Joe Rogan has just weighed in on the increasingly heated debate in the WNBA over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, and he’s backing Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham while taking a very direct shot at the league’s stance.

On episode #2539 of The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC commentator dug into the controversy. And his question was simple: Why has the distinction between biological males and females become such a complicated and, in his opinion, contentious issue in sports?

“Well, the thing is, can you define what a woman is?… If you can’t define what a woman is, then you’re an idiot, and this is nonsense,” Rogan said. “And that’s what your ideology is. Your ideology is so stupid you can’t define the difference between a male and a female.

“And so you’ve decided that people identifying with something means it’s a real thing. And you have to say it because everybody else says it, and they scare you, and they’ll cancel you and go after you. So everyone’s agreed to nonsense. This is where we’ve painted ourselves into dumba– corner.”

Joe Rogan’s comments come in the aftermath of the controversy over Sophie Cunningham publicly expressing her opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports in a July 21 ESPN profile. The WNBA star’s statements have since become part of a much bigger debate about the league’s eligibility criteria.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the league will address the issue after forming a special task force. The panel, led by Engelbert and including representatives from the league’s anti-hate task force, met on August 12.

“Today’s meeting covered a wide range of topics, including ongoing discussions on transgender athletes and the continued hate and vitriol directed at players online,” the league said in its official statement.

Former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Larry Sanders had declared themselves eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft, complicating the conversation even further.

And, with the WNBA riding a wave of momentum owing to talents like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the entire situation has raised a bigger question: how much focus should the league devote to controversies that have little to do with what happens on the court?

The sport itself is getting harder to ignore. The quality of play continues to improve, and games like the recent overtime thriller between the Atlanta Dream and the Indiana Fever are exactly the type of riveting drama that has helped propel the WNBA to new heights.

And somehow, even after a game that went into overtime, it was pushed to the sidelines as a result of the ongoing controversy. Rather than the real drama that happened on the court, much of the postgame conversation centered on reports that Dream players didn’t come out for the national anthem, instead of the actual drama that unfolded on the court.

It is also worth noting that this isn’t the first time that the JRE host has spoken on the matter.

Joe Rogan’s reaction as former NBA players challenge WNBA eligibility rules

The debate was already heating up after Sophie Cunningham made her position clear. Then things took a crazy turn when former NBA players decided to make the hypothetical into something a lot more real.

First, it was Enes Kanter who declared his eligibility for the 2027 WNBA Draft on August 7.

“My team and I have carefully examined the WNBA’s eligibility criteria and governing framework surrounding self-identification and inclusion,” Kanter wrote. “Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in April 2027.”

Royce White joined in, and Larry Sanders followed. Suddenly, what began as a theoretical argument had three former NBA players right in the center of it, and the entire conversation got a lot louder.

Even Joe Rogan reacted strongly to Kanter Freedom’s move, arguing that it exposed what he believes is an inconsistency in the WNBA’s position.

“The WNBA painted themselves into the most loony position where they can’t define what a woman is,” he said on his podcast. “This thing that he’s doing where he’s pretending that he’s a woman is very smart.

“In this day and age, we almost need someone that’s a public figure to do something like that to show everyone how ridiculous it is that some psychopath can just pretend that they’re a woman and knock women over on the court.”

Now, the situation leaves WNBA executives with an increasingly important question about the direction they want to take going forward.

But regardless of one’s position on the issue, there is no denying that the league’s recent growth has been mostly driven by what happens on the basketball court.

With Clark, Reese, and other rising players attracting unprecedented attention, keeping basketball at the center of the conversation will remain important as the WNBA navigates the debate.