AUSTIN, TEXAS: Joe Rogan enjoys fighting and making up hypothetical bouts, whether it's between tigers and lions, bears and gorillas, or the UFC legend, Aleksandr Karelin. Rogan spoke about Karelin's career in today's UFC scenario during a talk on episode 2012 of the 'JRE' podcast.
Rogan discussed the great Russian wrestler's MMA matches in Japan with Canadian psychologist and scholar Gad Saad. However, Rogan claimed that those fights were rigged and thus could not be used to correctly assess his MMA abilities. “He had like one fugazi MMA fight it was like a fake MMA fight because they did a few of those in Japan,” he explained.
'If he did fight MMA, everyone would be f**ked'
Furthermore, Rogan speculated that if Karelin competed in the UFC, all of the fighters would be in danger. “It seems like he got involved in one of those where they gave him a s**t-ton of money and they said come over here. It’s kind of pro wrestling but kind of not, we’ll say it’s an MMA fight it’s one of those deals. But if he did fight MMA, everyone would be f****d. Everyone. Everyone would be f****d. And if he figured out how to strike, oh my Jesus,” he exclaimed.
Rogan praised Karelin's exceptional strength, dexterity, and flexibility which allowed him to pick up and hurl his opponents around. To demonstrate his argument, he played a video of Karelin strolling across the floor on his shoulders. Rogan even keeps a printed image of Karelin to remind him of "what a b**ch I am," as Rogan so eloquently phrased it.
Karelin is often regarded as the best wrestler in history. He concluded his amazing career with a record of 887 victories and 2 losses. As they say, the data speak for themselves.
'LeBron James would have an unfathomable physical advantage'
During one of the episodes of 'JRE', Rogan speculated how LeBron James would have fared had he chosen MMA rather than basketball. Because LeBron is 6 feet 9 inches tall, Rogan believes he would have defeated every other combatant in the ring. "I don't give a f**k what kind of steroids you take; you are never going to look like that." Rogan remarked, "Never." "There are humans who have the most unfathomable physical advantages," he added.
He continued, "LeBron James would have an unfathomable physical advantage over someone who would have an unfathomable physical advantage over you. A guy like that, if he was fighting, everybody would be f***ed! They are lucky, they are God damn lucky there’s that much money in basketball and LeBron James got into it.” Rogan quickly realized that he would face backlash from MMA fans who believe that just because someone is athletically gifted does not mean they will make a great fighter.