Joe Rogan satt just intill när kommentatorn Stephen A. Smith gav hård kritik mot Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone vid dennes TKO-förlust mot Conor McGregor vid UFC 246 förra helgen. Smith sade då följande när ’Cowboy’ avslutades efter endast 40 sekunder och förlorade för tredje gången i rad mot en toppfighter.:
I’m quite disgusted
Here’s the deal: 15 seconds in, ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was done. He got hit with those shoulders in the clinch, and he was done. It look like he gave up. It was just an atrocious performance on his part.
Smith återupprepade sedan sin kritik efter matchen i ESPN+ post-fight show.
Smith hade uppenbart gjort Rogan illa till mods redan där och då och efter ett par dagar valde den populäre kommentatorn att kritisera Smith i sin populära podcast The Joe Rogan Experience. Han sade då följande till forne UFC-fightern Josh Thomson:
(Daniel Cormier) and I would’ve had a completely different conversation and it would’ve been better for the sport. There’s no positive in downplaying the career of Donald Cerrone and what he can do as a fighter. What that showed to me is how phenomenal Conor performed. That’s what it showed to me. If either you or I was talking about cricket, and we were on TV doing commentary on cricket, we would look out of place. It would be (expletive) up and real cricket fans would be upset at us. That’s nothing. You are naked in the most literal sense of the word (in MMA). Physically, you are naked. Emotionally, when fighters lose, it’s (expletive) devastating.
For Conor to smash ‘Cowboy’ like that in front of his wife, his kid, his grandma and the whole world. You’ve got to have some respect for that man, and this sport demands a different perspective. It’s not the same thing as a ball going into a hoop. It’s not the same thing as crossing a line with a football. It’s different. It’s very intense and very personal, and it’s also very (expletive) dangerous and to play it off like it’s just a game, I don’t agree with it.
UFC 246 var inte första gången Smith representerade UFC vid en sändning. Rogan säger att han förstår varför Smith är respekterad och varför ESPN ser honom som en tillgång inom sportbevakning. Han anser dock inte att Smiths agerande gynnar MMA som sport:
That’s a bad look for everybody. It’s a bad look for ESPN, it’s a bad look for him, it’s a bad look for the sport. There’s other people that can do this. … We have plenty of people out there who understand the sport. There’s plenty of them. But the thing about him is he’s really popular. (He just got a contract extension) because his personality is so fun. He’s a fun guy to watch and people love (expletive)-talking and they love people arguing about (expletive) and one person is better at arguing. Stephen A. Smith is really good at that stuff. But it’s not the place for MMA. It’s just not the place. It’s not the same thing.
Rogan var dock tydlig med att han fortfarande anser att Smith är en underhållande kommentator men att han blivit motiverad att vara extra hård i sin kritik genom sin karriär för att bjuda på mer underhållning:
There’s a lot of currency in being Stephen A. Smith. He’s really entertaining. That (expletive)-talking that he does, he’s a guy that’s fun to watch. He talks a lot of (expletive) and he gets real loud and everyone disagrees with him. Look, it’s made him a fantastic career. He carries that over to MMA – I think it’s a bad idea.
Joe Rogan har medverkat i UFC-event sedan 1997.
