Taken from JRE #140 w/Gillian Robertson:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/64mxcLZblfnkdb8uFRUPBq?si=90f59462b0b74837

The Jorogun Experience Everything is weird about this for me.

It's just like, I'm just like, I guess a socially awkward kind of, don't really put myself out there.

Well, I do with fighting, but it's like, I've never really put myself out there in life.

So it's like to be in these kind of positions, it's just, it's all a lot for me.

Well, it's amazing that the way you handle fighting, you could handle this the same way you handle fighting.

I think that, I don't know, for me, social situations are a lot harder than like fighting situations.

I feel like I've always been like the socially awkward kid in the back of the class, like the nerd.

Well, I still am at the gym, but I volunteered with animals my whole life.

I volunteered at the Humane Society, a horse rescue, wildlife rehab, just animals were my thing.

Yeah, I really don't know where it came, like what the idea was, but I-

1 of Dean's pro fighters worked for my dad.

So, I wanted to start kickboxing, and then my dad found out that this guy was a pro fighter for Dean, so he ended up finding his gym, and that was the first gym I started at.

And so then you start kickboxing, and how long before you decide, well, what about this MMA stuff?

I think it was probably like 4 or 5 months before I started taking the MMA class there, but I wasn't like thinking about fighting it was just there was a kid who was on the wrestling team at my high school who started training at Dean's gym and he was like oh why don't you take the MMA class and I thought okay I'll have a partner why don't I try it and I just kept on doing it and then I was training like every day for like 3 hours a night, you know, and they're like, all right, well, why don't we just get you a fight at this point?

What was it about fighting and martial arts that you became so obsessed with?

I really think it was a, when, I don't know what it was at first, because I didn't start jujitsu, especially in the Gi, until like a year after I started training.

But when I started Gi jujitsu, I fell in love with that 100%.

Where it's just the technique of it and the little tiny details of jiu-jitsu that matter so much.

Like if you put your thumb on this side of the hand or on this side of the hand, it makes a huge difference.

It's like the little tiny techniques that can make the difference where now a 115 pound girl at the time could do whatever she wanted to a 200 pound guy.

You know, I was manhandling these guys around the room.

And I'm like, just because of these techniques that I learned and I thought that was awesome.

It's, Jiu Jitsu is the 1 martial art that delivers as promised where the smaller trained person can defeat the larger untrained person.

Whereas a lot of other martial arts, I mean you have a better chance but when they're really big you know and some guys swinging it if he knows how to punch a little bit and you get clubbed There's 1 of those giant hams you get fucked up but if you get into a Struggle like some sort of a scramble and you knock into some chairs and all sudden You get a hold of this person, now he's fucked.

It's like that a small person can physically control and submit a much stronger person, regularly.

Even in striking, it's like a person can not know anything, but if they're big enough, they throw their hand the right way, they can knock you out.

Yeah, if you get hit with Francis Ngannou's pinky, you're in trouble.

There's certain people that are so powerful, like the idea that you're gonna stand and trade with them is crazy.

They're gonna hit you once and you're dead.

You know, that's like, that just doesn't work that well.

Jiu-Jitsu, it's just there's not the variant of space.

So, there's not that element of guessing, where it's like, I can control and I can feel what you're gonna do by touching you.

You're not guessing with that space of striking.

You're also not guessing the variables, like how fast is this person?

How fast am I accustomed to people punching me?

Because if you ever see like street fight videos the most horrific ones are some poor asshole who wants to start a fight with someone who's a train fighter and the train fighter fucks him up but you could see like they have no idea how fast things can happen.

Like I'm sure you've seen the Joe Schilling 1.

But there's no way that guy could have known that that could happen that quickly.

And people don't expect like for someone like me a lot of times I get, I would never guess that you're a fighter.

For someone like Joe Schilling, it's still even like, oh yeah, you wouldn't, just see him.

Most people, you don't expect that they're.

You don't expect him to be a fighter, but it's like you never know what somebody is capable of when it comes to sports like this.

Mikey is a stone-cold killer, and he looks like a guy who comes over to fix your computer He looks like the friendliest super nerd.

Oh this video is horrible This is a street fight in in a parking garage.

No These guys start fucking with this dude in a parking garage the guy's trying to get away No, he fucked the other guy up before this.

This is the shorter version so this guy He's trying he's like come on you want some and he moves forward This guy leg kicks him and then this is where it gets ugly Punches them BAM Yeah, You don't want that like what like?

It's it's it's awesome to see that stuff works right for people like hey This is real someone tries to attack you you have an upper hand, but also like what are you doing?

I've never been in a street fight in my life.

