UFC Commentator Joe Rogan Reveals Who Was the First ‘High-Level Striker’ in MMA & It’s Not Anderson Silva

Joe Rogan has been with the UFC for over two decades now. While the veteran UFC commentator has guided the fans about various MMA techniques during his tenure in the promotion, one style that needed no explanation was striking. Though fans believed it to be who hits who more, Rogan understood there were more layers to it.

And recently on his renowned podcast – The Joe Rogan Experience, he put some shine on one legend of the sport that held the initial baton for this art.

The Taekwondo & BJJ blackbelt holder admires a complete fighter but absolutely loves specialists. And during his conversation on his $200 million-worth Spotify podcast, he reflected on former heavyweight champion Bas Rutten’s unique striking skills.

Joe Rogan gives props to Bas Rutten’s striking

In a conversation with his friend on the JRE episode #1892 – Sober October 4 Recap, Joe Rogan & guest shared a few stories about random individuals challenging UFC fighters. In one such story, a guy foul-mouthed the UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards; the UFC commentator was alongside the champion, who warned the individual he was making a ‘critical’ mistake.

Afterward, Rogan’s friend brought up a story about Bas Rutten & Brian Urlacher, where Urlacher initially challenged the UFC vet to a fight without knowing his accolades. Subsequently, the 55-year-old said, “He [Bas Rutten] was one of the very first guys that were like a high-level striker that entered into like any sort of mix competition.”

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The 2-decade veteran analyst added, “He was just blasting people with kicks, f***ing peoples’ legs up… He was like an intelligent animal… He was so aggressive. Bas was so aggressive. He had, like, Holland style with vicious power.”

While Rogan has previously praised strikers like Israel Adesanya and Anderson Silva, he made sure to acknowledge ‘El Guapo’ as one of the pioneers of clean striking in MMA as well.

UFC commentator thinks the guy who confronted Bas Rutten was lucky

After highlighting Rutten’s skills, the JRE host said, “For that guy to do that to Bas Rutten, to ask him to go outside with him, would have been one of the most horrendous, disasters… if somebody had video footage of that it would’ve ruined that dudes life.”

While the Dutch-American could have easily handled the situation with a quick choke, luckily though the situation calmed down after Urlacher was given information about Rutten’s roots.

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