Joe Rogan on Deontay Wilder's Crazy KO of Ortiz

I use one of your expressions all the time, the touch of death, and there is no better example than what we saw Saturday night with Deontay Wilder. Jesus Christ, can that guy punch. I had him losing all the rounds. Yeah, me too. And I thought one round was really close, could go either way, but I had it 6-2-0. And that right hand, my God. It's so crazy. It doesn't even make sense. When you look at that shot, it landed above, kind of like in the forehead, this area. Not even on the chin. No. Usually here, if you're a powerful puncher, you could daze a guy. Put him out the way he did. Wow. And no wind up too. No wind up. Just right from here. That's touch of death. Crazy. Like nobody ever. Think about that guy's record. 41 knockouts. One decision, one draw. It's incredible. Undefeated, 41 knockouts in 42 fights. I mean, that is bonkers. And he was getting out box. Like he's not the best boxer. Well, he doesn't care to box with you. He knows. It's such a crazy strategy because out of anyone that has ever fought in the heavyweight division, he is the one guy that literally can shut everyone's lights out with one shot. Everyone's a knockout artist. Foreman was a knockout artist. Frazier, Tyson, of course, was a knockout artist. But not like this guy. This guy's got, it's like another level of craziness. I would agree. I mean, he knows himself. That's what's so beautiful. If he was less strategic, he would have started fighting really early. And maybe zap that power he has. But he knows. He knows exactly. He didn't care. He lost six rounds. He had no qualms about it. And he got hurt just before he knocked out Luis. He was hurt. And he stayed calm. He's like, oh, now you're going to come for it. Now you're going to walk into the right. And bang. Yeah. It's incredible. Well, I think he also knew that from the first fight, Ortiz started to fade. And the first fight was very similar in that the first few rounds, there was very little action. And then it started to pick up. But then Ortiz started to fade. But Ortiz put it on him in that first fight. If you watch that first fight, you're like, wow, this is a crazy rematch for him to take. But in this fight, he just fought a perfect strategy, just waiting. And people, oh my God, I was on Twitter reading people. This guy can't even box. Did you not see what happened? You say camp box. He's undefeated. He's the fucking heavyweight champion of the world. He has he tied Muhammad Ali for the most title defenses ever. Did you really just say he can't box? In fact, he's a professional boxer. Go in there with him, then go in there. If I laced you up before the you would be like, oh, you'd be so petrified, you would turn to white and faint. The way he punches is so strange. It's so strange. And you know, when he fought Tyson Fury, he told me he weighed 209 pounds. Oh, really? 209. That's it. That's it. Wow. Crazy. Wow. He's a phenomenal, like all humans are not created equal. Some people just have a beautiful hand of cards. Yes. That guy's got four aces and he puts them right in your face. Boom. He understands what he's good at. And he fights that way, which is brilliant. He's always tell my students it's fighting is two things. It's one is level. You got to get to a certain level. And then the second thing you have to figure out your style. Like you have to know everything about what you do. Like for instance, if you look at Ali and Tyson, they fought totally differently. Too equally in my opinion, like, okay, we could split hairs and say who was better. Let's say they fought, it would be very competitive. Whoever you think would win in that fight, it would be very competitive. Ali fights the total opposite of Tyson. Ali circles supposedly the wrong way. If you look at the book of boxing, they tell you don't circle towards the power side. He doesn't care. And his style, it makes sense. He's up on his toes. He's jabbing. He rarely ever throws a body shot. He throws, he's thrown a handful of body shots in his entire career. Whereas Tyson is the total opposite. He marches forward. He has that peekaboo style. He has that, you know, he's got the gloves tied up to his chin and a totally different style. If Tyson tried to fight like Ali, he would lose, you know, but they're at the same level, and they figure it out. Hey, what am I good at? What advantages do I have physically? What disadvantages do I have physically? And that's why at one point you have to figure out your style. And I feel that's where most fighters fall apart. They never figure out their style. They're trying to do what some trainer told them. They're trying to do what the guy they the most admirer in the ring does. They never find out exactly how they, what's best for them. That's such a good point because it's such a creative art form in that way. And I do believe that martial arts are an art form. I really do because to me it's so beautiful. Like even that right hand that Deontay landed, that to me was gorgeous. There's never been a prettier sunset or a more beautiful mountain. Just black. Watch that spray. That's the way you see the spray, the sweat come off his head and then Ortiz crumbles. And Deontay walks away like this, chest up like motherfucker. You're not getting up. He knew he wasn't getting up. He knew. He knew. When he dropped him, he walked off right away. Like he knew he was calm. It's the way he walked off too. It's just like he knows. God damn, that guy's got crazy power. But what you said is so important because it's a creative endeavor. You're trying to figure out how to land shots and you're also trying to disguise what your ideas are, what your tactics are. And you've got to figure out what works best for your body type. And that's so open ended. Like martial arts are so, it's so open ended. Once the referee says fight, there's all this creativity involved. And that's something that I think a lot of people don't really appreciate. 100%. Sometimes you have a trainer who kills that creativity because he tells you, look, this is how you fight. And if you go outside of that mold, no, no, you're reprimanded. So me, if a fighter wants to drop his hands, should you drop your hands in a fight or should you hold them up? Well, it depends what kind of guy you are. If you got incredible eyes and you see shots coming from a mile away and you're successful with your hands down or one hand down per se, let's say, then keep doing it. But you got to, that's why I think sparring is so important because when we spar, we actually try it. Now we test it. We're testing, hey, does this airplane fly or is it going to crash and burn? Well, we better test it in the gym before we take it out in the arena and find out it doesn't fly. And I always tell guys, look, if you're fighting with your hands down, show me in practice that you're successful. Then I won't say anything negative. I won't say, I won't change your style. I'll let it be. First, we have to see that you're successful because theory is one thing, but then when you get in there and try it, it's a whole other.