Joe Rogan shares what motivated him to start MMA training!

UFC commentator and podcast star Joe Rogan has opened up about what inspired him to start training in martial arts.

Rogan is perhaps most known for his popular podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, but before JRE took the world by storm his iconic voice was already familiar to seasoned UFC fans thanks to his role as commentator for the promotion.

In his younger days Rogan competed in Taekwondo and kickboxing, winning several tournaments. He’s also an avid practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, sporting a black belt and years of training experience. In a recent episode of his podcast Rogan opened up about what inspired him to start training in martial arts.

“I avoided street fights,” Rogan explained. “The last three fights that I had is probably when I was like 14.”

“The last one that I got in, I lost. And the guy didn’t even hurt me. He got me in a headlock. Like, I didn’t even know we were going to fight.”

“I was like why is this guy staring at me like this? Like he got in my face, he grabbed me in a headlock and he threw me to the ground and he got on top of me in the bathroom of the boys’ room. And he got, he went that, like he was going to punch me, then he laughs and he was like, ‘Nah, I don’t even have to.’”

“And he lets me up and it was humiliating. It was humiliating.”

It wasn’t until after the incident that Rogan picked up several martial arts, starting with Taekwondo and jiu-jitsu. His interest in MMA grew from there and Rogan went on to train in wrestling and later kickboxing.