So Rogan is not turning up for UFC 271 and instead will be replaced by Michael Bisping in the commentary box. I don't mind Bisping but he is no Rogan. Joe Rogan really makes the commentary so much better, to the point where I tend to enjoy events he is not involved in a lot less than the ones he is involved in. I'm especially not interested in Bisping's in-ring interviews post-fight because I can't understand what he is saying half the time.
Rumors started when Joe was not present for the weigh in's and this is something that he rarely misses and is likely compensated to attend. It was then that UFC made the announcement that there was a "scheduling conflict" and Rogan would not be doing the commentary at all this weekend.
I'm calling bullshit on this and I am ashamed at UFC for doing it. Is UFC really afraid of the woke mob coming after them with their cancel culture? If there is one sport that definitely couldn't be cancelled by political crazies it would be MMA. These were the first people to get sports back up and running in big arenas even though they were urged not to by various government entities and groups. They tried to spin it as a super-spreader and the media must have been very disappointed when that didn't actually happen.
Joe Rogan in under fire right now for some straight up bullshit that he didn't even say or in the case of the 'nigger" comments it was some seriously crazy people going through thousands of hours of old files in order to find things and take them out of context . I was there (listening live I mean) when one of these alleged incidents happened, he was quoting someone else.
It really is crazy to me that as soon as some political operatives decide they want you gone they almost immediately go for racism to be the reason why it should happen, even when the person in question is clearly about as not racist as a person can possibly be.
Although UFC fighters are usually encouraged to keep politics completely out of their game (they might be required to, I don't know) a ton of UFC fighters have come out in Joe Rogan's defense over this entire debacle and a lot of them are minorities.
To me it is clear that Rogan doesn't have a scheduling conflict but UFC wants to avoid any criticism for having him on or they could be doing it to attract attention to themselves and get free promo time. If the second thing is the case it is working because outlets that don't usually even talk about MMA are talking about this... Some are celebrating it as if he was getting fired.
I think that if UFC were to fire Joe Rogan that the backlash could be potentially massive. Some friends and I were talking about how if Rogan were to sign with Bellator or Pride that a ton of UFC fans might change "flavors" out of spite. It would be very foolish for UFC to get rid of Rogan, very very foolish. I think and hope that this is just a temporary thing and they are bullshitting us over the reasoning. They have said he'll be back in March and really, he better be. I'm hoping some sort of pro-Rogan chant starts in the stadium tonight.