JRE MMA Show #164 with Israel Adesanya

Joe Rogan (0:03)

The Joe Rogan Experience.

Israel Adesanya (0:06)

Trained by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.

Joe Rogan (0:13)

What's up? What's up? Good to see you, my friend. What is the chain? What does that stand for?

Israel Adesanya (0:18)

And, Gabe, this is my fightwear brand. Ash Belcastro started this. He was one of the... I'll say this. He was one of the only guys who fucked with me before I really like blew up. So, when I was fighting in China and I lost to Alex, they stopped giving me fights. And I had, I think, at the time, I was the highest paid foreign fighter in China at the time. Probably not now anymore. But then they stopped giving me fights. And I was like, look, I have seven more fights on my contract. Can I at least just get three? I just need three because money was running out, you know, the money I had saved up. And then, yeah, I was down to my last one day, like $500. And Eugene was holding pads for me because he saw something was up. And I just said, bro, I'm about to be broke, this and that, right, right, right. And he said, don't worry, just leave it with me. I get home, I think I was on the toilet, and he just goes, check your bank account. And I'm sitting there just like, start crying. And I call him. He's like, no, don't thank me. Thank Ash, who started Engage. And I call Ash. I'm taking a shit. And I'm just like, thank you.

Joe Rogan (1:21)

Thank you so much.

Israel Adesanya (1:22)

Like, honestly, just enthused. Because, you know, I mean, I've been there like nothing and had everything and nothing again. So for me, yeah, he's always been a guy that's been in my corner. And me and Alex Volkonoski, now we, you know, we've helped raise the brand so we own part of the company. So yeah, I like to rep the set.

Joe Rogan (1:39)

Oh, that's cool. Nice.

Israel Adesanya (1:41)

And I think Engage also was last Final Three when they had the whole Reebok fiasco. It was Venom, Engage and someone else. I can't remember who else. So we didn't get the gig, but it would have been nice, though.

Joe Rogan (1:55)

Oh, the UFC gig?

Israel Adesanya (1:56)

Yeah, Engage Fight Kits for the fighters. But now it's Venom Fight Kits.

Joe Rogan (2:01)

Yeah, the whole Fight Kit thing is weird. I really preferred it when fighters could have sponsors.

Israel Adesanya (2:06)

Condom Depot on the back of your shorts.

Joe Rogan (2:07)

I don't like that. I mean, they should probably have some discretion.

Israel Adesanya (2:11)

I did like it, though. And I do like the fact now, like the last fight I had, Hunter hit me up way before any gold gloves or anything. I said, Izzy, we're gonna do this for certain fighters. What design would you like on your shorts? And I was like, bet. And I hit up Curtis, who works with Engage, does a lot of the designs. And I told him what I wanted. And then he just did some custom stuff and I sent a few to Hunter. And then boom, I got my shorts, The Lightning. And I quite like that. I like expression. That's one thing I do miss about boxing or kickboxing is the expression on the Monkong bands, the shorts, like Jonathan Haggerty. Like he has cool shorts with golden like bows on the side. I like that. It's cool.

Joe Rogan (2:52)

I do too. I don't like everybody has to wear the same shit.

Israel Adesanya (2:56)

I think maybe the UFC at the time, they wanted to be taken seriously in a sense. So we had to like professional sports. But nah, I think we're all different independent contractors and we have different styles. So I'm glad now they've brought out for certain fighters like O'Malley and his pink shorts, Bryce Mitchell's camo shorts. Let us express ourselves.

Joe Rogan (3:17)

I like that. But I wish fighters had the ability to advertise.

Israel Adesanya (3:21)

Oh, big time. Yeah.

Joe Rogan (3:22)

That's big. Sponsors on your shorts is a lot of money. Like, Shaw was making more money from the sponsors than he was from his fight perks.

Israel Adesanya (3:29)

Yeah, I agree. And there's a way to bring it back, I'm sure. But even now, because they've got some, you get some kickbacks, but it's better if you can just plaster Condom Depot and get 100 grand on the back of your shorts.

Joe Rogan (3:41)

How much does Condom Depot pay people?