From a decade-long banter with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson to famously telling “shut up” to Conor McGregor, Joe Rogan has found himself in the line of fire more than once during his storied UFC career. Whether it’s due to his antics, offhand remarks, or the occasional miscommunication, the outspoken podcaster has never been one to shy away from controversy. Having been with the promotion since the 1990s, Rogan’s journey has been anything but dull — and trust me, some of these moments are nothing short of fascinating.
Want to know what the biggest controversies that Joe Rogan had with the fighters are? Buckle up because we’re diving into the wildest beefs that have surrounded the voice of the Octagon!
Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
Oh boy, the Rampage Jackson-Joe Rogan beef was a long one, which started back in 2011, and it went on for a decade before the UFC stalwarts quashed it. So how did the beef start? It all kicked off when the former UFC light-heavyweight champion took notice of Joe Rogan’s commentary against him. ‘Rampage’ accused the host of clear bias towards jiu-jitsu specialists.
What did Rogan say? Well, the podcaster accused ‘Rampage’ Jackson of not checking leg kicks which in turn hampered his gameplay. While the podcaster insisted his analysis was purely objective — meant to educate viewers on how fighters could sharpen their strategies — Jackson wasn’t buying it. He claimed Rogan’s critiques unfairly zeroed in on his kicks and footwork, fueling a heated clash of perspectives. When asked about his relationship with Rogan, Jackson stated, “Joe and I, we’ve always been cool, but then after a couple of fights in the UFC, he noticed that I wasn’t checking leg kicks and that I wasn’t throwing a lot of leg kicks so he got real voice about it.”
What’s the conclusion of their beef? Well, ‘Rampage’ Jackson was invited as a guest at Joe Rogan’s “JRE MMA Show 159” last year, and in that conversation, both of them apologized to each other for their prolonged beef: “You didn’t hurt my feelings. It was nothing that you said. I’m gonna clear that up for you right now. It wasn’t nothing you said; it’s the f—– fans. When you said that, they all came to me on my social media. So, I explain it to you this way,” said Jackson. Well, now that we know about the Jackson-Rogan beef, let us move to the one and only ‘Mystic Mac.’
Conor McGregor
What if we told you that acting is harder than MMA? Sounds unbelievable, right? Well, that’s exactly what Conor McGregor claimed while promoting his movie ‘Road House.’ While promoting his movie alongside his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal, the former UFC champ was asked about his experience in acting and how different it is from his MMA career, to which McGregor gave a rather controversial answer: “Acting [is harder].”
He further added, “Time, time, time consumption, and it’s not just action and fighting and stunts, it’s also remembering the line, and you have to time things correctly, you’re engaging with another person. It’s just a difficult game, a lot more difficult than I gave it credit for.” Joe Rogan, while conversing on his podcast, responded to McGregor’s statement by adding, “Listen to me, that’s not true.”
UFC 264, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA 10/7/2021 Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor Conor McGregor before the fight Conor McGregor before the fight 10/7/2021 PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUKxIRLxFRAxNZL Copyright: x INPHO/TomxHoganx UFC264_516_Hoganphotos
“That’s not true, even for him. Act in Road House or fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov] again? Shut the f*** up, that’s crazy talk, it’s crazy talk. He broke his f****** leg in a fight. That’s harder. That’s way harder than f****** acting.” Rogan knows a thing or two about professional fighting to call spades on Conor McGregor’s words. The former dual-weight champion never actually responded to it, however, we all know that it was just a promotion gimmick. Let us move on to another controversy.
Sijara Eubanks
Do you remember Sijara Eubanks, the aspiring flyweight who was initially set to fight Valentina Shevchenko for the flyweight title at UFC 230? The matchup was eventually scrapped following significant backlash from the MMA community. Interestingly, Eubanks also had a feud with Joe Rogan. So, what was the issue about? Well, the UFC commentator, in one of his statements stated that he didn’t know who Eubanks was.
Joe Rogan unknowingly triggered the fighter, however, the bad blood was later quashed by both of them. Eubanks, in a statement, asserted that Joe Rogan apologized to her: “Joe, he calls a lot of fights. I’m going to fight a lot of fights. So, we squashed our beef, per se, but I like Joe. He came up to me, he said something, said he wanted to say something to me in private – said he didn’t mean any disrespect by it. I was like, ‘Well, you know I’ve got to talk a little smack,’ and at the end of it, I told him he does have some crazy fans.”
Well, their banter was a misunderstanding rather than bad blood. Regardless, for the last one, we will be moving toward ‘Thug Nasty’ Bryce Mitchell.
Bryce Mitchell
A classic debate with a flat-earther. Well, that’s pretty much what happened between Joe Rogan and Bruce Mitchell. The outspoken featherweight believes that the world is a flat disc, and when he got fact-checked by the podcaster, he lambasted Rogan for spreading misinformation and ignoring the reality.
Bryce Mitchell challenged Joe Rogan to a flat Earth debate (I edited the original clip for time) pic.twitter.com/ugraYmIEgB
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) October 18, 2022
Joe Rogan remained silent on the hubbub as he knew he would gain nothing by arguing with Mitchell. ‘Thug Nasty’ even went as far as to challenge him for a debate. In the end, the Arkansas native apologized to the podcaster for his comments, “I called you stupid before because of something that you said and you know that you’re not stupid. I know you’re not stupid and I wanted to apologize to your face like a man and tell you I love you. There’s only one person that’s gonna make America great again and that’s Jesus Christ,” said Mitchell at UFC 310 after defeating Kron Gracie.
Apart from these, the podcaster had other incidents where he had beef with other people as well. Given that, what are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your thoughts in the comments below.
The post Every UFC Fighter That Joe Rogan Has Had Beef With appeared first on EssentiallySports.
