Joe Rogan Experience #423 — Gene LeBell Transcript

Transcript

0:00 Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out! Yeah, I was three at the time. You're a guy that, And, of course, myself, when I was young, I got kicked out of the judo gyms because guys beating me up. What was that like? But I was making $1,000 a week doing Westerns. Look at these pictures of you, you handsome young bastard. Because he was really the first guy that said, let's just try everything and mix it all together.

4:05 But with all due respect, Bruce taught me a lot of techniques that I use in the movies, jumping spinning kicks. When you talk about martial arts today, still to this day in 2013, people bring up Bruce Lee. and you'd be interviewing him instead of me if he was still alive. But he loved that. What do I call you? But with you, you know, you have to, I want to raise him my allowance.

7:24 Now it's payback time. You know, and so I've been there. Yeah, Silverado over at Jean Jacques. A lot of leg locks, which the Brazilians a long time ago didn't do leg locks. because like the Sambo guys were using leg locks, who's a Brazilian guy, who's probably one of the best in the world at it. He was an animal. Or if you're good at spinning to the side, you can also get a knee lock.

10:38 And I like the gentleman. it's kind of So he'd go down and he'd beat everybody with a double wrist lock, a downward arm crank. where most people, they just break the elbow and the shoulder. It's a much more violent approach. He looks beautiful for 104 years old. And I can hardly wait to December 28th and watch him. Impossible. That's like heart and will, you know, that you can't measure that.

13:51 He knows his way around shit. It's crafty. Yeah. They said that he would make guys do 500 bodyweight squats before they could even practice. 90 pounds, yeah, kettle balls. European boned And just a little trivia. of speech is so strange like why would you cry uncle to get someone to stop a 40. I'm talking about like change since You have to draw pictures of people.

17:54 You know, I went to high school in the 80s, Everything changes. There's more to everything. Remember those things? Oh yeah, always. You are But for you, I'm watching these videos of you when you were a young man. Because before that, none of those other martial arts things ever really got traction like he did. You've been there through the introduction to the latest evolution.

21:16 if somebody like Give him katsu, which is an art of reviving. you revive him, he's okay. It's much better than getting knocked out, too. A lot of people think it's the same thing. You're a little bit punchy. That's the dirty aspect of this game, of mixed martial arts itself. You're right on the numbers. sure glad she got into the movies and And so when time comes, like Joe Louis or Cassius Clay,

24:09 More power to him. He's good, too. Yeah. Maybe I really should just shut the fuck up. solid and intelligent. Really good And who wants to retire when they still feel like they can beat a lot of dudes' asses? you've got to take care of it the best way you can. And it seems like he's just not really there competitively anymore, one of the great old-school legends,

26:30 and talk about what it was. They don't know when to stop a fight. They're trying to finish this guy. But that's a tough gig. which is a blood pressure clear around his head,st I've ever seen. I've seen a lot Like, did you see Mark Hominick versus Jose Aldo? He won the last round. I mean, Hominick took that blood, they should just stop a fight? Same thing with the brain.

30:49 If a guy gets knocked out from a blow, How come people don't know that? I've been around boxing and wrestling for 75 years. a gurney, put ice I've heard of many stuntmen dying accident in the car. So the most dangerous thing to me is a brain injury. Oh, God, a couple of TV shows. There's a picture of you guys up there. What's that from? Oh, my God. Can movie was this? Oh, God, a couple of TV shows.

33:15 And he was quite a character, quite a character. He always did that, right? With the robes This was before I'd ever done stand-up comedy, but I was like, that guy is the shit. played it straight. And apparently clients was one of Rodney's original He was a real original, too. hilarious in that movie. Those were people that were stand-up comedians You're a maid.

