Joe Rogan will not be interviewing any fighters tonight at UFC 271 because he will not be on commentating duty. There were rumors that Rogan was replaced by ESPN due to his recent controversies, particularly viral race-related remarks from the past, but the UFC has reported that it is really due to a scheduling conflict….
Joe Rogan will not be interviewing any fighters tonight at UFC 271 because he will not be on commentating duty. There were rumors that Rogan was replaced by ESPN due to his recent controversies, particularly viral race-related remarks from the past, but the UFC has reported that it is really due to a scheduling conflict. It should be noted that in recent years, Rogan has missed the occasional UFC pay-per-view due to such conflicts.
In the following article published on this day three years ago, Rogan opened up on interviewing UFC fighters after bouts. It is presented to you in its original, unfiltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.
On This Day Three Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 12, 2019, 3:49 PM]
Headline: Joe Rogan Discusses Interviewing UFC Fighters After Bouts
Author: Fernando Quiles Jr.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator Joe Rogan has revealed the goal of interviewing fighters after their bouts.
Rogan has been with the UFC since 1997, so going in-depth on the background and styles of fighters is nothing new to him. Upon his transition as a color commentator, Rogan eventually found himself interviewing athletes inside the Octagon right after their bouts. It’s a task that Rogan has proved to be more than capable of handling for years.
Joe Rogan Talks Interviewing UFC Fighters
On an edition of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the UFC color commentator spoke on his interviews (via BJPenn.com):
“One thing that I hope the fighters realize is that what I’m trying to do is only get them to express themselves. I want them to shine. I really genuinely want them — they won this big fight! I want them to express themselves. I want them to maybe maximize their marketing, their marketing ability, and just tell the world how they feel. That’s an incredibly unusual experience to win a big fight in the cage on pay-per-view in front of millions of people… My goal is only to try to get them communicate better and to let them know that I’m there to support them.”
The UFC recently posted a tribute video to Rogan for being a part of the promotion for 22 years. While Rogan has scaled back on his commentary duties, he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
Do you think Joe Rogan does a good job interviewing the fighters after their bouts?
Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan is one of fight fans’ favorite things about the UFC. Especially his memorable reactions to some of the biggest knockouts in the history of the promotion. Rogan’s commentary and reactions put a soundtrack t…
Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan is one of fight fans’ favorite things about the UFC. Especially his memorable reactions to some of the biggest knockouts in the history of the promotion. Rogan’s commentary and reactions put a soundtrack to the history of the UFC, and now, we have a compilation of some of Rogan’s best […]
As Joe Rogan is embroiled in the most controversy and backlash as he has ever been under his decades under the spotlight, here is an opportunity to reflect on a warm story of how he became the voice of the UFC. In a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode with UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna […]
As Joe Rogan is embroiled in the most controversy and backlash as he has ever been under his decades under the spotlight, here is an opportunity to reflect on a warm story of how he became the voice of the UFC.
In a recent Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode with UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Julianna Peña as a guest, Rogan shared how he began doing UFC commentary for free:
“In 2001, I met Dana, and I became friends with him, and then he’s the one that talked me into doing commentary. The first time I ever did commentary was UFC 37 and a half. That was the Vitor Belfort versus Chuck Liddell fight, and that was on Best Damn Sports Show Period. So it was a big deal that they were on Best Damn Sports Show Period and I was on Fear Factor. So he was like, ‘Would you do me a favor and do commentary?’ So I did the first 15 shows I did for them for free. I didn’t even have a contract. I was just doing it for fun. I said, ‘Listen, I don’t even need any money.’ I said, ‘Just give my friends tickets so my friends could watch the fights, and I’ll do commentary. It’s no big deal.”
In the below article published on this day three years ago, we published an article of Rogan telling the same story. Below, you’ll find more detail provided for your reading pleasure, as the following article is shared in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.
On This Day Three Years Ago…
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 6, 2019, 8:05 PM]
Headline: Joe Rogan Reveals How He Became The Voice Of UFC
Author: Jon Fuentes
Joe Rogan has become synonymous with mixed martial arts (MMA) and the UFC. Rogan is undoubtedly the greatest MMA commentator of all time and is beloved by nearly all MMA fans across the world. Fans have become so used to Rogan being around, but many might not know how he ended up cage-side for some of the best MMA events of all time.
During a recent episode of his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience”, with Sebastian Maniscalco, Rogan told the story about how he found himself as the main commentator of the UFC. Here’s how he detailed his journey:
“Well, I started in 1997. I was the post-fight interviewer. It just was a position that was available. The UFC was very small back then, very few people knew what it was. It was off of cable. You couldn’t get it on cable, you could only get it on satellite. And, they needed someone to do post-fight interviews.
