Joe Rogan made a small slice of history in the aftermath of the UFC 261 co-main event.
The UFC commentator recently broke down in tears while recalling Darren Elkins’ remarkable comeback win over Mirsad Bektic on his podcast.
Fans have become accustomed to Joe Rogan showing off his softer side in recent years.
However, it came as a total shock when he cried after Rose Namajunas knocked out Zhang Weili in April 2021.
Joe Rogan cries during Rose Namajunas interview
Two years earlier, Rose Namajunas dropped the strawweight title in a bizarre slam KO loss to Jessica Andrade, who was then wiped out in 42 seconds in her first title defense against Zhang Weili.
Namajunas bounced back by avenging her defeat to Andrade in a split decision win in July 2020.
It was enough to earn her a crack at Zhang, who was fresh off a Hall of Fame fight with Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
Namajunas upset the odds as she KO’d Zhang with a head kick in just 78 seconds at UFC 261.
The 115lb legend broke down in tears when the UFC belt was wrapped around her waist by Dana White for the second time.
Rogan’s emotions got the better of him, and he started crying for the first time during a UFC interview.
“Rose, there’s special moments in MMA,” he said.
“I feel like I just witnessed a real one.
“You’ve got me crying up here!”
UFC commentator gets emotional revisiting viral moment
In a subsequent episode of his podcast, Rogan cried again as he revisited the UFC 261 co-main event.
The 57-year-old explained why he got so emotional during his post-fight chat with Namajunas.
“They give her the title and then I talk to her about it,” Rogan said.
“And when I’m talking to her, she’s emotional, she’s crying, and I cried.
“I totally cried. This is the first time I ever cried during an interview.
“She’s a great example because there’s nothing about her that’s aggressive or brutish.
“When she won the title the first time, one of the things she was saying was, ‘We have to be better people.’ She had this message while I was interviewing her in the cage after winning a fight.
“She’s like, ‘We’ve gotta be nicer to each other’. That was her message.”