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“Biased Commentary” From Joe Rogan Triggers Fans After Veteran Commentator Confronts UFC 298 Crowd – “Sh*tty One for Joe”

Published 02/19/2024, 3:17 AM EST

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Joe Rogan seems to have made a blunder during his recent commentary work! Considered one of the best at doing what he does, he’s been the go-to guy for the commentary team whenever there is a big pay-per-view event in the United States. Having been associated with the promotion for over two decades, Rogan has gotten used to the praise he gets. And rightfully so, considering his invaluable knowledge of mixed martial arts. However, occasionally, he becomes the target of fan fury, and that’s precisely what happened during UFC 298.

Rogan upset fans with some of his assessments regarding the fighters on the UFC 298 card, even claiming he was biased. While fans called him out for his work during UFC 298, it wasn’t the first time he’s upset someone because of his commentary. Mackenzie Dern, who fought Amanda Lemos last weekend at UFC 298, revealed during an interview with Morning Kombat that some of the 56-year-old’s remarks about her fighting style when she went up against Jessica Andrade left her in tears.

That wasn’t all. She also admitted to feeling embarrassed listening to the discouraging commentary from Rogan & Co. when, just six months prior, she had put on a clinic against Angela Hill. “I was like, ‘Dang, how did I just fight Angela Hill in May with the best performance, and now they’re saying I look like a freakin’ high school girl brawling and stuff like that?’” said Dern. And then, she explained exactly what she thought about it.

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USA Today via Reuters

“For me, they’re the kind of critics that can influence a lot of people with what they say commentating. Man, I can’t believe they said that about me. I looked like that?!” Like Joe Rogan, other commentators like Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier have also been called out for their biased commentary chops. However, ‘DC’ was not a part of UFC 298, even though he is a crucial part of the trio alongside Rogan and Jon Anik.

Fans on Reddit were up in arms about Joe Rogan as they did not expect biases from someone of his stature who has been a part of the promotion for a long time. Let’s see what they found displeasing regarding his recent commentary work.

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Joe Rogan’s “classic Roganisms” at UFC 298 disappointed fans

Fans first pointed out that Joe Rogan admitted having trouble calling the fight between Rinya Nakamura and Carlos Vera. “In the Nakamura vs Vera fight, he literally said that the situations were too difficult to explain and literally didn’t explain any of it. lmao that’s when I knew this was gonna be a sh*tty one for Joe.”

Another fan brought up a “classic Roganism” in relation to one of his assessments during the Mackenzie Dern versus Amanda Lemos fight. When one Reddit user wrote, My favorite was Joe’s ‘Oh, that’s tight, she’s not getting out of this.’ Lemos moves her leg and is out. ‘Amazing work by Lemos,’” to which the fan wrote, “That’s the most classic Roganism. Anytime he says it’s tight, it’s not.”

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Some users also pointed out that Joe Rogan had difficulty assessing submissions. They argued it could be due to him not spending much time with Eddie Bravo, leading him to stay uninformed about the developments in jiu-jitsu and grappling techniques. “He used to be pretty on point with his calling during submissions. I think he is just out of touch with jiu-jitsu now. Probably doesn’t hang out with Eddie Bravo as much.” Another fan put it a lot more bluntly.

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“His grappling knowledge is clearly stuck in the early-mid 2000s,” they wrote. Fans were also fed up with Joe Rogan’s statements about Merab Dvalishvili’s cardio during the fight against Henry Cejudo. “My favourite was Joe asking what Merabs cardio routine was, ‘We got to get his cardio routine, is it genetics? Is it training?’ Come on Joe, we know what it is. The awkwardness was palpable.”

Rogan was also called out for his support of Ian Garry, making fans believe that he was a fan of fighters hailing from Ireland. “Joe Rogan is a big fan of Irish fighters.” That’s where the “biased” commentary came in as another user explained, “The most biased commentary I’ve ever heard happened last night. They were selling Ian’s misses more than Neal’s hits.”

Furthermore, the veteran commentator even defended ‘The Future’ at the PPV when the crowd was taking shots at Garry and his wife, Layla Machado Garry.

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This is not the first time fans have expressed dissatisfaction with UFC commentators. However, it remains to be seen if Joe Rogan takes notice of these remarks and issues a response to them in the days to come. What did you think about what the fans said about the UFC color commentator? Drop your comments below.

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Written by:

Himanga Mahanta

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Himanga Mahanta is a senior UFC writer at EssentiallySports. An all-rounder in his coverage of the sport, Himanga is a reliable voice with a knack for providing analytical coverage of breaking stories from the world of MMA. His 1700+ articles include perspective pieces on trending UFC stories, and both live and post-event coverage of weekly events.
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Edited by:

Yeswanth Praveen