One On One With UFC Commentator Extraordinaire Joe Rogan
One On One With UFC Commentator Extraordinaire Joe Rogan
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Stephie Daniels: Judging seems to be a mess across combat sports in general, with the latest travesty being the Pacquiao vs. Bradley decision. What was your take on that?
Joe Rogan: I don't know if that was corruption. I know I said it was it was corruption, but if it was, that's really blatant. I have a hard time believing that those competent judges saw that fight different than every single person I've talked to. That's not a fight like Shogun vs. Machida I. There was a lot of Machida fans that really felt like he deserved the nod in that fight. There were some that thought it was divided 60/40. There's been some fights where there's been some disagreement. I have yet to talk to a person that thought Bradley won.
I still love boxing, and I enjoy watching a good fight, but the reality is, boxing is a boring sport compared to MMA. I really enjoy watching fights where I don't have to work. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy working, because I really enjoy working, but I like watching a fight where I can just shut the f**k up, so I've been watching a lot of kickboxing lately, a lot of K-1.
I talked to Dana at one point in time, when K-1 was in trouble, and they were getting bought out. I was like, 'Man, you guys should seriously think about buying K-1.' When you look at guys like Badr Hari and Daniel Ghita and Tyrone Spong, I mean, you're dealing with unbelievably exciting fights. Almost every fight is exciting, and they're fighting three rounds, so they're going for it. It's not like a boxing match where they're pacing themselves. These guys are going after it. There's a lot of talent, especially European guys. I really enjoy It's Showtime and K-1 Max.
Star-divide
It makes boxing seem dumb. It's dumb that you can't kick someone's legs. Why are we just boxing? What the f**k is that? It's silly. It's not the best way to fight. It's not even close to the best way of fighting. If Floyd Mayweather had to fight Michael McDonald, he'd probably beat him in a boxing match. For sure he'd beat him, even if they fought with little gloves on, but in an MMA match, I'm betting on McDonald. I'm betting McDonald hits him with a leg kick, takes his back and chokes the sh*t out of him. You know why? Because it's a better style. The fighting style of MMA is a better style. The best style is when you can use anything.
When you talk about stand-up, the best style is not just straight boxing. There's too many holes in it. Boxing, as a straight style, is actually better with MMA gloves than it is with boxing gloves. Boxing as a straight style with MMA gloves becomes several degrees more dangerous, because the small size of the gloves can sneak through small openings, because your hands move faster, and there's more impact because there's less padding. I think boxing as a style with boxing gloves is not nearly as effective as it is with MMA gloves.
Stephie Daniels: What do you think of the problems with judging in MMA and boxing?
Joe Rogan: I think they should fire judges that suck. I don't understand how someone can keep their job over and over again while screwing up over and over. What do you call that exactly? Extreme incompetence. How does someone judge any sort of combat sport without at least a passing interest in the sport? If you pulled aside, and I don't want to name any names, but if you pulled aside some of those judges from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, that has notoriously had horrific scoring, and started asking them about fighters that aren't fighting in the UFC, would they know anything about them? Would they know anything about who the top judo guy is? Would they even know anything about Gilbert Melendez and how good he is?
Do these guys know how you set up an armbar? If I sat them down and said, 'Do an armbar on this guy', would they be able to do that? I think you've got to know when a guy's in trouble and when a guy's not in trouble, and the only way to know that, is to have actually trained. I don't think you can be a person who judges martial arts without being an expert in martial arts.
I have never had a mixed martial arts fight, but I'm a martial arts expert. I've been a martial arts expert since I was a little boy. I know what I'm really good at, and I know what I don't understand as well, but I have dedicated my entire life to martial arts. It's been a focus of mine since I was a growing boy, so when I commentate on MMA, I do it with the passion of someone who is 100% a fan. If I had to choose between my job with the UFC and not being a fan anymore, I would for sure just quit working.
Stephie Daniels: When you talk about the judges needing some form of MMA training or experience, would you say that also translates to the referees?
