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Morning Report: Joe Rogan has emotionally charged retirement talk with Brendan Schaub, ponders his own commentating future with UFC

By David St. Martin
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

"A lot of things looked bad about that fight."

Even coming constructively from a friend, criticism is never fun to hear.

Alongside commentator Joe Rogan, UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub treated(?) fans to one of the more visceral conversations you're likely to hear Monday discussing his fighting career.

Schaub suffered a first-round TKO loss to No. 3 heavyweight Travis Browne Dec. 6 at UFC 181. It would be hard to imagine that Rogan's reaction to the performance didn't further dishearten Schaub.

"The reality of your skill set, where you're at now, I don't see you beating the elite guys," Rogan told Schaub. "I don't see you beating Cain Velasquez. I don't see you beating Junior dos Santos. I don't see you beating Fabricio Werdum."

Admitting that he was 'worried' for Schaub coming into the fight with Browne, Rogan seemed fairly pessimistic about the heavyweight's ability to mount a career resurgence after going 2-4 since 2011.

"You came into fighting fairly late in life," said Rogan. "You're a good athlete. You're a big guy, a strong guy and you can do a lot of things because of that. You're very dedicated and you're very disciplined and you get s**t done, but there's a reality of fluidity of movement, of mechanical efficiency of movement that happens when you get a guy who has trained his whole life at a certain aspect of MMA. Whether it's wrestling, kickboxing, jiu jitsu ... there's a fluidity of their movement that you don't really have."

"It's not that you don't try hard, that you're not dedicated, that you're not disciplined, that you're not intelligent. There's s**t that other people can do that you can't do."

Rogan asked Schaub if he believed he could hang with Velasquez in a freestyle wrestling match. When Schaub replied he could 'surprise some people,' Rogan disagreed.

"Really? You think so? I think you'd be surprised," said Rogan. "I really do. I think he'd f**k you up. I say that as a friend and a guy who loves you.

"I just think there's a bridge between you and the best guys in the world and I don't know if you can cross that bridge."

After a detour contemplating the UFC's signing of CM Punk and the uniform deal with Reebok, the conversation eventually circled back to Schaub's future in fighting.

"Joe, I think it's easy for you to sit there, with whatever, $12 million in the bank and say, 'Oh, you need to stop doing this," Schaub declared defensively. "It's easier when you're set and you don't come from that background and you're going home to your wife and kid in your f***ing $6 million mansion. It's like, 'Bro, you shouldn't fight. Brain trauma. It's bad.' 'OK, I'll just stop doing it. I'll just do a podcast for the next 40 years.'

When Rogan asked him if he'd ever fight again, there wasn't much hesitation from Schaub.

"100 percent," said Schaub. "100 percent, Joe."

Schaub also mentioned his plan of fighting approximately four more times, possibly even making a move down to 205 pounds.

Rogan, himself, seemed to allude that his days calling fights for the UFC might be coming to a close sooner than later.

"I always wonder how much longer I'm going to do this, anyway," said Rogan. "The one thing that I'm conflicted about, this is a hard thing to say, but [brain trauma] is the one thing I'm conflicted about when it comes to fighting. As I get older and the more I understand about the damage that people take...

"I still love the sport, I still love watching it, still love all the complexities, the battle and struggle. Guys rising above and getting better, the discipline and focus that's required to reach a true, excellent state, but it disturbs the s**t out of me. What I'm saying to you [Schaub] today is not just for you. It's to put it in the heads of a lot of people that don't want to hear that s**t. There are a lot of guys out there that are hanging around a bar or gas station or wherever the f**k they go with their friends and they hung around too long. And everybody knows it."

It's difficult to do the full conversation justice in just a few paragraphs so please give it a listen in it's entirety if you get the chance.

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5 MUST-READ STORIES

Medical suspensions. UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis could potentially be sidelined for six months after injuring his left hand against Gilbert Melendez.

'Bucking long odds.' Dave Meltzer examines the fighting potential of WWE's CM Punk and how his signing could affect the sport. "Realistically, given his age and injuries from a career of pro wrestling, and lack of completive background in any combat sport, the odds are greatly against him."

The MMA. Luke Thomas breaks down the results and notable fights from Invicta 10, RFA 21 and UFC 181.

'The fight game's quiet spectacular.' Chuck Mindenhall makes the case for Anthony Pettis' pound-for-pound status. 'If after UFC 181 he's not the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, he's at least the best pound-for-pound prototype of Everything You'd Ever Want In a Fighter, by all standards.'

'A bucket list thing.' Chael Sonnen says he doesn't believe CM Punk will make his debut against a prospect and that he has a good idea who he could be fighting. 'I'm going to keep that close to the vest. It would not make sense to give him a bottom-tier guy.'

Watch The MMA Hour with Jon Fitch in studio, Matt Hughes, Frank Mir, K.J. Noons, Tom Wright and John Pollock.

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MEDIA STEW

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Road to the Octagon: Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic.

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Jon Jones the GOAT.

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Robin Black breaks down Josh Samman's head kick KO.

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Nice profile on Anthony Pettis from Reebok.

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Highlights from BAMMA 17.

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Free Fight: Junior Dos Santos vs. Mark Hunt.

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Long watches.

Knuckle Up #389: UFC 181, what MMA should be, drunken nihilism, live action fight club

...

UFC 181 Gracie Breakdown

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TWEETS

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Yay.

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Very cool.

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Two takes.

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More reactions and invitations.

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Congrats.

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Please be careful.

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Now we're doing minutes, not rounds.

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Let's talk about this beard.


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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Dec. 8 2014)

Brian Foster vs. Jake Shields at WSOF 17

Danny Castillo vs. Paul Felder set for UFC 182

Johnny Case vs. Francisco Trevino at UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver

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FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today's Fanpost of the Day comes via Johnny Jimmy.

Rankings are bulls***!!! (As if you didn't already know that)

So, rankings are in... and they suck. We've heard this tune a lot of times before. However, now that we know the rankings will have a huge impact in the way fighters earn their sponsor money once the Reebok deal enters the scene, I think it's time (now more than ever) for greater scrutiny.

Obviously, I won't go through the whole rankings. Just two or three details that struck me as absurd. I'm sure many of you have different opinions and I would like to hear them all. So...

Why is Tony Ferguson not in the lightweight top 15? You'd think that being a TUF winner and an exciting fighter with a record of 7-1 in the UFC (5 finishes) would be enough to at least break the top 15. I realize the division is stacked, but gummon... Tony is definitely the most underrated lightweight IMO. He always looks great in the cage and has improved a lot since his TUF days.

...

Check out the rest of the post here.

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Found something you'd like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we'll include it in tomorrow's column.

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