Tag: Joe Rogan

Joe Rogan amused by viral Sage Steele interview ‘flub’ with UFC CEO Dana White

Joe Rogan can relate to Sage Steele’s error of mixing him up with Dana White during her recent interview with the UFC CEO.

[autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] isn’t interested in giving Sage Steele much grief for mixing him up with [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] during her recent interview with the UFC CEO.

Former ESPN anchor Steele went viral when, during a sit down interview with the longtime UFC boss, she asked him, “What’s Joe Rogan’s dream?”

White was instantly puzzled by the question, and called Steele out about whether she thought she was interviewing the famous UFC commentator and podcast host Rogan.

The exchange quickly spread around the internet, and many people have taken their chance to poke fun at Steele. As someone who has hosted countless podcast interviews and made his share of mistakes, though, Rogan wasn’t keen to pile on Steele. But he certainly found the incident amusing.

“People call me Dana – I’ve been called Dana before,” Rogan said on the most recent episode of “The JRE MMA Show” podcast. “People go, ‘Oh, it’s Dana!’ I go, ‘No, I’m the other dude.’ It happens all the time. I think she just made a mental flub. When you’re doing a podcast and you’re interviewing someone, especially if you haven’t done a lot of them and it’s a high-profile thing and you’re doing Dana White, you’re always thinking of what to say.

“Even the question is like, ‘What’s your dream?’ It’s not even it a crazy question. It’s like I don’t know what to ask you so I’m like, ‘What’s your dream?’ So she’s probably floundering there a little and doesn’t know what to say. It’s f*cking weird having a conversation live with someone in real time.”

Former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra was one of the guests on Rogan’s podcast where he reacted to the Steele interview, and he said he’s been mistaken for both Rogan and White in the past.

It’s not the first time this has happen, and it almost certainly won’t be the last. But Rogan credits Steel for standing by her mishap.

“She handled it the right way,” Rogan said. “She kept it in there. She didn’t edit it out. It’s funny. It’s just a flub. I do it all the time. It happens.”

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Joe Rogan: Robert Whittaker ‘a real fight’ for Khamzat Chimaev

Joe Rogan thinks Robert Whittaker will present a serious test for Khamzat Chimaev.

[autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] will present a serious test for [autotag]Khamzat Chimaev[/autotag].

Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and former middleweight champion Whittaker (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) will square off in a five-round headliner June 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The main card will air on ABC.

Whittaker is coming off an impressive win over Paulo Costa at UFC 298. Meanwhile, Chimaev hasn’t competed since outlasting former welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, who stepped in on 10 days’ notice to face “Borz” in a 185-pound bout at UFC 294.

“Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev in Saudi Arabia, that one is going to be f*cking wild. That’s a wild one,” Rogan said on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” with Joey Diaz. “That is a wild fight. … Whittaker vs. Khamzat is legit. That’s a real fight. That’s a real fight for Khamzat because Whittaker is a big dude. He’s a big, solid, beefy 185, former champion. Both guys started at 170, but it was too hard to make the 170. That’s a real 185er.”

As accomplished as Usman is, Rogan doesn’t put too much stock in Chimaev’s win over him.

“They gave him Kamaru Usman and Kamaru didn’t have a chance to prepare for that,” Rogan said. “He had 10 days. That’s not enough time. I don’t know what kind of shape he was in. He’s always in shape, but famously, Kamaru has bad knees – like real bad knees. So I don’t know how hard he was training or whether or not he prepares. Maybe he only sacrifices his knees during training and then when he’s not training for a fight, he takes it easy, so he doesn’t stay in the same kind of shape. I know he was winning in the third round.

“If that was a five-round fight, who knows how the f*ck that fight would have went. Obviously, Kamaru is world-championship caliber, the best welterweight of all time by most people’s accounts. It’s not enough time. It’s not enough time to get a guy to prepare for Khamzat. At least we got a chance to see what Khamzat looks like against a world-class, world championship-caliber fighter. This is a big one. This is Robert Whittaker with plenty of time to prepare – a guy who is just as legit as they get (and) just beat Paulo Costa. That’s a good fight. I like that.”

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Oops! Watch a former ESPN anchor confuse Dana White for Joe Rogan in an all-time interview gaffe

Dana White and Joe Rogan are both rambunctious, bald white men with an affinity for the UFC, but that doesn’t make them the same person!

[autotag]Dana White[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] are both rambunctious, bald white men with an affinity for the UFC, but that doesn’t make them the same person, Sage Steele!

Steele, a former ESPN anchor, welcomed White to “The Sage Steele Show” and spent more than an hour talking with the UFC CEO – touching on most of the same ol’ you’d expect from a Dana White podcast appearance – before arriving at her big final question and giving us an all-time interview gaffe.

As if to set up a dramatic moment, Steele adjusted how she was sitting on a sofa, leaned in to look White in his eyes, and asked him this in a soft-spoken voice:

“Last question: What’s Joe Rogan’s dream?”

Wanting to make sure he heard correctly, White repeated the question:

“What’s JOE ROGAN’S dream?”

