Joe Rogan reacts to Sean Strickland losing to Dricus Du Plessis

Unable to be there live on the announce table alongside his regular trio of Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier, Joe Rogan still found time to watch UFC 297.

Alongside Brendan Schaub, Joey Diaz, and Eddie Bravo, Rogan witnessed the razor-close decision during the middleweight title fight on Saturday night. While many had different views on the outcome, the podcast host shared his opinion on who he believed should have rightfully won.

As he sat in anticipation of Bruce Buffer’s announcement, Joe Rogan was visibly surprised when Dricus Du Plessis was given the nod and crowned the new king of the 185 lbs division. Agreeing it was a close matchup, Rogan believes Strickland should have retained his title.

“Wow. Interesting. Very interesting. I wonder how the people online feel about that,” Rogan said after Du Plessis was revealed as the winner. “Because, you know, we’re not scoring it while we’re watching it. We’re watching it, we’re just having fun.”

“Were we wrong? It was good. Listen, fourth round he [Du Plessis] did awesome… I definitely think he won the fourth but do you think he won the fifth? I don’t know, man, the fifth seems like Sean was landing more shots… Interesting. Tough fight, though.”

Joe Rogan then named potential opponents for Dricus Du Plessis and even proposed a rematch with Sean Strickland at UFC 300.

“Listen, if Izzy [Israel Adesanya] wants to come back and he wants to fight Dricus,” Rogan said in regards to what’s next for the new middleweight champion. “How about a rematch at 300?”

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“Why not? If Adesanya can’t make it, listen, that’s a good fight. A rematch, that’s a good fight. It’s a very quick turnaround for either of these guys, though.”

“If they’re going to have a rematch, look, if you have a split-decision loss, that is one of the best indications that it was a close fight. And the kind of fights you want to see a rematch on are the ones that are close fights.”

“Still, if Izzy can’t, that as a rematch is very compelling. Stitch that f***ing eye up, let’s go.”