Joe Rogan believes David Goggins is a “national treasure,” but he’s not sure whether Tony Ferguson is benefitting from a camp with the endurance athlete and motivational speaker before UFC 296.
“I’m very interested to see Tony after he’s been training with David Goggins,” Rogan said on “The Joe Rogan Experience.” “There’s a lot of, like, very mixed reviews about whether or not that would be a good thing or a bad thing for him. It’s interesting.”
Several fighters have expressed concern over Goggins’ workouts with Ferguson, who’s been filmed looking severely exhausted and even vomiting afterward. Ferguson’s UFC 296 opponent, Paddy Pimblett, called the partnership “f****** stupid” and said Goggins couldn’t offer Ferguson anything worthwhile for an MMA fight.
Rogan has hosted Goggins several times on his popular video podcast, and he’s not ready to write off the former Navy SEAL, who famously transformed himself from an overweight couch potato to a published author and ultramarathon runner.
“I don’t know, because we’ve never seen anybody train with David before,” Rogan said. “You can say on one hand, clearly, when the two of them are training together, David is not struggling at all, and Tony is struggling.
““So there is definitely some ground to gain when it comes to endurance. Dave is not even f****** tired. They’re going side-by-side with each other, and he’s like, ‘Who’s gonna carry the boats?’ He’s not even f****** tired, because he can go for days. He can just go for days. There’s without a doubt some benefit in that.”
Ferguson needs all the help he can get in the octagon. The former interim lightweight champ has lost six straight and could tie a record set by UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn for the most consecutive losses in the promotion. Ferguson has stayed with Goggins despite online critics.
“They’re doing the workouts together, and David looks like he’s hanging out at f****** Planet Fitness trying to pick up a chic,” Rogan continued. “Tony’s dying. But David said Tony was the first guy to get through hell week with him, which is incredible.
“[Goggins is] an animal. Weak men hate him. Weak men and jealous men, and people who don’t know him. He gets misunderstood, unfortunately, by some people that I like. They don’t look into it hard enough, and there’s also a natural inclination to try to find someone who’s just excelling above and beyond everyone and find shortcomings in them, instead of just looking the message that guy is saying.
“What is he saying? He’s saying take control, take control, use your f****** mind, take control of your life, and be better at everything, and I used to be a fat f*** and look at me. That’s a great message.”