Joe Rogan, one of the biggest names in the MMA industry, had humble beginnings. In an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast, Rogan opened up about how he was poor all his life before bagging a deal with Disney at the age of 25.
During JRE #2063, Rogan sat down with Dwayne Johnson to discuss their lives and the evolution of combat sports. Johnson made several revelations during the show. He explained how he almost moved to MMA from pro wrestling because of the money involved in PRIDE Fighting championships in Japan. He also opened up about his relationship with Muhammad Ali.
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Rogan, on the other hand, opened up about his humble beginnings. The UFC color commentator did not have a lot of friends which made him insecure. He claimed MMA saved his life and gave him confidence to move forward.
Moreover, at a point in life, Rogan was so broke he could not even afford a Subway sandwich. He explained, “Like my whole life, I was poor… How am I paying the bills? How am I eating? I remember taking like a loose jar of change and counting it all out so I can go to Subway and get a sandwich… You don’t forget that kind of sh*t”
The almost three-hour-long podcast episode was highly awaited by fans. You can listen to the whole podcast on Spotify.
A near-broke Joe Rogan reportedly spent $10,000 for a video game in the 1990s
According to several reports, at a time when Rogan was ‘nearly broke’, he spent $10,000 to purchase faster internet in the 1990s to play video games without interruption. In a now-deleted tweet, UberFacts posted about Rogan’s purchase. He reportedly installed a T1 fiber optic internet connection to play Quake without a lag.
Joe Rogan is trending bc he’s said video game addiction is a real problem.
This guy is a goat 🐐— نعيم™ (@NaeemForReal) July 27, 2020
However, in recent times, Rogan has shown a distaste toward gaming. During a 2020 episode of JRE, Rogan explained Hannibal Buress about his gaming addiction. “We were playing hours every day, to the point where Jamie was telling me I had a problem,” Rogan said. “My hands would be sweaty, I would feel like I’m nervous… I physically was feeling bad.”
In a later episode with Counter-Strike veteran Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert, he said he would like to protect his children from obsessing over video games. Rogan also talked about how addictive and unproductive gaming is.