Joe Rogan wants MMA to make significant changes as the sport continues to garner popularity.
Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan has seen mixed martial arts change dramatically since he first got involved with combat sports broadcasting in the late 1990s. He began his career at a time in which the UFC was struggling badly to get worldwide attention and momentum, until Dana White, Lorenzo, and Frank Fertitta came aboard and stopped the promotion’s drowning.
Since then, the UFC has become the face of MMA and a worldwide juggernaut in combat sports. Many top stars such as Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and Ronda Rousey wouldn’t’ve had the success they had without White and the Fertittas taking a significant leap of faith.
Now that the UFC has proven itself as a multi-billion dollar entity, Rogan wants to see them take another step forward and eliminate one of the sport’s most dangerous aspects.
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Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesJoe Rogan makes a strong case for eliminating weight-cuttingDuring a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan proposed making a dramatic pre-event change.
“I think weight-cutting should be eliminated. I said this to Ari Emanuel [CEO of Endeavor] when they first bought the UFC. I said, ‘Listen man, you know what we should do? Get rid of weight-cutting, just stop it,” Rogan said. “Look, If you can randomly test people for drugs, you can randomly test their weight. Show up with a scale, say. ‘Hey, buddy. Step on the scale, you’re 190 pounds, how the f**k are you making 145?’ Do something like that.
“And come up with more weight classes. There should be a weight class every 10 pounds. This idea of these giant gaps like 185 to 205, that’s a 20-pound gap, that’s huge! That doesn’t exist in boxing. You have giant guys who can’t fight in the UFC because the weight limit is 265.”
Rogan went on to propose another solution to the brutality of weight-cutting.
“It’s just like getting steroids out of fighting. It’s sanctioned cheating,” Rogan said. “Instead of having weight cuts just find out what the champion weighs. Don’t get rid of the championship belts. Find out what does Islam Makhachev weigh. Islam Makhachev is a UFC champion, the best pound-for-pound fighter on Earth. Find out what he weighs. What do you weigh if you were healthy?”
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TJ Dillashaw, Conor McGregor are examples of horrific weight cutsSeveral top UFC legends have spoken about the horrors of weight-cutting in recent years. TJ Dillashaw, who moved down to flyweight to face Henry Cejudo in 2019, is one of the strongest cases against extreme weight-cutting after appearing skeletal at the official weigh-ins.
McGregor, before ascending into a global superstar, made a name for himself in the UFC featherweight division. Now walking around at around 200lbs, his previous cuts to 145lbs had fans and pundits extremely concerned about his health.
If Rogan was handed the keys to the UFC and MMA entirely, the sport would see dramatic changes, including the likely elimination of weight-cutting. But despite his close relationships with White and the rest of the brass, it appears weight-cutting isn’t going away anytime soon.
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Source : BloodyElbow