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MMA

20th Mar 2019

Joe Rogan responds to criticism from Conor McGregor

McGregor ridiculed the veteran UFC commentator over the weekend

Darragh Murphy

McGregor criticised Rogan this week

Joe Rogan has laughed off Conor McGregor’s recent criticism of his MMA commentary, in which the Irishman claimed Rogan was “reading off a script”.

McGregor admitted that he was not a fan of Rogan’s commentary in two of his recent fights, claiming that Rogan was not being honest in the way that he was calling the action.

“He’s a great man, he’s got a great following, he’s got crazy insight, great guests, maybe at some stage of the game [I’ll be on his podcast] who knows?” McGregor said at a recent Q&A event in Chicago.

“I’d like him to call a fight how he sees it correctly and not be reading off a script though.

“The Diaz rematch it was like he was reading from the first fight and that last one [against Nurmagomedov], he was talking about my face was being smashed in.

“I left that Octagon with a black eye, the same way his two rat cousins left. His brother and his cousin left the Octagon with a black eye, so what is he talking about?”

It didn’t take long for Rogan, who has been with the UFC for over two decades, to respond to McGregor’s comments.

The former Fear Factor host was made aware of the criticism by his Joe Rogan Experience producer and watched the above clip of ‘The Notorious’ live on air.

“That is not really true because no one ever gives me a script and that’s a fact,” Rogan said on his latest podcast.

“I don’t know exactly what he said but maybe he just didn’t like my commentary. I bet he likes it when he wins! I think he’s awesome.”

After being shown what McGregor had said, Rogan could only laugh and calmly reflect on the criticism.

“Well that’s his perception. I understand what he’s saying,” Rogan added.

“Sometimes people think that but it’s very difficult when someone’s calling your fight. If he’s talking about me calling someone’s fight who’s not his friend, that makes much more sense. It’s fucking hard for me. I have a really hard time calling friends’ fights. I don’t know him that well but I like him a lot. I respect the fuck out of him.

“I get his position. That Diaz fight was a good fucking fight. It was a hard fight. I wasn’t calling it like the first fight but I had to call it with the knowledge of the first fight. I had to know what happened in the last fight and in the last fight, Diaz survived a storm, tagged him, had him rocked and then finished him on the ground. That doesn’t mean he didn’t win the second fight.

“It was a close fucking fight. The second fight was a very close fight but you have to acknowledge that the other fight took place.

“He was having fun [with the criticism]. Listen, I think that guy is one of the most dynamic individuals to ever compete in the sport. He’s a special person, a very special person and a very unusual guy.

“Even if he doesn’t beat Khabib ever again or he loses to this guy or loses to Floyd Mayweather. Who cares? He’s still a one in a billion human being.”