"Joe Rogan is a bad motherfucker and I'm not just saying that. He's one of my best students. He is a brown belt and he is just a nightmare in the gym
He hits harder than anybody I've ever held mitts for. If he wanted to do MMA, Joe Rogan could go straight to 170 and fuck up a lot of dudes. He can for sure," stated the legendary Eddie Bravo as he talked about Joe Rogan's skills as a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu. Check out what else he had to say as he talks about what he'd change in the UFC and much more.
PC: American fans associate great Jiu Jitsu with BJ Penn. He, like yourself, is very flexible in his hips and legs. How much does flexibility play a part in having great Jiu Jitsu?
EB: The more flexible you are, like the double lotus and the butterfly stretch, that kind of flexibility is all about guard work and if you have that, the more dangerous your guard is. The less flexible, the less dangerous your guard is. It's like kicking to the head. If you can only kick to the legs and can't kick to the head, you're not that dangerous. You're dangerous, but you could be way more dangerous if you could kick to the head. It's the same thing with the guard.
PC: Do you plan on competing in Jiu Jitsu tournaments ever again?
EB: You know what, I want to retire officially with a Royler rematch. We're trying to get that together with the Professional Submission League. We're trying to get that done. They are trying to contact Royler and get that done because that's the only guy that's going to get me to get in shape right now and put my music career on hold. Royler is the only one. I'll take a break from music for 2 months to just focus on him. I won't do that for anybody else. I know there are guys out there that are probably better than him, but they're not going to do anything for my career. I want to prove to him that the first time wasn't a fluke.
PC: I wanted to do something fun with you. If you had Dana White's job for a day, what would be the first thing you did as UFC President?
EB: Make wearing pants in the UFC legal. I think if the fighters wanted to wear tights, like Shinya Aoki, I would allow that. I would change that rule immediately. It is a ridiculous rule. The reason Shinya Aoki is known as the guard master of the planet is because the pants are a big reason. It is hard for guys to slip out. If people were allowed to wear pants like guard masters, it would be good for the sport. It would eliminate a lot of ground and pound decisions if these guys had traction where they could really attack on their back. It's a very offensive position; it would create more offense, more taps and less stalling. It would mean us not boring new fans to death. That's a matchmaker's worst nightmare to put 2 guys in that lay and pray for 3 rounds. It would mean more excitement and more money; everybody wins and better shows. All of this creates more fans and the shows get way bigger. Could you imagine, and this is not a crazy thing, if there were 20 Shinya Aoki's in the sport? That could easily happen if guys had his guard and pants were allowed. Imagine 20 Aoki's in the UFC and all of a sudden, the excitement level grows 15-20 percent. It's hard to submit guys when it's a hot oil wrestling match. If you're running the sport and you are in charge of the sport, you want more submissions. If I was running shit, I would force people to fucking wear pants and long sleeve rash guards. I would force them so they couldn't slip out of shit and we would have more submissions. I know it sounds crazy, but you get what I'm saying? If some of these guys want to wear a Gi, let them wear a Gi. They do in Japan. If they want to wear a Gi, let them. What's the big deal? It separates fighters and make people recognize them. "Oh, that's the dude that wears the Gi. I remember that dude." You know? It makes them stand out more or whatever. It looks more mystical. I'm a big No-Gi guy, but I love it when guys come in with Gi's because I know if they're in there with a submission master, then it's going to be very hard to slip out of their shit. I would promote wearing Gis and allow pants. I would actually try to talk people in to wearing them. The more submissions, the better the sport is and the more exciting it is and everybody makes more money.
PC: If you were going into an alley to fight 4 guys, what other 3 fighters would you bring with you?
EB: I would bring Brock Lesnar, Kimbo and Tim Sylvia. I would just bring the 3 scariest looking motherfuckers I could find. That way, we might avoid the fight altogether. I would let Kimbo do the talking, let Lesnar stand in the background flexing the traps and Tim just sit there with his arms folded. I like Kimbo's negotiating skills. I'll just be on my cell phone and let them handle it. I'll just walk off to the side like 15 yards and be on my cell phone. Kimbo would be talking, Brock would be cracking his knuckles and Sylvia just standing there with his arms crossed.
PC: I've heard a lot about Joe Rogan's abilities. What is his skill-set like? Can Rogan kick some ass?
EB: Joe Rogan is a bad motherfucker and I'm not just saying that. He's one of my best students. He is a brown belt and he is just a nightmare in the gym. He's gotta work on his guard a little bit, but his half game is amazing. He's so strong; so explosive. You can't tell from Fear Factor, but he looks like Frank Shamrock or Ken Shamrock. He's a giant man. He's swole and very athletic and very flexible. He did Taekwondo his whole life, Kickboxing and Muay Thai and he hits really hard. All of the trainers that have trained him
like Rob Kaman trained him and he was just amazed how hard Rogan hits. He hits really hard. He hits harder than anybody I've ever held mitts for. If he wanted to do MMA, Joe Rogan could go straight to 170 and fuck up a lot of dudes. He can for sure.
PC: I would have liked to see him get at Carlos Mencia.
EB: Oh, it would be sad. Tragic. I would start crying.
PC: It was great speaking with you my man. I would like to have you on more. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
EB: I just want to let everybody know that all of my music is available for free downloading on myspace.com/thetwister. That includes all of my projects, past and present. Everything is free. You could download it and make your own little mixed CD and rock out!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]