On JRE MMA Show #177, host Joe Rogan sat down with Matt Serra, John Rallo, and Din Thomas, and the conversation turned to one of the strangest “what-if” moments in MMA history: the time Tommy Lee wanted to compete against Kid Rock inside the UFC.
Rogan began by setting the scene, recalling how the idea first reached him roughly two decades ago through a mutual friend.
“So 20 years ago Rallo calls me up and he says, ‘Tommy Lee wants to meet you. He wants to talk to you about something,’” he said.
Curious about the request, Rogan agreed to meet, bringing along Eddie Bravo. The two attended Lee’s concert during his Rock and Roll Supernovas run, and Rogan vividly remembered the atmosphere backstage.
“Tommy Lee has the dopest green room. Like he sets his green room up like an after hours party. He’s got tapestries on the wall and candles and lights,” he said, describing the unusual setup.
That meeting quickly turned from casual conversation to a serious proposal. “I meet Tommy and Tommy wants to compete against Kid Rock in the UFC,” Rogan said, summarizing the pitch that caught him off guard.
Serra then explained the personal drama behind the challenge, tracing it back to actress and model Pamela Anderson. “It’s for Pam Anderson’s heart,” he said, relaying the motivation as the group laughed.
According to Rallo, both Lee and Kid Rock had previously been married to Anderson, and tensions resurfaced when Kid Rock continued reaching out to her. Lee, reluctant to get involved, eventually made a call to address the situation directly.
“Look, dude, I don’t really want to make this call,” Rallo recalled Lee saying.
The conversation did not go smoothly. “Of course, Kid Rock took the heat. F**k you, you know, blah blah. So they’re going back and forth,” Rallo said, describing the heated exchange that followed.
The conflict escalated further during an appearance at the MTV Awards. Rallo recounted the physical confrontation that pushed things over the edge.
“While he’s sitting in there with Pam, Kid Rock comes up kind of behind him and pokes him and Tommy sees him and he goes to stand up and Kid Rock suckers him there,” Rallo said.
Thomas was surprised, and replied: “He hit him? What!”
Not long after the incident, Lee reached out to Rallo with a renewed sense of determination. “He’s going, ‘F**k him, I’m done with that motherf**ker. I want to fig ht him. I’m going to fight him now. I want you to train me,’” Rallo said, recalling the urgency in Lee’s voice.
Rallo, however, made it clear that training would only happen under serious conditions. “We’re not going to be out here with all your little a*s kissers. If you’re going to do it, you’re really going to do it,” he told Lee.
In fact, Rallo revealed that he had already floated the idea of turning the feud into a pay-per-view spectacle even before the altercation occurred.
“I go, ‘Yo, dude, you should compete against him on pay-per-view. Imagine all the money that we make. I’ll fight his f**king security guy. We’ll make a whole thing of it,’” he said.
Lee immediately saw the potential. “Man, that’s brilliant,” Rallo recalled him responding.
Rallo continued to push the competitive angle, framing the situation as a win-win scenario for Lee. “Look, either you fig ht him and you beat him up or he punks out and you win either way,” he told him.
To move the idea forward, Rallo arranged a meeting so Rogan and Bravo could hear the proposal firsthand. “I bring Joe and Eddie, they meet him. He tells Joe he wants to fig ht him literally,” Serra said.
Lee’s management team, a company called Sanctuary, eventually reached out to Kid Rock’s representatives to explore the possibility of making the match official. That response ultimately shut the idea down.
As Rallo recalled, “Kid Rock’s people wound up calling back and basically turning it down saying whoever loses is ruined for life, because they both had the rock and roll tough guy image thing.”
Rogan then asked whether that reasoning had ever been publicly documented. “Was that in print? Whoever whoever loses this is ruined or…?” he said.
Rallo clarified that it had remained behind closed doors. “That was supposedly the response from Kid Rock’s management to Tommy’s management,” he said.
Rogan acknowledged the logic behind the decision, even if the match would have been a spectacle. “He would be correct, you know,” he said.
