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via Imago
Credits: Imago
![](https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/imago1026843248h.jpg?width=600)
via Imago
Credits: Imago
The status of longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan is unequivocally clear in MMA’s biggest promotion. He’s up there among the most popular UFC faces like Dana White and Bruce Buffer. The UFC CEO’s respect runs so deep for him that in a recent interview, White claimed that he’s ready to leave UFC should anything wrong happen to Rogan.
After his podcast gained mainstream credibility, Joe Rogan has often found himself wrapped in controversies. Why? Well, that’s because of instances where he used a racial slur, and his discussion on COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. However, Dana White seems to have Rogan’s back, and he revealed his undying support for the commentator-comedian-podcaster during his recent appearance on Andrew Schulz‘s ‘Flagrant.’
No Dana White in the UFC without Joe Rogan
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Unlike fighters and promoters, not many people would come out to be advocates for MMA due to its controversial past. The sport was vilified by the media during the 90s and early 2000s. However, Joe Rogan would come out to spread the proper knowledge about this sport, which he showcased when he debated with boxing promoter Lou DiBella, claiming that MMA is the most complete form of combat sport. The fact that Rogan’s been able to educate people with his martial arts knowledge as a commentator for the UFC is something that Dana White seems to admire the most about the 56-year-old.
“The thing that I loved about Joe Rogan was when you were sitting there and watching Joe Rogan on TV and he was on the mic, he wasn’t one of these HBO f***ing goofball talking f***ing heads that were being paid,” Dana White told Andrew Schulz and Co. The 54-year-old would continue talking about how he loves it when Joe Rogan shows how much he loves the sport, validating the work that the promoter put in to make this sport even bigger than before while a strong bond developed between the two figures.
“You felt that this dude not only knew what he’s talking about but loved what this is about, and that began the relationship between me and Joe Rogan that now has been coming up on 20 something years.” Having given us the reasons why he admires Joe Rogan, The UFC CEO would also lay bare his thoughts on what would happen if certain controversies got Joe Rogan canceled. Well, we’ll simply have no Dana White in the promotion that he made, which grew to become a billion-dollar phenomenon.
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“You think you’re gonna f***ing cancel Joe Rogan and I’m gonna just say OK? No, I will f***ing quit this job and leave and go do something else,” stated a determined Dana White. It isn’t surprising to see the UFC CEO claim to leave the UFC should things go haywire for Joe Rogan because not too long ago, the commentator claimed something similar.
If the UFC CEO leaves, the longtime commentator leaves as well
Joe Rogan was very visibly emotional at UFC 300, and why not? He’s been there since 1997, and witnessed the growth of the promotion, being one of the longest-tenured figures in the UFC. He loves the sport, but importantly, loves working under Dana White’s leadership. As such, during a JRE MMA Show in the past with Matt Serra as a guest, Rogan would claim that his contract specifies that he would quit the UFC if, by any chance, White decided to leave this promotion behind.
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“He f***ing loves this sh*t. If he ever, it’s in my contract that if he ever leaves, I leave. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do this for anyone else,'” said Joe Rogan. It is evident that the years of working together, getting through people casting doubts on MMA as a sport, and becoming part of arguably the biggest thing all of combat sports has made Dana White and Joe Rogan inseparable, but not in the way Media personality Sage Steele thought a few months ago.
What do you make of Dana White’s show of loyalty towards Joe Rogan? Drop your comments below.