Joe Rogan's love for mixed martial arts is well known. The popular commentator is considered a role model by his fans for his combat sports acumen and fitness.
Two years ago, Rogan took to Instagram to post a picture of Aleksandr Karelin and accompanied it with a caption that exemplified just how highly he regarded the wrestling great:
"Every now and then I like to pull out this picture of the great Russian wrestler Aleksander Karelin, just to remind myself of what a tremendous p**sy I am."
Check out Joe Rogan's Instagram post on Aleksandr Karelin:
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Karelin is widely regarded as the greatest Greco-Roman wrestler of all time. He won gold medals in three consecutive Olympic Games between 1988 and 1996, representing three different entities, the Soviet Union, Unified Team, and Russia. He was the designated flag bearer on all three occasions.
'Russian Bear' also won nine gold medals at the world championships and was undefeated in each of his winning runs. He was famous for his extraordinary strength and size as he competed in the super heavyweight division throughout his career.
Aleksandr Karelin also holds an incredible wrestling record of 887 wins and only two narrow losses.
Joe Rogan weighs in on Alexander Volkanovski vs. Islam Makhachev
Alexander Volkanovski will make the move up to lightweight to take on Islam Makhachev in the Russian's first title defense at UFC 284.
Joe Rogan weighed in on the matchup on a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience with Sean O'Malley. Rogan pointed out the physical advantage Makhachev holds over Volkanovski as a key factor in the fight:
“Do you think [Volkanovski's] big enough to compete against a guy like Islam, who’s a really big ’55? Islam is big. I don’t know what he’s cutting, but he’s got the perfect physique for that weight class. He’s very, very lean. He makes the weight, and he’s obviously way bigger when he’s competing. He doesn’t look anything like a ’55-pound guy." [h/t MMA Junkie]
However, Rogan also credited 'Volk' for his grappling and takedown defense:
“The thing is the grappling. If you look at Volkanovski, he’s got really good takedown defense and he can take guys down. He took Max Holloway down a bunch, but he’s not the biggest guy even at ’45.” [h/t MMA Junkie]
Catch Joe Rogan's full comments on his podcast on Spotify: