JRE MMA Show #71 with Rico Verhoeven

Joe Rogan (0:02)

And boom, right when you take a drink of water, that's when we go live always.

Rico Verhoeven (0:05)

That's when we go live.

Joe Rogan (0:06)

What's up, my friend?

SPEAKER_3 (0:08)

Thanks for having me, bro.

Joe Rogan (0:09)

My pleasure. I'm a big fan. I've been a fan for a long time.

And I'm very excited about this Bata Hari rematch. So we were just talking about it. That's going to be in December.

Rico Verhoeven (0:17)

Yes, sir.

It's going to be huge. I think it's going to be the biggest fight in kickboxing history.

Joe Rogan (0:22)

I think it's already. I mean, you were just saying that the tickets go on pre-sale today, I think.

Rico Verhoeven (0:27)

Yeah, today or tomorrow.

Joe Rogan (0:28)

So, yeah.

Where is it going to be held? Is it in Holland?

Rico Verhoeven (0:32)

Yeah, it's going to be in Holland. Yeah.

Joe Rogan (0:33)

Where at?

Rico Verhoeven (0:34)

It's called the Gelderdome. And.

Joe Rogan (0:37)

How many seats is that?

Rico Verhoeven (0:39)

I believe around 25,000, 30,000.

Joe Rogan (0:44)

It's crazy how big kickboxing is in Holland as opposed to America.

Rico Verhoeven (0:48)

Yeah, it's Holland, Europe. It's a lot bigger than it is here.

Joe Rogan (0:52)

So I do not for the life of me understand why it hasn't taken off in America. I don't get it.

Rico Verhoeven (0:58)

Well, I think the step of going to MMA than to kickboxing is so much closer.

For example, from high school, it's so much more logical when you do wrestling, you do a little bit of boxing. Well, let's jump into MMA then because it's so close to each other. And when you go to kickboxing, it's totally different.

Joe Rogan (1:19)

Right.

Rico Verhoeven (1:20)

It's totally different.

Joe Rogan (1:21)

So many people in America when they watch MMA, they want guys to stand up.

Rico Verhoeven (1:26)

Yeah, I know.

Joe Rogan (1:27)

That's why it doesn't make any sense.

Rico Verhoeven (1:28)

But still, I think every country is very patriotic. They want their own guys to be very good at something.

Joe Rogan (1:36)

Sort of, but when Anderson Silva was at the top of the heap in MMA, everybody wanted to see him fight. It didn't matter that he was from Brazil. In America, they still wanted to see him fight. They want to see high level stuff.

Everyone here is such a fan of knockouts and striking and high level striking. I just don't understand it. Muay Thai too. Muay Thai doesn't sell at all.

There's no big Muay Thai event. They had a pro Muay Thai league event here and it was in like, Nicky Holtzkin fought on it and Bull Kao and a few other big name guys fought on it.

Rico Verhoeven (2:24)

But it's like nobody in the crowd. I think it's a little bit boring like what we do with Glory now is more commercial.

You can hold just for three seconds and then break and then continue fighting. And in the end, that's what people want to see.

Joe Rogan (2:42)

I get that, but I like clinch work, too, and I like elbows, elbows and knees in the clinch. You don't like it?

Rico Verhoeven (2:49)

No, I like the knees, but that was... No elbows? No.

Joe Rogan (2:52)

Too many cuts?

Rico Verhoeven (2:53)

They're nasty. Yeah, they're really nasty.

Joe Rogan (2:55)

Cuts are nasty.

Rico Verhoeven (2:56)

Yeah. So I had...

Joe Rogan (2:58)

What do you think about how the amateur Muay Thai guys have elbow pads?

Rico Verhoeven (3:01)

Yeah, that's... I think that's a good...

Joe Rogan (3:03)

And all that's prevented for people who don't understand what we're talking about, it's weird that like you can see with bare-knuckle boxing, like there's a lot of bare-knuckle boxing matches now, and you see these guys' faces are just getting destroyed, I mean they just ripped apart. It's crazy.

Rico Verhoeven (3:18)

It's just the cuts.

Joe Rogan (3:20)

No, it's definitely not good for the longevity of your career. And so in amateur Muay Thai, they have these elbow pads they wear, and that would mean you still can knock guys out just as easily, but you're not gonna get the cuts, the cuts of the big thing.

Rico Verhoeven (3:34)

So I think that's a good thing, but I'm just not a big fan of the elbow work. But I love to see it, but I don't like to get it.

SPEAKER_3 (3:44)

I remember, I remember.

Rico Verhoeven (3:46)

I was, I was, I was, I think I was training with the Black Zillions like years ago. I think it was even before I became champion.