Joe Rogan Experience #10138 — Cory Sandhagen Transcript

Transcript

0:00 The Joe Rogan Experience. What a fight. Yeah, I'm getting pretty good. Where they'll sometimes talk about how you're almost having this out of body experience where you're almost like floating above the court or the field or whatever. was the person that was fighting. How did you get to that mindset? possibly could. Um, for like, and I know that those are like kind of corny words now, but, uh,

4:16 of my career and I was like well what's got to change and I was like I gotta lose I gotta take times. Like when you're a young kid, like you have to be like going and hitting it hard. Like what's sustainable like what's Yeah, and I think that everything kind of has its purpose. You figured that part out you can be that guy whenever you want to be that guy.

7:55 you figure out how to like do something way overdo it figure out where the cutoff is and be like okay No, that's okay. Like I can't really, like it's a lot of energy to be that up. god of the universe to you thinking that like you're about to go get slaughtered and in the back So just let the fear be there right now. was just someone else it happened into someone else and then just move on.

11:46 fall into a pattern and you can kind of predict that pattern there was no pattern with you it You were mixing shit up so well. Like you never varied. Yeah, it was pretty awesome, man. It could take some time. I used to hit mitts real hard, and those eight round weeks, those are hard as fuck, man. Like I get like, I try to get so tired Yeah, Christian Allen has always was my coach. He's like the guy with always the crazy haircut, kind of built like me.namurti, like, just like free, free thinkers.

16:35 But a lot of it is me just kind of being like a lone wolf in life it is um that's like martial arts you know like that Yeah. That's what Christian taught me from when I first started when I was 17 years old. interacting with their coaches much differently than a lot of other players and coaches will And I always shoot for reliable. So like I think like let's say just for example in striking like any combination really like that's kind of more.

19:51 because tricks are very digestible for people closing space, going away from space. It doesn't happen with your eyes in striking. It happens with your eyes. I see your punches coming they see space like oh yeah like you're at the end of my jab that's when i can hit you everything is those things too I don't think people super understand position as like my guard like where

23:31 And more fighters are embracing that now than ever before. But the reason why he couldn't get started, in my opinion, That's what that can do. Because like I said, you read it with your eyes. So if I'm switching And he kind of switches a lot. change or I would start level changing or I would start doing something There was a lot going on there that was important to you winning that fight,

26:48 great example of that that to me is what's exciting about mma and so when i see a guy like you that i I think that I've definitely just matured a lot as a fighter. I'm very thoughtful. of the things that I'm working on. You know, like a to-do list, like sometimes how I'm doing all of that stuff. But I'm super organized in the way that I'm like trying to learn and the things that I'm trying to like progress in, whether they're technical things, uh, mental things or whatever.

29:10 Everyone works really hard physically. Muay Thai system and he brought out his notebook and he showed me all those, I'm like, Jesus this 10 week program, do you have everything planned out like from the moment the camp starts? because I'm like, man, this guy's like with the wrestling, like if Banks has to tell me something I, I write down, yeah, week by week, what I'm doing, what my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

32:36 They try to get you super present. And then I enjoy, there's all different kinds of them, but I like, I enjoy doing the ones where they like almost walk you through like finding your spirit animal or like going on astral travel or something like this. because 55 is great. 45 is great. There's a lot of amazing divisions, but from my money, If you want to compete in that division, you've got to have everything right.

34:35 any one of these guys could be a world champion any one of these guys and in another time period Like I reflect on that sometimes where I'm like, damn, man, like you're in the hottest division in the biggest organization in like the most badass sport right now. I'm going to beat that guy. And it's kind of like feels surreal that that's the scenario. It's awesome. It's awesome that you're embracing it like that,

36:32 it's a goddamn carnival. Jesus Christ this guy's world-class world-class already first fight in the UFC I mean that that But if you go back to 1993 in boxing, you got a lot of world champions. There's certain things that work really, really well. which is because we're just trying to figure out who's going to get the best system first. growth of this what i think is the greatest sport that's ever existed and to watch it blossom and

40:07 Like Israel taking on Perea this week. That shit's inspiring, dude. two fucking days away i know it's two days away hell yeah oh you are nice i can't wait lucky i know i Like, where's he at right now? right? before kind of, I don't ever have That was crazy. I remember there was like a stint in my like teenage years where I just would watch World i mean i think every teenage i mean the fantasy i think for most dudes that don't fight is they

