JRE Fight Companion (January 20, 2024): Strickland vs. Du Plessis with Eddie Bravo, Joey Diaz and Brendan Schaub

High-Level Overview

This Fight Companion finds Joe Rogan in his Austin studio with Eddie Bravo, Joey "Coco" Diaz and Brendan Schaub, watching the UFC card from Toronto on January 20, 2024. The headline bout is Sean Strickland's first middleweight title defense against Dricus du Plessis, with Raquel Pennington against Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant women's bantamweight belt, Movsar Evloev against Arnold Allen, and Neil Magny against Mike Malott on the main card. Between rounds the four friends wander everywhere: the early days of the UFC, the fighters' antitrust lawsuit, gloves and sponsorships, Joe's rebuilt 1970 Barracuda, Lexus reliability, smelling salts, a punishingly hot beef jerky, and late-night conspiracy talk about vaccines and Jeffrey Epstein.

The tone is loud, loose and profane, a hangout among old friends as much as a broadcast. Joe supplies most of the technical fight analysis, Schaub brings the ex-fighter's view of camps and business, Eddie argues for jiu-jitsu and grand theories, and Joey keeps the room laughing. The conversation swings constantly between live, round-by-round fight breakdown and long, meandering tangents.

The Discussion Explores:

• The origin story of the modern UFC, which Joe and Eddie joke they "manifested" in the 1990s
• A controversial no-call on grounded knees in Movsar Evloev's decision win over Arnold Allen
• Neil Magny's late comeback stoppage of Mike Malott and what cardio is worth
• Raquel Pennington winning the vacant bantamweight title as a 13-year UFC veteran
• Sean Strickland's sparring-heavy style against Dricus du Plessis's relentless pressure, and the split decision
• The UFC class-action lawsuit, the Reebok deal and fighter pay
• Whether jiu-jitsu is disappearing from high-level MMA, and Eddie's case for Combat Jiu-Jitsu
• Cars, smelling salts, and a closing stretch of conspiracy talk

Deep Dive into Main Ideas

How the UFC Became the UFC

Early on, Joe tells the story he and Eddie Bravo like to repeat: in the 1990s, hanging out at events with friends such as Frank Shamrock and Ricky Rocket, they kept saying the sport needed billionaires who loved it enough to pour money in. Joe describes the dark years, when the promotion was only on DirecTV and, as he tells it, boxing interests and John McCain pushed to have it treated as "human cockfighting." He remembers that people treated his early backstage interviews like he was doing something disreputable while he was also starring on an NBC sitcom.

Then, Joe says, the Fertitta brothers were about $44 million in and close to selling, until Lorenzo Fertitta slept on it and decided to gamble on The Ultimate Fighter. The Forrest Griffin versus Stephan Bonnar finale, a perfectly matched war between two men who had lived together for six weeks, drew millions of viewers, both men got contracts, and Chuck Liddell's knockout style carried the sport from there. For Joe, the lesson is that the fans already knew how exciting it was; it only needed to be seen.

Evloev vs. Allen and the Grounded-Knee Controversy

The main card opens with Arnold Allen, coming off a beating from Max Holloway, against the undefeated wrestler Movsar Evloev. Joe calls Evloev one of the smoothest fighters in the division at moving between striking and grappling, a man with "no holes" in the way Ilia Topuria has none. Allen lands a head kick and fights well, and the crew keeps rooting for him.

The flashpoint comes in the third round, when Allen lands knees while Evloev puts a hand toward the mat. Joe and Brendan watch the replay several times and conclude that Allen was lifting Evloev's hand up and that the shots were legal, since a downed fighter's hand is supposed to be bearing weight. Joe says Evloev was "gaming the system" and that referee Marc Goddard, usually excellent, simply had no replay to see. The pause let a hurt Evloev recover, and he won a 29-28 decision. The crew argues that Allen's team should appeal and that referees should be shown replays whenever they make a call like that.

Magny's Comeback and the Value of Cardio

Neil Magny against Mike Malott looks lost for Magny for long stretches, with Malott nearly finishing him. But Magny outlasts him, turns the fight around on the ground and gets a third-round stoppage with about 15 seconds left. Joe's verdict is simple: that's the value of cardio. The crew enjoys seeing a veteran who has been around forever pull one out, and it leads straight into their worry about whether Du Plessis could hold up in championship rounds.

Along the way they preview the Miami card that follows, especially Benoit Saint Denis against Dustin Poirier. Joe marvels that Saint Denis, a former French special forces soldier, reached the top of the lightweight division within about seven years of starting MMA, and the group talks about how a soldier's mindset, trying to kill without being killed rather than trying to win rounds, may be a real edge. They set that alongside fighters such as Tim Kennedy and Brian Stann and the hard childhoods of fighters like Strickland.

Raquel Pennington's Title Win

Joe opens the night by praising Raquel Pennington as a fighter with no single standout weapon except toughness, and the co-main proves it. The fight includes a long stretch where Mayra Bueno Silva takes Pennington's back and hunts a choke, and Eddie critiques the technique: she keeps a figure-four with her arms but never secures the second hook that would hold the back. Pennington ends up on top, and a strange final round sees Bueno Silva on her back while Pennington kicks her legs.

Pennington wins the vacant belt, and the crew is moved by it: a 13-year UFC veteran with a 16-9 record finally becoming champion. The talk turns to Amanda Nunes's retirement, to boxing lessons about fighters who "retire" and come back when money runs short, and to a long, crude debate about gay fighters in women's and men's MMA.

