The MMA historian looked back at one of his friend’s biggest wins over a legend of the sport.
Having called his first UFC event in 1997, Joe Rogan has been a consistent fixture of mixed martial arts for the best part of three decades at this point.
Rogan has seen some incredible first of its kind accomplishments and remarkable stories during that period and sometimes, they hit closer to home than others.
The long-time UFC commentator has a close friendship with former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub who competed 11 times inside the Octagon.
This relationship eventually led to Rogan convincing Schaub to retire from the sport in 2015 following the fourth knockout loss of his pro career.
Joe Rogan highlights the legacy of Mirko Cro Cop who was stopped by Brendan Schaub in 2011
Having competed on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2009, Brendan Schaub went 6-5 in the UFC before becoming a comedian and podcaster.
The biggest win of his career without a shadow of a doubt came in 2011 where he produced the knockout of the night against a certified legend.
After losing in the TUF final to Roy Nelson, Schaub put together a three-fight win streak that included a decision victory over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 121.
The following March at UFC 128 brought another big name opponent as the Colorado native took on Mirko Cro Cop on the same night that Jon Jones because the youngest UFC champion in the history of the promotion.
Cro Cop was coming off of a knockout loss to Frank Mir and whilst his UFC career wasn’t spectacular, the Croatian icon had already made his name and cemented his legacy in Japan many years before.
The knockout artist was a legend of PRIDE where he delivered some historic fights and won the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix after stopping the likes of Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett.
UFC 128 would be his penultimate outing inside the Octagon as after both men took some significant damage, Schaub closed the show with a big right hand in the third round.
During a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC commentator was joined by fellow comedian Big Jay Oakerson with the topic of conversation turning to how Schaub isn’t going to be intimidated after what he went through in his career.
“He’s been beaten up by world champions and he’s knocked out world champions. He knocked out Mirko Cro Cop which was crazy. Mirko Cro Cop back in the day was the f—— man, he was like the first elite kickboxer to really excel in MMA. He was the first guy to show all these other strikers that you don’t even know what you’re talking about. When he started fighting in PRIDE, it was like this is another level… There was nobody like that before him in MMA.”
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Brendan Schaub fought six more times before retiring
Whilst Mirko Cro Cop would go on to compete for several other promotions before retiring in 2019, Brendan Schaub has remarked in the past about how this fight made him realize that they weren’t cut from the same cloth.
After defeating the Croatian, ‘Big Brown’ suffered back-to-back first-round losses to Antonio Nogueira and Ben Rothwell.
Though he bounced back with two wins over Lavar Johnson and Matt Mitrione, two more consecutive defeats to Andrei Arlovski and Travis Browne would mark the end of his career.
With the help of his friends Joe Rogan and Brian Callen, Schaub came to the realization that it wasn’t worth putting his health on the line if he couldn’t go all the way in the heavyweight division.