On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan and guest Brendan Schaub turned their attention to Khamzat Chimaev‘s future following his title loss to Sean Strickland.
The two went back and forth on whether Chimaev should follow in Arman Tsarukyan‘s footsteps and compete at RAF wrestling events to stay active. However, Rogan raised real concerns about the risks involved, particularly given how physically depleted Chimaev appeared coming out of the match.
Schaub set up the conversation by pointing to Chimaev’s inactivity as a core problem.
“He competes once a year, which is not good, dude,” Schaub said.
He then floated the idea of Chimaev using RAF as a way to stay in shape and in the public eye.
“Let’s do RAF. Let’s get this rolling. Keeps your weight down. Keeps you active. Also keeps you in the limelight. Like Arman has blown up, dude.”
Rogan, though, was not fully on board. He raised a specific incident that had been weighing on him.
“There was a very weird event. I don’t know who did it, but it was kicks to the leg, punches to the body, and jiu-jitsu,” he said. “So Gleison Tibau was competing. I apologize. I don’t remember who he was competing, and he takes this guy down and the guy catches his knee in a weird way and it blows out.”
Schaub tried to counter by noting wrestling is safer than mixed-format events.
“Wrestling is a little safer though,” he said.
Rogan pushed back: “I don’t know about that, because this was in the wrestling exchange that he took him down.”
He then noted that even though the quality of RAF’s competition is top-tier, the scare always remains. Rogan added, “Wrestlers blow their knees out all the time. It’s just a part of the craziness of explosive movement and a guy is coming after you.”
Rogan noted that beyond the physical risk, the deeper issue with Chimaev is that competing at a major level so soon after what his body went through during the weight cut is a genuine question mark. His brother had said publicly that they thought Chimaev’s body was going to shut down during the cut.
“You’re not healthy if you almost passed away a day ago,” Rogan stated.
