto Machida And then through him, you know, I was training with Loto Machida, a tie clinch and you can't get out i I know you know you any way of getting out of a He had very V-torn in the face. There's actually a video of it where one of those Bob dummies, those century dummies,

2:09:28 It's like a flying karate. I could tell he was getting frustrated with it. And he got mad. But I don't throw hook kicks in sparring anymore either. It's taken you broke it again? Just not, Right. I mean, you can see this one. You know Ian morning and my finger's up here like this. Right. No, he's broken his hand so many times And I conditioned my hands. The first time ever broke injured my hands so what do you do to condition your

2:12:26 Really Yeah but So for jujitsu I do my shin condition while I'm teaching. I think you can get up to 150 pounds or more. There it is. Oh my God. have there if you scroll back up you take a look at them you can see that's So I'm at, so it says 100 and 140. I was just everything I could get to just watch these guys doing how they train to do How about Ric Flair?

2:15:07 The Ric Flair is always great. I guess people hire him to slap him in the face. Wait a minute. I don't know. Maybe. Oh, I've seen this. You've seen that? No, that was 100% legit. Look at that face. Watch this. That's not fake. You would do this, this like oh my god he He's a good wrestler. Maybe KSI doesn't have a wrestling background. Yeah. power. I felt so bad for him.

2:18:21 like he wasn't in the best of shape. That's so crazy. I feel like I have to take a day off or day and then they have to kind of work around them. are you real careful? Like when you're, Yeah. a little bit, but crap about some taekwondo school in the area so uh the instructor and one of their his best students it was just a friendly sparring match my dad asked the guy if he needed any gear he's like well we

2:21:59 And they had a stucco wall, right? And my dad parried and hit him with a ridge hand. they're like best friends now he comes over to the school all the time, and when the guy's face gets red and he's got like this. No, my dad's wanting me to throw that Ridge Hand. And Charlie Murphy, who is really good at karate, Charlie Murphy gets out, he's talking

2:23:52 We were in Seattle, and they're both like, what the fuck? Heavy weight shirt. Yeah. And sometimes guys get KO'd with a ridge hand accidentally, right? I feel like when I hit a mitt, I hit harder with an open hand than I do a hook. gloves are. One of the things that I said, what I love about the glove is that it's curved constantly. like if you can't open it.

2:26:13 When you relax your hand, your hand's like this instead of the UFC gloves, which are kind of trying to extend your hand. Yeah, we got Chase Hooper coming back in again, and that kid's a little wizard, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. His ground game is so nasty. His jiu-jitsu is so much better than his striking. And I know he's got a longer reach than I. And that's the thing.

2:28:20 different thing yeah and he's yeah he's been doing jiuitsu, but strictly jujitsu. I don't know how long he's been doing the striking thing. And the thing is, he's not worried at all about you taking him down. Levels of jiu-jitsu are so interesting. first started you're just you're not supposed to do this you're not supposed to he wants to turn It's crazy how much better guys are today.

2:30:12 Yeah, you had so much timing and experience So by the time he got into MMA, he was already dominating people. And that's something that we try and do with our amateur fighters. versus the way MMA does. bit and then there's a guy who tests you a little more and there's a guy who tests you a little bit, and then there's a guy who tests you a little more, and there's a guy who tests you a little more.

2:32:13 go make 170 tomorrow i think that's like in the when you're first starting in the ufc that's how because Jake Allenberger, leading up to that fight, i could hear i could hear what you're saying right there you know i'm saying i can you know i know was wild yeah i remember it was i remember watching and looking at chris wyman jumps up he No kidding.

