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Gina Carano (2022) - Talking Fighting, Politics and Hollywood · The Joe Rogan Recap

0:00
Welcome to the Joe Rogan recap. Hey there.
0:02
Today we're diving deep into a conversation between Joe Rogan
0:05
and Gina Carano on JRE, hashtag 1837.
0:08
Yeah, a pretty wide-ranging 1. Absolutely.
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Our mission? To extract the most insightful
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and, well, surprising Nuggets from their discussion, we're
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talking Carano's experiences in early women's MMA, her thoughts
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on fans, the whole COVID controversy stuff, and her
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perspective on being cancelled. Right, and our source is
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excerpts from the official transcript of that JRE episode
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#1837 with Gina Carano from the powerful JRE YouTube channel.
0:36
OK, so let's unpack this. Where should we start?
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Maybe the early MMA days. Yeah, I think that makes sense.
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One of the key takeaways for me was Carano really looking back
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at those like, nascent stages of women's MMA.
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She really paints a picture of how unconventional it all was.
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Almost strange, really. Oh, totally.
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She talks about going into Gems Master Toddy's gym, for
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instance, and the initial reactions were often, well,
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pretty dismissive, weren't they? Yeah, like people weren't quite
1:01
sure what to make of it. And she mentioned Debbie Purcell
1:03
and Aaron in Tow Hills as figures who were around even
1:06
earlier. Right.
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And apparently even Dana White, who, you know, later became this
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huge champion for women fighting, he wasn't on board at
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first. Which is kind of wild to think
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about now. Isn't it?
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And a lot of her male training partners were, let's say,
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skeptical, not exactly lining up to spar with women.
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Right, and she shared that anecdote about Nick Diaz.
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Oh yeah, that was interesting. Where he like straight up told
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her he didn't like women fighting, but then he'd do these
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like polite little things for her.
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It just shows the kind of mixed attitudes back then.
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It really does. It's a snapshot of a changing
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world, I guess. Yeah.
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And makes you think about how perceptions have evolved, you
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know? Definitely.
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And something else Carrano brought up was the difference in
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how people reacted when a woman got hurt in a fight versus a
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man. Yeah, that's a heavy point.
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It really underscores those societal norms and expectations
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around gender, especially in something as intense as combat
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sports. And it wasn't just the fighters
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dealing with it. She talked about fans, actual
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fans, sometimes booing really competitive women's fights.
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Yeah, which she found, like, totally confusing.
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Right. Especially when you compare that
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to the massive cheers for something like, say, Zhang
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Wiley's spinning back fist knockout of Joanna Trajexit.
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Exactly. It makes you wonder what
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different parts of the audience we're actually looking for or
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comfortable with at the time. It does.
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And Speaking of fights, she touched on the Rosenamadunas
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versus Carla Esparza fight, too. Right.
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And that led into the whole discussion about MMA scoring.
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Yeah, the flaws in the system, specifically the 10, nine round
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structure. Her point was basically you can
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have a round where one fighter just dominates right, total
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control, and then another round that's super close, maybe barely
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won, and they both get scored 10/9.
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Doesn't seem right, does it? It doesn't always reflect the
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actual fight. Yeah, she was advocating for
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something more nuanced, something that considers like
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volume strikes landed, submission attempts, takedowns,
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actual damage. A more holistic view makes sense
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now. Here's where it gets really
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interesting for me. Her whole origin story in
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Fighting It wasn't some lifelong dream.
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No, not at all. She was in college, kind of
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drifting a bit. Feeling lost, yeah, and getting
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into fighting was almost like an accident, she said.
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She was fad shamed in a training by Master Chan after.
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Enjoying college life a bit too much apparently.
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Right. It's such a surprising way to
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start, especially when you think about her becoming this huge
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pioneer for women's MMA. Yeah, paving the way for people
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like Ronda Rousey later on. It really wasn't some grand
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plan, was it? More like a series of, well,
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unexpected turns. Exactly.
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And that contrast between her being kind of aimless in college
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and then finding this incredible dedication to MMA.
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Yeah, it really stands out. It shows how sometimes these
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seemingly random or even negative moments can actually
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push you in a completely new direction, a real catalyst.
4:02
OK, so let's shift focus a bit. The conversation took a pretty
4:06
significant turn towards the COVID-19 pandemic.
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It definitely did, and Karana was quite open about her initial
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reaction. She described herself as being
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almost like a California COVID Karen at the very start.
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Super cautious. Right.
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That extreme caution phase, which I mean, a lot of people
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felt that way initially, didn't they?
