Blachowicz certainly not the first ex-light heavyweight champ to have a problem with Rogan and probably won’t be the last.
Jan Blachowicz would like to have a word with Joe Rogan.
The longtime UFC color commentator took it upon himself to publicly judge the five-round contest between Blachowicz and fellow top contender Magomed Ankalaev, which ended in a split draw atop the UFC 282 pay-per-view (PPV) event earlier this month in Las Vegas.
Rogan told Team Ankalaev, “We thought you won the fight.”
“Joe Rogan, when he stepped into the Octagon, he said for him I lost the fight,” Blachowicz told MMA Fighting. “That was what I was thinking. He did a mistake that he say something like this to me after the fight. Because everybody who thinks that I lost the fight, watch only the last round. For me, a draw is a fair decision and seriously, I think that I was closer to winning the fight than Ankalaev. One more kick and it would be over, a TKO or if I would have defended his takedowns in the [fifth] round, stay a little bit longer on the feet, the fight would be mine. I could be disappointed about the [judges] but I’m not because I see the fight … I watched the fight a couple of times, a draw for me is fair.”
Their 205-pound showdown was supposed to crown a new light heavyweight champion after Jiri Prochazka went down with injury, but the inconclusive finish — coupled with promotion president Dana White’s disdain for the contest — led the promotion to abandon those plans and rebook a new title fight between Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill at UFC 283 next month in Rio.
Blachowicz seems to be more concerned with Rogan’s comments.
“Joe Rogan, he shouldn’t say something like this to me after the fight,” Blachowicz continued. “I was stuck in the last round and then Joe Rogan says ‘that was a good fight but for me you lost the fight.’ After the fight, when I go to the locker room and I start talking with a lot of people backstage from different teams, they said ‘don’t say that you lost the fight, you didn’t lose this fight, a round is okay but maybe you won the fight. So don’t say it.’ I said okay, maybe I’m thinking a little bit bad about the fight and then I start to remember the first three rounds. It looks different, not like the last round. When they said the draw, it was a weird situation because I cannot be happy but I also cannot feel bad about myself. Because I didn’t win but I also didn’t [lose]. I feel a little bit empty inside.”
UFC is expected to scrap the rematch and send both fighters on their separate ways.