Joe Rogan: Absolutely. No doubt about it.
Stephie Daniels: What do you think of Kim Winslow, and who do you feel the best referees are?
Joe Rogan: Yeah, she should have some martial arts training. She has stood out as someone who has made a lot of mistakes, in my mind. I know that in this last event, there were several people that were upset with her.
Here's the thing about referees. They never get praised, and they always get sh*t on. There's a few guys like Josh Rosenthal and Herb Dean that have really avoided almost all criticism because they're so damned good. You never realize how good they are because they just get the job done. I've always said that Herb Dean is the best, but recently, Josh Rosenthal's reffing has been so rock solid, that he has to be considered as the best, right up there with Herb.
Of course Big John is the gold standard. He was the original great referee. John's made some mistakes, but you know what? John has been around forever. The Matt Lindland vs. Murilo Bustamante fight was a slight mistake John made. Well, I shouldn't say slight, because it could have changed the entire course of the fight. Matt Lindland tapped, and they said he didn't tap. John stopped the fight, then he restarted it, and then Lindland got him. That's gonna happen. John was setting the standards. It wasn't like he had someone to imitate. It was a completely new sport, and John was there every single step of the way.
Those are the three guys right there. If you ever had a main event, and those three guys were the refs, you could not go wrong. They're the best there is. They're awesome.
and there you have it, the comedian and commentator is also the greatest voice of reason in the mma world, joe been doing a few more mma related podcasts lately the chael sonnen one was hilarious and the faber podcast was good too oh and he had rousey on there a few months back, joe rogan experience podcast check it out.
He is right about boxing for MMA being a completely different thing. The Gloves make a huge difference. That is another reason why we see so less temple/side of the head Ko's in boxing, than we do in mma.
The gloves are like little shields and if you get a good defense you can almost avoid any damage at all.
Boxing for mma is a personal passion of mine.
As far as just saying kickboxing or muay thai> boxing is an opinion not a fact.
You do need to be more diverse, but you will not get the level of hands in either of those that you will in boxing, it is best to take them both.
You'll be lighting up the MT guys with your hand and kicking the shit out of the boxers.
He is right about boxing for MMA being a completely different thing. The Gloves make a huge difference. That is another reason why we see so less temple/side of the head Ko's in boxing, than we do in mma.
The gloves are like little shields and if you get a good defense you can almost avoid any damage at all.
Boxing for mma is a personal passion of mine.
As far as just saying kickboxing or muay thai> boxing is an opinion not a fact.
You do need to be more diverse, but you will not get the level of hands in either of those that you will in boxing, it is best to take them both.
You'll be lighting up the MT guys with your hand and kicking the shit out of the boxers.
Also kicking is another way to get taken down.
I think there has to be a distinction between boxing for mma and traditional boxing (which you've done, but I'd like to expand on it). Boxing actually works a lot better in mma then it does in kickboxing, but at the same time you need to at least understand how to defend kicks as a boxer in mma.
In boxing, their is a lot more leaning, which leaves guys open to head kicks and puts them off balance for takedowns. Also, mma boxing has a very different clinch. The clinch in boxing is very awkward and mostly a stalling tactic, some guys like Bernard Hopkins are really good at bending the rules and landing short punches while clinching, but it's nothing like the KO punches that we've seen like in Carwin/Mir or Leben/Wanderlei.
I love mma boxing too, and I agree with you that guys need to have both significant boxing and muay thai training, and they should not lump it together. Anderson Silva is a perfect example, once he became a really good boxer it really started to show, perfect example being the Forrest Griffin fight. It was amazing seeing a guy box at the level of like RJJ or James Toney in the octagon.
I think there has to be a distinction between boxing for mma and traditional boxing (which you've done, but I'd like to expand on it). Boxing actually works a lot better in mma then it does in kickboxing, but at the same time you need to at least understand how to defend kicks as a boxer in mma.
