Imago
Credits: IMAGO
Imago
Credits: IMAGO
Dana White has developed a knack for defending controversial people over the years, but when it comes to Joe Rogan, the UFC CEO makes it sound very personal. According to the head honcho, numerous sponsors approached him, demanding changes to the UFC commentator’s role within the organization.
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His response was immediate and blunt: absolutely not. Speaking to David Senra during an interview, Dana White explained why Rogan became so vital to the UFC. In its nascent stages, when the organization was still attempting to persuade mainstream audiences about MMA being a legitimate sport, the UFC CEO believed Joe Rogan possessed a unique ability that helped carry that legitimacy.
“This is the f—— guy I need right here,” he said. “I need him to do commentaries—educated on martial arts, he’s not afraid to talk about uh controversial s—. This is my guy. So I reach out to Rogan, and we hit it off immediately.”
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But as Joe Rogan’s influence grew outside of the UFC through Fear Factor, comedy, and his podcast, pressure appeared to build behind the scenes. White claimed that sponsors and other business figures occasionally reached out, suggesting that the promotion separate itself from Rogan and remove him entirely. However, those talks did not last long.
😳🫡 Dana White said UFC sponsors reached out to him asking to fire Joe Rogan but he refused every time:
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) May 12, 2026
“During Rogan’s rise, he went through some personal stuff.
I had people calling me, whether it was sponsors or whoever, saying, ‘You gotta do this to Rogan.
I’m like,… pic.twitter.com/68MXCYvBef
“In Rogan’s rise, he’s gone through some s— personally too,” he added. “You know, where I’ve had people call and say, ‘Hey, you know, whether it’s sponsors or whoever, you gotta do this to Rogan.’ And I’m like, ‘Like, don’t ever f—— call me.’ Who the f— are you to call me and tell me who I’m gonna fire or do whatever to?
“First of all, Joe Rogan did the first 12 fights for us for free… I mean, you said you heard about it on his podcast. [It] has been a key, instrumental part of this company. And for anybody, I don’t give a f— how much money you have uh sponsored or whatever. Yeah. No, nothing’s happening to Joe Rogan.”
That history the two share, as well as their loyalty to each other, is why the UFC CEO still sees Joe Rogan differently. He’s not just a commentator for Dana White. He has helped grow the promotion and the sport of MMA.
Dana White claims Joe Rogan “instrumental” in UFC’s success
That loyalty Dana White was talking about did not just come from friendship or because Joe Rogan became a huge name later on. In the UFC CEO’s mind, the commentator was right there with him throughout the ugly grind years, when the company was still trying to convince people that cage fighting was not an outlaw spectacle.
And apparently, a lot of that work happened before sunrise, with the two bouncing between radio stations, trying to market the sport to anyone willing to listen.
“Radio was still very relevant,” he said. “The only two that were really good at doing radio were me and Joe Rogan, right? The problem with me is nobody knew who the f— I was. So what we would do is we would switch. I’d do UFC 30. Rogan would do UFC 31. I’d do UFC 32. Rogan would do 33.
“And you’d have to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning. We both live on the West Coast. We’d have to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning. They’d drop us into the markets on the East Coast from 6 to whatever, and we would literally go all around the country doing the same interviews over and over and over.”
But Dana White made it sound like Joe Rogan never considered it a burden. He was fully committed to helping the UFC grow before it became the MMA powerhouse it is today. In the head honcho’s opinion, Rogan earned his place in the UFC a long time ago.
He sees the commentator as one of the people who helped build the company brick by brick when no one else cared, which is probably why his initial reaction to sponsors demanding changes sounded so aggressive.
“To actually explain to people how much Rogan has dedicated… I mean, you said you heard about us on his podcast,” he added. “(He) Has been a key instrumental part of this company and for anybody.
“I don’t give a f— how much money you have sponsored or whatever, yeah, no. Nothing’s happening to Joe Rogan.”
Even though the UFC commentator now works fewer cards and mostly sticks to numbered events, that too in the US, Dana White clearly sees him as an integral part of the UFC’s identity.
Now, while he and numerous other fans enjoy hearing him on the mic, it seems some UFC entities are slowly getting tired of the JRE host.
Tom Aspinall goes off on Joe Rogan and Daniel Cormier
This is why the criticism surrounding Joe Rogan is so interesting. For every Dana White who sees the 58-year-old as invaluable to the UFC, there appears to be at least one fighter growing frustrated with the way some fights are called on the air.
And after UFC 328, Tom Aspinall clearly had plenty to say. While watching Sean Strickland defeat Khamzat Chimaev in Newark, the UFC heavyweight champion expressed frustration with the commentary team, particularly Rogan and Daniel Cormier.
At one point, the Brit mocked the idea that Strickland’s fatigue was only caused by body shots from ‘Borz’ rather than the obvious reality of two elite fighters exhausting themselves over 20 minutes.
“’DC’ talking bout the only reason Sean Strickland is getting tired is because Khamzat is landing body shots,” he said on his YouTube channel. “Not the fact that they’ve just had a fight for 20 minutes. That doesn’t matter. It’s just the body shots that are making him tired, nothing else.”
He also became irritated when Rogan kept discussing Chimaev’s cardio during corner moments that Aspinall felt viewers should actually be hearing.
“We can’t hear the corner work because Joe Rogan is talking bout how bad Khamzat’s cardio is after all his training,” he continued. “I wanna hear the corner. Stop telling us about Khamzat’s cardio.”
The biggest dispute came in the final round, when Tom Aspinall felt the commentary team was undervaluing Sean Strickland’s jab-heavy offense.
“The commentators are saying, ‘Sean has got to land some big shots to win the fight in this fifth round,’” he added. “I know they’re jabs, but he is landing a lot of them. Just because it’s a jab doesn’t mean it’s insignificant.
“It’s still a powerful strike that is causing damage, so I disagree with the narrative that just because they are jabs, they are not effective. The commentators are talking like it’s insignificant just because they are jabs, and it isn’t.”
According to the UFC heavyweight champion, the jab was already causing significant damage and clearly hurting Khamzat Chimaev. Despite later admitting that the outcome could have gone either way, Tom Aspinall clearly believed the broadcast narrative slanted too much toward ‘Borz’ while disregarding how effective Sean Strickland’s constant striking was.
Written by
Edited by
Gokul Pillai