Does Joe Rogan Own the UFC? Everything You Need to Know About the UFC’s Favorite Color Commentator’s Contribution to the Company

Despite being a non-fighter, the amount of fame that the UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, boasts may be called unmatchable. He is easily more popular than a number of noted fighters as well. Although much of this fame comes from his multi-directional works, the 55-year-old is also one of the most tenured figures in the UFC. There are a lot of fans who don’t find the UFC events equally interesting without Rogan’s value-added commentary.

Being one of the most noted faces of the promotion, Rogan has often sparked questions in his fan’s minds about boasting ownership rights in the UFC. Large enterprises often have multiple ownerships. Hence, despite knowing that ‘Endeavor’ currently holds the majority of UFC shares, some fans have been curious to know whether Rogan is also a co-owner of the UFC or not.

Does Joe Rogan own the UFC?

The answer to this question may be given in just a word. It’s ‘No’. Even though Rogan was undoubtedly one of the most tenured persons in the organization, he decided to stay content with just commentator duties in the promotion.

After joining as a backstage interviewer, Rogan had to leave the UFC due to poor income. His first tenure in the UFC was only one and a half years long. However, he returned to the UFC after a span of a few years. He was also handed over a lot more responsibility by the UFC boss, Dana White, this time. But, it may be said that Rogan never had the interest to venture into the ownership aspect of the UFC.

It’s true that nobody can predict the future. But as of now, Joe Rogan just serves as the post-fight interviewer and color commentator of the promotion.

Who currently owns the UFC?

Since its inauguration, the UFC has gone through quite a few ownership changes. It was initially founded by businessman  Art Davie and the noted Brazilian martial artist Rorion Gracie. After taking sponsorship from the SEG for quite a few years, the majority of rights to the UFC were acquired by ‘Zuffa’ and Dana White was appointed as the president.

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A lot of fans might agree that it was in the Zuffa era when the UFC gained the most popularity as an MMA promotion. After continuing till 2016, ‘Zuffa’ sold off their UFC shares to the Ari Emanuel-headed company, ‘Endeavor’ for $4 billion. It’s pertinent to note that since then, ‘Endeavor’ holds the majority of UFC’s shares to date.

How much money does the UFC pay Joe Rogan as a salary?

A number of fans have raised this question numerous times. However, a lot of them might already know Rogan is contracted to the UFC only for their US-based pay-per-view events. In a 2020 interview, the UFC president, Dana White revealed, “Well, what we do is we have, you know, like Joe Rogan is contracted to do pay-per-view events. He doesn’t do all the events he used to do.”

Hence, it’s understandable that Rogan, alike the UFC fighters, also receives his salary per fight. Reportedly, the former ‘Fear Factor host’ receives an amount of $50,000 for commentating on a single UFC pay-per-view. It has also been reported that the noted podcaster’ had touched a figure of $550,000 from his UFC income in one of the calendar years.

How did Joe Rogan get into the UFC?

Rogan himself revealed the answer to this in one of the latest episodes of his noted podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’. he was joined by the famed CEO of Hennessey Performance Engineering, John Hennessey in the episode. It was Hennessey who wanted to dig into how Rogan got into the UFC.

A lot of fans might be taken aback after knowing that Rogan had been into the UFC even before the current UFC boss, Dana White. He answered Hennessey’s question stating, “Campbell McLaren who’s one of the producers of the UFC, he was a good friend of my manager. And they were just having a conversation. He was randomly talking to him like, ‘I gotta hire a new guy to do interviews’. My manager said, ‘Joe is obsessed, like he watches them all. He’s obsessed with it. Maybe, he’ll do it’.”

READ MORE: Everything You Need to Know About the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast

That’s how Rogan got into the UFC. This might be the story of his entry into the UFC but his first tenure in the promotion continued only for one and a half years. Rogan also described that he returned to the UFC after ‘Zuffa’s’ takeover.

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The Fertitta Brothers of Zuffa and Dana White might have been impressed by Joe Rogan’s previous work in the UFC which is why they called him back and also handed him a few other roles. Rogan’s bonding with the UFC has been quite unbreakable since then.

Joe Rogan’s business ventures

Apart from his multi-directional works, Rogan apparently also knows how to invest his money in profitable ventures. The ‘JRE host’ is also involved in a few businesses. They are:

• ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ Podcast
• Co-founder of the supplements and Fitness Company, ‘Onnit’

While ‘JRE’ continues to be Rogan’s primary source of income. The ‘former martial artist’ also earned lucrative amounts from his ‘Onnit’ venture. Would you like to see Joe Rogan as one of the co-owners of the UFC in the future? How do you think he might contribute to the development of the promotion?