Sometimes Joe Rogan likes to have it both ways. He wants to be the loose-lipped comedian who can say whatever he wants when he wants but he’s also the high profile color commentator for the UFC and sometimes those lines cross. Take for instance a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast that featured Dana White and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who is also a writer for those celebrity roast shows on Comedy Central.
White had been inquiring about the possibility of doing a roast of UFC fighters and Cris Cyborg’s name came up. They cracked some jokes about her having a penis and the podcast continued. Cyborg later addressed the comments and was understandably upset. Apparently Cyborg is under some type of UFC contract and the plan seems to be to have her fight inside the Octagon at some point. Having one of the faces of the UFC demeaning a fighter like that, and in front of the boss, it’s not a good look.
It’s been a couple weeks now since the podcast first aired, but Rogan addressed the issue in a new interview with Bloody Elbow.
“Well, if I had to do it again, I definitely wouldn’t have made the joke,” Rogan stated. “It was in the context of Dana [White] asking about roasting fighters, like he wanted to do a thing for Fight Pass. It’s one of the reasons why I said he should do it with Tony Hinchcliffe, because Tony is hilarious and he’s one of the best roast writers and roast performers in the country. We had a couple drinks and we were joking around about it, and I said, ‘You should roast Cyborg.’ Dana said, ‘I wouldn’t know where you would start,’ or something like that, ‘Where would you start?’, and I said, ‘Her dick.’ ”
“I shouldn’t have said it, but it’s what you say if you’re hanging around with comedians, you know? It’s what we do. Plus, I had a couple of drinks. It was just a dumb thing to do, and I certainly didn’t mean it with any malice. I honestly didn’t. Then Tony elaborated on it and went even deeper with it. That’s what you do in a roast. She didn’t ask to be roasted, and it’s not her fault, but it was in the context of what we were doing. Still, I shouldn’t have done it, I shouldn’t have said it. I do feel bad about it, because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. … Anyway, I didn’t mean to start any static with her or anything like that, so I hope she accepts my apology. It’s my fault and I take full responsibility.”
You can listen to the JRE #723 podcast in its entirety below. Dana, Tony and Joe are on their way home from Melbourne after UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm and the stunning upset that saw Rousey get knocked out by Holly Holm.
https://youtu.be/b_LL_H7L_Tg