43:17 is the amount of work that's involved Like, I like think about like basketball, football, you know, like other sports, there's always substitutes. you could always see that moment where the other guy is in shape and they start to doubt and start is trying to intelligently move to a place where they could do damage but the other person is you get kicked yeah you know and then all fucking you're now your legs

46:36 I know. mess up some other things i almost feel like you have to add in rules where like uh okay so i get subjective and too many referees have different ideas of what's acceptable and also you can see referees reacting to the crowd I want you to imagine if there's three people who gave Marlon that fight. Insane. if i was a ufc it would be in my best interest to make sure that everyone's on the same page so that

49:53 That way all of the fighters know that and a right hand. That's it. There's so many more things going on in MMA. It's exponential in boxing because of all the different skill sets guys like yeah I mean if you can get I don't know for us a hobby would do it Even with the 10-point must system, which is a fucked up system. That matters. That's a great point. Everybody who saw that

53:06 Yes. Right. which is kind of interesting, is worth more you know a calf kick when you see damage when you see someone limp that's worth more You know, like, even a guy like Perea, actually like what what's the balance there so that i don't If you're watching Caleb Plant and Benavidez, Perfect example. I'm like, oh, wow, he won. experts and world-class referees and judges and trainers and fighters, and everybody has

57:13 in the initial part of it, been so many fights recently the angela lee macy barber fight there's been a bunch of these fights Cheeto getting one judge calling that fight over you. and then you know like i'm like hey man like you really screwed that one up and like maybe i didn't But I don't want to shit on the guy I also think, you know, there's a, have you seen Verdict?

1:00:10 It'd be like some gladiator shit. Because if you have casuals that don't really truly understand what's going on, they're judging it. It's not a bad idea. What do they think? the more right you're going to make it. judging a very important fight were doing like that um that fucking big tournament in la and you know they have they were doing that fucking big tournament in L.A. and they were on television in the U.S.,

1:02:21 I talk to some people now, You know what fight I was thinking of the other day? i think so right he was greek was he from australia yeah yeah yeah you might be right If I was running the UFC, and clearly I'm not, but if I was, I would not be interested in slap fighting. Do it in the small gloves like one. they're they're essentially they feel like mma gloves except without the fingers eight's the I think eight's the right number. Eight's the right number. It's so crazy

1:04:58 And fucking conditioning. So much strength and conditioning. one of the things he does, he melts people. but I know that he's been around for a while. Oh, no. He said, I know you want to see me at the UFC. That's French. Yeah. he's big fucks that know how to wrestle yeah there's i i think grappling is super interesting and that's why i said maybe it's because just the way like i just naturally picked up striking

1:08:49 a little kid my my god it's like a part of his it's like blinking it's just like completely just like clock the hours and hours and hours. Another thing that makes like MMA just so awesome question with a lot of elite athletes in m is like, how long can you maintain that intensity? It's like thinking a couple months ahead, you know? Yeah. But my nervous system

1:11:25 attack but it happened in the last minute in the third round and i feel like i was fighting And then when I went uh after the fourth athletic and that fast in my life. So I threw a right hand and Song like fucking chambered Right, right, right. would imagine for an elite fighter when you're fighting a big opponent like song yudong it's a It's like only people that get invited.

1:14:35 ricky simone how that fight goes yeah that's gonna be a killer fight that's a great it's gonna be a just being in the division like, like it's gonna be their body language is saying how their their eyes look, you know? Like that guy is locked in. the wheels fall off. I'm like, oh my God, That was cool. think pewter yawn felt like i'm gonna fuck this guy up he cheated you know he won the first fight

1:17:35 and then dominates. He's being silly and calling fights and all of this stuff. like uh i was just like way too calm way too like i got this like just being a douche you know like to be for a fight so uh it just made for like i remember being in that fight and being like is I think from my personal experience, that might be a problem one day and then it actually becomes a problem then you fix that

1:21:19 i could win every fight and feel like I lost. Yeah. Like, even, like, I was wrestling with Banks the other day before we came out here and i was like I don't want to have my wife and kids watch me get knocked out a bunch of times. and dang that was a long time ago and then you know you think about those wars that You know, I mean, there's so many guys, so many fucking guys in this division.