In boxing, their is a lot more leaning, which leaves guys open to head kicks and puts them off balance for takedowns. Also, mma boxing has a very different clinch. The clinch in boxing is very awkward and mostly a stalling tactic, some guys like Bernard Hopkins are really good at bending the rules and landing short punches while clinching, but it's nothing like the KO punches that we've seen like in Carwin/Mir or Leben/Wanderlei.
I love mma boxing too, and I agree with you that guys need to have both significant boxing and muay thai training, and they should not lump it together. Anderson Silva is a perfect example, once he became a really good boxer it really started to show, perfect example being the Forrest Griffin fight. It was amazing seeing a guy box at the level of like RJJ or James Toney in the octagon.
Yes, in mma for a fight like say JDS vs. AO, it isnt simply a boxer vs kickboxers. JDS knows how to defend kicks. He clearly isnt the kickboxer that AO is, but has far superior hand and would know how to deal with AO's kickboxing game(imo of course) too bad that fight never happened.
Never try shoulder rolling in mma, unless it is a last resort, just to take a little sting off the punches. In boxing you can take a ton of hits to the side of the head, but in mma, it can be just as dangerous as the chin, the glove hit acts very different for some reason. I think it has to do about how the power is dispersed into a more controlled, smaller point in mma.
The scary thing about AS is that he could very possibly have the best boxing and Muay thai skill in all of mma, at the same time. Its not to say he cant get caught. He clearly has tremendous gifts like accuracy, coordination, etc.... that help him out... but his technical boxing and mt are second to none in mma.
Joe Rogan makes one of the best, but also the worst commentaries I've ever heard in MMA, so I really don't know how to feel about this guy. What I know is that I prefer Bass Ruten over this UFC monkey all the way.
joe gets too much hate on here. i dont always agree with him (that's human nature), but i always respect what he has to say. when i first started watching mma, he basically taught me all i needed to know.
Yes, in mma for a fight like say JDS vs. AO, it isnt simply a boxer vs kickboxers. JDS knows how to defend kicks. He clearly isnt the kickboxer that AO is, but has far superior hand and would know how to deal with AO's kickboxing game(imo of course) too bad that fight never happened.
Never try shoulder rolling in mma, unless it is a last resort, just to take a little sting off the punches. In boxing you can take a ton of hits to the side of the head, but in mma, it can be just as dangerous as the chin, the glove hit acts very different for some reason. I think it has to do about how the power is dispersed into a more controlled, smaller point in mma.
The scary thing about AS is that he could very possibly have the best boxing and Muay thai skill in all of mma, at the same time. Its not to say he cant get caught. He clearly has tremendous gifts like accuracy, coordination, etc.... that help him out... but his technical boxing and mt are second to none in mma.
I still think AO is the best test for JDS right now, but I also think it has a lot to do with AO having a lot of unnatural power. JDS' hands look a lot better then AO's, not really sure how that fight would go.
Talking about guys using the shoulder roll in MMA, there's a young fighter in Bellator who used it perfectly not that long ago, might have seen the fight. The guy is Mike Richman, wrestling base but has developed into a sick MMA boxer.
I feel like the shoulder roll has it's place in MMA if its used offensively for fast counters.
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Originally Posted by carbondioxide830
joe gets too much hate on here. i dont always agree with him (that's human nature), but i always respect what he has to say. when i first started watching mma, he basically taught me all i needed to know.
100% agree. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on this board, but too often they think disagreement means that the other person is wrong and stupid. Rogan speaks his mind, and I think that is mainly what he gets shit for. I've been a fan of his for years, he's a really smart guy who is always trying to improve his mind and learn, and he's the first guy to say when he's wrong. He puts in 100% effort into his commentating.
I watch old fights all the time and while I would have agreed with people that Bas Rutten was the best commentator a few years ago, I think Rogan has worked really hard at it and has surpassed him. Clearly he's not perfect, but when he's on he's awesome.
One On One With UFC Commentator Extraordinaire Joe Rogan 
) too bad that fight never happened. 
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