I don't see a use for fighting outside the cage for me.

A lot of people with anger management issues.

Yeah, there's a lot of weird stuff in the world.

But just for me, I think it's fascinating that you are more afraid of social interaction than you're afraid of cage fighting.

That might be 1 of the greatest lines that anyone has ever said.

I think that's gonna get you a lot of fans.

For me it's just like literally I never really did any kind of interviews or media or anything like that until I got in the tough house.

So that's going from absolutely 0 to 100%.

Yeah, I was 22 and I was having interviews every day, cameras on you 24-7.

Literally after every single interview, I had to go and change my shirt because I'd be dripping sweat like I just got out the sauna

just so nervous after every single interview

Do you think they brought you into the house knowing that you were nervous too?

That like that You're a little socially awkward in that regard and like that maybe that would make good television Obviously they brought you in cuz you're skillful, but they also cast that show as a reality show It's a very cleverly done show, You know, like it's smart the way they do it They like even with what they're doing now with Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler It's great, but perfect perfect shit-talking when Conor tells him you'll do as you're told It's amazing, okay, I hope that fight takes place but it's it's such a it's such a show, right?

So it's not just an athletic competition.

It's also, they want to make sure the people are fun.

Our season seemed pretty tame, though, I feel like, in general.

We had a lot of, there was me and Montana De La Rosa were the 2 like younger girls and then everybody else I feel like was like older and more mature like around like at least like 30s and like They were like, I don't nobody was trying to start drama Nobody was trying to like get in each other's faces or we didn't have any altercations It was like it was a pretty chill season.

That's great, so no 1 ever encourages like any bickering or anything like that?

They don't ever tell you, hey, you know, this bitch has been signing some shit.

No, Nobody ever really does anything like that, but it's just like the boredom gets to you, if anything else.

No phones, no TV, no music, no books, no nothing.

You're allowed to get a notebook and then they gave us, we asked for coloring books and they gave us sketch pads.

That sounds like 1 of those anti-tech retreats.

Where they try to weed people off their tech addictions.

I was just talking to 1 of the boys who's actually on the Conor McGregor season over the weekend, and he said the exact same thing as me.

He was like, it was the best and worst experience of my life.

Because it's like, when you're in the gym, there's so many highs, it's so great, but then when you go back to the house you're just sitting there for hours and you're bored and it sucks.

Do they have like, they used to have pool right?

Yeah I think they had a pool table and a chess table and then they have the list where you can order anything.

Yeah, so we would order a bunch of bullshit just to try and entertain ourselves.

Or was it weird because you're all competitors?

It's weird, well not because we're competitors, because I'm weird.

I felt like, especially back then, I wasn't able to just acclimate to that, Going into a house with 16 different girls that I don't really know.

And you're feeling a little bit awkward, and you're also 22.

And it's my first time really leaving home, I would say, for a long period of time.

So it was definitely a big experience, like a lot to take on.

So would you say that now you're entering into your fighting prime?

Oh yeah, I think this is just the beginning of my prime.

I'm just getting into where I've really found the right combination for everything and I feel like I'm just getting better every fight.

My next fight is against the number 15 girl, Tabitha Ricci.

Yeah, I'm like, It's coming up quick, June 24th.


Speaker 0: The Jorogun Experience Everything is weird about this for me. It's just like, I'm just like, I guess a socially awkward kind of, don't really put myself out there. Well, I do with fighting, but it's like, I've never really put myself out there in life. So it's like to be in these kind of positions, it's just, it's all a lot for me.

Speaker 1: Wow. Well, it's amazing that the way you handle fighting, you could handle this the same way you handle fighting. You just get comfortable with it.

Speaker 0: I think that, I don't know, for me, social situations are a lot harder than like fighting situations. Wow, that's crazy. Oh yeah. Has it always been like that? A hundred percent.

Speaker 1: Since you were a child?

Speaker 0: Yeah. I feel like I've always been like the socially awkward kid in the back of the class, like the nerd. Well, I still am at the gym, but I volunteered with animals my whole life. I volunteered at the Humane Society, a horse rescue, wildlife rehab, just animals were my thing. And then it was just kind of left field.

I started kickboxing when I was 16. Just for fun? Yeah, I really don't know where it came, like what the idea was, but I-

Speaker 1: Where'd you start, what gym?

Speaker 0: At Dean's gym.

Speaker 1: Oh, okay, wow, you got lucky.

Speaker 0: So, exactly. 1 of Dean's pro fighters worked for my dad. So, I wanted to start kickboxing, and then my dad found out that this guy was a pro fighter for Dean, so he ended up finding his gym, and that was the first gym I started at.

