“I was getting brain damage….” Joe Rogan blows Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson away with SHOCKING revelation about his kickboxing career

Exploring Joe Rogan's early kickboxing days, his passion for the sport, and his influential support for MMA fighters like Alex Periera in recent UFC championships.

“I was getting brain damage….” Joe Rogan blows Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson away with SHOCKING revelation about his kickboxing career

Dwayne Johnson on Joe Rogan Experience (Image via: IMAGO)

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson came on as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience. The podcast was viewed by many, and the topics of conversation varied from sports to politics. In the podcast, Joe Rogan even shared a shocking revelation about his early kickboxing career.

Before Rogan did standup comedy, Rogan dabbled in kickboxing. He is an avid kickboxing fan, as evidenced by his knowledge of the sport. Rogan talked about his early youth during the podcast episode with The Rock. This is what he said:

I started doing standup, first of all, I started kickboxing. And when I started kickboxing, that's when I started getting like brain damage, and I was realizing I was getting brain damage. 'Cause we were sparring hard...............And there's no money in it, and I was like, 'What am I doing?'
Joe Rogan via JRE.

Rogan had a heavy interest in Kickboxing. However, the lack of financial opportunities and health risks forced him to take up stand-up comedy. Nevertheless, Rogan is still a big fan of Kickboxing. In addition to Kickboxing, Rogan is also a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. Rogan was one of the biggest supporters of Alex Pereira when Pereira switched to MMA.

Incidentally, Rogan interviewed Pereira when he became the UFC middleweight champion at UFC 281. Pereira even thanked Rogan in his octagon interview for believing in him. Moreover, Rogan was also at UFC 295 as the interviewer when Pereira became the light heavyweight champion of the UFC.

Joe Rogan described the Kickboxing gym he trained to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Joe Rogan had a modest kickboxing career before his success as a comedian. Rogan in a recent podcast episode with Dwayne Johnson, spoke of his early days in kickboxing. Rogan’s kickboxing career was short-lived. He stopped competing in the sport by age 21.

Joe Rogan and Dwayne Johnson kickboxing
Joe Rogan and Dwayne Johnson (via UnHerd and YouTube)

One of the main reasons to quit was the culture of his kickboxing gym. He spoke about it to Johnson on the podcast. This is what he said:

Most of the time, no headgear. Most of the time, it was just going to war, and you weren't really sparring; you were fighting. We were fighting all the time, and just seeing guys getting dropped all the time. And that was just the kind of gym that I was in. It was a hard-ass f*cking  kickboxing gym, and we would beat the f*cking out of each other.

Rogan’s gym was similar to the Chute Boxe Academy in Brazil. The Academy is known for hard sparring and Rogan feared getting brain damage from hard sparring. Notable fighters like Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, and the Rua brothers, to name a few trained there. Former UFC lightweight champion and current number 1 lightweight Charles Oliveira also trains there.

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