“It Was Literally Costing Me Money”: Joe Rogan Recalls the Dire Situation Before Dana White Took Over the UFC

The addition of the noted UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, to UFC 288 might have enthralled a lot of fans. Rogan, who is also a seasoned comedian, a former TV host, and a podcaster, stays unavailable to commentate on the UFC events hosted outside the US. The ’55-year-old’s’ busy schedule leaves him with pretty less time to spare, which even causes him to drop UFC events. Rogan reportedly also spends a lot of time behind his massively popular podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’.

In one of its recent episodes, Rogan was joined by the CEO of Hennessey Performance Engineering, John Hennessey. The duo talked about several issues, including a discussion about how Rogan got into the UFC. A lot of viewers of the episode might agree that Hennessey was pretty much into the JRE host’s story about his UFC entry.

Joe Rogan revealed how he was scouted informally for the job

Rogan iterated how he got into jiu-jitsu in the year 1996. He also revealed that he used to train under the same coach and in the same gym from where the famed UFC veteran, Vitor Belfort, had made his UFC debut.

The co-creator of UFC, Campbell McLaren, was the man in charge of the UFC back then. Rogan also revealed his role in getting him into the promotion. He stated, “He[Campbell McLaren] 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’”.

Rogan described the incident further, stating, “My manager said, ‘Joe is obsessed. Like he watches them all. He’s obsessed with it. Maybe, he’ll do it’”. A number of fans might agree that it was really unexpected for such an informal meeting to result in the entry of one of the most iconic non-fighting figures in the sport.

Some fans might also get shocked after knowing that Rogan had been with the UFC even before Dana White took it over. ‘The JRE host’ also revealed, “I worked for the SEG[initial sponsors of UFC] long before Dana owned it. This was ‎Bob Meyrowitz.”

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Rogan also described his initial journeys for backstage interviews stating, “I’m on this puddle jumper planes flying” to some strange locations. He also stated that he had to go to those strange locations since “it was totally illegal back then”.

Joe Rogan had also left the UFC after his initial tenure of one and a half years

‘The former Fear Factor host’ revealed that his initial tenure with the UFC only lasted for one and a half years. Rogan also revealed that it was a lack of enough income which forced this decision from him. The ’55-year-old’ stated, “There was an event in Japan. I was like I don’t wanna go to Japan. It was literally costing me money”.

Rogan also clarified the reasons exactly why there was a lack of income. But Hennessey got his point first and stated, “And they weren’t making any money so they weren’t paying you any money”. Rogan added, “Exactly, there was no money to be made. It was like half-filled high school auditoriums. There was no one”. He also revealed that he returned to the UFC after the current UFC president, Dana White, took things over.

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Looking at the UFC events today, a lot of recent fans might be taken aback by Rogan’s revelations. But, it’s true that the UFC wasn’t an overnight success. Rogan’s words may be taken as the beginning struggles of the UFC, battling which it has finally got to the position it holds today.