When Dana White first offered Joe Rogan a role in the UFC, the icon initially turned it down because of one reason.
Joe Rogan has been a staple in the UFC since 1997, watching the promotion grow into the combat sports powerhouse that it is today.
Despite that, the MMA world was hit with what seemed to be some major news earlier this week when it was revealed that Rogan will not be commentating at UFC 318 this coming Saturday in Louisiana.
It has been known for several years that the icon doesn’t commentate on UFC events overseas, however, this will mark the first time in over three years that he is missing a PPV event in the United States.
Rogan reveals why he initially turned down Dana White’s offer
Although many fans will only remember Rogan being a part of the UFC, he actually initially turned down the offer to commentate when he was asked by Dana White.
The comedian was first hired by the promotion to conduct post-fight interviews and he recently revealed that for the first few events he worked, he was actually losing money.
“Campbell McClaren who was one of the producers of the UFC was good friends with my manager, and they were just having a conversation about how they needed a new post-fight interviewer,” Rogan began to explain on the Ultimate Human Podcast with Gary Brecka.
“At first I was (skeptical), I’d watched it, you couldn’t even get it on cable TV, it was banned from cable… They contacted me and said they need someone to be a post-fight interviewer and I was like, ‘F— yeah, I’ll do it.’
“I did that for about two years but at the time it was actually costing me money because I would do the UFC which meant I couldn’t do comedy that weekend… I was like, this is not going anywhere, and it wasn’t getting anywhere as far as cable.
“Dana and I became friends because he would invite celebrities to come and this is when I was hosting Fear Factor… He and I would get together and I would go, ‘What about this fight? Do you know about this guy?’ I was naming all these different fighters.
“He goes, ‘Would you do commentary?’ And I go, ‘I don’t wanna work man, I just want to come and watch fights’, I’d already done it before and it wasn’t getting money in my pocket. I did the first 13 or 14 of them for free… By the time the UFC took off in 2005, they were in the hole $40 million,” Rogan continued.
Could we see Joe Rogan soon retire from UFC commentary duties?
Although Rogan is one of the most iconic figures in the sport, fans have become more critical about his commentary skills as of late.
And with him set to miss at U.S. based PPV for the first time in years, it seems as though he is less committed to the sport than he once was.
Despite that, Rogan has previously stated that he will only retire from commentary when White leaves the UFC.