UFC commentator Joe Rogan explains which combat sports moment brings him to tears to this day.
For over twenty years Joe Rogan has been a part of the UFC family. He began calling fights in 2002 and since has been cage side for some of the biggest moments in the history of the sport. Rogan is one of the best analysts in the game and has an eye for spotting talent and skill inside the cage. He is also an athlete himself. He is an avid Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and kickboxer. He is almost as widely known for his podcast as he is for his association with MMA. Now he is taking the time to remember one of the best moments in his life, and it just so happens to focus on a combat sports moment.
Rogan took a walk down memory lane recently on his podcast called The Joe Rogan Experience to remember one of the greatest moments in his life.
Joe Rogan remembers a BJJ moment that he called the best of his life
Rogan has befriended many MMA fighters and other combat sports athletes in his life. One of his best friends is BJJ legend Eddie Bravo. This special moment that Rogan is recalling happens to involve his friend and a BJJ match he competed in twenty years ago. He spoke about this on his show.
“I was in Brazil in 2003 for the Abu Dhabi world championships,” Rogan said via MMA Fighting. “Eddie Bravo was over there competing. That was the year he tapped out Royler Gracie. It was the craziest upset ever. It was insane. He wasn’t even a black belt yet. Eddie was a brown belt. Royler, who was Royce’s brother, who was more successful even than Royce in jiu-jitsu tournaments. He’s one of the greatest Gracies of all time in terms of his accomplishments in winning world jiu-jitsu tournaments. He was the man. [Eddie got him with a] triangle off his back. It was amazing.”
Bravo is said to be one of the most influential people in all of BJJ not named Gracie. He had an impressive career and has gone on to create his own teachings of jiu-jitsu and runs a prestigious grappling tournament called the Eddie Bravo Invitational. Rogan is recalling a moment that put Bravo on the map in the sport and changed both 0f their lives in the process.
“It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life because for him to go there — he was such an underdog. And he had this very strange style of jiu-jitsu that really he formulated,” he said. “He came up with — it’s not like he invented submissions, but he came up with new ways to set things up that were completely unique to him and his system. That’s how he created the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. It’s one of the best days of his life. It’s one of the best days of my life.”
Rogan got choked up while speaking of this moment and watching it back. Both sports, grappling and MMA have come a long way since that day and both Rogan and Bravo have had a lot to do with it.
