MMA Show #183 · Rico Verhoeven
Cup of Rogan: Rico Verhoeven’s Usyk Aftertaste
JRE MMA Show #183 with Rico Verhoeven: Glory heavyweight legend unpacks the Usyk war, unjust stoppage/scorecards, six months of boxing stance rehab with Peter Fury, and a late-career pivot toward acting.
📄 Briefing Document: Rico Verhoeven on JRE MMA Show #183: Usyk, Judging, and the Winter of a Career
Date: August 04, 2026
Guest: Rico Verhoeven
Host: Joe Rogan
Source: Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show #183 - Rico Verhoeven
Introduction
Kickboxing heavyweight great Rico Verhoeven returns roughly a decade after MMA Show #71. Joe opens with pure combat-sports awe: Usyk as all-time heavyweight boxing conversation starter vs. a kickboxing immortal with essentially one pro boxing bout on the books — and still taking the vast majority of rounds.
The Usyk Night
Joe clocks ~10 rounds for Rico and trashes the ‘close fight’ scorecards; Rico lands on injustice — stoppage and cards that didn’t match what fighters, commentators, and gyms saw. Peter Fury’s after-eight-rounds ‘we’re equal, start winning’ shock becomes the emotional spike: Rico thought he was already banked.
Judging Reform Digression
Joe floats more judges (Glory’s ~five vs. boxing’s three) so minority incompetence can’t flip a career. Theme: athletes bet health; officials can rewrite the movie in real time. Incompetence may be worse than corruption because there’s no villain — just wrong eyes with final say.
Boxing Transition
Years of boxing-for-kickboxing vs. six months of boxing-to-box under Peter Fury: get off the square stance without getting your lead leg kicked off in the other sport. Size/smother tactics vs. Usyk’s foot speed; volume first, power later. Path to the ring ran through an Anthony Joshua booking that slid when AJ took Jake Paul money — more camp for Rico, pads between Roadhouse 2 takes.
Kickboxing’s American Blind Spot
Joe’s love letter to Glory chaos and why kickboxing/Muay Thai should own U.S. standup fandom. UFC Embedded as the storytelling machine Glory lacked. Holland as epicenter (Deckers, Aerts, Manhoef lore): small country, constant sparring exchanges, live crowds so dense PPV never made sense.
Winter Career and Hollywood
Rico frames himself in the fall/winter of the athletic arc — unfinished business, big fights that make sense (Wilder discussed with eyes open about primes ending). Acting clicks on set with Gyllenhaal, Bautista, Hodge: stop stuffing emotions down; use them. Movie roles wait until fight focus clears.
Technique Horror Hour
Late-episode calf-kick revolution, checked-shin snap risks (Weidman), and Joe’s visceral distaste for oblique/side kicks to the knee — Rountree leg turn, dual-knee surgeries, welterweight careers stalled. Effective ≠ something the sport should celebrate blindly.
Watch JRE MMA Show #183 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9KNLlRE2HQ
Top Sips
"It felt so injust… The stoppage felt injust. It didn't seem… like it made sense. Like they were looking for a way to stop the fight."
- Rico’s read on the Usyk ending — Joe already had him up ~10 rounds and called a scorecard loss a crime.
"I'm like in the fall of my or maybe in the winter of my career as an athlete and I just want to do big fights that make sense."
- Post-Usyk unfinished-business energy — Rocky realness over legacy filler.
"I found my new passion within acting."
- Roadhouse 2 set life with Gyllenhaal/Bautista types reframed fight emotions as craft fuel, not something to shove down.
The Blend
- Cold open: nearly a decade since MMA Show #71, then straight into Usyk — one prior pro boxing bout, fifteen years of boxing work, and a kickboxing GOAT who smothered a heavyweight immortal with volume and mass until the cards/stoppage felt like a different fight.
- Transition lab: Peter Fury finally teaching boxing-to-box (side stance vs. kickboxing square); mid-fight score updates that shocked Rico; AJ→Jake Paul detour that bought more camp time while pads happened between Roadhouse 2 takes.
- Sport + afterlife: Glory needs UFC-grade storytelling; Holland as tiny-country sparring utopia that made PPV pointless; calf/oblique kick horror reel; acting as the soft landing while he still hunts fights that ‘make sense’ (Wilder talk included).
Bitter Notes
- Three judges vs. Glory’s five: Joe’s incompetence-worse-than-corruption line — your career hinging on people who watched a different fight.
- Kickboxing remains America’s untapped standup goldmine while UFC Embedded builds stars overnight — Glory’s story gap still hurts the product.
- Oblique/side kicks to the knee as career-enders (Rountree, Santos, Shara Bullet lore) — effective techniques that feel like sanctioned maiming.
Extra Shot
- Famous boxers lining up post-fight apologies after talking smack about the kickboxer who ‘only’ boxed once.
- Joe’s Pereira prophecy: Glory nerds already knew the UFC was cooked when Alex crossed over.
- Bautista weight-cut flex and Glass Onion/Knives Out deep-cut while two giants geek out on athlete→actor paths.
Sip On This
- Watch JRE MMA Show #183 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9KNLlRE2HQ
- Rico Verhoeven — https://ricoverhoeven.com · https://www.youtube.com/@RicoVerhoeven