By Chamatkar Sandhu
Joe Rogan got some criticism from UFC fans following his commentary last weekend for UFC 171. Of note his comments regarding Hector Lombard’s performance and also his pick for the next contender at welterweight, Rory MacDonald (followed by a timely video package of Rory) where the main points fans raised. In typical Joe Rogan style he took to the UG to provide a statement of sorts:
Instead of posting in the many post UFC threads that people make complaining about me after an event I thought it might serve the spirit of discussion better if I start my own.
The main complaint I’ve heard about last night was that I didn’t give Lombard enough credit. I LOVE that dude. He’s scary as fuck, and when he’s blitzkrieging you he’s one of the most frightening motherfuckers on earth. That said, I think he only did enough to win on a night where he should have been trying to sell himself as a guy we want to see challenge for the title. He was clearly winning the fight, but his own corner was screaming at him to fight during the last round. Winning is certainly the most important thing for a fighter, and he certainly did that. No one has ever handled Jake the way Hector did. His judo was a thing of beauty. I just think he coasted too much in an important showcase fight.
Picking Rory over the other contenders to challenge for the title next was another complaint. The production had a list of fighters that are listed in the top contenders that they wanted me to pick one guy to challenge the title after the end of the event. It’s only my opinion and it certainly doesn’t mean that fighter will get the next shot. The reason I went with Rory is what I stated: I thought Woodley looked awesome, but the reality is Carlos blew his knee out on the take down and then it gave out when Tyron kicked him. Tyron was really impressive in the opening of the 1st with his insane speed and ability to close the distance and I would LOVE to see him fight anyone. For the title or not. The guy is a stud. It was just my opinion given the information in front of me after that event that if I had to choose one guy I would have to go wih Rory.
No one asked me to choose Rory, no one pressured me in any way or influenced me in any way. It’s just my opinion. I would love to see Dong Hyun Kim in the mix as well. They didn’t have him on the short list of guys, but I would like to see him fight any of the people I just mentioned, for the title or not. Matt Brown is another guy in the mix. He hurt his back recently, but I’m hoping he can heal up and get back in the running.
Anyway, I want to say I always appreciate the feedback from you guys because you motherfuckers are the real hard core fans and I’m one of you. I value your opinion as a whole very much. We might not all agree on certain things but I think that the one thing we all have in common here for the most part is that we’re all hard core MMA fans and I feel it is a great honor to have the privelige of repersenting us. The feedback from fans and especially the feedback from this forum in particular has made me a much better commentator, and positive or negative I appreciate it very much.
Also an interesting little tidbit, someone said I seemed “off” at the weigh ins, and there’s kind of a funny story to that. There was some sort of an audio glitch and for the first half of the weigh ins there was the spanish broadcast blaring in my ear and the production truck couldn’t talk to me. No one could figure out what was going on either. It’s weird enough to try to talk when people speaking your own language are talking in your ear, but it’s extra fucked to try to talk when you’re hearing Spanish and you’re speaking English. So if I looked confused, that’s what was up.
Following this statement Tyron Woodley then conducted an interview with Ray Thompson of MMA Mental and during the interview heavily criticised Rogan’s commentary:
“It’s almost like they’re punishing you for training hard. They’re punishing you for being physically fit. I think Joe Rogan is horrendous for his commentary that he did for that fight. Everything was, ‘Oh, Tyron threw a hard bomb but Carlos took it. He’s got such a great chin. Oh, Tyron has a takedown. Look at Carlos. He’s doing the mission impossible guard [mission control].’ Everything that I did he was leaning it towards the credit of Carlos Condit.”
“I think sometimes when you watch a fight and you listen to the commentary you can kind of veer the spectators, and hopefully not the UFC, in directions it shouldn’t be going.”
“I was not wincing. I was not in any harm or any danger at any point in the fight. My cardio felt great and it was even in my game plan to increase the level in the third round. I wasn’t even at full speed. People say, ‘He started off hard! He started off in a full sprint!’ I didn’t even start off in a full sprint. If they think that’s a full sprint for me, then I’m happy with it because they haven’t seen a full sprint yet.”
Follow me on Twitter @ChamatkarSandhu