Strickland vs. Du Plessis: Distance Against Pressure

The main event gets the most detailed analysis. Joe explains why Strickland is hard to prepare for: he mostly spars, even during fight week, and his distance and timing are so good because of it. Early on, Strickland dominates with a jab, the shoulder roll and front kicks to the body, while Du Plessis lunges with full-power punches and misses. Du Plessis's left eye swells badly, and the crew has Strickland up 2-0 and then 3-0, frustrated that some commentators and judges seem to reward Du Plessis's takedowns, which they argue do little when he neither holds Strickland down nor does damage.

From the fourth round the fight changes. Du Plessis, whose cardio they had questioned, keeps coming, lands big right hands, opens a bad cut near Strickland's left eye and takes him down, and Strickland visibly tires. The crew gives Du Plessis the fourth and still scores the fifth for Strickland, for a 3-2 card. The judges instead give Du Plessis a split decision. Joe notes that total and significant strikes favored Strickland but cautions that big numbers can pile up in rounds that are already won. They call it a close, great fight, credit Du Plessis as "a monster" who will only get better, and say a split decision is exactly the kind of fight that deserves a rematch, though the April UFC 300 date is probably too soon given medical suspensions.

The Lawsuit, Reebok and Fighter Pay

Between fights the group reads up on the class-action antitrust case: the plaintiffs claim the UFC suppressed fighter pay by shutting out competition, and the article says damages could reach $1.6 billion for about 1,200 fighters who competed from 2010 to 2017. Joe says he would be a terrible promoter because he'd want to pay fighters too much, and wonders why buying rivals is illegal when so many industries are near-monopolies. Brendan recalls making more from sponsors on his shorts than from his purse before the Reebok deal ended that, and says he doesn't think the UFC set out to hurt him; it was trying to make the company money.

Joe proposes an approved roster of vetted sponsors who choose which fighters to back. Brendan counters that the core complaint is revenue share, since as they discuss it the NFL pays players about 50% while UFC fighters get far less. Joe then praises his friend Trevor Whitman's Onyx gloves, which he says mold to the hand so well that he hits the bag without wraps, and argues they could even reduce eye pokes.

Is Jiu-Jitsu Vanishing From MMA?

Eddie Bravo, now 53, says his shoulders are healed and he's rehabbing his back, but he wonders every day whether it's time to stop sparring for good. He then makes his core argument: kickboxing and boxing existed long before the UFC, and what made people flip out was seeing fighters taken down and choked or arm-locked. Today, he says, high-level MMA is mostly kickboxing, and legends such as Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya are not known for jiu-jitsu.

Joe answers that striking and wrestling now matter most because everyone starts on the feet and knockouts pay. Eddie floats restarting fighters in the same position after a round ends on the ground, and explains that Combat Jiu-Jitsu was never a side project: the goal is to make jiu-jitsu as exciting as an average UFC event. Joe also shares, without giving away the secret, that Alex Pereira showed him and Daniel Cormier an unusual system for checking leg kicks.

Cars, Smelling Salts and Hot Jerky

Joe shows off his rebuilt 1970 Barracuda: he sold it when money was short, it passed through Reggie Bush, and he bought it back and had it rebuilt with a Mercury Racing engine that revs to 9,000 RPM. He calls the Lexus LC 500 one of the most underrated cars you can buy and says he has never had a Lexus or Toyota break down, prompting a long run through Land Cruisers, Supras, the RX-7 and his old NSX. Joey tells a dark story about seeing a fatal RX-7 crash on New Year's Eve, which he says is why he doesn't drink and drive.

Later Joe hands around smelling salts from a friend's brand, and everyone but Joey tries them, while Jamie reads a medical write-up noting they haven't been well studied for performance and that the FDA has warned makers against unproven energy claims. A beef jerky marketed with Carolina Reaper pepper leaves Joe sweating and reaching for milk and a beer.

Late-Night Conspiracy Talk

The back half of the night drifts into heavier territory. The group discusses a journalist who had criticized Novak Djokovic dying at the Australian Open, and Joe voices his skepticism of COVID vaccine safety claims, citing a rat study on prenatal mRNA exposure and saying he knows many people who had bad reactions, while also noting that COVID is mostly dangerous for people with serious comorbidities. Joe describes guests who hold "terrain theory," while saying he doesn't know if they're right. These are the hosts' opinions, not established findings.

The night closes on Jeffrey Epstein: Chris Tucker's flight, Jimmy Kimmel and Aaron Rodgers, and how powerful people might have been lured in and compromised through lavish gatherings. One panelist goes further, arguing that everything happening in the world ties back to Epstein and that people on the list would prefer chaos to prison. Joe points to Ghislaine Maxwell's father, Robert Maxwell, and a Tetris film that shows him as a power broker. They sign off with Joey's shows in Nashville and Austin, and Eddie's parody music album.

Conclusion

This Fight Companion is two things at once: a sharp, real-time read of a strong UFC card, and a long, rowdy hangout among friends who have known each other since the sport's dark ages. The fight talk is where it shines: the grounded-knee no-call in Evloev-Allen, Magny's cardio comeback, Pennington's long-awaited title, and a careful account of how Strickland's jab and distance controlled three rounds before Du Plessis's relentless pressure took the belt on a split decision the crew scored the other way. Around that come Joe's UFC origin story, a thoughtful argument about fighter pay, and Eddie's plea for jiu-jitsu, plus a lot of crude humor and conspiracy talk that listeners should treat as barroom opinion. If you like watching fights with people who know the sport from the inside, the full episode delivers.

This is a summary of "Fight Companion - January 20, 2024" from The Joe Rogan Experience, giving you the GIST so you can decide if you want the REST. Listen to the full episode.