For Joe Rogan, 2021 was the year the narrative started to shift on him as a UFC commentator.
Once essentially universally beloved for being a prominent voice of the world’s biggest MMA promotion, Rogan’s incredible upward trajectory as a premier podcaster and comedian has become a prominent part of his life.
Rogan was cageside on commentary for just six UFC events over the past year, and even had a four-month hiatus between cards from July to October. When he was on the call, reviews from fans online were generally mixed.
For anyone who thinks Rogan’s commentary has dipped in quality or he’s become ill-prepared to give live analysis of the biggest pay-per-view fights, he assured that he’s still putting forth a whole lot of effort into his UFC gig.
During a recent episode of his “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast with guest Brian Simpson, Rogan was asked directly how he feels about the increased criticism he’s had to field, specifically when it comes to being completely unbiased when offering color commentary of a fight.
Rogan said he unequivocally gives a conscious effort to give equal spotlight to both sides of a fight.
“I try to be very fair, always, with my commentary, and I’m also very respectful,” Rogan told Simpson. “Like, even if you think that my commentary was biased or one way or another, you’ll never think I’m disrespectful.”
Rogan is the first to admit he’s not flawless when it comes to anything in his life, and UFC commentary is no different.
There are things that can happen inside the octagon that bring a rise out of him and create some harsh opinions. An incident happened on his most recent show at UFC 269 on Dec. 11, in fact, when Brazil’s Priscila Cachoeira was caught in the crossfire of criticism when she attempted to eye gouge opponent Gillian Robertson in order to escape a fight-ending rear-naked choke.
Those type of illegal tactics didn’t sit well with Rogan, he said, and under those circumstances, he has no issues being harsh on an athlete.
“She was trying to gouge Gillian Robertson’s eye out,” Rogan said. “She had a rear-naked choke, and this girl Cachoeira stuck her thumb deep into her eyeball. … That’s horrible. That I would be disrespectful to.”
UFC’s Joe Rogan: ‘I try to be very fair, always, with my commentary’