Joe Rogan had no idea Nick Diaz liked his podcast – let alone that his words would become its iconic tagline.
Rogan’s ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ is one of the most well-known podcasts on the planet.
The 57-year-old has recorded over 2,000 episodes of his popular podcast since it was launched in December 2009.
Some of Rogan’s episodes have featured famous celebrity guests such as Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Mike Tyson, Lance Armstrong and Donald Trump.
He has also sat down with several legendary fighters, including Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya, Demetrious Johnson and Ronda Rousey as part of the podcast’s weekly MMA feature named the JRE MMA Show.
However, one of the most recognised aspects of Rogan’s podcast is not those who sit in front of him on the mic, but rather the voice they hear before anyone speaks one word on each episode.
“Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day,” plays in the opening sequence of each show, and MMA fans will be glad to know that the iconic phrase comes from UFC legend Diaz.
Those 10 words have become synonymous with the podcast over the last 16 years – something Rogan couldn’t quite believe what he heard Diaz first say them in 2011.
“Isn’t that the greatest promo of all time?” Rogan said, recalling the iconic tagline back in the same year during episode 153 of his podcast with Joey Diaz.
“When Nick said that I had no expectations. I couldn’t believe he said it.
“I was like: ‘Oh my God. That’s our new introduction’. Shoutout to Redban.
“Redban put it together. I was like: ‘Oh my God! Nick Diaz likes my podcast? This is incredible.”
MMA legend Diaz first said the line after his win over BJ Penn at UFC 137, which he won via unanimous decision after three rounds on his debut with the promotion.
Diaz is a legend in the sport of MMA, having fought professional in it for over 20 years.
He has squared off with some of the most iconic MMA stars of all time, including Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre.
The 41-year-old’s best friend Jake Shields said in January that he was ‘heading in the right direction’ after reported substance abuse over the last few years.
Rogan was actually holding the microphone when Diaz uttered the now-famous words, and couldn’t hold back his excitement when discussing it further.
“That was the highlight of my month,” he added. “You know, the perfect thing about it too is that it wasn’t perfect.
“It didn’t even make sense. It’s train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day. It’s perfect, Nick Diaz is awesome.”
In March last year, Spotify revealed that Rogan’s podcast had a staggering 14.5 million followers.
His podcast eclipsed others on the platform at the time, as the second highest on Spotify was TED Talks Daily, which reportedly had five million followers.
Rogan signed an exclusive deal worth around $100million with the popular music streaming platform in May 2020, meaning the podcast would only be available on Spotify.
He renewed the deal at the beginning of 2024, which was said to be worth up to $250m, even though the show is now available on other audio streaming platforms, such as Apple Podcasts.
The 1169th episode of Rogan’s podcast with Elon Musk is his most-watched show on YouTube, with it over 68 million views.
That episode is closely followed by one with Bob Lazar and Jeremy Corbell, which has over 63 million views.
