Joe Rogan was rather blunt during a UFC 203 post-fight wrap-up.
The UFC commentator briefly discussed the event’s results after its conclusion with his partner, Mike Goldberg. For the most part, Rogan spoke about CM Punk’s unsuccessful mixed martial arts debut opposite Mickey Gall.
Rogan, as most do, admires Punk for “taking the chance” by stepping inside the Octagon without any martial arts experience. But he doesn’t believe Punk was even close to Gall’s level and doesn’t agree with the fact that he made his MMA debut under the UFC banner.
“What [Punk] did was great, it was courageous,” Rogan said during the UFC 203 pay-per-view broadcast. “But it was delusional. That’s my feeling. My feeling when I was watching him hit the bag, when I was watching him train, and when I was watching him hit things. It’s not like he can’t ever learn, but there’s a journey as a martial artist, and there’s a path that each martial artist [is] on. And different people are on different paths. There’s a reason brown belts don’t compete with white belts in jiu-jitsu tournaments. It’s because it’s not fair. And what we saw tonight is not fair.
“Mickey Gall’s way better. He’s really good. I watched that kid roll, I watched him take the back when he fought Mike Jackson — he’s really good. And I just think that this is what happens when you take a guy who’s an elite young kid and you have him fight someone’s who a celebrity and wants to challenge himself. It’s not the way to do it.”
Rogan hopes to see Punk gather up some amateur experience before even thinking about stepping inside the Octagon again.
“If I had to give CM Punk some advice — I hate to harp on this — I’d say fight as an amateur,” he said. “Fight people at your level. He wants to do this, he wants to challenge himself, he wants to continue — God bless him. He’s a fun guy. I like him. But this is not the way to do it.”
UFC 203 took place live from the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Saturday evening. In the main event, heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic defended his belt for the first time against Alistair Overeem with a first-round knockout.