When Joe Rogan looks at Khamzat Chimaev, he sees a pattern rather than just domination. And, ahead of the champion’s next title defense, that pattern has spawned a new type of debate.

The UFC commentator’s argument isn’t that ‘Borz’ isn’t elite. Many of the opponents he’s defeated aren’t built to deal with his strongest weapon—high-level wrestling. That’s why one name stood out to him: Kamaru Usman.

When the two met in 2023, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ stepped in on short notice, moved up a weight class, and still managed to push Chimaev into uncomfortable territory as the fight progressed.

“He’s handling guys that don’t have a big background in elite wrestling,” Joe Rogan said on his podcast. “They’re not like elite grapplers. The guy that he fought that was an elite grappler gave him problems… was Kamaru Usman.”

That is when things become interesting. Because Joe Rogan isn’t just talking about what happened but also what could have happened.

Kamaru Usman took that fight on about ten days’ notice, without a complete training camp, and still found success late, even appearing to take over in the third round. For the JRE host, that detail changes everything.

“And that was a short-notice fight that Kamaru took at 185,” he continued. “In the third round, Kamaru was winning. I was like, This would have been very interesting if it was a five-round fight.

“Because when you’re taking a fight on that short notice like that, you don’t trust in your wind like you would trust in your wind if you just went through 12 weeks of hell, where you just know you’re at f—– tippy-top. Like, that’s part of it. He’s such a warrior. When he gets in there, he fights like it doesn’t matter.”

That’s the condition. A full camp, five rounds, and a whole lot of belief in your gas tank. According to Joe Rogan, that version of Kamaru Usman could have presented a whole new level of difficulty. However, none of this takes away from what Khamzat Chimaev has achieved.

‘Borz’ is unbeaten, he’s defeated elite fighters, and he’s now at the top of the middleweight rankings with the title on his shoulders. But while the JRE host was all praise for Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev on his podcast, light heavyweight contender Jiri Prochazka was called out for the title-costing mistake at UFC 327 earlier this month.

Joe Rogan criticizes Jiri Prochazka’s UFC 327 outing

At UFC 327, Joe Rogan believes that ruthlessness was the deciding factor between success and failure. While praising Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev for their willingness to fight hard, he used Prochazka as an example of what happens when emotion temporarily triumphs over instinct.

In the UFC commentator’s opinion, the former light heavyweight champion simply wasted a golden opportunity. From Prochazka’s perspective, the hesitation came from believing the fight was effectively over. Carlos Ulberg was severely injured, barely able to stand on one leg after tearing his ACL, and looked moments away from being stopped. But fighting doesn’t reward assumptions.

“You’ve got to look at it two ways,” Joe Rogan said. “One you’ve got to look at it from Jiri’s perspective; he had it there, the fight was over, (Ulberg) was hurt. But you look at it from Carlos’ perspective. Carlos Ulberg was hurt; he can’t move his leg. They’re probably gonna stop it in between rounds… Then boom, he clips him with a left hook.

“He (Prochazka) clearly did get upset; I really do think that he got upset… It doesn’t matter, Carlos got him, he f—– up, it’s part of fighting, you have to be ruthless.”

Instead of closing the show, ‘The Czech Samurai’ offered Carlos Ulberg a window, and the New Zealander only needed one opportunity to land his phenomenal left hook. That’s the cruel lesson Joe Rogan was getting at. Mercy, hesitation, or even a short pause in killer instinct can cost you everything at the highest level.

The JRE host admitted he understood why Jiri Prochazka is haunted by it, but excuses do not change outcomes. Carlos Ulberg won under impossible circumstances, but ‘Denisa’ was left with regrets that last far longer than a knockout loss.