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So much uncertainty. Absolutely understandable, given
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the fear and lack of information back then.
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But her perspective, well, it didn't stay there.
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It shifted quite dramatically, actually.
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It really did. She started talking about
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feeling uneasy with the lockdowns, the mask mandates,
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the vaccine requirements. Expressing this concern that
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fundamental rights, constitutional rights were maybe
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being lost, Yeah. Lost in the fear mongering as
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she saw it, and government overreach, she started
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questioning the long term impact of it all.
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Right, Like the impact on mental health, addiction, people losing
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their sense of purpose, Were those things being considered
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enough? That was her question, yeah.
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And Rogan? He chimed in too, right offering
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his view on the government actions.
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Yeah, he seemed to lean towards the idea that maybe it was
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driven more by like, panic than actual malice, though he did
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also mention the whole Monday morning quarterbacking aspect.
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And the idea that, well, let's face it, people looking for
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personal gain are often drawn to government.
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He brought up Nancy Pelosi's investment success as a sort of
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example. Right.
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Carano, though, while acknowledging maybe not everyone
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was malicious, clearly felt some responses went too far.
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She pointed to places like Florida under DeSantis and Texas
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under Abbott. As in her view, more positive
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examples prioritizing freedom. That seemed to be her
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perspective, yeah, finding a different balance.
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And she even shared that personal story about actually
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getting COVID. Oh yeah, after a hangover in
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Vegas. Right.
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Yeah, kind of a relatable moment in the middle of all this heavy
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stuff. Definitely.
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And from there, they started touching on the virus origin
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the. Whole gain of function research
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discussion. Right.
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And the NIH, just to clarify for listeners, gain of function
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research basically involves modifying viruses sometimes to
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make them more potent to study them.
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It's controversial. Very.
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And they mentioned Doctor Fauci's wife's role at the NIH
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Department of Bioethics. Yeah, raising potential conflict
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of interest questions. And Robert F Kennedy Junior's
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book The Real Anthony Fauci also came up.
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It did, which leads us right into the vaccine mandate
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discussion, which got pretty heated.
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Yeah, Carano seemed particularly frustrated with SAG after a the
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actors union. Right for extending its vaccine
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mandate even as you know, more information about the virus and
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the vaccines was coming out. She expressed a pretty strong
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belief that the people enforcing those mandates should eventually
6:46
be held accountable. Rogan over to slightly different
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take, maybe a bit more charitable.
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Maybe, he suggested that perhaps the union leaders felt, you
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know, obligated, like they genuinely thought they were
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doing the right thing for public health, even if it turned out
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differently. But Carano really pushed back on
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that, emphasizing individual choice.
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Yeah, and the potential for abusing power, that was a key
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theme for her. This contrast in views is pretty
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central. Definitely.
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And they discussed the vaccine effectiveness, too, especially
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around preventing transmission, comparing those early claims to
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what we learned later. Which just fueled Carano's
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frustration with the mandates continuing even with
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breakthrough cases rising and effectiveness data evolving.
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OK, so all this, this questioning of mandates, this
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feeling of overreach, it leads directly into the whole cancel
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culture part of the conversation, doesn't it?
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It really does. Carano shared her own
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experiences, and it was quite revealing.
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She talked about the negativity online, but then contrasted it
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sharply with meeting people in real life, like at Dallas Fan
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Expo, where she said the interactions were overwhelmingly
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positive. The disconnect is huge, isn't
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it, between the online world and face to face reality?
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It's a core part of this whole cancel culture thing.
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Yeah. Her experience shows how online
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spaces can just like, amplify negativity and maybe give a
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distorted view of what most people actually think.
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She talked about getting attacked on Twitter after
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posting something about standing up for constitutional rights.
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Right. And specifically mentioned in
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exchange with Patricia Arquette about knowing those rights.
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It's amazing how quickly things can escalate online, isn't it?
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A general statement gets twisted or weaponized.
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And for her, the context was always her opposition to forced
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vaccinations and mask mandates. Exactly, and she mentioned her
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strategy for dealing with it post and ghost.
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Just put it out there and then ignore the replies.
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Pretty much a way to try and shield herself from the
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inevitable negativity, I guess. She also talked about, you know,
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that feeling of online character assassination being
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misrepresented. Which is a common thread for
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people who go through this kind of public backlash.
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Definitely. Then she got into the specifics
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of her own cancellation. Right, the beep Boop boop.
