Dana White may be the face of the UFC, the man who, alongside the Fertitta brothers, transformed a struggling promotion into a multi-billion-dollar empire. But there’s another key figure who has played an equally crucial role in shaping the UFC we know today—Joe Rogan. As the voice of the Octagon for over two decades, Rogan’s electrifying commentary and deep knowledge of MMA have made him a fan favorite. But what if Rogan had his eyes set on more than just being the best color commentator in the game?

In a recent episode of his podcast, Rogan revealed some surprising ideas he would implement if *he* were running the show at the UFC. And spoiler alert—it’s not just about calling the fights. First on his hit list? The infamous UFC gloves. Rogan didn’t hold back, pointing out the flaws in the design and how they could be tweaked to reduce eye pokes and improve fighter safety.

But that’s just the start. With Rogan’s decades of experience inside and outside the Octagon, you can bet his list doesn’t stop at gloves. So, what other changes would Rogan bring to the UFC if he were the head honcho? Buckle up—because if Joe Rogan ever took the reins, the UFC might look a lot different than it does today. Let’s dive into the changes the commentary king would make!

If Joe Rogan was the UFC boss, these would be the rules

While speaking to newly crowned welterweight king Belal Muhammad in JRE episode 162, Rogan started explaining the rules he would change around the UFC world. He was pretty precise with the changes he wanted to see and his qualms started with the new gloves. He stated that firstly he would change the current gloves to have finger padding and explained the reason. Rogan said, “If I was running things this is what I’d do number one. The first thing I would do is cover the fingertips. Why are the fingertips open they don’t have to be open. All you need is the same UFC gloves right now and extend the lever like a mitten over the fingertips of the front fingers and pull it back in.” According to the million-dollar podcaster, the finger covering would not hamper any grappling and they could also prevent eye pokes while fighting.

There have been many past instances where UFC had to stop a fight midway because of an eye poke and it ended disastrously. Justin Gaethje knows this pain very well because he was on the receiving end of many eye pokes from Max Holloway during their bout fight at UFC 300. So this idea by Rogan does not seem that illogical.

He would also make a rule where each round would not start in square one. This means that the fighters would commence the second or third rounds according to the position they ended in. If the fighters were on the ground, they would start the next round from that same position rather than standing up on their feet again. He stated, “It’s not five fights, it’s one fight.” He also, mentioned that a “giant” matted cage was needed and a danger zone would also be there which would cost points. Rogan had pretty detailed and solid goals for UFC but will the UFC supremo even adhere to these?

Meanwhile, ‘Remember The Name’ was pretty astonished about the whole thing and had immense attention while listening to it. Now coming back to the gloves aspect, this is not the first time that Rogan has spoken about the new version of the gloves. Let’s take a look at the opinions he has about the revamped gloves.

Joe Rogan criticizes the new gloves

Rogan and Khalil Rountree were speaking about the new gloves at UFC that were launched recently on Episode 161. This brought the color commentator the chance to talk about his pet peeves. Rountree admitted that the new gloves were not much different and did not do anything special to improve the game.  The comedian said, that the easiest way to prevent eye pokes was to have gloves with covered fingertips like mitts.

“The other thing that they need to do and I think this could be done, is cover the tips of the fingers. There’s no reason why these fingers need to be exposed… I don’t get it when they said they were going to have new gloves, they seem similar to [the old gloves to] me. Trevor Whitman in my opinion has the best gloves: the Onx,” Rogan told Rountree. Well, the thing is, UFC did have a talk with Wittman for the gloves but desired a whole ownership of the design but Wittman wanted his trademark. 

He also said that UFC had some negotiations with Wittman but he wanted more money which was not acceptable to the promotion. So after a lot of back and forth, the deal was dropped.  According to Rogan, the Trevor Whitman gloves are the best version. Do you think the same? Tell us in the comments below.