At this moment, you could see the embarrassment forming on Steele’s face as she tried to play it off by sheepishly uttering both names:

“Joe Rogan … Dana White.”

The best part was the look White gave her once he realized what just happened:

“Did you just think I was Joe Rogan?

[Looks off camera] “She just called me f*ckin’ Joe Rogan.”

“You thought I was f*ckin’ Joe Rogan? I was bald before Joe was ever bald!”

What a blunder.

If you enjoyed that play-by-play, you’re going to love watching the embarrassing moment play out in real time.

You can watch here (marked at 1:19:12):

What makes this even funnier is that Steele began the interview by calling White “Joe” up front (via X). She was doomed from the start, lol.

Hey, I guess it could be worse.

Did Dana White seriously consider resigning from UFC during Joe Rogan-Spotify controversy in 2022?

“Joe Rogan has been very loyal to me, and I am very loyal to Joe Rogan,” Dana White said of the longtime UFC commentator.

For [autotag]Dana White[/autotag], there’s no UFC without [autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag].

Rogan, the popular podcast host and longtime UFC commentator, was under fire in early 2022 when he was accused of spreading COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which was exclusive to Spotify at the time. An outraged Neil Young demanded that his music be removed from Spotify in protest of Rogan remaining on the streaming platform.

Around the same time, Rogan also had a montage video of him using the N-word resurface online and, as a result, Rogan was absent from his commentary duties for UFC 271. Appearing on Lex Fridman’s podcast, White was asked about Rogan amid the controversy and how he apparently threatened to resign if Rogan could no longer commentate UFC fights.

Now, White never said those words himself but thanked Fridman for calling him a good man.

“Anybody who is with me, has been with me, knows, when you’re with me, you’re with me,” White said. “It’s a two-way street. It’s not a one-way street. I’m not one of these guys that is going to roll over. It’s like going through COVID. I wasn’t laying any of these people off. Some of these people have been with me for 20 years. We’re going to lay them off?

“This motherf*cker will burn – burn before I would do that to my people. It’s just never – none of that type of stuff is ever going to happen while I’m here. I can’t say what’s going to happen when I leave. But when I’m here, the people who are with me and have been with me, they know exactly what’s up. Joe knows what’s up, and again it’s a two-way street. Joe Rogan has been very loyal to me, and I am very loyal to Joe Rogan.”

Joe Rogan and Dana White in 2006. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spike TV)

If White was serious about resigning to protect Rogan, it shows just how close their relationship is. One of the reasons White feels the way he does is because he will never forget Rogan standing by the UFC before it became a profitable business.

“It’s a fact he doesn’t care about money, and he did the first 13 shows free for us,” White said. “That was at a time when we were hurting and he was like, ‘Wait a minute, you want me to do the commentary? You’re saying I get to sit in the best seat in the house and watch these fights for free? Yeah, I’m in.’ Then obviously when we turned things around, we made it up to Joe, but Joe is one of the things I loved early about (the UFC).”

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UFC 299 commentary team, broadcast plans set: Lead PPV team with Joe Rogan gets first call of 2024

The UFC’s lead commentary team of Jon Anik, Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier will call its first card of 2024 at UFC 299 in Miami.

The third numbered UFC event of 2024 is rapidly approaching with UFC 299 on Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami.

As always, some marquee on-air talent will be there to help guide viewers through the experience.

Details of who will be working as commentators and analysts for the show have been acquired by MMA Junkie through a person with knowledge of the plans – and you can see the scheduled broadcast team below.

UFC 298 commentary team, broadcast plans set: Michael Bisping joins Jon Anik, Joe Rogan in booth

Daniel Cormier won’t be on the call for UFC 298 and instead Michael Bisping will join Jon Anik and Joe Rogan as cageside commentators.

The second numbered UFC event of 2024 is rapidly approaching with UFC 298 on Saturday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

As always, some marquee on-air talent will be there to help guide viewers through the experience.

Details of who will be working as commentators and analysts for the show have been acquired by MMA Junkie through a person with knowledge of the plans – and you can see the scheduled broadcast team below.

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Joe Rogan hates Justin Gaethje matchup for Max Holloway at UFC 300: Lightweights are too big

Joe Rogan is not a fan of the Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway matchup at UFC 300.

[autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] is not a fan of the [autotag]Justin Gaethje[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] matchup at UFC 300.

Gaethje (25-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) defends his BMF title against former featherweight champion Holloway (25-7 MMA, 21-7 UFC) on April 13 in Las Vegas.

Holloway competed once at 155 pounds in his UFC career when he lost a Fight of the Night war to Dustin Poirier for the interim title in April 2019. Poirier is coming off a knockout loss to Gaethje at UFC 291, and Rogan thinks Holloway may be too small for lightweight.

“You know what I hate? Max is a great ’45-pounder, but Dustin Poirier beat him up at ’55 pounds,” Rogan said during the UFC 297 episode of his Fight Companion on Spotify. “I think those guys are a little too big.”

Despite losing to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski three times, Rogan thinks Holloway still is in the title picture. He sees Holloway losing luster if he’s unsuccessful against Gaethje, even if he’s competing at a weight class above.

