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‘Cardio Was Off Charts’: Joe Rogan Explains Why Opponents ‘Couldn’t Keep Pace’ With UFC Legend Nick Diaz in His Prime

Allan Binoy
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Joe Rogan (L), Nick Diaz (R)

It’s almost routine at this point for Joe Rogan to mention Nick Diaz’s prime in every podcast episode. Rogan believes that the older Diaz brother is one of UFC’s biggest ‘What-Ifs’.

According to the UFC commentator, Diaz’s prime was not when he was in the UFC but during his tenure with Strikeforce.

Rogan has spoken about it on a number of occasions so far. But when his friend Shane Gillis brought up the topic of the Diaz brothers in a podcast episode on YouTube, Rogan had to intervene.

“People missed it because it happened in the Strikeforce days, Nick’s prime. He was a bad motherf*cker dude,” Rogan said, explaining why Nick was such a dangerous fighter in the middle divisions of the UFC

“He was a terrifying guy because he had the most insane cardio that has ever existed. This guy swam from Alcatraz to the shore five times……His f*cking cardio was off the charts,” the JRE host explained.

Rogan then spoke about how no one could handle his constant pressure over the rounds, similar to what bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili is doing, to terrorize the 135 lbs division at the moment.

According to Rogan, the elder Diaz brother wouldn’t even punch using all his power.

He had an interesting tactic, and the UFC commentator broke it down perfectly to explain to his comedian friends.

Rogan breaks down Diaz’s strategies

Much like Merab, the Stockton native would never stop coming forward, and luckily for him, he had an iron chin and could take a lot of punishment as well.

Rogan, who got to witness Diaz in his prime, further hailed him for his relentless pursuit of his opponent inside the octagon.

“He’d put a pace on you and hit you with like 50% punches. 50% punches, but constantly in your face, while talking sh*t, and then every now and then rip one to the body. And you’re exhausted,” he explained.

Rogan then explained how you can’t breathe properly when you’re getting punched. So Diaz’s constant punches would make his opponents tired and breathless. Add to that the body shots he kept dishing out, and he was just demolishing them.

That’s exactly what made Nick so good; he would strategically break down his opponents till they emptied their gas tank, and then turn it up a notch. Apart from his elite cardio and striking skills, he was also a black belt in Jiu Jitsu.

Rogan believes he was just the entire package, which is why he keeps bringing his name up every once in a while.

Post Edited By:Smrutisnat Jena

About the author

Allan Binoy

Allan Binoy

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Allan Binoy is a MMA journalist at The SportsRush. Taken to the sport in 2015, thanks to a certain Conor McGregor, Allan has himself dabbled in the martial arts. And having graduated from Loyola College, Chennai, with a degree in English Literature, he has learnt to use his love for language to have a voice in the MMA community. Allan has been writing about the gladiatorial stories for more than three years now and has pursued excellence at a number of reputable media organizations, covering every UFC PPV in the last couple of years. In addition to this, the southpaw is also a semi-professional soccer player for Diego Juniors FC in Pune, playing in the Pune Super Division League.

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