2:34:31 Do you remember? But obviously, you want a fight for the title. He hasn't fought since he And I think the Jeff Neal fight opened up a lot of people's eyes Neal Magny's another guy that people That's a really good fight. Neil Magny. That's a really good fight. Yeah. Good test. Grapplers, he has an issue with He's such a cool dude. I love that guy. I've done a few things. I think it was for the

2:36:58 He does a lot of studying. I think there's 15 fights on the card this weekend. Find footage online. We were in Brazil doing a TV show. Love Chris Weidman for beating Anderson. And the way Chris set it up was so interesting too It's really funny. You know, and what was interesting is And that's one of the things that Matt Hughes said when he lost to BJ Penn.

2:39:49 I'm relieved. I felt that way, you know, coming up at the kickboxers, That's interesting. I don't know why. I always thought, like, I'm going to go out there and crush this dude. bumps and bruises but they're still in the gym there's always something you can do yeah always This is Max Holloway's shirt. He just lets it go. You don't like those kicks.

2:42:56 I'm like, okay, yeah, we're out here fighting each other, Did it the same way. He's so good at that. they could do about meniscus. Because there's not anything out there that could replace What? I like your shirt, by the way. It's all the crazy shit where they throw fucking cannonballs and stuff. He's just a fucking tank of a man. Yeah, so that's how fucked his left knee is, or it might be his right knee.

2:45:56 doing some crazy And this was his right knee, you said? yeah okay but that's just just that's the I've talked about him several times. that's crazy, right? That might be old. state that's kelly starts page and um he's the author of the supple leopard really smart strength If you scroll a little down, you can see some of the movements and stuff that he can do now and he's only four months out

2:48:57 Yeah. You could go back to his page. It's snowy mountains. Oh, you found it? If I had to guess, sorry if I'm wrong. Wow. your bones have to sort of take to it and fuse it in. Because it used to be once you had those things, I will do it as long as my body will let me i mean i haven't taken a ton of damage So you just have a thought in your head just as long as I can do it.

2:51:55 Burns. That's a big fight. I feel like in that fight with Usman, he just had an adrenaline dump, I remember that. I love it. know. Go to Oh, second fight. That's the only loss in his entire career. But I think the Colby-Covington fight do you know the story no the story is interesting this is what happened they had him scheduled to I'm going to train hard.

2:55:08 the next thing you know the UFC is like okay what's next wow and then you know he's like okay And he eats clean 24-7, 365. That story, his character was because of desperation. I guess because he called it the fourth animals, right? 100%. Yeah, he threw a boomerang at him. Listen, Fabricio Verdum is an enormous man. Yeah. He still Because Ryan Bader has reinvented himself as a heavyweight,

2:57:43 Oh! It's just like his walk-around weight. Nemkov just beat Phil Davis, too. And then Musashi at 185 is, in my opinion, one of the best fighters on planet Earth. Oh, my gosh. He was the first guy to have any success against Venom. patricia patricky's the brother right yeah patricio's the. Which one is... Patricio's the brother, right? Yes! It's called nasty

3:00:00 You know John Wayne Parr is fighting tonight Yeah. The big kaposh He calls him the beanpole He fought at 185. Really? Jesus. Teaches at the school. Would he be light heavyweight or heavyweight? But, you know, the guy comes off the couch and just waxes dudes. I know. Maybe they wanted to do it with the pressure or the nerves. And you're like, dude, he's as good as anybody.

3:03:01 especially in jiu-jitsu and those environments. That's John Jock, man. I haven't seen you know, there's levels to that. You know? Rico. That's right. I'm trying to remember who submitted him. Rodrigo Rodriguez that was him and then he tapped him tapped him of the heel hook after that Rio Santos. Flying armbar. Watching him roll with, you know, Roger Gracie.

3:05:27 At it. That was fun to watch. I'm like, I'm just going to pack my stuff up. And that gym, ATT, I mean, you want to talk about an incredible gym. Bought land, put up the building just because he loves the sport. Loves it. Are you kidding me? I think there's more to talk about. What are we doing? Why are we stopping? What else do you? 3.20? What? Yeah, three hours and 20 minutes. I think there's more to talk about.

3:07:14 Appreciate you, man.