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Thing yeah, putting beep boop, boop in her social media bio,
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which she said was meant to kind of mock the pressure to include
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pronouns. And sharing that meme, she felt
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it was about the need for conversation, right, Not about
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hate. That was her interpretation,
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yeah, but the reaction was intense.
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She described feeling like she was suddenly in detention, but
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didn't even understand what rule she'd broken.
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It highlights how easily things get misinterpreted online,
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doesn't it? Satire.
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Nuance just gets lost. Completely, And she drew a
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contrast between how her views were treated versus what she saw
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as tolerance for like, aggressive left wing views
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online, raising questions about bias and maybe censorship on
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platforms. She also pointed out that she
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never even said publicly who she voted for in 2020.
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Right. But just saying she did vote was
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enough to get backlash. Wow.
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Which led them to talk about labels like calling someone a
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Trumper. How damaging that is.
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That dehumanization aspect, it's a crucial point.
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People are more complex than a single label.
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Absolutely, and Carano admitted she hadn't even been that
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interested in voting before. Yeah, kind of apathetic
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politically, she said. But 2020 felt different to her
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because of the lockdowns and their impact on, you know, the
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economy, people's lives. So she ended up voting for
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Trump, but quite quietly, no big announcement.
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Right. It just shows how personal and
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complex voting decisions can be and how easily that gets
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flattened online. They also touched on the media
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environment itself. The outrage economy, as some
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call it. Where?
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Clicks and strong reactions, Dr. Coverage.
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Yeah, and they mentioned CNN trying to shift back towards
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more objective news, supposedly. And the influence of
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pharmaceutical advertising money in the news?
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Yeah, that's a big one. Huge, especially questioning if
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it affects coverage of things like vaccine adverse events.
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Carano mentioned becoming more skeptical of mainstream medicine
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generally. Leading more towards natural
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health stuff. Yeah, which bringing it back to
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you listening, just encourages that critical thinking about
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where information comes from and the different forces that might
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shape it. Definitely need to evaluate
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sources carefully. So, OK, the cancellation
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happens. What were the immediate
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consequences she described? Well, pretty severe, she
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detailed losing her role on The Mandalorian, obviously.
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Yeah, that was the big one. But also losing her agency, her
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lawyers, like the infrastructure around her career just kind of
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collapsed. And she felt it was
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disproportionate right compared to other controversies in
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Hollywood. Yeah, she felt like she was
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being made an example of specifically for not aligning
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with the prevailing progressive ideology in the industry.
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Like a warning to others. That seemed to be her
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interpretation, and she really took issue with Disney's
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statement about cultural and religious differences calling
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it. Baseless, misrepresenting her.
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Exactly, She felt her posts were about unity, not hate, and that
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the statement completely twisted her message.
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And even her action figures got cancelled.
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Yeah, the Cara Dune toys were pulled.
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It shows how far reaching it was.
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Did she feel supported by anyone in the industry?
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Privately, yes, yes, she said. Many people reached out with
12:00
sympathy, but they also acknowledge the lack of
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political diversity in Hollywood and the fear, basically fear of
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speaking out themselves. That chilling effect again, she
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mentioned something Louis CK said.
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Right about how online talk is often totally different from how
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people actually talk in person. That disconnect.
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Again, the personal toll sounded immense, too.
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Oh absolutely, She talked about losing her hearing temporarily
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due to stress. Wow.
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And struggling to even get medical appointments because she
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was trending negatively online. Imagine that.
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That's awful. And then the paparazzi and
12:32
stalkers. Yeah, which ultimately LED her
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to leave California. She lived in an RV for a while
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just to get away from it all. Just trying to find some peace I
12:40
guess seems. Like it and her refusal to get
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the vaccine. The SAG FDRA mandate thing that
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also directly impacted work. It's scuttled one movie white
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knuckle. But then litter the Daily Wire
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movie, right? Terror on the Prairie.
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Yeah, later released as Tara on the Prairie.
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So finding an alternative route basically.
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She also mentioned loving Montana and wanting to live
13:01
there eventually. Fighting a different path?
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OK, now, yeah, probably the bit a lot of fight fans were waiting
13:07
for. Ronda Rousey fight talk.
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Yes, the one that got away, or maybe hasn't gotten away
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entirely. Well, she confirmed it was
13:15
serious right about five years ago.
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A potential billion dollar fight.
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Very serious. Yeah, it would have been
13:20
absolutely massive, a clash of the original Titans of women's
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MMA, essentially. So why didn't it happen back
13:27
then? Well, initially, she said the
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hurdles were practical. She didn't have a solid training
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team in place and knew she'd need significant time to prepare
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properly. Understandable, you can't just
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jump into a fight like. That exactly.
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But then, according to her, Dana White kind of jumped the gun.
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Announced it prematurely. Yeah, and she said that actually
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made it harder for her to find a team because the pressure was
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suddenly immense. Oh, interesting, so it
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backfired. Seems like it.
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And then she described having a falling out with White over it,
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Said his communication style was too aggressive and ultimately
14:00
feeling disrespected was a major factor that, combined with other
14:04
movie offers coming in, made her decide against pursuing it at
14:08
that time. So the disrespect really soured
14:10
the deal for her. It sounds like it, which is
14:13
interesting considering their history.
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It is, but does she still want to fight?
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Does she want that fight? She basically said she's not
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really looking for another fight, except maybe against
14:24
Rousey. OK, so the doors not totally
14:26
shut. Not completely, she joked.
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She'd need a dietitian if it happened.
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And, you know, being 40, she didn't rule out a return
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entirely if the circumstances were just right.
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So never say never I guess. Exactly keeps that little bit of
14:39
hope alive for the fans. It would still be a huge event.
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No doubt. OK, so towards the end they
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broadened out again, talking more generally about politics in
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the future. Yeah, covering quite a bit of
14:50
ground, discussing the decline in trust, trust in government,
14:54
trust in media institutions. That's a big theme these days,
14:57
isn't? It it really is.
14:58
They even touched on comparisons between Justin Trudeau and Fidel
15:02
Castro. Which is, you know, pretty
15:03
strong comparison you sometimes hear in certain circles.
15:06
And gun control came up, too. Right.
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Korano expressed skepticism about its effectiveness against
15:11
actual criminals. And Elon Musk potentially buying
15:15
Twitter, What that might mean for free speech online?
15:17
That was in the mix too. All very current relevant
15:20
topics. Korano also mentioned feeling
15:22
targeted online. Yeah, by what she believed were
15:25
like bought attacks and deliberate media manipulation
15:29
against her. But she also expressed some hope
15:32
that maybe technology could also be a tool for good for free
15:36
expression. Yeah, kind of a double edged
15:38
sword. I suppose She hopes going
15:41
forward she can focus more on her art, her creative stuff.
15:44
And less on constantly talking about being cancelled.
15:47
Exactly, just wanting to move past it while still staying true
15:51
to her principles. Even if her opinions might
15:53
evolve over time, she wants to remain honest.
15:55
She sounded pretty disappointed with the current political
15:57
landscape, though, particularly the Biden administration.
16:00
Yeah, while acknowledging things are complex, she mentioned Tulsi
16:04
Gabbard and Ron De Santis as figures she saw potential in.
16:07
But mostly lamented the hypee partisanship right, the
16:10
demonization of anyone with a different view.
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That was a strong point, this intense divide.
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They even briefly touched on Trump's chances in 2024.
16:19
Noting his predictions about the current administration had been
16:22
somewhat accurate in their view. Right.
16:24
But overall, Carano seemed to be reflecting on her own growth
16:28
over the last couple of turbulent years.
16:30
And just wanting to move forward, focusing on creative
16:33
work, yeah. And she finished with this hope,
16:36
this desire for more open, honest conversations between
16:41
people who disagree. Which seems like a really
16:43
important note to end on. Doesn't.
16:45
It it really does, especially now that need for dialogue for
16:49
trying to understand different perspectives even when it's
16:52
difficult. Well, that was quite the deep
16:54
dive into Joe Rogan's conversation with Gina Carano.
16:57
Definitely covered a lot. We explore the evolution of
17:00
women's MMA, those early days, the complexities of navigating
17:04
the COVID-19 pandemic response, the mandates, the fear.
17:09
And of course, the very personal and professional impact of
17:11
expressing dissenting opinions in today's media landscape.
17:14
The whole cancel culture experience.
17:16
Yeah, Carano's journey. It really is a compelling case
17:19
study, isn't it? Sitting right at the
17:21
intersection of sports, entertainment and public
17:23
discourse. It raises so many important
17:25
questions about free speech, about online culture, about the
17:29
consequences, intended or not, of challenging established
17:32
narratives. So, thinking about all that,
17:34
what really stood out to you from this deep dive?
17:37
Are there aspects you'd want to explore even further?
17:39
It really makes you consider the power that individual voices can
17:43
have, for better or worse, in shaping conversations today.
17:47
And maybe the crucial importance of critical thinking of trying
17:50
to navigate this incredibly complex information environment
17:54
we're all in. Absolutely.
17:55
Lots to think about there.