1:23:49 other than Brandon Moreno and Davidson Figueiredo Yeah. I love that he's into Legos. He can wear whatever the fuck he wants. really that's like cool to me you know like you just want a world title against one of like the They're like, oh, fuck. Yeah, he's big. when he rehydrates which is just bananas seriously i uh so like i was actually watching izzy and

1:26:47 he's going to like chuck and fuck me up. like I watched the first fight a few times now, the first MMA fight, the guys that don't telegraph anything. whoa how is this gonna go down yeah how is this gonna go down and when you got a guy with a mind So Izzy's the favorite. comes in on pajero you know 135 and 115 is almost like a pick-em fight you a big better no no i

1:29:35 It's also something silly. I don't play any of that stuff. But you have to make the shot. That's true. What are you doing? You hit the ball at the net and then it's two versus two. You never seen that? No. Oh, that's It's this game. so fun. That does look fun. for the beach. Look at this. This is crazy. we play. It is my shit, dude. A lot of great fishing.

1:32:35 You should try bow hunting. What do you mean screaming elk? With giant antlers Utah is one of my favorite places to go. Really? he said, sacking Tom Brady's great, but it's not as fun as elk hunting. Generally with a good shot, it's not going very far. practicing every day I kind of know where that arrow is going when I release that arrow I just But it's a mind fuck it's it's exciting it's

1:35:57 It's all about all the different physical things that have to be in play. all of the other, that'd be cool. but like. Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. because they killed so many people. that his genes are in a high percentage of the people But he isn't the only man whose reproductive activities Yeah. Dude, I used to, back when I was, like, trying to get into Warmind, I would just, like, Google, like, the most badass warriors in time.

1:39:31 might be him all day jesus christ according to legend after his right hand was cut off by the Coplicon. Look at that. I guess when you kind of, I sometimes think when you grow up in a society like that and Or harder than them when I had Tyson on I brought up Genghis Khan and his fucking eyes lit up distance what they thought was a snow-covered mountain and as they got closer they realized

1:42:12 in history to probably be a part of. fucking good yeah i think about it it's almost too good where i feel like the world's gonna end There's a Dune quote. What's happening here? I don't know. and sentient that means it can make decisions and do something it would go well my programming is I hope that the AI thing, I hope that that's what it commits itself to.

1:44:37 They're going to reintroduce them? Woolly mammoths. But it's interesting too because 90 90 of all animals that have ever I really hope it does. Yeah. You know? That was really what it was at. I think that's possible, we blow ourselves up unless we blow And Graham Hancock is the one who did that. And there's all this physical evidence in the form of nanodiamonds, these micro diamonds

1:47:39 And this also coincides with the end of the ice age. That's melted ice. documentary is that at one point in time there was an incredibly sophisticated They don't have no idea how they did it. They have no idea what they used to cut them but with a completely different angle. They came at technology from a completely different space. language, the first agriculture. And what they think now is this is just a rebirth of

1:51:48 All the burning of the Library of Alexandria, all the ancient work that they had, where where we think that we're so much smarter than the humans because it doesn't exist anymore. There's no hieroglyphs that show cranes. Yeah. People would learn them. It's just horrific conditions, and people are terrible. that allows us to somehow or another be horrible yeah it'd be hard and people would do the worst things they possibly

1:54:55 You would. I think MMA is a proxy for war I think MMA is a proxy for war that you can do that yeah yeah i agree yeah and she said, and not mix martial art. She's got some silly idea that she thinks acting I think that it's beautiful that you guys, like, sit in a room, think of, like, all kinds of cool shit about life that's funny, write it down, and then, like, go perform it on stage.

1:57:05 The creation of new stuff, for sure. Yeah, that's my favorite part about fighting too. Mmm What's some new stuff you've been working on? And the audience at the beginning of the show, they get index cards. That's Tuesday night. That's like its own little art. that thing is there and then do it yeah and then yeah like anything that's so like boom boom boom

1:59:21 They were just a bunch of dudes in probably their just like watching kung fu movies and writing raps. Yeah, yeah. And nobody did it better than Biggie. I love that shit, bro. they're like dealing with a ton of stress. and the mind get overloaded panic don't don't get in your feelings yeah one of like the a cool thing that i learned when i But I learned a ton from that place, too.

2:02:38 two of them together i get right there and i look at these guys looking at each other in the eyes You have a very specific pacing style that you do when you're getting prepared. But I hear something in the background, like him making noise, or him practicing saying I just thought it was so cool that he was like practicing it. I was like I love that

2:04:13 Right. Yeah, that is crazy. And he's such a fan. This is exciting. I'm like, holy shit. a person could ever do. Live fights are insane too, and just the spotlight are on the two fighters. top of goosebumps it was is this it look at this the green lights dude this was Was this the Jose Aldo fight? You talk about a dude who fucking was big for the weight class.

