Latest / The Joe Rogan Recap / Protect Ya Neck #169 (2025) - Cosmic Heroes and Cage Warriors

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Protect Ya Neck #169 (2025) - Cosmic Heroes and Cage Warriors · The Joe Rogan Recap

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  Welcome to the Joe Rogan recap. Today we're doing something a
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  bit different, a real deep dive. We're immersing ourselves in
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  this broad, free flowing conversation from a bunch of
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  your sources. Our mission really is to guide
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  you through all sorts of topics, policy, health, free speech.
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  Yeah, even some surprising history.
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  Combat sports. It's all in.
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  There, exactly. We'll pull out the most
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  interesting bits, the surprising facts, just to give you a solid
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  understanding of everything discussed.
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  It's actually amazing how one conversation can just, you know,
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  branch out into so many different things.
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  All connected though, what really jumps out, I think, is
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  just the sheer range of subjects.
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  You get these new angles on stuff you thought you knew
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  inside out. We're going to try and connect
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  those docs for you, show what each piece kind of matters in
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  the bigger picture. OK, sounds good.
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  So let's start unpacking this. How about we kick off with
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  policy health, maybe some of those hidden agendas that might
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  be shaping things. There's been talk, for instance,
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  about former President Trump maybe legalizing marijuana.
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  Feels like that's been coming for a while for some people.
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  Oh, absolutely. And the arguments for it, well,
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  they're pretty compelling based on your sources.
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  You've got the obvious medical side.
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  There is an anecdote about natural stuff helping ulcerative
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  colitis, maybe better than drugs that can hit the liver hard.
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  But then there's the economic angle, too.
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  The alcohol industry. Yeah, they clearly want
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  marijuana to stay illegal, right?
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  Yeah, lobbying against it, worried about their market, that
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  sort of thing. Exactly.
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  Driven by studies looking at that potential impact, they have
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  a definite interest. And connecting that dot, the
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  current situation where it's illegal, it doesn't just mean
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  miss taxes, it actually helps organized crime.
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  We heard about this guy John Norris, game warden, who wrote
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  Hidden War. He talked about cartel grow OPS
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  in national forests. Right.
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  Not just small patches either, like tactical teams and they're
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  using these super toxic pesticides, stuff that's been
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  outlawed for years. Which brings up the whole safety
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  thing. Legalization isn't just about,
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  you know, freedom to use it. It's about controlling it,
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  making it safer. Precisely.
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  It's about regulation. Think about alcohol prohibition,
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  right 13 years. It fueled organized crime, led
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  to dangerous bathtub gin moonshine.
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  So same idea here. Unregulated market means unsafe
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  products. Exactly, Legalization means
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  safety checks, quality control, and you know, your sources also
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  really hit on the influence of big pharma, especially during
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  COVID, suggesting that well, maybe financial incentives were
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  shaping decisions about treatments, even how deaths were
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  classified sometimes. It really makes you think about
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  how money flows and what we end up consuming or how we get
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  treated. And Speaking of consuming, let's
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  talk food, something basic like bread or pizza.
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  There was this mention of a specific pizza, the Sarah Slice,
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  praised for using good, simple ingredients.
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  Yeah. Grande mozzarella, Italian Sam
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  Rosano tomatoes, no added sugar and this Caputo flour from
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  Italy. Key thing no bromate, no
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  preservatives. OK, let's focus on that.
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  Potassium bromate. What's the deal there?
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  So it's this additive they use in the US to make dough
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  stronger, easier to work with. But here's the kicker.
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  It's banned. Like completely banned in
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  Europe, the UK, even China because of concerns it might
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  cause cancer. Studies linked it to kidney,
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  thyroid cancers in animals, plus genotoxic effects, messing with
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  genes and nephrotoxic. So did you damage in animals and
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  humans? Wow.
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  And their immediate effects too. Yeah, if you ingest enough
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  acutely. Think nausea, vomiting,
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  abdominal pain, that kind of. Stuff.
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  And the craziest part, you said the FDA basically knew.
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  Since when? Since 1991, according to your
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  sources, they've apparently been telling companies, hey, maybe
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  stop using this, but they never actually banned it.
