From a decade-long banter with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson to famously telling “shut up” to Conor McGregor, Joe Rogan has found himself in the line of fire more than once during his storied UFC career. Whether it’s due to his antics, offhand remarks, or the occasional miscommunication, the outspoken podcaster has never been one to shy away from controversy. Having been with the promotion since the 1990s, Rogan’s journey has been anything but dull — and trust me, some of these moments are nothing short of fascinating.

Want to know what the biggest controversies that Joe Rogan had with the fighters are?  Buckle up because we’re diving into the wildest beefs that have surrounded the voice of the Octagon!

Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson

Oh boy, the Rampage Jackson-Joe Rogan beef was a long one, which started back in 2011, and it went on for a decade before the UFC stalwarts quashed it. So how did the beef start? It all kicked off when the former UFC light-heavyweight champion took notice of Joe Rogan’s commentary against him. ‘Rampage’ accused the host of clear bias towards jiu-jitsu specialists.

What did Rogan say? Well, the podcaster accused ‘Rampage’ Jackson of not checking leg kicks which in turn hampered his gameplay. While the podcaster insisted his analysis was purely objective — meant to educate viewers on how fighters could sharpen their strategies — Jackson wasn’t buying it. He claimed Rogan’s critiques unfairly zeroed in on his kicks and footwork, fueling a heated clash of perspectives. When asked about his relationship with Rogan, Jackson stated, “Joe and I, we’ve always been cool, but then after a couple of fights in the UFC, he noticed that I wasn’t checking leg kicks and that I wasn’t throwing a lot of leg kicks so he got real voice about it.”

What’s the conclusion of their beef? Well, ‘Rampage’ Jackson was invited as a guest at Joe Rogan’s “JRE MMA Show 159” last year, and in that conversation, both of them apologized to each other for their prolonged beef: “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It was nothing that you said. I’m gonna clear that up for you right now. It wasn’t nothing you said; it’s the f—– fans. When you said that, they all came to me on my social media. So, I explain it to you this way,” said Jackson. Well, now that we know about the Jackson-Rogan beef, let us move to the one and only ‘Mystic Mac.’

Conor McGregor

In their battle at UFC 229, Conor McGregor threw an illegal knee to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s eye socket. After a brief pause in the game, referee Herb Dean chose not to penalize ‘Mystic Mac’ as ‘Eagle’ was not budged. Joe Rogan, at that time called out to him. Years later, Conor McGregor took to his X handle to upload a voice not calling out the podcaster.

“That was an illegal knee on the head of a grounded opponent.’ Shut up, Joe, you little fool. What are you talking about, ‘Smash this and smash that?’ I was smashing my knee into his f—-ing eye socket, yeah? ‘That’s a knee to a grounded opponent; call the cops,'” said Conor McGregor, mocking Joe Rogan.

Did the podcaster react to such mocking? Well, he certainly did in his podcast: “Listen, this is my thing: I think not only should it be legal, I think all knees on the ground should be legal 100%. I think knees to a ground opponent’s head should be legal.  The only problem with that is the cage; it’s the only problem because you can’t move your head out of the way if someone’s got your head pinned against the cage.”

Well, that’s not all. Joe Rogan even accused Conor McGregor of using PEDs to aid his recovery from his broken shin. Rogan suggested that McGregor’s urine “would melt that USADA cup.” Was this the end of their banter? Certanly not as the pocaster even called out the former UFC champ when he made an absurd statement about acting.

Acting is harder than MMA. Sounds unbelievable, right? That’s exactly what Conor McGregor claimed while promoting Road House with co-star Jake Gyllenhaal. When asked about the difference between acting and his MMA career, the former champ gave a bold response: “Acting [is harder].”

“That’s not true, even for him. Act in Road House or fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov] again? Shut the f*** up, that’s crazy talk, it’s crazy talk. He broke his f****** leg in a fight. That’s harder. That’s way harder than f****** acting.” Rogan knows a thing or two about professional fighting to call spades on Conor McGregor’s words. The former dual-weight champion never actually responded to it, however, we all know that it was just a promotion gimmick. Let us move on to another controversy.

Sijara Eubanks

Do you remember Sijara Eubanks, the aspiring flyweight who was initially set to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title at UFC 230? The matchup was eventually scrapped following significant backlash from the MMA community. Interestingly, Eubanks also had a feud with Joe Rogan. So, what was the issue about? Well, the UFC commentator, in one of his statements stated that he didn’t know who Eubanks was.

Joe Rogan unknowingly triggered the fighter, however, the bad blood was later quashed by both of them. Eubanks, in a statement, asserted that Joe Rogan apologized to her: “Joe, he calls a lot of fights. I’m going to fight a lot of fights. So, we squashed our beef, per se, but I like Joe. He came up to me, he said something, said he wanted to say something to me in private – said he didn’t mean any disrespect by it. I was like, ‘Well, you know I’ve got to talk a little smack,’ and at the end of it, I told him he does have some crazy fans.”

Well, their banter was a misunderstanding rather than bad blood. Regardless, for the last one, we will be moving toward ‘Thug Nasty’ Bryce Mitchell.

Bryce Mitchell

A classic debate with a flat-earther. Well, that’s pretty much what happened between Joe Rogan and Bruce Mitchell. The outspoken featherweight believes that the world is a flat disc, and when he got fact-checked by the podcaster, he lambasted Rogan for spreading misinformation and ignoring the reality.

Joe Rogan remained silent on the hubbub as he knew he would gain nothing by arguing with Mitchell. ‘Thug Nasty’ even went as far as to challenge him for a debate.  In the end, the Arkansas native apologized to the podcaster for his comments, “I called you stupid before because of something that you said and you know that you’re not stupid. I know you’re not stupid and I wanted to apologize to your face like a man and tell you I love you. There’s only one person that’s gonna make America great again and that’s Jesus Christ,” said Mitchell at UFC 310 after defeating Kron Gracie.

Apart from these, the podcaster had other incidents where he had beef with other people as well. Given that, what are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your thoughts in the comments below.