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Even if UFC 249 happens, Joe Rogan won’t be on hand to call the fights.
Perhaps Joe Rogan is now among the wimpy and weak MMA media, as Dana White has described.
The longtime UFC analyst would ordinarily be commentating North American-based pay-per-view shows, but whether UFC 249 remains in the United States or heads overseas, he doesn’t plan on being part of the broadcast due to his coronavirus pandemic concerns.
“I guess someone’s going to commentate it – it’s not gonna be me,” Rogan said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast (via MMA Junkie). “UFC is talking about putting on a fight on April 18. I don’t know how they’re gonna do that. I don’t know if they’re gonna be able to do that in the United States. They’re talking about doing it in a place with less than 10 people, just in an open arena.”
Even though many countries are in total lockdown and sports organizations have cancelled or postponed events as a result of this pandemic, that’s not stopping Dana White from trying to keep his schedule intact. While three shows were postponed due to increased government restrictions, White says UFC 249 will proceed as scheduled, just behind closed doors and at a yet to be disclosed venue.
Rogan appears to be among the many skeptical of the UFC’s plans to push forward with its shows, including the logistics of something as simple as making sure all the athletes are tested for COVID-19.
“The thing is, how are they going to make sure nobody has it?” Rogan said. “You’re going to have to test everybody. And if someone has it, do you let them fight? What if they have it, and they’re like Idris Elba, and they have no symptoms, but they’ve got the corona? What if Khabib has the corona? Or what if Tony has the corona? Does Khabib even fight him?”
Well the less the media knows, the better. Maybe that includes Joe Rogan, too.
UFC 249, whenever and wherever it happens, is headlined by a lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson.