This past Friday, UFC lead commentator and longtime comedian, Joe Rogan sat down with me for an in-depth interview to recap some of the year’s big news stories. That interview will soon be available in both audio and written format in a few days, however, I have taken the liberty to transcribe one of the questions regarding some comments he made about Invicta featherweight champion, Cris Cyborg, during a recent JRE podcast with featured guests Dana White and Tony Hinchcliffe. In the days following the episode, Cyborg took to social media to make her feelings known about the jokes aimed at her.
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During my interview with Joe, I asked him to discuss the situation. He detailed how the conversation went down and took full responsibility for the comments made, and issued an apology to Cris. This is a direct translation of that portion of the interview:
Stephie Haynes: In one of your current podcasts, you made a joke about Cris Cyborg that ended up causing quite a wave of discontent and concern from both her and many fans of the sport. For those that don’t know, can you explain how that conversation happened and if you have any regrets about the things you said?
Joe Rogan: Well, if I had to do it again, I definitely wouldn’t have made the joke. It was in the context of Dana [White] asking about roasting fighters, like he wanted to do a thing for Fight Pass. It’s one of the reasons why I said he should do it with Tony Hinchcliffe, because Tony is hilarious and he’s one of the best roast writers and roast performers in the country. We had a couple drinks and we were joking around about it, and I said, ‘You should roast Cyborg.’ Dana said, ‘I wouldn’t know where you would start,’ or something like that, ‘Where would you start?’, and I said, ‘Her dick.’
I shouldn’t have said it, but it’s what you say if you’re hanging around with comedians, you know? It’s what we do. Plus, I had a couple of drinks. It was just a dumb thing to do, and I certainly didn’t mean it with any malice. I honestly didn’t. Then Tony elaborated on it and went even deeper with it. That’s what you do in a roast. She didn’t ask to be roasted, and it’s not her fault, but it was in the context of what we were doing. Still, I shouldn’t have done it, I shouldn’t have said it. I do feel bad about it, because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Honestly, steroid allegations aside and all that other nonsense, I’m a fan of her as a fighter. I think she fights very well. She’s very tough and she’s fun to watch. I’ve said that before, and I’ve said it recently in a podcast with John Wayne Parr. We were talking about her fight with Jorina Baars, and I said it was a ballsy move for her to take that fight. Even though she lost that fight, she fought hard. She kept coming after Baars and she did very well.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to start any static with her or anything like that, so I hope she accepts my apology. It’s my fault and I take full responsibility.
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