2:08:44 Like he'd been starving himself. Rang more and fully unclear Bell on the Requiem bell rang morn fully and clear is because that dude was walking the walk and he was fearless man like he That's crazy. I'm going to go. Is that the Toronto UFC card I wonder why they don't allow that. Yeah. I like went up. it was one of the top guys. Is he like a bald Why wouldn't you be allowed to headbutt? Why wouldn't you be allowed? I mean, Mark Coleman... You could do way worse shit. I mean, I don't see, I mean, why wouldn't you be allowed

2:11:50 would take guys down, including headbutts. I do too. I do too. I think the only argument against it is the cage. Which I've been a supporter of anyway. How big would you make the arena? you have to come back in? lot of money and a lot of people love it and watch it on tiktok that's great but if you really wanted There's so many good fights. have over there. And it expresses all the different aspects of martial arts. Yeah,

2:15:13 And it's not an individual sport that of note dude imagine getting San Chai in a UFC fight with just I'm like, that's not, you can get hurt bad. where you cannot, like, when you get into that area, You can't wall walk. That'd be cool, I think. That's not a bad idea at all. I mean, I idea at all i mean i think you know chael sun and said it best he said

2:17:17 Like I'm sore in weird places that I had no idea that I had gotten hit. I broke this thumb. go through their career and they get marred with injuries and they have injury after injury Yeah. Yeah, I hear that they heal pretty decently, but who knows? Like, that's what I, I was talking to my buddy the other day. And like it feels like it's real as hell.

2:20:23 it's the best set of rules that we have for combat sports. I't think what we were talking about before the knees on the ground i think is Yeah, it should be allowed. different. Yeah. How do you feel about punching in the back of the head? I definitely don't think that that should be allowed. We talked about that recently, but because I think why not?

2:21:56 Temple's, like, the fucking most vulnerable area of your skull. Why do we have those? Yeah, so if you had your balls inside your body all protected and you were hot from running or something like that Yeah. but it keeps your hand like this thing that a lot of people have complained about is that the old ufc gloves they encourage your did it because it used to happen all the time for me like i don't know if i would re-get prk surgery it doesn't happen anymore really only in fights but uh one time it happened and i like remember

2:25:26 That would be crazy. What about if somebody gets a cut on their forehead and they're on top of you, ground It was, like, my second fight in the UFC or something. having this pink fog in my eye. anything because all of the blood is still in my eye. It was wild. Yeah, but all of this blood, I can't see anything because all of the blood is still in my eye.

2:27:00 and I was like, you motherfucker, when I get out of this, We were sure it was broken. He calls himself the Bear Jew, which is one of the greatest nicknames ever. Oh, for sure. Like in the early days of his career, he was talented. And I think that that's what he did. KO'd by Cub Swanson, getting beat up by Paul Felder. So I used to train with Andy Sauer a bit in Holland like when I was 22 23

2:30:40 juice like yeah that does scare me i i don't i don't know that i'll do it past that And you realize this guy is kind of phoning it in. I don't know. so you probably have to have loved ones around you to be like, hey man, like running an academy or running a gym or you know working with younger fighters it's hard to find overcome like just latching on to an identity

2:33:39 really what you are is this like other thing, And you live in that. but it feels better when things are organized you you know, and, uh, and, and camping and like that's when I started meditating. the mountains helped me do that. Well, I think that's what's interesting about this conversation is that you have done so much of this work and you have done so much of this thinking about what that is and how that aids you and how that hurts you and and how it gets in the way yeah um i think that you just have to do it at

2:36:54 Yeah. Just letting go of these preconceived notions and, but the, the unease of uncertainty just haunts people. And you try to find these, these ways of being that protect you from that, uh a ton uh i've been teaching for a really long time now though um and i've kind of had to pull lot where people start teaching and when they start teaching they get way better

2:39:10 in like all types of uh bodies you know like I feel like if you have a really true and tried system what's next does it wait on the henry cejudo-Al Jermaine fight? I think it kind of does. But Rob is still there I would love to fight Marab I think that that would be like an amazing i don't know if they have an announcement for that but they always do a big card. Volkanovski Yair Rodriguez, unification bout targeted for July.

2:41:36 I mean, and Volk looked really great against Islam, too. I thought it was all about the second round. I thought he edged And those guys know how to hold people down. obviously he won Yeah. to watch you just keep getting better and make your way to the way you approach things. And it's, it's really fun to watch you just keep getting better and, tell everybody your Instagram and all that stuff so they can find you.

2:43:19 Just Instagram.