Joe Rogan offers Brendan Schaub and MMA tough, tough love

Fighting is dangerous – fighters are trying to hurt each other. That is a significant part of what makes it so exciting.

Ironically, two athletes trying to punch, kick, knee, elbow, slam, choke, and joint lock each other is not as dangerous as automobile racing, or cheerleading, and may not even be as dangerous as football. But make no mistake, fighting is dangerous.

UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub came on The Joe Rogan Experience, following his KO loss to Travis Browne on Saturday. Schaub has now lost three of his last six fights via first round knockout. And he lost the last one via decision, to Andrei Arlovski.

Before he became a fighter, Schaub played football in high school, college, and professionally. And he has boxed in the Golden Gloves.

Rogan, with respect, kindness, and love, firmly told Schaub that he needs to think very hard about his career. What is at stake is potentially his ability to think.

“The reality of your skill set, where you’re at now, I don’t see you beating the elite guys,” said Rogan as transcribed by David St. Martin for MMAFighting. “I don’t see you beating Cain Velasquez. I don’t see you beating Junior dos Santos. I don’t see you beating Fabricio Werdum.”

“You came into fighting fairly late in life. You’re a good athlete. You’re a big guy, a strong guy and you can do a lot of things because of that. You’re very dedicated and you’re very disciplined and you get s— done, but there’s a reality of fluidity of movement, of mechanical efficiency of movement that happens when you get a guy who has trained his whole life at a certain aspect of MMA. Whether it’s wrestling, kickboxing, jiu jitsu … there’s a fluidity of their movement that you don’t really have.”

“It’s not that you don’t try hard, that you’re not dedicated, that you’re not disciplined, that you’re not intelligent. There’s s— that other people can do that you can’t do.”

“I just think there’s a bridge between you and the best guys in the world and I don’t know if you can cross that bridge.”

Schaub offered a defense, and said he is “100%” going to fight again, at least four more time, and possibly drop to 205.

“Joe, I think it’s easy for you to sit there, with whatever, $12 million in the bank and say, ‘Oh, you need to stop doing this,” said Schaub. “It’s easier when you’re set and you don’t come from that background and you’re going home to your wife and kid in your f—ing $6 million mansion. It’s like, ‘Bro, you shouldn’t fight. Brain trauma. It’s bad.’ ‘OK, I’ll just stop doing it. I’ll just do a podcast for the next 40 years.'”

Unfortunately, Schaub’s defense did not address Rogan’s central point about brain damage. Rogan feels so fervently about brain damage that he it makes him question his profession.

“I always wonder how much longer I’m going to do this, anyway,” said Rogan. “The one thing that I’m conflicted about, this is a hard thing to say, but [CTE] is the one thing I’m conflicted about when it comes to fighting. As I get older and the more I understand about the damage that people take…

“I still love the sport, I still love watching it, still love all the complexities, the battle and struggle. Guys rising above and getting better, the discipline and focus that’s required to reach a true, excellent state, but it disturbs the s— out of me. What I’m saying to you today is not just for you. It’s to put it in the heads of a lot of people that don’t want to hear that s—. There are a lot of guys out there that are hanging around a bar or gas station or wherever the f— they go with their friends and they hung around too long. And everybody knows it.”

What Joe Rogan said is uncomfortable to hear or read, but it is the truth, and a really, really, truly important one.

The episode will appear on Schaub’s The Fighter and the Kid podcast.