Joe Rogan dropped the ball at UFC 214 in a big way, but he’s man enough to own up to it…
UFC 214 had it all. On paper it was one of the best cards of the year, and the event delivered with a tremendous evening of action. Although Tyron Woodley vs. Demian Maia was a snoozer, the rest of the card popped.
Featured in the main event was the long-awaited rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. With a rivalry stretching back years, circumstance had got in the way of their second showing for some time.
When all was said and done, Jones won by knockout. But why is Joe Rogan coming under fire?
Rogan’s Post Fight Interview Caused Controversy
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has spoken often about interviewing fighters who had been knocked out. After chatting to a dazed Alistair Overeem after he was KO’d by Stipe Miocic, Rogan vowed never to interview a KO’d fighter again.
Cormier’s words:
“I don’t know, man, I thought the fight was going well, I don’t even know what happened,” he said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “I got kicked in the head. Oh, man, that’s so disappointing. I don’t know, man. I guess if he wins both fights then there is no rivalry. So I don’t know.”
There was quite the backlash after Rogan interviewed a clearly shattered and dizzy Cormier, even admitting mid-interview he didn’t want to shed light on KO’d fighters. Rogan released a statement on the mistake he made at UFC 214, you can read it below:
Rogan Apologises
My apologies to D.C. And to everyone else upset at me for interviewing him after the fight. In all honestly I was kind of in shock and I don’t think I realized what I was doing until I had a mic in my hand and I was talking to him.
I’ve said that I don’t want to interview fighters after they’ve been KO’ed and then I did it to someone that I care a great deal about. It was 100% my fuck up and no one pressured me to do it.
I posted a series of tweets about it on twitter but I know some of you folks only use instagram or Facebook so I thought the right thing to do is post it here as well.
I was beating myself up about it all night, and whenever something like that happens it’s always my sincere intention to apologize and express my honest feelings. It’ll never happen again.
Even Rogan’s apology had some of his followers upset. As is always the way with social media, you can’t please everybody. Rogan’s hasty interview with Cormier can be chalked up to his belief that DC was possibly going to announce his retirement.
Cormier’s future is yet to be decided, but Jones looks to be heading towards a superfight. An ongoing dialogue with Brock Lesnar could lead to an unexpected yet huge collision down the road.
