JRE MMA Show #83 with Firas Zahabi

Joe Rogan (0:02)

If you listen to this, an audio version, you are denied the beauty of my salmon-colored T-shirt. Beautiful Tristar.

Firas Zahabi (0:11)

You look good in it.

Joe Rogan (0:12)

I look very good in your shirt. Thanks for coming here, brother.

Firas Zahabi (0:15)

Pleasure, glad to be here.

Joe Rogan (0:16)

Pleasure to have you, man. I use one of your expressions all the time, the touch of death, and there is no better example than what we saw Saturday night with Deontay Wilder.

Jesus Christ, can that guy punch?

Firas Zahabi (0:29)

I had him losing all the rounds.

Joe Rogan (0:30)

Yeah, me too.

Firas Zahabi (0:31)

And I thought one round was really close, could go either way, but I had it six to none. And that right hand, my God.

Joe Rogan (0:38)

It's so crazy. It doesn't even make sense.

Firas Zahabi (0:41)

When you look at that shot, it landed above, like kind of like in the forehead, this area. Not even on the chin.

Joe Rogan (0:48)

No.

Firas Zahabi (0:50)

Usually here, if you're a powerful puncher, you could daise a guy, put him out the way he did.

Joe Rogan (0:54)

Yeah. Wow. And no winds up too.

Firas Zahabi (0:57)

No wind up.

Joe Rogan (0:57)

Just right from here. Bah!

Firas Zahabi (0:58)

That's touch of death.

Joe Rogan (0:59)

Crazy. Like nobody ever. Think about that guy's record.

41 knockouts, one decision, one draw.

Firas Zahabi (1:08)

It's incredible.

Joe Rogan (1:09)

Undefeated, 41 knockouts in 42 fights. I mean, that is bonkers.

Firas Zahabi (1:16)

And he was getting out boxed. Like, he's not the best boxer.

Joe Rogan (1:18)

Well, he doesn't care to box with you.

He just, he knows. Yeah, yeah. It's such a crazy strategy, because out of anyone that has ever fought in the heavyweight division, he is the one guy that literally can shut everyone's lights out with one shot. Everyone's a knockout artist. Foreman was a knockout artist. Frazier, Tyson, of course, was a knockout artist. But not like this guy. This guy's got, it's like another level of craziness.

Firas Zahabi (1:44)

I would agree. I mean, he knows himself. That's what's so beautiful.

If he was less strategic, he would have started fighting really early. And maybe zap that power he has. But he knows, he knows exactly. He didn't care he lost six rounds. He had no qualms about it. And he got hurt just before, just before he knocked out Luis. He was hurt.

And he stayed calm. He's like, oh, now you're gonna come for it. Now you're gonna walk into the right. And bang, it's incredible.

Joe Rogan (2:09)

Well, I think he also knew that from the first fight, Ortiz started to fade. And the first fight was very similar. In that the first few rounds, there was very little action. Then it started to pick up. But then Ortiz started to fade. But Ortiz put it on him in that first fight. If you watch that first fight, you're like, wow, this is a crazy rematch for him to take. But in this fight, he just fought a perfect strategy, just waiting. And people, oh my God, I was on Twitter reading people, this guy can't even box. Did you not see what happened?

You say he can't box.

He's undefeated. He's the fucking heavyweight champion of the world. He has, he tied Muhammad Ali for the most title defenses ever. Did you really just say he can't box? In fact, he's a professional boxer.

Firas Zahabi (2:51)

Go in there with him then. Go in there, if I laced you up right before you would be like, you'd be so petrified, you would turn white in faint.

Joe Rogan (2:58)

The way he punches is so strange. It's so strange. And you know, when he fought Tyson Fury, he told me he weighed 209 pounds.

Firas Zahabi (3:05)

Oh really?

Joe Rogan (3:05)

209

Firas Zahabi (3:06)

That's it.

Joe Rogan (3:07)

That's it.

Firas Zahabi (3:07)

Wow.

Joe Rogan (3:08)

Crazy.

Wow, he's a phenomenon. Like all humans are not created equal. Some people just have a beautiful hand of cards. That guy's got four aces, and he puts them right in your face.

Firas Zahabi (3:23)

He understands what he's good at, and he fights that way, which is brilliant. I always tell my students fighting is two things. One is level. You gotta get to a certain level.

And then the second thing, you have to figure out your style. Like you have to know everything about what you do. Like for instance, if you look at Ali and Tyson, they fought totally differently. Two equally in my opinion, like okay, we could split hairs and say who was better. Let's say they fought, it would be very competitive. Whoever you think would win in that fight, it would be very competitive.