Reports have come in that Joe Rogan will no longer be on the call for UFC 271 as the controversy around him continues.
Multiple sources confirmed to MMA Fighting on Friday that Rogan, who was supposed to be in the booth for Saturday’s event, will no longer be there.
A UFC official confirmed to the New York Post that “Rogan will not be on for Saturday’s event, citing a scheduling conflict. He remains scheduled to be on color commentary for UFC 272 in March”.
MMA Fighting had confirmed Wednesday that Jon Anik, Joe Rogan, and Daniel Cormier were set to call UFC 271.
Michael Bisping, a former UFC middleweight champion and commentator will take Rogan’s place on the broadcast.
In response to the controversy surrounding his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” and old videos of himself, Rogan posted a 10-minute apology video. “If I pissed you off, i’m sorry,” he said. “I’m not trying to promote misinformation. I’m not trying to be controversial”.
“I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people and have interesting conversations,” he explained.
UFC 271 features Israel Adesanya in a rematch against Robert Whittaker and will take place at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.
Adesanya defended Rogan at the pre-fight press conference Thursday. When Dana White was asked about Rogan, Adesanya said “First off, let me take this one, hold up I’m Black, I can take this one”.
“There’s a lot of c**ts in this game, there’s a lot of snakes in this game. I’ve been in this fight game since 2008 and Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf**kers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Understand that. F**k the noise,” he said.
“You know what they’re trying to do,” he added. “You can’t control the man, and he’s got the biggest platform in the world right now. That’s my n**** Joe Rogan”.