Then-UFC heavyweight contender Brendan Schaub felt he could outclass one of the greatest fighters of all time immediately after a lopsided defeat before Joe Rogan intervened.
Brendan Schaub, before launching his comedy and podcasting careers, was a rising heavyweight star on the UFC roster. After reaching the finals on The Ultimate Fighter 10, Schaub had a modest career in the Octagon, earning knockout wins over the legendary Mirko Cro Cop and Chris Tuchscherer.
While Schaub showed glimpses of a potential title challenger early in his UFC tenure, he never quite lived up to the immense hype he attracted off of TUF 10. He lost four of his last six fights overall, including brutal knockout defeats to Ben Rothwell and Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Following a head-scratching loss to Andrei Arlovski at UFC 174, Schaub went up against Travis Browne at UFC 181 in a title eliminator matchup. Just minutes into the fight, Browne smothered Schaub with ground-and-pound strikes in response to some of Schaub’s pre-fight taunts and trash talk.
Despite suffering back-to-back losses, Schaub exuded profound confidence in himself during an episode of The Fighter and the Kid with guest Joe Rogan. The episode aired just days after UFC 181 and quickly turned into an intervention as Rogan and co-host Bryan Callen encouraged Schaub to retire.
Not only did Schaub initially resist Rogan and Callen, he claimed he would ‘surprise’ people in a wrestling match with then-UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez. It took mere seconds for Rogan to brutally shut down Schaub’s narrative.
Brendan Schaub avoided a potential Cain Velasquez beatdown thanks to Joe Rogan
“If you had a wrestling match with Cain Velasquez, how well do you think you’d do? I think you’d be surprised, I think he would f*** you up,” Rogan told Schaub to his face.
Rogan went on to explain to Schaub that he doesn’t possess the skillset that’s needed to compete with the best heavyweights in the world, at the time including Velasquez. It was an uncomfortable moment for Schaub, Rogan, Callen, and the viewing audience as Rogan dissected Schaub’s career and encouraged him to quit fighting.
Towards the end of the episode, Schaub entertained the possibility of moving down to light heavyweight for his next fight. But months later, he’d announced his retirement from fighting during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience and hasn’t looked back since.
Schaub finished his professional MMA career with a 10-5 record in the cage. Before making his MMA debut, Schaub was a college football standout at Colorado and was briefly signed to an Arena Football League team.
Brendan Schaub and Joe Rogan are at the center of one of MMA YouTube’s most infamous moments
Schaub was linked to a potential comeback in Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA promotion before fight talks stalled. After turned down the bareknuckle offer, Schaub has had beef with Nate Diaz, and has entertained the possibility of competing in a grappling match.
Despite a short-lived comedy career, Schaub has made himself into a star in podcasting and still hosts TFATK with Callen to this day. He also has his own production company and hosts numerous shows, including an MMA analysis podcast.
Rogan and Schaub are longtime friends and Schaub has made numerous appearances on Rogan’s podcast over the past year. He’s a frequent guest on Rogan’s Fight Companion shows, giving live reactions to some of the UFC’s biggest fight cards.
The uncomfortable ‘intervention’ episode of TFATK featuring Rogan and Schaub is still hotly debated to this day. But, Rogan prevented Schaub from potentially getting a brutal realization of Velasquez’s greatness and wrestling ability.