Joe Rogan just might be looking at basketball in a whole new light when it comes to building the perfect MMA fighter. And, weirdly enough, Ciryl Gane is the one who changed his mind. The JRE host believes basketball could be an absolute cheat code for heavyweight fighters. Why? Because the sport forces big athletes to constantly move, switch directions, and stay coordinated—all things that can translate beautifully to striking.

“(Ciryl Gane) has changed my thoughts on bases for sports entry,” he said on Joe Rogan Experience #2561. “He’s a Muay Thai fighter, but here’s the point: he played basketball; this is why.

“I think basketball is a huge factor, for big athletes in particular. If you can play good at basketball, the thing about being good at basketball is that you have to change directions constantly; you’re constantly changing direction. It’s all about movement; that’s huge with striking.”

The 36-year-old’s freakish athleticism has Joe Rogan looking at basketball very differently when it comes to building a heavyweight fighter. After all, it’s not exactly normal to see a 250-pound heavyweight move around with the lightness and agility of a much smaller fighter.

And that’s exactly what makes ‘Bon Gamin’ such an interesting example for Rogan. According to the UFC commentator, basketball basically gives big athletes a built-in athletic workout without them even realizing it.

“When you can get a guy as big as Ciryl Gane, he’s 250 lbs but moves like a cat, and I think a big part of that is that he spent so much time (playing basketball),” he explained.

“It’s like plyometrics; you’re doing constant plyometrics when playing basketball, plus it’s hand-eye coordination, and you’re moving the ball when moving back and forward. Footwork in conjunction with the movement of your hands.”

And Ciryl Gane has certainly backed up Joe Rogan’s theory inside the Octagon. His unbelievable mobility has been on full display in some of his biggest UFC fights, especially when he’s sharing the cage with other elite heavyweights.

Against Tom Aspinall, the Frenchman’s ability to stay light on his feet helped him deal with an early takedown attempt before getting back to what he does best: fighting at range. Once the fight returned to the feet, the 36-year-old’s 81-inch reach, bouncing footwork, and constant angle changes made it tough for Aspinall to find a rhythm.

Gane even landed clean enough to bloody Tom Aspinall’s nose before an accidental eye poke brought the fight to an early end.

He displayed that same evasive mobility against Alex Pereira. As ‘Poatan’ marched forward looking to put his power to work, Ciryl Gane kept sliding out of danger, constantly switching his stance and controlling the distance. ‘Bon Gamin’ finished the matchup landing 54 of 86 significant strikes, while his movement made sure Alex Pereira rarely had a stationary target to tee off on.

But Joe Rogan isn’t putting all his eggs in the basketball basket. He also sees soccer as a seriously underrated base for MMA, especially because of the ridiculous cardio and leg strength the sport demands.

“I think there’s something legitimate to that as a base because you’re constantly jumping,” Rogan added. “Soccer is another one; soccer is a tremendous base for MMA because those guys have great cardio and their legs are strong; they can constantly move back and forward without getting tired.”

“It’s a huge factor. If you can get that kind of movement, and most people don’t have that kind of movement, like elite basketball movement.”

That theory makes even more sense at heavyweight, where being huge can often come with a pretty obvious trade-off: mobility. The bigger the fighter, the harder it can be to stay light, quick, and unpredictable.

Ciryl Gane, though, is basically the walking counterexample. He’s a massive heavyweight who can glide around the Octagon like a much smaller fighter, and the JRE host thinks all those years of basketball may have something to do with it.

If anything, ‘Bon Gamin’ might be the perfect example of why a little basketball could go a long way for big MMA athletes. However, Rogan’s basketball obsession extends beyond fighter development.

Joe Rogan has previously suggested putting MMA fights on a basketball court

Joe Rogan’s basketball obsession doesn’t stop at using it as a secret weapon for developing MMA fighters. He’s also floated the idea that MMA itself could steal a few tricks from basketball.

That’s not coming from some outsider either. Rogan has been around the UFC for nearly three decades, first joining as a backstage interviewer in 1997 before becoming one of the promotion’s most recognizable voices.

After watching MMA go through multiple eras, he’s naturally picked up a few unconventional ideas about how the sport could evolve, and basketball just happens to be part of one of them.

And this is where the JRE host’s basketball influence gets really wild. He doesn’t just think MMA fighters should train like basketball players; he once suggested the UFC should practically turn the Octagon into a basketball court.

“I got some wacky ideas,” Rogan said in a previous podcast episode.

One of those ideas? Ditching the cage altogether. Joe Rogan has argued that the fence can create situations he doesn’t think are necessary in a fight, particularly when it comes to pinning an opponent against it or using the cage to help get back to the feet.

“I don’t even think they should fight in a cage,” he said. “I think the cage is an unnecessary element in fighting. To push someone against something or to be able to get up from something. I don’t think it’s necessary.

“I think it should be in like a basketball court. Like a basketball court that’s matted up. Have a big space. Have a warning track where if you go outside the warning track too many times, you could lose points.”

Basically, the UFC commentator wants MMA to have its own version of the out-of-bounds line. Except instead of handing the ball to the other team, fighters could lose points for constantly escaping the designated area.

And Joe Rogan’s rulebook gets even more chaotic from there. He’s also made it clear that, in his ideal version of MMA, fighters should never get a referee-assisted reset just because the action on the ground has slowed down.

For the JRE host, if you’re stuck underneath someone, that’s your problem; figure out how to get out.

“You should never get stood up in a fight. I don’t care if the guy’s doing nothing,” he told Matt Damon on JRE Episode #2440. “If he’s holding you down and you can’t get up, that’s how it should be. So it’s more realistic.”

That kind of rule would completely change the game for grappling-heavy fighters. A wrestler who gets dominant control would no longer have to worry about the referee stepping in and dragging the fight back to the feet just because things have slowed down.

Someone like Khabib Nurmagomedov, who built his dominance around relentless control and pressure, could have been especially dangerous under that kind of rule.

And that pretty much sums up Joe Rogan’s broader fascination with MMA. He’s always looking at what the sport can steal from other disciplines, whether it’s basketball’s movement, soccer’s conditioning, or completely rethinking how the rules should work.

Now, thanks to Ciryl Gane, basketball has officially entered the UFC commentator’s MMA blueprint. And if a 250-pound heavyweight can move like ‘Bon Gamin,’ maybe Rogan has a point: there could be a lot more to basketball than just shooting hoops when it comes to building the next generation of heavyweight fighters.