36:34 And there's a lot of people that the odds of you being at home at 11 o'clock on a Wednesday night, those are not that good. and all it is is Judo Gene LaBelle says this is hilarious, You can get famous real easy now. these people weren't even born. hilarious. that Roots of Fight did, No, God knows she's a Canadian. BJ Penn. They've done quite a few of these documentaries on a bunch of different martial

40:15 This is the video itself. to really be a guide and a mentor. Then he moved on at the age of 11 In the first round he hit me 300 times. Some of the people who trained there had even been held in American internment camps. That attitude translates directly into why he picked up the Milo Savage challenge. But Gene didn't care. If he ever hits you in the face,

44:07 and Milo had to wear the gi, you know, top and stuff. It was a karate gi. so he'd throw a right. referee, so he didn't know what a choke was. And so Gene choked him out for a while. He did not get up one minute, two minutes, five minutes after he was choked out. had overcome what is essentially can overcome boxing. I know that UFC 1 was a watershed moment, but Gene LaBelle did that

46:59 That was amazing. And like, it doesn't matter sadistic bastard. when you were learning judo, what was that like? Like, did they accept you after a while? During. I take the things that work for me. They have to have something. and they were stood up. Like, you shouldn't be refereeing a fight if that's your move. But you still say, like you just said, the guy, he's doing a triangle.

52:33 It should be up to you to get out from under there. If a guy can hold you down and punch you in the face, even if it's boring, And like you said, you made him stand. And it's the rules. do to make it more realistic? Well, one thing we could world. He takes talented strikers, Maybe he's not knocking anybody out, that's impressive technique. where you get a guy in a back lock or an abdominal stretch

55:56 and it was like real primitive, like much closer to what you engaged in in 1963? No doubt. I mean, I've called Dana up. We'll just have these crazy fights about, and you've got to remember, he's coming off of this loss. It's not just a. I love her as an individual, love her as mother as an individual, Oh yeah, she is. She is. But she has weaknesses. Oh, they all do. She's fucking dangerous. I'll tell you that. Oh, yeah. Cyborg's dangerous.

58:25 Cyborg has won, like, some serious tournaments, has a brown belt. But she's a lot heavier than Ronda. that they're probably going to have to fight one day. You know, they're having more fights with women now. She's a dangerous striker. Yeah. My point was that if these guys She's really physically strong, and she's getting better. Well, I don't know that for sure.

1:01:29 To me, I know Lyle Lozada used to play football. You know? growth hormone that was coming out of cadavers. He was enormous at one point in time, too. Because there's always the allegation. Let it run. 200 plus and a wicked grappler. Whatever it is the package that's left is pretty damn impressive. She's scary for a woman Misha Tate is a very, very good fighter.

1:04:22 Don't let the enemy get behind you. I want to see it. But I tell you, do you have one of these solid gold cauliflower ears? Before I had them operated on. because I'm just a natural, good-looking guy. Well, he said it was the turbinates. I made a mistake. or it didn't work with them for whatever reason. ears. You can get that in your nose. Vanderlei had to get his nose operated on.

1:07:31 understand with the cauliflower ear as a rock. Yeah, it's a white weird shit hard. Yeah, Randy Couture used to stick down It was like a rock on his head. See, you're smart. You've seen his. Oh. taking shots, if something's wrong with you, I can't say, hey, something's wrong with you. If you have a bad knee, Yeah. I says, well, you got to have the whole knee cut off.

1:11:40 really come from kicking you in the ass. Take care of it. I'm like, you're going to be unstable, and it's a scary enough proposition to fight anyway. If you can't do that, you can't defend yourself properly. Get everything fixed. and they're getting this artificial testosterone injected into their body, I go to a doctor, I get my test levels measured,

1:14:20 it seems easy to do. All you would have to do is take a bunch of testosterone and then get off it. Your levels are crash. Then you go in and get Where you put cream on, cream is the most common. because guys do them and then at a very rapid pace and it gets out of your system in and out very quickly. You're supposed But it was really bad, and it cured it.

1:16:32 One of those things? There's a guy who's doing that in Santa Monica that I actually had done on my neck, and it was amazing. Like, whatever it did, like you said, Don't you kind of have to be just, like, Yeah. He eats nothing but jelly beans? He was a winner of a strongman competition. Gets that sugar content. Yeah but how long is he going to live?

