MMA fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief, as our favorite commentator isn’t going anywhere — for now.
Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan finally revealed his plans regarding his future in the sport during the latest edition of his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.
Rogan admitted that he was “on the fence” about whether or not he was going to continue on once his existing contract with the company expired. When the UFC sale rumors began, and were later confirmed, he spoke often about possibly putting the headset down for good and transitioning back into being simply a passionate, educated fan of the sport.
“I was on the fence, man,” Rogan said during the show, which featured an interview with UFC featherweight contender Jeremy Stephens (see above). “I just do too much sh*t. I’m too f*cking busy. After a while I’m like, I don’t know if I’m doing myself or all the different things I do a disservice. I was real close. It was like, either I’m just gonna completely bail off of this or I’m gonna figure it out.”
Rogan noted that he had some private conversations with UFC President Dana White, who helped convince him to stick around. When the recent UFC 196 pay-per-view went down the way it did, with Nate Diaz upsetting Conor McGregor and Miesha Tate pulling off a come-from-behind victory to finally capture UFC gold, he claimed it was at that point that something clicked in his head.
“That night was so crazy and so chaotic,” Rogan said. “I walked out of there going, ‘How could I not do this?’ I’m sitting right there cageside for the craziest sh*t in the sporting world ever. It was real recent. It was touch and go. I just didn’t know what I was going to do.”
As far as the terms of his new deal, Rogan stated that he will have a reduced schedule. He will no longer be working any international events, and will only be announcing the pay-per-view shows. While Rogan hadn’t been doing the UFC shows on FOX Sports 1, he has been calling the events on big FOX, but will no longer be doing those.
“If I go to Brazil, that’s five days out of my life that I can’t do this and I can’t do all the other stuff that I do,” Rogan said. “And on top of that, there’s the recovery time. When I come back, I’m f*cking toast. That flying just f*cks my head.”
To the fans, Rogan said that he still loves working with the UFC and after his new one-year deal with the company expires, he made it clear to the new owners that he is open to possibly staying around even longer.
“I don’t want anybody to think that I don’t appreciate it or I don’t know how lucky I am or I don’t think it’s an amazing job,” he said. “I definitely do. But I’m almost too lucky. I have too many amazing jobs.”
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above quotes from the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.
