JRE MMA Show #17 with Yoel Romero & Joey Diaz

Joe Rogan (0:00)

Five, four, three, two, one.

And we're live with Joey Coco Diaz and one of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet, Yoel Romero, in the house. So Yoel, you got a good grasp of English, pretty good. Joey's gonna help fill in the blanks, and we'll be able to have some good communication here. You guys did a podcast last night in Spanish.

Joey Diaz (0:25)

Yes, Spanish, Spanglish, and English. We started in English, and it went into Spanglish, and I just wanted to know, I wanted people to know how Yoel Romero was. We talked about Cuba and his humble beginnings, how he went to school from Monday to Fridays at a pyramid, and you just wrestled.

And that's how they do it in Cuba, and then you go up the pyramid, and now he only went home on the weekends.

Joe Rogan (0:48)

A pyramid meaning?

Joey Diaz (0:49)

It's a pyramid school. Implicame la escuela.

It's a system.

Yoel Romero (0:59)

Es un sistema de pirámide que empieza de muy temprano.

Joey Diaz (1:05)

It starts at about seven years old.

Yoel Romero (1:07)

Cuando los niños son bien... Es un sistema para todos los deportes de Cuba.

Joey Diaz (1:12)

All the sports in Cuba start that way. And you go up the pyramid, but tu te quedas ahí los lunes y vienes de la casa de...

Yoel Romero (1:20)

Los viernes.

Joey Diaz (1:21)

You stay there for the week, and they educate you, they feed you.

You sleep there, you wrestle there, you wrestle... Cuánto... Cuánta sola es el día?

Yoel Romero (1:33)

Seven in the morning.

Joey Diaz (1:34)

Todo tiene un horario.

SPEAKER_5 (1:39)

At seven to eight breakfast.

Joe Rogan (1:40)

Yeah.

Joey Diaz (1:43)

Yeah. Cuántas soles día?

Joe Rogan (1:44)

Yeah.

Joey Diaz (1:44)

Básicamente te levantabas en la mañana. Everything is run by a schedule.

Yoel Romero (1:53)

Yeah.

Joey Diaz (1:55)

The school. The school.

Yoel Romero (1:56)

The school.

Joey Diaz (1:56)

The school. The school.

Yoel Romero (2:01)

He went to schools. History, the basic stuff, mathematics, physics, everything.

Joe Rogan (2:08)

How did they decide what sport you compete in? Like how did you choose wrestling? Was that just something that you loved or was it did you like other sports? How did you choose to focus on wrestling?

Joey Diaz (2:20)

Catch them all, catch them all, catch them all.

Yoel Romero (2:23)

No, Yoel, in the beginning, I want to make it boxing.

Boxing, my daddy, you know, for the family for my dad, is boxing and wrestling people. It's my family, wrestling and boxing. But I love boxing in the beginning. My dad said, no, it's... I don't like you make it sport boxing because boxing is too much punches in the face. It's not good, it's not good.

But, you know, in the beginning, I make boxing escondida de mi papá.

Joey Diaz (2:55)

He would hide it from his dad.

Joe Rogan (2:57)

Oh, really?

Yoel Romero (2:58)

Yeah. Al edad de seis, de seis años.

Joey Diaz (3:01)

Six years old, he was boxing, he would hide it from his dad.

Yoel Romero (3:07)

Con un gran boxeador cubano, Hipólito Ramos, subcampeón olímpico en Moscú, ochenta.

Joey Diaz (3:11)

Bolido Ramos, the Olympic, whatever, 1980 He would sneak around with him.

Yoel Romero (3:17)

Aprendía con él, escondida de mi papá.

Joey Diaz (3:19)

He would learn with him how to box, hiding from his dad.

Yoel Romero (3:23)

Ah.

Joe Rogan (3:23)

So when did you focus on just wrestling? When did wrestling take over?

Yoel Romero (3:28)

En mi provincia, en la ciudad, en mi city, Pina del Río.

Everybody know my family. One coach for wrestling, José Vizcaíno. He seat me, and I go to... El sistema de pirámide se hace de esta manera. Muchos entrenadores...

Joey Diaz (3:50)

There's a lot of trainers in the pyramid.

Yoel Romero (3:53)

Van a escuelas...

Joey Diaz (3:54)

They go to the schools...

Yoel Romero (3:56)

A buscar talentos...

Joey Diaz (3:57)

And to look for talent.

Yoel Romero (3:59)

Y le hacen pruebas.

Joey Diaz (4:02)

And they do tryouts.

Yoel Romero (4:04)

Y depende de las pruebas que te hagan, ellos pueden ver para que deporte tú puedes...

Joey Diaz (4:08)

Depending on what, how you're doing the testing.

When you go to... So it's just like, they go, they evaluate you, and then they decide what's best for you.

Yoel Romero (4:18)

For example, you coach for boxing. I am coach for judo.

Joey is a coach...

Joey Diaz (4:26)

Boxing.

Yoel Romero (4:27)

No, no.

Joe Rogan (4:27)

Taekwondo.

Yoel Romero (4:28)

Taekwondo, something like this, okay. We say, okay, we go to tomorrow for school, and we test the people for the kid. You do it, you test it for the boxing, I do it for wrestling, you do it for taekwondo. Taekwondo, you know. And now you see, see the 10 kid, you got a 10 kid, and you see who is the best, who has the talent for boxing. Maybe you see, okay, for boxing good, or maybe no good. But you say, you see, you can see, say, oh, for boxing no good, but for taekwondo, hey, Joey, this guy, I have a talent for your sport. And now, you know, like this.