When Joe Rogan Almost Fought With Actor Wesley Snipes Inside the Octagon at UFC

The UFC has been responsible for some of the biggest matchups to date. It has also discovered some of the biggest talents like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, and many more. The leading promotion, however, was about to do something highly unusual years ago. UFC commentator Joe Rogan and Wesley Snipes had a potential fight on the line.

A celebrity fight in the octagon would have been big. Snipes first chose to fight against Jean-Claude Van Damme- a movie star and martial artist. But the UFC wanted him to fight their own commentator instead.

Rogan explained (h/t Talk Sport), “[Former UFC producer Campbell McLaren] is like ‘nobody’s gonna pay to see you and Jean-Claude Van Damme fight. You have to fight someone who was ‘current.” And that’s how Rogan came into the picture.

Rogan, too, was keen to be a part of something this huge. However, it would have had to happen before December 2010 because Snipes was entangled in a tax evasion issue.

In an older episode of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’, Rogan spoke about how the fight was almost about to happen. He said, “We had lawyers. We had signed contracts, or we had negotiated contracts.”

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While both the personalities have a background in martial arts, they have never been in professional fights. However, Joe Rogan was confident of winning the fight because he is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

“I just didn’t think that anybody who didn’t know any jiu-jitsu could learn it quick. I was already a brown belt by then, and I just knew what happened when a brown belt fights a white belt.”

The fight, unfortunately, didn’t take place. It would have definitely attracted a lot of audiences.

Joe Rogan: His martial arts background

The UFC color commentator is also trained in a trained martial artist. He did not fight professionally because of the risk of injuries. But even though he is in his 50s currently, he can be seen training regularly and is in great shape.

His career as a podcaster, UFC commentator, and comedian has won him a large chunk of fans. He will be seen commentating at UFC 271 alongside Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik. The event takes place on February 12, at Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas.

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