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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator, Joe Rogan, told the promotion he no longer wanted to interview fighters inside the Octagon if they were coming off a knockout loss, because “their perception of reality can be drastically off and their memory is severely impaired.”
But then Rogan made an exception at UFC 214 after Daniel Cormier got knocked out by Jon Jones back in summer 2017, a post-fight interview that was not only a bad look for “DC,” but for Rogan and the promotion as well, later described as a personal “fuck up.”
So why did Rogan do the exact same thing after UFC 241?
“Some people were confused as to why I interviewed ‘DC’ after the fight because I’ve publicly stated that I don’t think it’s a good idea to interview fighters after they’ve been KO’ed,” Rogan wrote on Instagram. “I think most of what happened to ‘DC’ was those brutal body shots, and although Stipe dropped him with head shots he was never out cold, and seemed clear headed after he stood up and the results were announced to the crowd and Stipe got the belt given to him.”
Despite jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, Cormier was stopped by Miocic in the fourth round of their heavyweight pay-per-view (PPV) title fight, which took place last Sat. night (Aug. 17, 2019) inside Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. (video highlights here).
“The UFC asked for an interview, and I asked ‘DC’ if he was okay with it, and he said, ‘Yes,’” Rogan explained. “I think interviewing fighters after a brutal loss is kinda sketchy, but I was also thinking that it’s possible that this may be the last time we see ‘DC’ in the Octagon. I love ‘DC,’ and I would never want to put him in a bad position, but I made a judgment call and felt this would be alright.”
Cormier was clearly disappointed in the result, his first and only loss at heavyweight, but seemed to have his wits about him and later elaborated on his performance at the UFC 241 post-fight press conference (replay here).
For much more on UFC 241 click here.