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  No enforcement. That's wild, and it points to a
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  bigger problem with American bread, doesn't it?
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  It really does. There was this health expert
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  video mentioned, talked about what's done to the grain here
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  they strip out the bran and germ, that's the fiber, the
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  nutrients, just to make the flour last longer on the shelf.
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  So it's kind of nutritionally dead.
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  And then they enrich it. Right with folic acid.
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  But here's the thing. A huge chunk of the population
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  can't actually metabolize that form properly, which can lead to
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  fatigue, anxiety, inflammation. Oh, and the bleaching with
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  chlorine gas, just to make it look wider.
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  Yeah. And then there's glyphosate, you
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  know, the herbicide widely used to dry out the wheat before
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  harvest. And that's linked to what?
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  Endocrine disruption. Gut issues.
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  Exactly. Endocrine disruption, gut
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  damage, people experience bloating, brain fog, tiredness.
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  So the big take away the inside here is that maybe gluten is
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  just the scapegoat sometimes. You mean it's not the gluten
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  itself for everyone? Maybe not.
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  Maybe the real issue is this ultra processed, chemically
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  altered, bleached, bromated, fake vitamin filled wheat soaked
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  in glyphosate. That's quite a mouthful, but it
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  paints a picture. Which would explain why someone
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  might feel awful eating bread here even if they think they're
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  gluten free, but then go to Italy or Spain and feel totally
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  fine eating bread there. Precisely.
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  And places like that. Joey Rose's sandwich shop
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  mentioned importing flour, baking fresh daily, tossing the
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  old stuff. That's unfortunately pretty rare
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  here. It's a tough one.
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  Regulators knew. But maybe the scale of feeding
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  300 million people or, you know, profit, it creates this ethical
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  not how do you fix it without messing up the whole food
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  system? It's a massive challenge, no
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  easy answers. OK, let's shift gears.
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  Moving away from our food, let's talk broader society.
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  Freedom of expression, for instance.
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  Yeah, some really stark examples came up in your sources about
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  government maybe overreaching a bit.
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  Like in Canada, someone fined $28,000 just for walking in the
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  woods because of wildfire concerns.
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  Not even active fires nearby in Saskatchewan. 28 Grand Wow and
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  the UK examples. Even more concerning, maybe
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  thousands apparently jailed for social media posts.
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  One specific guy got 20 months. Why?
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  For encouraging violence quote UN quote against a hotel housing
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  migrants. But the broader point was UK
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  police arresting thousands like 4000 for posts deemed offensive.
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  Compare that to maybe 400 in Russia.
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  Apparently it makes you pause. It really does.
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  And connecting this to history, some wild stuff came up, like
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  powdered wigs. Yeah, turns out they were
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  popular in Europe partly to hide hair loss and sores from
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  syphilis. Syphilis.
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  Seriously. Yep.
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  Brought back from the Americas by Europeans around 1492 and
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  bigwig that term came from the richest people having the
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  biggest, most elaborate wigs to cover things up.
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  That's an origin story I didn't expect.
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  And syphilis wasn't the only thing brought over.
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  No Smallpox was devastating originally from 6th century
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  China, but Europeans brought it to North America and because
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  native populations had 0 immunity it wiped out maybe 90%
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  of them. Mayan civilization.
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  Amazonian groups just decimated 90.
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  Percent. It really forces you to look at
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  historical figures differently to like Columbus.
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  Right, First off, he landed in the Bahamas, not rain land
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  America as we know it. And there are accounts like from
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  a priest who traveled with him detailing just horrific things.
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  Cutting off arms, smashing babies heads on rocks of
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  indigenous people, didn't meet gold quotas.
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  It's brutal history. Definitely makes you rethink the
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  simplified versions we often get, which kind of leads into
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  modern society. This feeling of tribalism and
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  political burnout mentioned in the sources.
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  Yeah, this perception that maybe younger generations are feeling
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  disconnected, saying F America, that kind of sentiment and this
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  intense tribalization where you don't just disagree with the
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  other side, you hate everything about them, which leads people
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  to justify stuff that's, well, ideological or maybe even
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  immoral. And algorithms just feed into
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  that right, pushing more and more divisive content.
