Joe Rogan warns Jake Paul further damage from fighting could cause ‘brain imbalance’ and ‘depression’

Joe Rogan thinks Jake Paul might want to consider hanging up the gloves not just because he lost to Anthony Joshua, but how he lost.

The heavyweight boxing bout that took place this past Friday in Miami ended in predictable fashion as the far more experienced Joshua crushed Paul with a combination of punches in the sixth round that resulted in a knockout stoppage and Paul’s jaw being broken. It was the first KO loss for Paul, a former YouTube star who fell to 12-2 as a pro fighter.

On his podcast, Rogan reviewed Paul’s performance and warned the 28-year-old that retiring early would be a wise move.

“It’s a crazy world,” Rogan said. “The thing is that I would hope that he recognizes is right now he’s doing great, and he’s only, whatever, 28? … He’s young, and he’s probably made $300 million in his boxing career. He’s 28 years old, 29 next month. Don’t do this very long, because there’s a price that you pay that is not worth it.

“It’s not worth it. And that price is depression, deep depression, a severe brain imbalance that’s going to lead you to addiction. It leads so many people to impulsive behavior, so many people become gambling addicts, drug addicts, alcoholics after their fighting career. You can only take so much.”

Rogan has seen plenty of fights up close in his career having served as a UFC color commentator since 1997. From Chuck Liddell to B.J Penn to Nate Diaz to Justin Gaethje to Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, countless fighters have left it all inside the octagon to the point that fans are fair to question the effect their accumulated in-cage damage could have on their future health.

It’s not a fate Rogan thinks Paul should even consider after being rocked by Joshua.

“That punch that he got from Joshua—say if you have a punch card,” Rogan said. “You have so many punches you can get in your life, which I believe you do, that one was like 10 punches. That was a lot of concussions in that one punch. That was real damage. If someone is breaking your jaw in two places, the inside of your head, there’s a lot of damage going on in there, too.

“Just don’t do it. I know too many guys who wanted to be cool guys, and they kept sparring deep into their 30s and 40s. They would go to the gym and do hard spar, not jiu-jitsu, boxing. Boxing sparring. So they’re just standing in front of each other, slugging it out. They’d get bloody noses, laugh about it, and think it was cool, and then they go about their day. And I’m like, ‘Man, that’s going to get you.’ Because at a certain point in time, the depression is unavoidable. It just creeps in.”

Overall, Rogan complimented Paul, calling him “a good boxer” relative to his experience level (Paul took his first pro boxing bout in 2020). He also credited Paul with managing to land a few solid punches on Joshua before the tide clearly turned in the two-time heavyweight champion’s favor.

“In the beginning—look, if that guy is only fighting three rounds, he’s a f*cking handful,” Rogan said of Paul. “He’s really good. He clocked Anthony Joshua. He did hit him with a big right hand. It didn’t have any effect. …Anthony Joshua is gigantic. He’s so big. He’s so much bigger. So the punch he knocks Tyron Woodley out cold with, Anthony Joshua eats it because he’s a giant.”

“[Paul is] also nuts,” Rogan added. “Just the fact that he’s willing to fight the two-time heavyweight champion, former Olympic gold medalist, a guy who is gigantic, in his prime, built like a Greek god, and he’s a one-punch killer. And you’re going to stand in front of that guy? And he avoided shots until the sixth round. He just started getting tired. …

“You can’t afford to get tired, and that’s the thing is, he gets tired in a lot of his fights in the later rounds. You should really sort that out, because if he had a much bigger gas tank, if he was training with these elite, world-class strength and conditioning coaches, and he just worked on his cardio, he’d be beating way more guys. One hundred percent.”

Paul sounds confident he will bounce back from his first knockout loss and fight again, mentioning interest in a matchup with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Rogan understands why Paul is determined to keep boxing, but hopes “The Problem Child” knows when to call it a day.

“He could do anything,” Rogan said. “If he can do what he did in boxing, he could do anything. Just don’t do it forever. It’s just one of those things where the price you pay is eventually not worth it. Awesome that he did. … Guy’s got balls. He’s got nothing but respect from me. Nothing but respect. Just don’t do it forever.”

Jed Meshew contributed to this report.