Speaker 1: Wow. Well, what a great place to start. And so then you start kickboxing, and how long before you decide, well, what about this MMA stuff? How long was that?

Speaker 0: I think it was probably like 4 or 5 months before I started taking the MMA class there, but I wasn't like thinking about fighting it was just there was a kid who was on the wrestling team at my high school who started training at Dean's gym and he was like oh why don't you take the MMA class and I thought okay I'll have a partner why don't I try it and I just kept on doing it and then I was training like every day for like 3 hours a night, you know, and they're like, all right, well, why don't we just get you a fight at this point?

Speaker 1: Wow. What was it about fighting and martial arts that you became so obsessed with?

Speaker 0: I really think it was a, when, I don't know what it was at first, because I didn't start jujitsu, especially in the Gi, until like a year after I started training. But when I started Gi jujitsu, I fell in love with that 100%. Where it's just the technique of it and the little tiny details of jiu-jitsu that matter so much. Like if you put your thumb on this side of the hand or on this side of the hand, it makes a huge difference. It's like the little tiny techniques that can make the difference where now a 115 pound girl at the time could do whatever she wanted to a 200 pound guy.

You know, I was manhandling these guys around the room. And I'm like, just because of these techniques that I learned and I thought that was awesome.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that is an amazing thing. It's, Jiu Jitsu is the 1 martial art that delivers as promised where the smaller trained person can defeat the larger untrained person. Whereas a lot of other martial arts, I mean you have a better chance but when they're really big you know and some guys swinging it if he knows how to punch a little bit and you get clubbed There's 1 of those giant hams you get fucked up but if you get into a Struggle like some sort of a scramble and you knock into some chairs and all sudden You get a hold of this person, now he's fucked. That's what's crazy. It's like that a small person can physically control and submit a much stronger person, regularly.

It happens all the time. It happens with black belts.

Speaker 0: Even in striking, it's like a person can not know anything, but if they're big enough, they throw their hand the right way, they can knock you out.

Speaker 1: Yeah, if you get hit with Francis Ngannou's pinky, you're in trouble. Exactly. There's certain people that are so powerful, like the idea that you're gonna stand and trade with them is crazy. They're gonna hit you once and you're dead. You know, that's like, that just doesn't work that well.

Speaker 0: Jiu-Jitsu, it's just there's not the variant of space. So, there's not that element of guessing, where it's like, I can control and I can feel what you're gonna do by touching you. It's like it makes it a lot easier. You're not guessing with that space of striking.

Speaker 1: You're also not guessing the variables, like how fast is this person? How fast am I accustomed to people punching me? Is this person much faster? Do I have to anticipate that? Because if you ever see like street fight videos the most horrific ones are some poor asshole who wants to start a fight with someone who's a train fighter and the train fighter fucks him up but you could see like they have no idea how fast things can happen.

Like I'm sure you've seen the Joe Schilling 1.

Speaker 0: Yes. The Joe Schilling one's ridiculous.

Speaker 1: But there's no way that guy could have known that that could happen that quickly. There's no way.

Speaker 0: And people don't expect like for someone like me a lot of times I get, I would never guess that you're a fighter. For someone like Joe Schilling, it's still even like, oh yeah, you wouldn't, just see him. Looks like

Speaker 1: an axe murderer.

Speaker 0: Well, you just see him walking around. Most people, you don't expect that they're.

Speaker 1: Joe Schilling, you don't expect it?

Speaker 0: He looks like a

Speaker 1: psycho to me.

Speaker 0: Yeah, Yeah. But say like Ryan Hall.

Speaker 1: Ryan Hall is a great.

Speaker 0: Yeah. You don't expect him to be a fighter, but it's like you never know what somebody is capable of when it comes to sports like this.

Speaker 1: Oh for sure. What you just see Mikey Musumechi.

Speaker 0: Yeah. That's the best example.

Speaker 1: Mikey is a stone-cold killer, and he looks like a guy who comes over to fix your computer He looks like the friendliest super nerd. Oh this video is horrible This is a street fight in in a parking garage. Have you seen this? No These guys start fucking with this dude in a parking garage the guy's trying to get away No, he fucked the other guy up before this. This is the shorter version.

Okay. This is the shorter version so this guy He's trying he's like come on you want some and he moves forward This guy leg kicks him and then this is where it gets ugly Punches them BAM Yeah, You don't want that like what like? It's it's it's awesome to see that stuff works right for people like hey This is real someone tries to attack you you have an upper hand, but also like what are you doing? Yeah? People

Speaker 0: I've never been in a street fight in my life. I don't intend to ever. It's just, I don't get it. I don't see a use for fighting outside the cage for me.

Speaker 1: A lot of people with anger management issues. And then there's criminals too. You know, bad folks.

Speaker 0: Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of weird stuff in the world. But just for me, I think it's fascinating that you are more afraid of social interaction than you're afraid of cage fighting. That might be 1 of the greatest lines that anyone has ever said. I think that's gonna get you a lot of fans. For real.

Speaker 0: For me it's just like literally I never really did any kind of interviews or media or anything like that until I got in the tough house. So that's going from absolutely 0 to 100%.

Speaker 1: What was that like? You were like 22 at

Speaker 0: the time? Yeah, I was 22 and I was having interviews every day, cameras on you 24-7. Literally after every single interview, I had to go and change my shirt because I'd be dripping sweat like I just got out the sauna

Speaker 1: Whoa,

Speaker 0: just so nervous after every single interview

Speaker 1: Do you think they brought you into the house knowing that you were nervous too? That like that You're a little socially awkward in that regard and like that maybe that would make good television Obviously they brought you in cuz you're skillful, but they also cast that show as a reality show It's a very cleverly done show, You know, like it's smart the way they do it They like even with what they're doing now with Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler It's great, but perfect perfect shit-talking when Conor tells him you'll do as you're told It's amazing, okay, I hope that fight takes place but it's it's such a it's such a show, right? So it's not just an athletic competition. It's also, they want to make sure the people are fun.

Speaker 0: Oh yeah. Our season seemed pretty tame, though, I feel like, in general. We had a lot of, there was me and Montana De La Rosa were the 2 like younger girls and then everybody else I feel like was like older and more mature like around like at least like 30s and like They were like, I don't nobody was trying to start drama Nobody was trying to like get in each other's faces or we didn't have any altercations It was like it was a pretty chill season.

Speaker 1: That's great, so no 1 ever encourages like any bickering or anything like that? They don't ever tell you, hey, you know, this bitch has been signing some shit. Does anybody ever do that?

Speaker 0: No, Nobody ever really does anything like that, but it's just like the boredom gets to you, if anything else. It's like, I feel like.

Speaker 1: No phones, right?

Speaker 0: No phones, no TV, no music, no books, no nothing. No books. Nothing at all.

Speaker 1: Oh my God, nothing?

Speaker 0: So it's like.

Speaker 1: Can you have a notebook?

Speaker 0: You're allowed to get a notebook and then they gave us, we asked for coloring books and they gave us sketch pads.

Speaker 1: Oh my god, I think I would go nuts. That sounds like 1 of those anti-tech retreats.

Speaker 0: Exactly.

Speaker 1: Where they try to weed people off their tech addictions.

Speaker 0: I was just talking to 1 of the boys who's actually on the Conor McGregor season over the weekend, and he said the exact same thing as me. He was like, it was the best and worst experience of my life. Because it's like, when you're in the gym, there's so many highs, it's so great, but then when you go back to the house you're just sitting there for hours and you're bored and it sucks.

Speaker 1: What do you guys do to kill time? Can you play games? Do they have like, they used to have pool right?

Speaker 0: Yeah I think they had a pool table and a chess table and then they have the list where you can order anything.

Speaker 1: Oh, so you could order Monopoly?

Speaker 0: Yeah, so we would order a bunch of bullshit just to try and entertain ourselves.

Speaker 1: God, did you have good conversations? Or was it weird because you're all competitors?

Speaker 0: It's weird, well not because we're competitors, because I'm weird. That's awesome. I felt like, especially back then, I wasn't able to just acclimate to that, Going into a house with 16 different girls that I don't really know.

Speaker 1: Right. Yeah, a completely alien experience. And you're feeling a little bit awkward, and you're also 22. And then also, bam, now you're on TV.

Speaker 0: And it's my first time really leaving home, I would say, for a long period of time. So it was definitely a big experience, like a lot to take on. How long ago was that now? 6 years.

Speaker 1: 6 years. So would you say that now you're entering into your fighting prime? Do you think that's happening right now?

Speaker 0: Oh yeah, I think this is just the beginning of my prime. I'm just getting into where I've really found the right combination for everything and I feel like I'm just getting better every fight.

Speaker 1: Are you ranked right now? Where are you at?

Speaker 0: My next fight is against the number 15 girl, Tabitha Ricci.

Speaker 1: Interesting. She's tough. That'll be fun. That'll be a good 1.

Speaker 0: Yeah, I'm like, It's coming up quick, June 24th.

Speaker 1: Oh wow, that is quick.

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For Gillian Robertson Social Situations Are Harder Than Fighting