Name: JRE MMA Show #173 with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez & William "Blinky" Rodriguez
Uploaded: 2026-01-21T18:01:03.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'JRE MMA Show #173 with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez & William "Blinky" Rodriguez' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-01-21. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'JRE MMA Show #173 with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez & William "Blinky" Rodriguez' from PowerfulJRE on Comedy Buff. Published 2026-01-21. Transcript available.

JRE MMA Show #173 with Benny "The Jet" Urquidez & William "Blinky" Rodriguez

Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out.
The Joe Rogan Experience.
Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day.
Gentlemen, what's happening?
Oh, where do we begin?
Where do you begin?
Let me tell you, when I first came to Los Angeles in 1994, there was two places
that I had to go.
One of them was the Comedy Store, and the other one was the Jet Center.
And I started training at the Jet Center in 1994, before you guys shut down,
because you had the earthquake and you had the roof damage.
So I was there before that happened, and I took your classes.
I took your kickboxing classes, because I remember it was very scary, because
you had a bunch of gang members in there.
Because you were doing that sort of outreach program where you're helping young
gang members.
So I had to spar with gang members.
So I was training at the Jet Center until it shut down.
And then I went briefly, when you guys reopened in North Hollywood, I went to
that place for a little bit too.
The Jet's Gym.
Yeah.
But then I started training at Majiro Gym, which is in the Valley.
But legends.
You guys are legends, man.
Well, thank you, Joe.
True pioneers in martial arts.
For you to remember was really humbled me.
You mentioned my son and why I was starting that.
Yes.
And you don't even know what it's grown into since that day that you've seen
what was going on.
Tell the story about your son and how that whole thing started.
Well, you know, unfortunately, in some communities, drive-bys aren't uncommon.
And so when it becomes a generational curse, you know, and kids are getting
killed sometimes randomly, that happened to me.
It came knocking on my door in a valley that's got 2 million people.
It knocked on my door.
And I was just, I'm going to put it this way.
I had a calling on my life to do something about it because it became a
situation where families and community was like, well, yeah, well, that's what
happens in our community.
And I was saying, that is not what happens in our community.
This is our community.
And so I began to move.
I began to move, ironically, with some churches that had that kind of ministry
in their ministry and peace marches, et cetera.
But my son got shot while he was learning how to drive a stick shift.
Wow.
And it took his life, and that's not normal, and that should not be common.
And so I'm still at it.
You're still doing that?
Still going.
36 years later, put an organization together and some with real lived
experience, others with degrees, and really put together a whole nonprofit that
speaks directly to where it's at.
And so at the end of the day, yeah, it's over when we say it's over.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And ironically, what led the charge for me, at least, Joe, was forgiveness.
The forgiveness that only God can give.
I got to tell it the way it is, and that forgiveness ended up taking me to the
neighborhood that killed my son.
And we had a huge meeting in that neighborhood, in the park, and a peace treaty
kicked into place.
No mother's crying, no baby's dying.
So to this day, I still continue to press in with a whole different, how would
I say, integrated service delivery, but keeping violence in the middle of it
and dealing with it.
That's awesome.
And it's awesome that you brought them to a place like the JET Center, where
they can learn discipline, learn how to fight, build real confidence, learn
real martial arts skills, and also real martial arts mentality, especially when
it's coming from guys like you.
You know, I mean, I remember when you knocked out Jean-Yves Theriot.
Jean-Yves Theriot was the fucking man.
He was the man.
Everybody was terrified of that guy.
And I believe you knocked him out with a left hook.
Is that correct?
Right leg, left hook.
Yeah.
The combo.
You know, the most traditional shoulder count sweeps.
Yeah.
But you turn it over with the instep, and you know what I'm talking about.
Yes, sir.
And you reset and come back with the money.
Yeah.
But it was, and he's a bad dude.
He went on to have a great career.
Amazing career.
Yeah, I mean, he's one of the all-time greats in kickboxing.
Without a doubt.
And, you know, it's just, I think it's important for people to recognize the
real pioneers.
And, Benny, you were a real pioneer.
I mean, there was no one like you when you emerged.
When you emerged in the kickboxing scene, the karate scene, there was no one
like you.
And, you know, you went undefeated, and you took on people of all sizes.
And to this day, there's amazing highlights of you on the internet that people
still bring up.
Because, you know, you were, I mean, you were fighting ties when you had no
training like that.
You know, you were getting low-kicked by those dudes and still found out a way
to win.
It was pretty crazy.
Well, you know, I tell you, it was when my brother asked me, would you want to
fight Thai?
You know, and I said, what's Thai?
He said, Muay Thai.
And I said, I'll fight him.
Honest, I thought that was his name.
I had no idea what Muay Thai was at the time.
And so, we took it on.
Where was the first Muay Thai fight that you had?
Matter of fact, it was at the Olympic Auditorium when we first fought.
In Los Angeles?
Yes, Ernest Hart fought the first Thai champion, and that was the main event.
And I'll tell you what, when I first got kicked in the legs, my eyes bulged out
of my forehead.
I said, I mean, I have strong legs, but I've never had anybody try to break my
legs.
And so, it was a rude awakening, but it was the best thing that ever happened
to me, because he took me to the streets.
He really did, because when he started elbowing, kneeing to my face, and I said,
oh, you want to fight that way?
Okay.
I didn't understand it.
I just thought that, all right, this is a free-for-wall.
Did you know what the rules were?
No.
Oh, that's crazy.
So, you didn't know they were going to use elbows or knees?
No.
That is crazy.
All I knew is Muay Thai.
Norong Noy.
Yeah.
