Are Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub friends? Ex-MMA fighter reveals JRE podcaster convinced him to retire: 'I was embarrassed'
AUSTIN, TEXAS: Brendan Schaub recently commented on the notorious moment during a live broadcast of 'The Fighter and The Kid' podcast when Joe Rogan encouraged him to retire from MMA. Schaub indicated that he holds no malice for Rogan's infamous moment and is grateful for what he did.
Schaub is a podcast host, former professional mixed martial artist, and stand-up comedian. He hosts 'The Fighter and the Kid' podcast, 'Below the Belt with Brendan Schaub' podcast, and co-hosts 'Golden Hour' podcast. Schaub retired from mixed martial arts in 2015. He has since performed stand-up comedy, initially as a duo with Bryan Callen, and released his debut comedy special, 'You'd Be Surprised' in 2019.
Are Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub friends?
Rogan's connection with Schaub is well-documented, and their bond was tested during the memorable scene from 'The Fighter and The Kid'. The UFC analyst dissected Schaub's knockout defeat to Travis Browne and wasn't shy about telling him where he thought he stood in the heavyweight class. He stated that he believed the former TUF runner-up was no longer devoted to fighting and advised him to avoid accepting harm.
Rogan said, "I worry about your commitment to fighting...I think you have one foot out the door. You disagree? I think your're looking at where the future is going to take you and that you can't do this forever, you know? And I think that's a very dangerous place to be in fighting...When does damage start to show up in your life?"
Joe Rogan conviced Brendan Schaub to retire
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet on INSIGHT, Schaub revealed that he was caught off guard while taping an episode of 'The Fighter and The Kid' with Rogan at his JRE studio. He stated that the notorious moment made his family angry with the UFC analyst because of how he handled the situation, "My family was really mad at Joe. I told Joe this, my dad was pi**ed, my brother was pi**ed after that, like it's a little embarassing. But my brother and my dad didn't know before I even walked out for that last UFC fight...I looked at my team and went, 'Last one.'"
Although the ex-MMA fighter didn't expect to fight again after his knockout loss to Travis Browne at UFC 181, he was distraught when Rogan pushed him to quit. He stated that, while being defensive at the time, he wanted to post the incident after it aired live in order to assist future fighters in a similar circumstance, saying, "The fighter in me when Joe brought that up...I was embarassed and I was pretty emotional, but thank God he did that...There's a lot of guys who feel the way I do. This might help somebody else and it's also real."
