What’s the best way to get someone hooked on MMA? You throw in the wildest knockouts, the craziest comebacks, the absolute best trash talk. But if you ask Joe Rogan, that’s not how you do it at all. Because sometimes, trying to sell MMA to the uninitiated backfires, spectacularly. Case in point, Comedian Michael Kosta on episode #2290 of The Joe Rogan Experience.

So, Rogan, in full fight-nerd mode, starts describing one of the scariest men to ever set foot in the Octagon. Rousimar Palhares. What does Kosta do? Panic. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t want to look,” Kosta blurted, visibly shaken. And honestly? Can you blame him? Rogan had just gone full horror-story mode. “There’s a guy named Rousimar Palhares, who’s one of the scariest motherf—-ers to ever fight,” Rogan said. “He was a leg lock specialist. And what he would do is rip your knees apart. And he wouldn’t let go if you tapped and he got kicked out of the UFC for it. Cause he did it to so many people.”

Ah yes, the classic selling point, ‘come for the sport, stay for the career-ending injuries.’ Now, we’ve all seen brutal knockouts, flying knees that send souls to the shadow realm, and those unfortunate leg breaks that make you question your life choices as a fight fan. But Palhares? The man was a walking nightmare. Rogan described him as a human pit bull, 5’7, 185 pounds of compact destruction. He didn’t just go for legs, he collected them.

And his weapon of choice? The heel hook. “A heel hook is so terrible,” Rogan explained, unusually excited for someone describing a dark realm injury. “Your knee has a lot of strength going forward and backward but almost none going side to side. So they isolate the top of it, wrap your heel into the crook of their elbow, and then they wrench it apart. It’s literally twisting your knee apart, and it’s terrifying.” So, in simpler terms? If ‘Toquinho’ grabbed your leg, congratulations, you’re now on a one-year recovery plan, complete with surgery and regret. And here’s the thing, Palhares wasn’t just good at heel hooks. He was too good. The problem wasn’t his ability, it was his refusal to let go. Fighters would be slapping the mat, screaming, tapping for dear life, and Palhares? Still cranking like a psycho in a B-movie horror flick.

Did Joe Rogan emphasis on the brutal aftermath enough?

Since we’re already down this rabbit hole, let’s lay out the whole story. The breaking point (literally) came in 2013 when he fought Mike Pierce. The fight? Barely 31 seconds long. And the move? A textbook heel hook. Pierce tapped, the ref rushed in, and Palhares? He just kept twisting, as if he was trying to make sure Pierce wouldn’t walk straight for a year. Dana White had seen enough. “This is the second incident we’ve had with Palhares where he had the lock and he didn’t let it go,” White stated. “Finally, he let it go, but I’m going to cut him. He’s done.”

Gone. Less than 24 hours later, Palhares was out of the UFC. Not suspended. Not fined. Gone. And if you’re thinking, ‘well, maybe it was just one bad moment?’ Nope. This was a pattern. Back in 2010, he did the same thing to Tomasz Drwal and got a 90-day suspension. Then, in the World Series of Fighting (WSOF), he pulled the same stunt on Jake Shields, who was so fed up that he started punching Palhares after the fight was over. This man wasn’t just burning bridges. He was torching them.

It’s one of MMA’s biggest ‘what ifs.’ If Palhares had just, you know, followed the rules, he could have been a legit welterweight contender. He had the skills, the strength, and the ability to make opponents question their life choices. Instead, he got himself banned from the UFC for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” Then from WSOF, and eventually became the guy no promotion wanted to touch. However, he still fought in smaller leagues. But the damage was done. Both to his reputation and to the knees of his unfortunate opponents.

So, thinking of introducing a friend to MMA? Maybe steer clear of Rousimar Palhares unless you want to see them squirm and mutter like Kosta, ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t want to look.’ What’s your take on this wild story? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below