1:19:21 but he had 26-inch arms. Yeah, but who knows what is practical and what is over the... Jesus Christ. It can only work for about 30 I train That's a Carl Gotch thing as well. For folks who don't know how crazy that is, that's so goddamn hard to do. of kettlebells and along those lines that those full body movements are the ones that translate directly to grappling.

1:22:25 Well, those are making a comeback. Those things are actually becoming really pretty popular lately. I had him. Yeah. You know? And they don't seem to do that anymore. I'll put it this way. The last few fights. You know, he fought, knocked out Pedro Rizzo, fought, what else did he fight? like when he was beating Minotauro and when he beat Zulu and all those guys.

1:23:53 He's so dangerous. But when you're just over the hill, and correct me if I'm wrong, you still have enough ability to beat the average guy. I'm glad, you know, he had a few fights. He had the best tackles, takedowns, that's all he had, that meant anything. later it wasn't very much longer than a year if it was and And that's just a long time to be off the game

1:26:05 I mean, this is a stud. You have a giant athlete who can walk on his hands. He's an NCAA Division And gets leg locked. The second time was frightening. where he was hammering on Frank Mir, again and the referee finally got in there. Yeah. Needlessly. But he paid the price, too, when he got older. And he said the cat never learned to say thank you, you know.

1:29:43 and it would make me cry to think there is a God and, you know, he should be put on a pedestal, a man like that, because he taught a lot of guys. as well. Yeah, I love the fact And as far as like, you know, stand-up. Learn it all. So they would do it and make it seem like they're just grappling, aggressive wrestling style as well yeah but one of them's dead now yeah unfortunately i think i

1:32:27 Yeah. and he hit the Kimura and just yanked the guy's arm apart, This was during the dark ages of the UFC. He's getting ready. I mean, he drops down perfectly and just mangles that dude's arm. like Farmer Burns books, which shows all the different positions Absolutely. It's amazing, isn't it? It's one of the most difficult sports at the highest level to compete at.

1:36:05 and they're going to push you just a little bit harder than you want to be pushed, some seemingly insurmountable barriers. You planning on putting me in a submission? Brian, you're so gummy, you won't even get hurt. Oh, I don't believe. Oh, I see. Instead of going like this, it's just straight up. Right. You know, you just go up. Carl Gotch had a big hand.

1:39:12 You're just wrestling with a crocodile, you fuck. Well, Gene, when you look at the state... What's one thing that you would like to see guys improve on? like that kind of stuff? Muay Thai guys are great at that, the trips, Yeah. I think those elbows are very important. The being able to control the infighting and the throwing each other down, and win the bout, you know?

1:42:23 Well, I only pay attention to that once every four years. Oh. Every movement is a fight. If they have sports like that, and I don't knock them, why wouldn't they have MMA? look at the sports in the Olympics, Yeah, and boxing, very sparse. I think what you're seeing also Yes, yes, yes. to build up something. I think he's the most best defensive boxer

1:45:21 I love the guy. How come the MMA guys aren't making that kind of money? He got like 2.2 million on his last fight, everyone's making a lot of money. He also has a lot of sponsors, big-name sponsors. mean, you've got to appreciate that. She's not trying to make friends. But you can't tell what's going to happen. There's a picture of you guys together.

1:48:25 My arm feels cold. Well, you broke it. Judo Gene LaBelle broke it. Zero in on this. Perfect. My arm feels cold. Don't let anybody get behind you. Hold on a second. Judo Joe Rogan. Oh, my. Screwed. They call it Ochigary if it goes. And then the eyes. Can you get to the I'm honored to be in your book, sir. I consider it a privilege if I never see the back of my neck again.

1:50:56 And thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring it. go to if you're hearing this on Monday, December 2nd. Ends tonight at midnight Pacific time. the San Jose Improv. Me, Brody Stevens