Joe Rogan admitted that, while he was on the fence about calling the fights at UFC 249, he was leaning towards going.
That was until the UFC was forced to pull the plug on UFC 249 and all scheduled events due to the global pandemic after top-level executives at both Disney and ESPN intervened.
Rogan found out about the postponement of events while filming the most recent episode of his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, where he appeared to give a sigh of relief.
“Well, that saves me a lot of thinking,” Rogan said. “Damn, I was 75 percent ready to go. The only thing that worried me is if I contracted something, and then I came in contact with other people. So what I was gonna do is do it if I could definitely get tested, and then I would have to know the results before I come back. But even then you don’t know.
“I think they made probably a risk assessment and then they made a calculation of what the negative aspects of going against government regulations, in terms of state government, would be. They’re probably like, ‘We can’t do this.'”
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Rogan said he understands Dana White’s determination to carry on with events, but from a personal perspective was mainly concerned with the consequences of what would happen if he were to contract the virus, and how he would contain it.
“I was hesitant,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘Hmm, I really want to go.’ I was leaning towards going but I’m like, I don’t want to hear it from people who don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m not interested in putting myself at risk, but my real concern was how do I know if I contract it and then I bring it back? How am I gonna know? So the only way I’d be able to do it is to do it, and then be in quarantine until I get tested. I’m like, ‘Oh, Jesus Christ. I wanna find out.'”
White is still pushing for the idea of a ‘Fight Island‘ that he hopes to use for fighters to train, then compete in self-contained events. It’s a plan Rogan thinks is achievable.
“If it’s a small island – if you could control the whole island and test everybody – why not?” he said.