Joe Rogan boasts an extensive history as a mixed martial artist. Although he no longer actively competes, his wealth of accumulated knowledge remains intact. A significant aspect of the martial arts world is maintaining physical fitness, and that is something the JRE host professes.

Rogan’s career as a fighter may not have been lengthy, but it certainly had its moments. Rogan endured his fair share of concussions, which stemmed from his kickboxing days. This was despite his proficiency in kicking, as his boxing skills were somewhat lacking. Recently, the commentator shared a series of anecdotes about his early years as a fighter on his podcast.

Joe Rogan talks about his early kickboxing years

Joe Rogan recently acted as the host to the prominent standup comedian and writer Ehsan Ahmad on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ #2050. During this delightful conversation, as they sauntered down memory lane discussing Rogan’s days as a kickboxer, the conversation took an intriguing turn toward the harrowing injuries he endured in his kickboxing heydays.

“I don’t know how many concussions I’ve had in my life. No idea. Like from the time when I was 15 till I was 21, I sparred a lot. I did a lot of sparring. And when I really started getting messed up is when I started kickboxing sparring ’cause I wasn’t good at boxing,” Rogan said.

Rogan explained that he was a Taekwondo champion and had this thought that he would reign supreme in kickboxing, but his delusion was soon busted when he faced the original Kickboxers.” I was a good kickboxer because I was a taekwondo champion. And then I went into kickboxing. Oh, My God, these guys are beating me up.”

He further added, “I was getting beat up like, I messed them up with kicks. Okay, if I get in kick distance, I was much better than them. But the thing was, kickboxing involves boxing, and my boxing was terrible. I was just learning boxing. I had a very delusional idea of how good I could use my hands because I was good at taekwondo.”

Rogan’s early martial arts journey

Joe Rogan was fourteen when he started his journey in the world of combat sports. The combat journey was tough for little Rogan but he achieved the impressive title of four-time taekwondo state champion. When he reached the age of nineteen, he secured victory at the U.S. Open Taekwondo championship and after that, he decided to step into Kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jutsu.

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Despite having a promising career in the world of martial arts, Rogan decided to leave the world of martial arts after experiencing persistent headaches and suffering from anxiety and depression. Years later, he joined a new promotion as a commentator back in 1997. That new promotion went on to become the greatest MMA promotion in the world, the UFC.

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