“The Problem Is…”: Despite Being a Lifelong Martial Artist, 55-Year-Old Joe Rogan Reveals the Major ‘Downsides’ of Combat Sports

Joe Rogan is an avid enthusiast of combat sports. Having an extensive background in BJJ and taekwondo, Rogan is aware of the dangers that surround combat sports and shared his thoughts regarding it on a recent episode of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’.

Josh Dubin and Bruce Bryan joined Joe Rogan on the #1993 episode of JRE, as the million-dollar podcast nears 2000 episodes. The UFC color commentator always maintained his opinion about the negative side of fighting. In fact, that’s also one of the reasons he stopped competing in fights. He even believes that MMA is much more dangerous than the NFL.

Joe Rogan explains the ‘downsides’ of combat sports

While talking about former boxer Andre Ward‘s struggles in episode #1993, Joe Rogan mentioned how sports helped ‘Son of God’ to develop a great character. He believes that combat sports, in particular, help to instill discipline. Rogan said, “Sports is one of the great ways to do that [Build character], especially combat sports.”

However, he mentioned that there was a negative aspect as well. Rogan stressed the fact that this category of sports takes a toll on fighters who do not get the desired outcome throughout their entire careers. He also mentioned the bodily harm that’s involved in combat sports. The 55-year-old added, “The problem is, there’s also the downside – people who don’t make, people who get brain damage [and] people who get f*cked up… That’s real.”

Rogan’s claim may not be too far away from the truth. After all, there are many athletes who have gone through massive health issues due to their combat careers.

JRE host claims that combat sport is not a definitive choice of career

Joe Rogan further stated that getting into combat sports was not something most people dream about. There are a lot of uncertainties in the path of combat sports. He said, “It’s not a f***ing 100 percent path that you choose combat sports.”

However, there will always be exceptions in every sport. The famous UFC color commentator believes that people should go for combat sports if they are aiming to achieve accolades like Andre Ward, who retired undefeated and even won a title with an injured hand. The 55-year-old said, “But if you choose combat sports and become Andre Ward, that’s an exceptional human being. That’s a guy who won world titles with one arm.”

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The chance of getting injured and mentally drained is not an unusual occurrence in sports, even more so in combat sports. Nevertheless, concerned authorities and governing bodies always aim to take proper measures to reduce the negative aspect as much as they can with the framework they’ve provided.

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