“Max is right there in the hunt for the (featherweight) title,” Rogan said. “(When) Volkanovski gets done with (Ilia) Topuria, Max is a likely next fight. It’s a possibility. It’s 100 percent there.”

Holloway is is coming off back-to-back wins over Arnold Allen in April 2023, then a Fight of the Night knockout of Chan Sung Jung in June.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

Joe Rogan: Dustin Poirier better be ready for ‘f*cking killer’ Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299

“You look into that guy’s eyes, there’s hell going on behind those eyes,” Joe Rogan said of Benoit Saint-Denis ahead of UFC 299.

[autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] hopes [autotag]Dustin Poirier[/autotag] is aware of [autotag]Benoit Saint-Denis[/autotag]’ ferocity.

Poirier (29-8 MMA, 21-7 UFC) meets rising contender Saint-Denis (13-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in a five-round co-main event at UFC 299 on March 9 from Kaseya Center in Miami. Boasting a 100 percent finish rate, Saint-Denis has stopped his past five opponents, most recently a Performance of the Night head-kick knockout of Matt Frevola at UFC 295. Rogan raved about the Frenchman’s abilities ahead of the biggest fight of his career.

“This is the big fight, Dustin Poirier and Benoit Saint-Denis,” Rogan said during the UFC 297 episode of his Fight Companion on Spotify. “That’s the big fight. That Saint-Denis guy is a f*cking killer. He’s such a killer, that guy’s such a scary guy.”

Saint-Denis, known as “The God of War,” opened up as a slight favorite over Poirier. Although Poirier is the far more experienced and accomplished fighter, Rogan expects it to be a tough fight for the former interim lightweight champion.

“I’m telling you, that Benoit Saint-Denis is next level,” Rogan said. “He’s got furnaces going in his eyes. You look into that guy’s eyes, there’s hell going on behind those eyes. He’s built for it. So, him vs. Dustin is very exciting, and Dustin better be ready to go. You better be ready to go with that guy, because he’s going to try and make a name off of him.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.

Joe Rogan surprised judges awarded Dricus Du Plessis win over Sean Strickland at UFC 297

Joe Rogan didn’t expect Dricus Du Plessis to beat Sean Strickland when the scorecards were being read out.

[autotag]Joe Rogan[/autotag] didn’t expect [autotag]Dricus Du Plessis[/autotag] to beat [autotag]Sean Strickland[/autotag] when the scorecards were being read out.

Du Plessis (21-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) edged out Strickland (28-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) to claim the middleweight title in Saturday’s UFC 297 main event at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

Strickland started out strong when he pumped out his jab to full effect. But as the fight went on, Du Plessis rallied, doing enough to sway the judges in his favor. The outcome yielded mixed reactions, and Rogan appeared to think Strickland should have won.

“Wow, interesting, very interesting,” Rogan said on his “JRE Fight Companion.” “I wonder how the people online feel about that because we’re not scoring it while we’re watching it, we’re just having fun. Were we wrong?… Listen, fourth round, he (Du Plessis) did awesome. How about him vs. Khamzat (Chimaev), UFC 300?”

All three judges agreed on the scoring of every round except the third, which was the deciding factor for Du Plessis. Rogan thinks Strickland had the stronger close to the fight.

“I definitely think (Du Plessis) won the fourth, but do you think he won the fifth? I don’t know, man,” Rogan said. “The fifth seemed like it was Sean was landing more shots.”

During the post-fight news conference, Dana White was asked about what’s next for Du Plessis, and if UFC 300 is a possibility for his first title defense. Du Plessis called out former champion Israel Adesanya, but if Adesanya isn’t ready, Rogan wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between Du Plessis and Strickland.

“Why not? If Adesanya can’t make it, listen, that’s a good fight,” Rogan said. “A rematch? That’s a good fight. That’s a very quick turnaround for either one of these guys, though. If you have a split decision loss, that is one of the best indications that it was a close fight. The kind of fights you want to see a rematch on are the ones that are close fights. If Izzy can’t, that as a rematch is very compelling.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.

Jon Anik hopes Joe Rogan enters UFC Hall of Fame, ‘will fight like hell’ for Tony Ferguson

UFC commentator Jon Anik makes the case for Joe Rogan, Bruce Buffer, Tony Ferguson, and more to join the UFC Hall of Fame.

[autotag]Jon Anik[/autotag] hopes to eventually see the development of an independent MMA Hall of Fame, but in the meantime, he understands the UFC Hall of Fame is the premier place for career recognition.

Anik, the UFC’s lead play-by-play commentator, thinks there are a few shoo-ins for the UFC Hall of Fame as soon as the 2024 class and also in the years beyond.

Although there are no true guidelines for the selections of who joins the modern-era wing, pioneer wing, fight wing and contributor wing of the UFC Hall of Fame each year, Anik has an idea of two non-fighter figures who belong since they are institutions of the promotion, as well as two athletes with decorated careers but haven’t captured undisputed UFC gold.

Anik revealed four people he wants in the UFC Hall of Fame during a recent interview with MMA Junkie Radio, and you can see his selections and arguments for them, below …

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