What martial arts does Joe Rogan know?

Joe Rogan is best known for his Joe Rogan Experience podcast, as well as presenting roles in Fear Factor and the UFC. In his personal life, he is an avid hunter and lover of dogs. If you didn’t know, it turns out that Joe Rogan is also a highly skilled martial artist and his history with martial arts goes back a long way. Not only this but it’s also true that Rogan has a black belt in multiple disciplines, meaning he’s very well rounded too.

As well as looking at his martial arts background, we’ll also look at his skill level to see just how good he is. So, if you want to know more about Joe Rogan’s martial arts knowledge then read on.

Joe Rogan knows Taekwondo

Joe Rogan first burst onto the martial arts scene as a teenager who had been training the Korean martial art of Taekwondo since childhood. During this time, he competed almost weekly at his peak and won the US Open Championship Taekwondo Championships. Here, his fights were full-contact and there’s even video evidence of him cleanly knocking out an opponent with a swift head kick during his prime.

Further, there are also videos of Rogan as an older adult demonstrating his spinning TKD kicks on a punch bag. Undeniably, you can see the level of technique, speed, and power that goes into these kicks and it’s done to an elite level. Some have even argued that Rogan could potentially kill you with a single kick to the head and based on these videos – there’s a lot of truth in these comments.

Although Rogan retired from TKD aged 21 to pursue an acting career, he still left the martial art with a great reputation. He was known in circles around North America and also taught it to earn some side money. Ironically, since leaving Taekwondo, he has also commented on its effectiveness as times, and whether the sport version is truly a good form of self defense. Nonetheless, make no doubt about it that he is incredibly skilled at Taekwondo.

Joe Rogan knows Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

As an adult later on in life, Joe Rogan began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under his close friend Eddie Bravo. This was at Bravo’s 10th Planet gym which taught classes without the gi. In 2012 after over 10 years of practice, Bravo awarded Joe Rogan his black belt and Rogan’s promotion speech can be seen here.

Not only this but over the years, Rogan has also dabbled in training in the gi with legendary BJJ teacher Jean-Jacques Machado. Although he’s still primarily a no gi specialist, he will still be decent in the gi as there’s also a degree of crossover.

It should also be added that in terms of performance and technique, Rogan is not as good as BJJ as he would be at Taekwondo which is understandable as he trained it whilst a celebrity and therefore couldn’t devote as much time or energy. In this sense, his BJJ training was more as a hobbyist, whereas his TKD training was taken more seriously.

According to Rogan, he began training BJJ when he realized that there was more to fighting than just kicks and punches. Remember, Rogan was born in 1967 when martial arts was in a different era. Growing up, before the UFC began there was very little knowledge of groundfighting or BJJ so it makes sense that Joe Rogan took to BJJ later in life to become more rounded and develop his grappling skills.

Joe Rogan knows Muay Thai

Returning to his earlier years, Joe Rogan also trained Muay Thai sporadically in between TKD and BJJ. Whilst Taekwondo is certainly legitimate, it doesn’t offer certain techniques that are used in Muay Thai. Specifically, we’re talking about the Thai clinch, foot sweeps, elbows and knee strikes. Arguably, TKD is based more on distance striking whereas Muay Thai is done from up close.

As a result, it makes sense that Rogan took time to learn Muay Thai as it would only add to his striking skills. Before you could claim that whilst his kicking abilities was a high level, he’d also struggle if someone came in close to attack him. Therefore, learning Muay Thai would fill the void and only add to his striking talents. In one video, Rogan can be seen learning Muay Thai from the legendary fighter John Wayne Parr.

Joe Rogan knows Kickboxing

Whilst training Taekwondo, Rogan was invited to train Kickboxing which he did on the side. According to Rogan, he believed he would be able to beat most kickboxers in sparring due to his elite Taekwondo skills and record in competitive TKD. This didn’t happen and Rogan realized that the boxing and punching element of Kickboxing nullified a lot of his TKD training.

In other words, whilst Rogan was immensely talented at TKD – he realized that it worked well under a TKD rule set. With people moving differently and more punches involved, suddenly he wasn’t so confident. He even had three amateur fights in kickboxing, resulting in a 2-1 record.

Eventually, he saw many of his trainers suffering from apparent memory loss and confusion which Rogan believed may have been caused by concussions and possible CTE. With this in the back of his mind, Rogan quit Kickboxing and striking at this point which is one of the reasons that he transitioned to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

How good is Joe Rogan at martial arts?

Based on the power of his kicks, Joe Rogan’s striking (or specifically kicking) is not to be understated. Even as he’s aged, he’s still proven his technique is strong and is able to easily knock someone out if they mess with him. Combined with years of Muay Thai and Kickboxing training, it’s fair to say as a striker – he is very good.

In some ways, there’s a hint of sadness about this as it’s very possible that he could have professionally competed in MMA at one point had he not pursued an acting career. This isn’t too surprising though, as an ex-Taekwondo Champion probably could hang with a lot of lower-level MMA pros at least, especially back then.

What’s also impressive about Joe Rogan is his ability to adapt. When he realized there was more to martial arts that TKD, he mixed it up with Muay Thai and Kickboxing to improve his weaknesses. When he realized there was more to martial arts than just striking, he then moved into grappling with BJJ.

Talking of which, if we’re going to be hyper critical of his fighting style, you could argue that Joe Rogan needs to improve on his takedown game. In an interview with Lex Fridman, he claimed that his main weakness in BJJ was takedowns and it was something that he’d neglected. Still, due to his skills in other areas, this doesn’t seem too much of a big deal.

Lastly, one thing to also note is his size and athletic ability. It’s no secret that Joe Rogan is jacked and is incredibly strong. If you were to try and fight him without his combat skills then he’d still be tough due to his muscles. However, when you add in his technique and years of training, it’s fair to say that Joe Rogan is an incredibly talented martial artist and still has the skills even as he grows older!

Are you a fan of Joe Rogan? Check out his biography here.