UFC caller Joe Rogan calls for change in ruleset to benefit grappling fighters: ‘If it’s boring, tough’
UFC commentator Joe Rogan offers an alternative to the current MMA ruleset.
Despite his success in podcasting and comedy, Rogan has stuck around the sport for over two decades. The 56-year-old continues to commentate on American pay-per-view cards and has done an enormous amount of work in terms of promoting the sport.
Joe Rogan does have a particular soft spot for grappling and BJJ, holding a black belt himself the comedian has also been a major factor in the sports massive surge in popularity after discussing it at length during his podcast.
This might be why he believes a rule change should be implemented in order to level the playing field between strikers and grapplers. Talking with the legend Royce Gracie on his podcast, the two discussed the current ruleset.
Joe Rogan calls for change in ruleset
Rogan alleges that the current rules favour strikers over grapplers, citing round time and referee stand-ups as his reasoning.
“The rules are set up much more for strikers than for wrestlers,” Joe Rogan said on his JRE MMA Show with UFC 1 victor, Royce Gracie. “I’ve been talking about this lately. Say you’re a jiu-jitsu guy and you’re fighting in the first round, and rounds are five minutes long and you take the guy down at four minutes and 30 seconds. You only have 30 seconds to work.” (H/T MMA Mania)
“I feel like if a fight should be… Even if you’re going to make it rounds, the fight is the fight. I don’t think someone should be able to get up. I don’t think people should stand you up, ever. I think once a guy takes you down, the fight is on the ground.
“If it’s boring for the audience, tough s—,” Rogan continued. “If you’re on the bottom, get up. And if you can’t get up, tough s—. And if the round ends and the new round begins, I think they should start you right back in the same place.”
Rogan would bring up the option of implementing the old Pride-style rounds that would last ten minutes. He had previously raised this argument during a podcast with Paul Felder
“Well, I think Pride had good rules with a 10-minute was better. I think 10 minutes is better”, Rogan said. “Especially if someone, like, works really hard. Again, 4 minutes 30 seconds you finally take the guy down, now you’re on top. And now you’re trying to set things up, but the bell rings. And then you start standing up again.”
Do you agree with Joe Rogan?
