"Joe is the man" - Andrew Schulz reveals how Joe Rogan helps out with his UFC experience

Stand-up comic and podcaster Andrew Schulz is a big fan of combat sports, and got to enjoy UFC 276 cageside thanks to his buddy Joe Rogan.

Schulz was an in-person guest on the latest episode of Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour and revealed how he got such good tickets to a high profile UFC event. He said:

"To be honest, I go through Joe [Rogan], and Joe is the man. Joe saw some stuff of mine back when I was putting out specials on YouTube, and I still put everything - I love YouTube. He reached out, actually [Brendan] Schaub actually connected us."

Andrew Schulz credited Joe Rogan with breaking down the gatekeeper system in stand-up, where comedians needed to be chosen by TV executives to make it big. He said:

"That first pod with him changed the course of stand-up in a lot of ways. I think people realized there was another option if they couldn't get a Comedy Central hour, they couldn't get on Netflix. They were like 'Oh, this guy is selling tickets from putting stuff on YouTube?' I think a lot of comics started seeing themselves building followings and it was like 'Oh wow, I can eat what I hunt, that's even possible?' Where before every time you go to a festival you're trying to kiss the ass of some exec."

Check out Andrew Schulz's appearance on The MMA Hour below:

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Watch Andrew Schulz get punched by Alexander Volkanovski

Andrew Schulz had UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski on his Flagrant 2 podcast following the Australian's successful title defense against 'The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung. Proving he's willing to do anything for a laugh, Schulz allowed Volkanovski to punch him several times in the chest.

Watch Alexander Volkanovski's appearance on Flagrant 2 below:

Schulz has also had middleweight champion Israel Adesanya on his podcast multiple times as well. During the latest episode of The MMA Hour, the comedian explained how that friendship came about.

"You'll congratulate a young fighter and tell them they're doing a good job when they're young and no one knows about them, and then they become champions and they're like '[He] always said that I was really impressive early on, I'm going to make time for him and come on.'"

Schulz went on to defend Adesanya's performance against Jared Cannonier at UFC 276, questioning why Cannonier didn't get any heat for fighting so conservatively when it was his job to try and take the belt from Adesanya.