56-year-old Joe Rogan has earned tremendous acclaim as a reality TV host, podcaster, commentator, and stand-up comic. But just at the cusp of his twenties, the BJJ black belt was already making a name for himself in the martial arts scene. So why did he drop it all at the age of 21?

Before he became a big name in the UFC world, the JRE host wanted to become a martial artist. The comedian is trained in karate and taekwondo and has been practicing since the young age of 14. He did this for the love of combat and to ward off bullies in his Boston school. Rogan also found success by winning the US Open Championship, the Full Contact State Championship, and the Boston Open. But there was a catch. The fights were intense, and he even fought more than one fight per day!

Joe Rogan recalls high-intensity fighting days

American comedian and actor Colin Quinn sat down with Joe Rogan for a chat in JRE episode #2145. As the discussion veered into martial arts in the 80s, Rogan spoke about his younger days when he used to fight in Taekwondo and karate tournaments. The 56-year-old said that he used to participate in Karate Point tournaments and taekwondo tournaments and how different they were. Rogan did taekwondo frequently, which was continuous action and was more intense; he even had to fight more than one bout in one day! 

The BJJ black belt continued reminiscing about his old fighting days and said, “There weren’t that many tournaments, so if there were no taekwondo tournaments we would enter into karate tournaments… I fought like probably, I probably fought 100 times.” He was ready to try any combat sports and even said that his last kickboxing was 3 fights in one day! Imagine the grit and strength he had! He said, “I had three fights in one day and I won the first two fights, I lost the last one in a day…I always came home from training with bruises.”

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Rogan also said that he broke his nose around 20 times; it was broken so many times that it got calcified (basically the nasal equivalent of cauliflower ears)! The UFC commentator was casually talking about the several serious injuries he endured during his martial arts days. But there was one experience that made him realize enough was enough.

Why did Rogan call it quits in martial arts?

In an earlier episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan told guest Akash Singh how he decided to quit martial arts. He recounted one of his matches from the US Open National Taekwondo Tournament. Rogan was a young 19-year-old when it all happened. He was very enthusiastic to fight that particular day and said that he, “fought this kid who was, I think he was the Illinois state champion. And I hit him in the head with a wheel kick… and it has insane power, I mean insane power… And I caught this guy, he came at me with what’s called a stepping roundhouse kick.”

However, to the young Rogan’s utter dismay, this intense kick knocked his opponent out cold. According to him, the opponent was unconscious for half an hour, and he was put on a stretcher and sent to the hospital. Rogan was disgruntled seeing his opponent’s condition and felt that he could also have been in the contender’s place. This unfortunate incident made him step away from active competition.

The 56-year-old retired altogether at the age of 21 and now is arguably the most famous UFC commentator and podcaster out there. Do you think he will ever return for a friendly fight?