Joe Rogan makes case for MMA sparring from a young age: 'You can't hurt each other'
01/15/2025 08:07 AM
Sparring from a young age is one of the most contentious topics in all of combat sports.
Modern medicine and brain health studies show that repeated blows to the head can lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a precursor to dementia. Even mundane blows to the head from light sparring and bumps in grappling are thought to be linked.
Despite this, UFC commentator Joe Rogan advocates for sparring from a young age, explaining that an argument can be made since kids can’t truly hurt each other.
Joe Rogan advocates for kids sparring if they learn control
While discussing kids watching their fighter fathers get knocked out at live events on The Joe Rogan Podcast alongside Theo Von, Rogan segued into the topic of kids sparring.
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“There’s an argument for sparring young, because you can’t hurt each other,” Rogan said. “As long as they learn control. If they learn control when they’re young and they learn not to hit each other hard but just to do it fast, man they can get so good. Because they don’t hurt each other the way adults hurt each other.”
Symptoms of CTE include memory loss, mood swings, and behavioural changes. It can only be definitively diagnosed on brain tissue under study post-mortem, and symptoms can take years to develop, as Rogan believes has happened with Georges St-Pierre (GSP).
Joe Rogan blames head trauma for bizarre Georges St-Pierre UFO stories
UFC GOAT GSP has cited alien abductions as a reason for repeated memory loss; Rogan isn’t so sure.
“The way he [GSP] was explaining things is very similar to the way people describe things when they’ve experienced excessive head trauma,” Rogan explained on his podcast. “Because he misses time, his memory’s not good.
“Like he’ll get home and have groceries that he bought and left in his trunk, and not even realize it, and he’ll go out to his trunk and they’re rotten, and he’s like, ‘I don’t even remember going to the store – the Alien!'”
‘Rush’ was in bloody wars over his 13-year career with the UFC. All in all, he competed in 22 UFC fights, losing twice. He outlanded most of his competition but absorbed plenty of damage in his fights with Michael Bisping and especially Johny Hendricks, whom many thought defeated GSP.
