Earlier today, Ben Thapa brought us a story about soon-to-be UFC fighter Hyun Gyu Lim tapping Joe Rogan in a training session a while ago. Rogan spoke to Middle Easy about the story and gave a lengthy response:
I was a bit surprised to read about this, since most of the time people treat training as what it is; practice, and don’t try to turn things into something to publicize someone’s UFC appearance which is what I’m assuming they’re doing here. I’m also assuming you’re getting this from one of his coaches or friends which is why the story is slightly off. I’ve rolled with a number of guys over the years that have fought in the UFC and other organizations and this is the first time anyone has made a “story” out of training with me.
I should first state that all of those Korean guys are nothing but gentlemen. Very cool guys at the fights and they were very cool at the gym as well.
I remember rolling with Mr. Lim because I tend to remember most people that catch me with something, but I certainly was never mad at him. My recollection was that they were there to train for Dongi Yang’s fight, and I was just there taking class as usual.
I didn’t just walk into the gym as in their version, but it could be that they hadn’t noticed me or something. It was the last roll of the night, and they asked me to train with one of their fighters. I don’t remember the roll too much other than he was very good, and it was pretty fast paced. I remember at one point I got his back for a while, but I couldn’t finish him, and I remember being really tired by that point.
We separated and he caught me in a sweet triangle/arm bar combination. It was very quick and very nice. My elbow got tweaked but I was certainly never upset at him. That could have easily been a language barrier thing, though as I was in some pain.
I iced my elbow and we all sat around and talked some afterwards. My elbow was fine after a day or so. I’m not sure why they would say I was mad at him other than that it makes for a better story that way.
Either way, nice guy, and very skillful. That whole team is filled with very talented fighters.
Rogan won’t be handling the announcing of Lim’s debut bout at UFC on Fuel 6 against Marcelo Guimaraes next month anyway, but it’s an interesting wrinkle in the story.
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