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  Absolutely. They amplify it, and you see
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  this pushback, people just wanting entertainment to be
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  entertainment again without heavy-handed political messages
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  like critiques of woke stuff in Star Wars or how characters like
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  the Hulk or Silver Surfer are being portrayed now.
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  There's also the strong feeling, though, that the Founding
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  Fathers with the Constitution, they really nailed it on
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  freedom, maybe because they'd lived under a monarchy.
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  That's the idea presented. They knew what the alternative
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  looked like. But freedom is an absolute
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  right. There's talk of repercussions,
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  like the Will Smith slap at the Oscars.
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  Yeah, citing his career basically hitting the brakes
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  after that as an example. Actions have consequences.
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  Even famous people aren't totally immune.
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  It's fascinating how these themes, freedom, consequences,
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  history weave together and it leads us nicely into another
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  arena where those things play out constantly.
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  Combat sports. Let's switch over to the UFC
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  fights, the business side, the legends.
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  OK, yeah, big fight discussed Kamzat Shmayev versus Drakis
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  Duplessi DDP. Your sources point out Kamzat
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  super aggressive style but also interestingly moments where he
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  just stand still like against Oozman or Gilbert Burns.
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  Right, contrasted with DDP, who's apparently got incredible
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  discipline, amazing cardio. Compared him to Marab
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  Devolishvili even. High praise.
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  But Kemsat isn't just a striker, right?
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  He started judo at 5, wrestling at 12.
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  He's got serious grappling jobs. And the training aspect is
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  interesting too. Kemsat apparently had
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  overtraining problems. Yeah, but now he's working with
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  a new conditioning coach, Sam Calvita, training guys like TJ
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  Dillashaw, Aaron Pico, using scientific methods supposedly
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  from Cyclin, focused heavily on recovery to avoid that burnout.
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  Meanwhile, DDPS got that hit by a car power and he seems
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  confident even if he gets taken down.
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  So the big question is, can Kamzad, who seems like a
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  splinter, keep that pace up for five rounds if DDP drags him
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  into deep water? And how good is his guard going
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  to need to be? Definitely a lot to watch there.
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  What about other fighters? Mentioned Marab.
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  Devala. Schili came up again.
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  Oh man, Marab built different was the phrase used apparently.
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  Fought once with a serious staph infection on antibiotics and
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  still just outworked his opponent.
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  Plus his whole story, you know, immigrant, learned English,
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  became this sort of funny personality.
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  It's a Great American Dream type narrative.
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  Then you have someone like Sean Strickland punching a fan that
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  came up. Yeah, stirred up controversy,
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  and it was framed as part of this broader discussion about
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  maybe a lack of repercussions for certain behaviors these
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  days. Speaking of repercussions,
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  though, Matt Sarah's story was hilarious.
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  Oh. Right about his daughter Maria,
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  who does jiu jitsu. Apparently some kid made fun of
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  Matt's height in an interview clip.
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  So Maria found the kid and choked him out a bit at a jiu
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  jitsu class. Got some clicks online.
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  Sarah called it repercussions. All in good fun, supposedly.
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  Classic but jiu jitsu it does take a toll right?
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  Especially as you get older for sure.
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  Sources mentioned guys in their 40s, fifties, knees, shoulders,
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  always something which leads to talk about TRT stem cells trying
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  to recover and keep training. And legends like Jose Aldo still
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  going. All those a thing Monster even
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  passes Prime known for those leg kicks.
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  Unbelievable takedown defense. Even Marab couldn't get him down
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  apparently, and he dropped a weight class later in his career
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  and still performed at a super high level.
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  Just incredible. Then there's Pantoja, the
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  slyweight champ. Yeah, described as a killer.
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  Deserves more attention. Hard worker too, apparently.
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  Did Uber Eats while fighting in the USC just to make ends meet
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  early on? It is weird how flyweight
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  sometimes don't get the same love, isn't it?
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  It's. Strange.
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  Maybe size perception? Who knows?
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  And the big names like John Jones?
