Joe Rogan refused the UFC’s request to interview fighters at a distance during last night’s event.
Veteran commentator Rogan revealed he had gone against the UFC bosses’ orders while signing off the pay-per-view with Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik, he said.
“At least they let me do the post-fight interviews in the Octagon.”
“You threw a fit,” Cormier replied. “You threw a fit before the show. This is insane, everyone’s been tested, we’re all clean!”
“They were going to make me do them from like two yards away,” Rogan continued. “We’re all clean. Everyone’s been tested, but they were going to make me do interviews from 50 feet away. I’m like, ‘I can’t, I want to see them, look into their eyes.’”
Rogan had previously been very cautious about working UFC events during the ongoing pandemic. At one point he said he wouldn’t be working at UFC 249 due to the coronavirus. He is now clearly very comfortable with the idea and the safety measures put in place.
The popular podcaster’s main gripe appeared to be with the fact everyone at the event had tested negative in the build-up, so why implement social distancing procedures? Speaking at the UFC 249 post-fight press conference Dana White seemed to agree with him, but say’s he’ll strive to make the safety procedures better at upcoming events.
“Yeah, obviously the whole social distancing thing and keeping people away from each other and everything … everybody here was tested,” White said. “The people that are still here, we know are negative. I don’t know. You know? We’re just trying … like I was saying earlier, we’re still figuring this whole thing out. This was the first one, it was a success. Wednesday will be better. Saturday will be better and so on and so forth.” (Transcribed by MMA Mania)
Should Joe Rogan have skipped the interviews at UFC 249?