#864 - Kevin Ross & Gaston Bolanos

Joe Rogan (0:00)

We're live, what's up, boys? So nice to have you guys on, man. It's nice, first of all, to, it's nice to have you guys in studio, but it's nice to have Muay Thai, which I've been a giant fan of for so long. I feel like it's starting to get more ground in America, and we've done our best to try to promote it as much as possible in here. And it's been frustrating for the longest time for me watching what I think is like one of the most exciting combat sports in the world, and it sort of kind of slipped under the radar.

When golf is taking off, fucking golf's everywhere.

Kevin Ross (0:35)

They had Scrabble on ESPN one time, and that was just gut wrenching.

Joe Rogan (0:40)

They had Scrabble?

Kevin Ross (0:40)

Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:41)

Well, it is a sport. It's a lot of training involved.

Kevin Ross (0:43)

Hey, man.

Joe Rogan (0:44)

It's brutal.

Kevin Ross (0:45)

But to see that and then to see us just with nothing, no coverage whatsoever for so long, and you know, finally on TV, but still relatively under the radar, it's tough to watch, but knowing that it's going to be there eventually, it's just a matter of time, you know?

So it's nice every time we take another step, like when it got on Axis TV, it was such a giant leap compared to where it was prior to that. So what's coming next? What's coming next? It's just a matter of time and the right people coming along, doing the right things.

Joe Rogan (1:14)

One can only hope. We talked about this today, but Dana White had a point that I think he's probably right about is that in a lot of people's eyes in America, kickboxing got kind of poisoned with that whole PKA karate stuff that was on in like the 80s or the 90s.

Kevin Ross (1:31)

Yeah, put a bad taste in people's mouths. So it's hard to break free from that mentality of you think kickboxing, you think Muay Thai, you think pants fighting.

Joe Rogan (1:39)

Yes. Yeah, I remember-

Gaston Bolanos (1:42)

And the shoes and everything. Everybody thinks, oh, you do that thing with the pants and the shoes.

Joe Rogan (1:47)

I took a buddy of mine who was a, he was a producer of Fear Factor, actually, my friend David. I took him to some Muay Thai fights in Burbank. This is a local show that was at some hotel. You know, they just had a ballroom. And this is back when, God, who the fuck was fighting on that card?

I'll remember, I'll remember. But some good names, some really good fighters. This was like back in 2001, 2002

And he had never seen Muay Thai before. He really had no idea what to expect. And he was like, oh, when they kick the legs, it makes a big difference. I was like, yeah, it makes a fucking huge difference.

Gaston Bolanos (2:23)

Well, every time you have to, somebody asks you, so what's Muay Thai? Every time, I feel so, I really dislike when I have to say, it's like kickboxing with elbows and knees. I die a little bit inside every time I have to say that.

Kevin Ross (2:34)

It's a matter of how long you wanna sit there and talk to this person. Because you can be like, no, it's actually this, this, that. So sometimes it's like, is it like kickboxing? Like, yeah, see you later.

Gaston Bolanos (2:42)

With elbows and knees. You're like, yeah.

Joe Rogan (2:45)

Well, kickboxing looks the same when you're looking at it. Like if you're watching Glory, it looks the same. You know, and then when people talk about, like I've had people over watching the fights, they go, wait a minute, this isn't Muay Thai?

Well, it's real close. It's like on the door.

Kevin Ross (3:00)

It's like the difference between American football and rugby. Like they're similar, they're running, there's a ball, but they're not the same whatsoever. They're two different sports.

Joe Rogan (3:08)

Is it that dissimilar?

Kevin Ross (3:10)

I think it is, yeah. Completely, because it's a completely different pace. It's a completely different mentality.

Yeah, you're limited on just a few weapons, which seems very minor. But unless you fight it, unless you do it, it's night and day. It's night and day.

Joe Rogan (3:24)

Well, I would imagine that it would make, there would be a big adjustment. And for people that are listening that don't know what we're talking about, kickboxing, if you watch like Glory or now Bellator is having kickboxing as well. And of course, K-1 was really the first one to start it on a global scale and make these big, gigantic events over in Japan. Kickboxing does not allow the use of elbows or knees and a very limited amount of clenching. Whereas in Muay Thai, especially in Thailand, you see a tremendous amount of clenching and it's very technical. There's a lot going on in that clenching.