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  Rumors about a massive payday. Yeah, $30 million number was
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  thrown around for a potential fight with Tom Aspinall, maybe
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  Saudi Arabia involved, Then he kind of retired, then unretired.
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  It highlights that struggle fighters face mentally and
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  physically, knowing when it's time to actually hang them up.
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  It's got to be incredibly hard. Which ties into the business
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  side of things, right? The money in combat sports.
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  Definitely. And there's a huge difference
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  pointed out between boxing money and MMA money.
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  Boxing. See these astronomical paydays?
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  U-6 supposedly getting $114 million for one fight.
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  Crawford and Spence getting $25 million each.
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  Compared to the UFC where the pay structure is generally seen
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  as more spread out, maybe less top heavy for individual fights.
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  Exactly though the US CS overall business is massive.
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  Look at that Paramount Plus deal mentioned a billion dollars a
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  year for seven years offering free UFC content.
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  That's. Huge supposedly going to bring
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  millions of new subscribers to Paramount Plus M buy.
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  Yeah, and apparently Netflix was interested too.
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  But one of those big arena crowds, not just the Apex
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  events. Makes you wonder if boxing might
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  move towards more of a league model like the UFC.
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  Something to build undercards, Maybe make individual losses
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  less financially devastating for promoters.
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  Could be structure could help boxing.
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  And Speaking of boxing versus MMA, remember Ray Mercer
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  knocking out Tim Sylvia? Oh yeah, the one punch KO.
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  But there was a story behind that, right?
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  Supposedly they had a no kicking agreement because Mercer was the
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  boxer. Sylvia kicked him, Mercer got
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  mad, and boom, one punch Shows how tricky those crossover
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  fights are. And finally, training
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  philosophy. Eliot Topuria's approach sounded
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  interesting. Really interesting, instead of
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  just mixing everything in a standard MMA camp, he trains
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  each discipline, jiu jitsu, wrestling, boxing separately
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  with top specialists in each one and.
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  Puts it all together later. Exactly, sort of mastering each
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  component individually first contrast with the traditional
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  way and seems to be working incredibly well for him.
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  Yeah, lots happening in the fight world, constant evolution.
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  OK, so beyond the fights, beyond policy, there was some personal
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  reflections too on just like the human condition.
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  Yeah, reflecting on how tough life used to be, crossing oceans
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  and wooden boats, daily life and warrior cultures.
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  Just the sheer hardship makes you think about modern society
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  maybe getting a bit soft. The whole TikTok culture thing
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  mentioned even this push against men being strong, it's a
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  contrast. But also finding connection and
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  basic things like sharing food, especially if you haunted it
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  yourself. Right, the sources talked about
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  bow hunting specifically. Less about efficiency like rifle
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  hunting, more like a spiritual journey.
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  That deep satisfaction from connecting with your food
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  source, preparing it well, makes you think, how connected are you
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  to where your food actually comes from day-to-day?
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  That's a good question for everyone listening.
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  And then there's the reality of aging injuries.
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  Yeah, personal stories came up, Chronic stuff, back, knee,
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  biceps from years of intense activity, the struggle with
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  natural healing versus surgery, the long recovery times.
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  It really grounds the discussion, especially thinking
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  about pro fighters. The wear and tear they go
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  through is immense. Staying at the top as you age,
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  it's a monumental challenge. Absolutely.
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  Well, we've definitely covered a huge amount of ground in this
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  deep dive, haven't we? From chemicals hidden in our
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  bread to the history of pandemics.
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  The strategy in combat sports. Yeah, it really shows that being
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  informed isn't just knowing headlines, it's about seeing how
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  all this stuff connects, you know?
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  Totally understanding the interconnectedness of it all.
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  And I think this whole deep dive really hammers home how
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  important critical thinking is, especially now with information
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  coming at us from everywhere. It leaves you with a big
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  question, really. How much are you actually aware
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  of those invisible forces, the ones in your food affecting your
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  freedom, shaping your entertainment?
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  How much do they influence your daily life without you even
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  realizing it? That's definitely something to
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  chew on. What stands out most to you from
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  everything we talked about today?
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  Think about that as you go about your day.