“I was in the martial arts world, I used to teach martial arts for a living. Before I became a comedian I used to fight. I fought in a lot of Tae Kwan Doe tournaments, had some kickboxing fights, I’d always been a martial artist. Since I was a kid. I was just interested in watching the UFC. And then I started training jiu-jitsu, and when I was training in jiu-jitsu, I was just a white belt, I was just starting out, that’s when I got hired by the UFC to be a post-fight interviewer. But I only did that for two years.
“And then I quit, it was just too much. It was actually, just – I was actually losing money. I would make more money doing a weekend at a comedy club than I would doing the UFC. And it just got to a point where it was just too much of a pain in the ass. So I still remained a fan, but I backed away. And then the UFC was purchased by this company named Zuffa in 2001.
“When that happened, they started putting on shows in Vegas, and I would go there with my friends. They got me free tickets, they reached out. They would try and get celebrities to go sit there so that – cause they were very small at the time, they were hemorrhaging money, they were trying to build it up.
“And in talking to Dana White, one day I was talking to him about fights going on in Japan. “Do you know this guy?” – and I was bringing up all these names – “Do you want to do commentary?” “I don’t want to do commentary, man. I’m here to get drunk and watch people kick the shit out of each other. I’m not here to work.” And he talked me into it for one show. UFC 137.5.
“It was a show that was on one of those FOX Sports networks, one of the smaller networks. I did that, and the rest was history. I did like 12 of them for free. The UFC didn’t have any money. They were hemorrhaging money. There were rich people that owned it, but it was not a profitable venture. And I said, “Look, just get me there, get me and my friends tickets, and I’ll do it.” And that’s how I operated for over a year, and then I just became “The Commentator.” It’s just weird.”
What do you think about Rogan’s journey to becoming the voice of the UFC?
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator Joe Rogan wonders what Francis Ngannou can do if his overall game was up to snuff. Ngannou is set to take on Cain Velasquez on Feb. 17. The bout will headline UFC on ESPN 1. Many are of the belief …
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) color commentator Joe Rogan wonders what Francis Ngannou can do if his overall game was up to snuff. Ngannou is set to take on Cain Velasquez on Feb. 17. The bout will headline UFC on ESPN 1. Many are of the belief that if Ngannou can’t land on Velasquez’s chin early, […]
Joe Rogan clarifies his comments about former NFL player turned MMA fighter Greg Hardy in his latest fight. During the most recent episode of his Fight Companion podcast, Rogan expressed how he thought Hardy’s performance was “terrible and a “joke.” Moving along to his MMA podcast alongside UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, the longtime UFC […]
Joe Rogan clarifies his comments about former NFL player turned MMA fighter Greg Hardy in his latest fight. During the most recent episode of his Fight Companion podcast, Rogan expressed how he thought Hardy’s performance was “terrible and a “joke.”
Moving along to his MMA podcast alongside UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, the longtime UFC color commentator made his stance known even more.
“You’re watching the highest level of fights,” Rogan stated (H/T to Bloody Elbow). “You’re watching the co-main event. He’s just not ready for a co-main event. He rushed out, he gassed out, he burned himself out and Crowder recovered. The way it should be is you should have the early fights for people who are learning the sport. And then you get to the last couple of fights, the co-main and the main, you’re supposed to be seeing assassins like you and Henry Cejudo.”
Hardy hit Allen Crowder with an illegal knee strike to the head that ended his promotional debut in the co-headliner. The UFC on ESPN+ 1 event down at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Rogan continued by stating that the UFC could’ve easily put another fight in the co-headliner.
“There’s another fight they could have put in place of that,” Rogan continued. “A hundred percent. And again, this is not a knock on Crowder or Hardy. They’re guys out there doing it, they’re trying, they did their job, they’re fighting. The ending was super unfortunate. Again, you don’t know whether or not he did it on purpose. Look, you’re getting punched in the face. It’s chaos.”
There have been more than a few impressive heavyweight champions in the history of mixed martial arts from UFC titans such as Mark Coleman to current king Daniel Cormier. While any discussion about the ‘greatest heavyweight fighter of all time’ is pure…
There have been more than a few impressive heavyweight champions in the history of mixed martial arts from UFC titans such as Mark Coleman to current king Daniel Cormier. While any discussion about the ‘greatest heavyweight fighter of all time’ is purely subjective, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has a few names that top his […]