Joe Rogan is a sucker for historic combat sports moments.
One of the longtime UFC commentator’s closest friends is world-renowned Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Eddie Bravo. During each man’s rise to fame, Rogan and Bravo worked together on their grappling abilities, with Bravo being the more serious of the two. While Rogan primarily focused on his gig with the UFC, Bravo also found himself in a role analyzing the fights as they happened and providing his unofficial scores between and after rounds.
In 2003, Rogan traveled with the Jean Jacques Machado-trained Bravo to Brazil where his life changed forever with one single submission.
“I was in Brazil in 2003 for the Abu Dhabi world championships,” Rogan said on his Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “Eddie Bravo was over there competing. That was the year he tapped out Royler Gracie. It was the craziest upset ever. It was insane. He wasn’t even a black belt yet. Eddie was a brown belt.
“Royler, who was Royce’s brother, who was more successful even than Royce in jiu-jitsu tournaments. He’s one of the greatest Gracies of all time in terms of his accomplishments in winning world jiu-jitsu tournaments. He was the man. [Eddie got him with a] triangle off his back. It was amazing.
“[Eddie] has crazy flexibility and leg dexterity. It’s very surprising,” he continued. “So, if you’re in his guard, you’re f*****, and Royler didn’t know it. He was in Eddie’s guard and Eddie just slapped that triangle on him and then started pulling the head and Royler tapped and it was insane. I was crying. Dude. I’ll cry right now. Woo.”
Rewatching the footage of the match while discussing it, Rogan let his emotions get the better of him as he wiped away tears. For Bravo on the fateful night, he played it cool immediately after the tap before breaking down on the mat and in Rogan’s arms as they embraced. The win ultimately catalyzed Bravo’s 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu academy, which has multiple locations around the globe.
In addition to teaching, Bravo has also taken up the promoter role with his Eddie Bravo Invitational events as well as developing Combat Jiu-Jitsu. Rogan has been a part of some of MMA’s biggest moments, but from a personal standpoint, the Bravo win over Gracie supersedes simple sport.
“It’s one of the greatest experiences of my life,” Rogan said. “I get emotional right now talking about it. It changed his life. He was always like this super-talented guy. And he didn’t kind of want to believe it for some strange reason. He was very humble about his jiu-jitsu. He knew he was pretty good, and then he started winning tournaments. He won the Abu Dhabis and the West Coast trials, so he made it to Brazil.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life because for him to go there — he was such an underdog. And he had this very strange style of jiu-jitsu that really he formulated. He came up with — it’s not like he invented submissions, but he came up with new ways to set things up that were completely unique to him and his system. That’s how he created the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. It’s one of the best days of his life. It’s one of the best days of my life.”
Awards. MMA Fighting’s 2022 Fight of the Year: Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira
Significance. Stephan Bonnar’s importance to MMA must never be forgotten.
Confidence. Alexander Volkanovski determined to prove Islam Makhachev is beatable: “I’m already twice the fighter I was.”
Shakeup. Jared Cannonier: Alex Pereira’s win over Israel Adesanya “good for the rest of us” at 185 pounds.
MMA Fighting’s 2022 Year-End Award Show.
History.
Free fight.
Hot mic.
Forrest’s new gig.
Top 10 2022 PFL Championship moments.
Triple C on Sandhagen vs. Vera.
Merab on a cliff.
Kevin.
All I’m saying is I’m willing. Don’t act like everybody scared of the man.
— Kevin Lee MTP (@MoTownPhenom) December 27, 2022
The year of Pacheco.
Down with the slickness.
Leave the man be.
Scenery change.
Farewell.
The good s***.
Stay the course.
“I need a Hiro!”
T’is the season.
Khabib is ready.
Slightly.
Barnett’s still got it.
Johnny Eblen (12-0) vs. Anatoly Tokov (31-3); Bellator 290, Feb. 4
Doo Ho Choi (14-4) vs. Kyle Nelson (13-5); UFC Vegas 68, Feb. 4
Jun Yong Park (15-5) vs. Denis Tiuliulin (11-6); UFC Vegas 68, Feb. 4
Tatsuro Taira (12-0) vs. Jesus Aguilar (8-1); UFC Vegas 68, Feb. 4
Can’t say Rogan isn’t ride or die. I kind of wish they still had someone like Bravo doing those scores between rounds, he was pretty good at it. If you know, you know.
Thanks for reading!
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