JRE MMA Show #164 with Israel Adesanya
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What is discussed at the start of this section?
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night. All day.
What's up? What's up? What's up? Good to see you, my friend. What is the chain? What does that stand for?
Engage. This is my fightwear brand. Ashbel Castro started this. Oh. He was one of the... I'll say this. He was one of the only guys who fucked with me before I really blew up. So when I was fighting in China and I lost to Alex, they stopped giving me fights. And I had, I think at the time, I was the highest paid foreign fighter in China at the time. Probably not now anymore, but then they stopped giving me fights. And I was like, look, I have seven more fights on my contract. Can I at least just get three? I just need three because money was running out, you know, the money I had saved up. And then, yeah, I was down to my last one day, like $500. And Eugene was holding pads for me. You could see something was up.
How does Israel Adesanya's fightwear brand Engage come into the conversation?
And I just said, bro, I'm about to be broke, this and that, right, right, right. And he said, don't worry. Just leave it with me. I get home. I think I was on the toilet. And he just goes, check your bank account. And I'm sitting there just like, start crying. And I call him. He's like, no, don't thank me. Thank Ash, who started Engage. And I call Ash. I'm taking a shit.
What challenges did Adesanya face during his early career?
Thank you so much. Like, honestly, just intense. Because, you know, I mean, I've been there, like, nothing and had everything and nothing again. So for me, yeah, he's always been a guy that's been in my corner. And me and Alex Volkanovski now, we've helped raise the brand so we own part of the company. So yeah, I like to rep the set. Oh, that's cool.
Nice.
And I think Engage also was... Last final three, when they had the whole Reebok fiasco, it was Venom, Engage, and someone else. I can't remember who else. So we didn't get the gig, but it would have been nice, though.
Oh, the UFC gig? Yeah.
Engage fight kits for the fighters.
But now it's Venom fight kits. Yeah, the whole fight kit thing is weird. I really preferred it when fighters could have sponsors. Condom depo on the back of your shorts. I don't like that.
I mean, they should probably have some discretion. I did like it, though. And I do like the fact now, like, the last fight I had... Hunter hit me up way before any gold gloves or anything, says, Izzy, we're gonna do this for certain fighters. What design would you like on your shorts? And I was like, bet. And I hit up Curtis, who works with Engage, does a lot of the designs, and I taught him what I wanted, and then he just did some custom stuff, and I sent a few to Hunter, and then boom, I got my shorts, the Lightning. And I quite like that. I like expression. That's one thing I do miss about boxing or kickboxing is the expression on the Hong Kong bands, the shorts. Like Jonathan Haggerty, he has cool shorts with golden bows on the side. I like that. It's cool.
I do too.
Yeah, it's expression. I don't like everybody has to wear the same shit. I think maybe the UFC at the time, they wanted to be... taken seriously in a sense so we had to like professional sports but nah I think we're all different independent contractors and we have different styles so I'm glad now they've brought out for certain fighters like O'Malley in his pink shorts Bryce Mitchell his camo shorts yeah let us express ourselves I like that but I wish fighters had the ability to advertise
Oh, big time. Yeah. That's big. Sponsors on your shorts is a lot of money. Like, Shaw was making more money from the sponsors than he was from his fight purse.
Yeah, I agree. And there's a way to bring it back, I'm sure. But even now, because they've got some, you get some kickbacks. But it's better if you can just plaster Condom Depot and get $100,000 on the back of your shorts.
How much was Condom Depot paying people? I don't even know.
But I used to think it was funny. It was funny. And the fact that it was on the back of the shorts, I'm like, that's placement. Advertising.
I just feel like, you know, if they didn't like some because it didn't represent the sport, like Condom Depot, then just fucking have a list of ones that you agree to.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is discussed at the start of this section?
0:00–0:41
2
How does Israel Adesanya's fightwear brand Engage come into the conversation?
0:41–1:07
3
What challenges did Adesanya face during his early career?
1:07–7:32
4
How does Adesanya feel about the current state of MMA sponsorships?
7:32–1:18:43
5
What are the implications of vaccine mandates discussed?
1:18:43–1:22:19
6
How does Israel Adesanya perceive the pressure of fame?
1:22:19–1:25:03
7
What lessons does Israel Adesanya share about handling public interactions?
1:25:03–1:27:46
8
What future plans does Israel Adesanya have after fighting?
1:27:46–2:34:59