Norong Noy was the guy that he fought that night.
Well, he was...
Lompringi Stadium champion.
Yeah, he was a great champion as well.
Oh, without a doubt.
That's so crazy that you didn't even know what you were in for.
Like, who was the promoter that set that up?
You know, actually, believe it or not,
my brother, Arnold, was asked, you know, he said,
he was calling me the world champion because in 73, it was called full contact
karate,
and Blinky and I, we went to Hawaii, and no rules, no weight divisions, no
nothing.
So, for the...
How much did you weigh back then?
145.
Wow.
And so, I ended up beating, actually...
160.
And Blinky, there was four of us left after we fought five, six times on Friday,
and then we fought a couple more times on Sunday.
You fought two days?
Yeah, there was that many, no rules, it was just weight division.
I mean, there was no weight division, it was just...
Brackets.
That's it.
So, Blinky ended up fighting.
There was four of us, I fought Bernice White, and I told Blinky, I said, you
know what?
This guy, now, he's, you know, he's 245 pounds, Dana Goodson, 6'3", and I said,
Blinky,
they don't want to see you and I fight.
They want to see David and Goliath, they want to see me fight him.
And I said, so, if you don't knock him out, you're not going to win,
because this guy, they're kind of, you know, wanting to keep him up.
And sure enough, then, and I said, Blinky, if you don't knock him out, you don't,
you know, hurt him.
Hurt him for me, because I knew I was going to fight him next.
And so, that's what it was.
So, he was 240 pounds?
Yeah, 245 pounds.
And you were 145?
Yeah.
Wow.
You could pick him up and throw him around, so I got him tired.
So, what were the rules?
There was no rules at all?
There was no rules.
So, could you stomp on the ground?
Could you soccer kick?
Could you do all that?
You know what?
There was no rules.
I actually threw him.
I pinned him on the ground.
He started to roll me over.
I spit my moppy sound.
I beat him on the chest.
Oh, my God.
He palm-striked my face, and we got up, and my teeth mark was on his chest.
He said, you bit me.
And I said, I was getting tired.
So, did they have submissions?
Did anybody know submissions back then?
No.
Well, you know what?
We did, we, in judo, you know, we're black belts and judo men.
Back in 60, we were already doing judo and making that.
We were already boxing back then.
So, we had a good idea of the contact.
It's just there was no rules at the time.
No rules, no weight divisions.
It was just elimination.
So, that happened for almost two years, from 73 to 75, and then it started,
that's when I first heard of Muay Thai.
Are there any of those no rules fights available on video?
Can people watch any of those fights?
Absolutely.
Are they online?
No.
Where are they?
Actually, there's some, but you know what?
We don't know.
We're doing a, actually, I'm doing a documentary, and we're bringing a lot of,
I have film from 69 to 96.
I'm two millimeter Miller, I mean, I'm talking about, and they're actually
putting together old fights.
So, you'll see Blink and I, way back then, fighting black and white, and then
they started changing.
Well, there's some available online that are, so this is you, again, so how do
you say that guy's name?
Kayat Bandit?
Nagarone Kayat Bandit?
So, is this another Muay Thai guy?
Yes.
Yes.
So, was this after you had fought Muay Thai already, previously?
Yes, because I started to recognize what it was about.
Mm-hmm.
So, how many Muay Thai fights had you had before you fought this guy?
Two.
Two.
So, when you trained in this, like, when, so after the first fight, did you
bring in a Muay Thai guy to train with and explain you elbows and show you how
they're throwing their techniques?
How did you, how did you learn how to deal with these guys?
Basically, somebody had black and white with filming, and I kind of looked at
it, and I went to an old gentleman that used to do,
actually do clothing and shoes and so forth in this leather shop.
And I asked him, I said, I want to protect my shins.
He's an older man.
And I said, I want to protect my shins.
You have something.
And he brought out some pads.
And I said, yeah.
And I told him I want to put it around my shins.
So, I created the first shin guard.
You were the guy who invented the shin guard?
Yeah.
Oh, that's great.
And I told him, how do we keep it together?
And he said, and he's the one that brought out the Velcro.
Oh.
And so, he put on, he, he sold on Velcro on it.
And so, I ended up asking him, can you make more of them?
And I started giving to it.
And that's how, because we were doing, we were doing leg checking because we
were watching
them, but it was hurting us.
Like, what the heck?
Yeah.
You know, how did they do it?
And then.
So, you were, you guys were doing a bare shin.
Yeah.
So, bare shin, leg kicking, training hard.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's all, we didn't know any other way.
So, what were the Thais doing back then?
How were they protecting their shins?
Well, you know what they, they have a spray, numbing spray.
Ah.
They were spraying their shins.
Like lidocaine or something like that?
Yeah.
They were putting stuff that, kind of like you couldn't, they couldn't feel it.
Ah.
They couldn't feel the impact.
So, after you invented shin guards, is that how shin guards made their way to
Thailand?
I'll put it this way.
When I went to Thailand and to work with some of the Thais, I looked at them, I
said, oh,
they're finally, because they didn't have them.
I said, oh, you got shin guards here.
And I was surprised.
Ah.
But a lot of them didn't even use them still.
Right.
And some of these high, up in the hills, the way they train, they didn't train
with shin
guards.
They just sprayed their shins.
Oh, my God.
Kicked banana trees.
Yeah.
I've seen that.
I've seen bull cow kicking banana trees and cutting it in half.
Yeah.
See, the problem with that is I was talking to Blinky, I said, you know,
we got a lot of nerves on our shins.
And I said, and so we had a doctor that was one of our students, and I asked
him about
that.
He say