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Joe Rogan will be sitting out of the UFC 289 pay-per-view card this weekend. According to MMA Fighting’s report, the stand-up comedian and long-time color commentator is not going to be sitting alongside Jon Anik and former double champion Daniel Cormier for this weekend’s broadcast. However, the promotion did find a suitable replacement in retired lightweight Paul Felder.
No Joe Rogan, yes Paul Felder
Per the report, there is no clear reason as to why Joe Rogan will not be attending the event as of yet. However, the ‘Irish Dragon’ is no stranger to the commentating booth, having been in that spot several times before for the past years.
As a matter of fact, Felder is usually the one to step in for Joe Rogan when the comedian cannot make it to a card. For instance, the former fighter travelled to Brazil for UFC 283 when the comedian could not make the trip back in January of this year.
While that event took place in Brazil and Joe Rogan has been known to skip cards that take place outside of North America, it is unusual for the comedian to purposefully miss out on a card in the northern side of the continent. Since UFC 289 is taking place in Vancouver, Canada and not in the United States, that may be the reason why the podcaster decided to sit this one out, too.
UFC 289 is the promotion’s first card in Canada since 2019
In fact, UFC 289 marks the promotion’s first trip to Canada since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time a UFC card was held in the country dates back to UFC Fight Night 158, which also took place in Vancouver, in September 2019. At the time, a lightweight bout between Justin Gaethje and Donald Cerrone headlined the event and ended with the ‘Highlight’ beating ‘Cowboy’ via TKO in the first round.
In an interview with Sportsnet, UFC president Dana White even expressed his excitement about returning to the country after almost four years away. Furthermore, the executive even shared his wishes to return to another popular destination for the promotion in the country: Toronto.
“I love Canada. I love that place. I love doing events there,” White said. “I can’t wait to get back to Toronto. As a city, it’s one of my favourites in the world. I love Toronto.”
“I love the people in Canada. Believe it or not, I really like the media there in Canada too,” he added. “There ain’t much about Canada I don’t like. If I had to pick something that I don’t like about Canada, it’d probably be the snow and that’s about it.”
UFC 289 features Amanda Nunes in the main event
Now, the promotion returns to the same city for the sixth time, albeit without Joe Rogan, for UFC 289. The June 10 card is scheduled to be headlined by a women’s bantamweight title fight between the champion Amanda Nunes and challenger Irene Aldana. In the night’s co-main event, former lightweight title-holder Charles Oliveira is set to take on rising contender Beneil Dariush.
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