In the classic clash between wrestler and striker, it’s usually the striker who draws the short straw—dragged to the mat, pounded into submission, or battered into defeat. But what if we told you that some wrestlers throw away that advantage with poor planning? Imagine putting in all that work for a takedown, only to let your opponent stand right back up. Sounds insane, right? Joe Rogan recently touched on this very issue in conversation with Ilia Topuria, questioning the logic behind such decisions in the heat of battle.

During his conversation with Ilia Topuria on ‘JRE MMA Show #166,’ the multi-million dollar podcaster was talking about the irrelevancy of the cage while he diverted his topic to talk about a position advantage. He was talking about why someone would give up the mount just because the round ended. Rogan emphasized that if you had your opponent in the mount at the end of the last round, you should start the next round by taking him down and regaining that dominant position, “If a wrestler takes you down and he just does this to you[ground and pound], and it’s not entertaining — but if he can do that to you, that’s tough shit. That’s what he did.”

Ilia Topuria cuts in to ask Rogan what are about three-round fights or five-round fights, to which the UFC color commentator stated, “The good thing about five-minute rounds — the good thing about five-minute rounds is it’s sustainable, and guys can fight at a high pace. If you had, like, just 15 minutes — one 15-minute round — guys would be exhausted, and the end of it would be sloppy.”

Joe Rogan argued about why a fighter stands up again despite being in the dominant position. According to the UFC color commentator, if someone secures a takedown, mounts his opponent, traps an arm, and starts working for a submission while landing strikes, why should that position be reset? It doesn’t make sense. He added, “Especially if he’s a striker and you wasted all that energy to get him to the ground, and you got so close to cinching up a submission — and then all of a sudden, he’s back on his feet again.”

In the end, the veteran UFC commentator emphasized that the opponent should earn his place of getting back up and not be gifted, “You have to stand up, and he didn’t even earn it. Start him right back down there. No cage. No standups. No standups ever. If everybody boos, tough shit. Go watch baseball. Go watch something else.”  You might be wondering the same thing—why would any fighter give up their mounting position? It doesn’t make any sense. Is Rogan lying?

Well, Rogan has been in the UFC for a long time and he has witnessed fighters making such mistakes time and again. Back in Strikeforce: Houston, in the fight between Bobby Lashley and Char Griggs, Lashley had a dominant position over his opponent, but despite the advantage, he chose to stand up, giving up his superior position in the game. This move was heavily criticized by fans.

At the Bellator 120 fight between Dada 5000 and Eric Prindle, Dada had Prindle mounted and appeared to be in control. However, later he chose to stand up from the mount position, possibly to avoid Prindle’s guard or to deliver more effective strikes. These are just a few examples of what Joe Rogan was talking about. The UFC commentator didn’t stop there as he even called out the judges to be lacking credentials.

Joe Rogan lashes out at the judges for being biased

Remember Alexander Volkov vs. Ciryl Gane at UFC 310? Volkov arguably outstruck Gane and gave him a run for his money. The entire arena was of the opinion that Volkov was going to be the winner, but according to the judge Adalaide Byrd, he didn’t do enough damage to secure victory. The official decision was ruled against him as Gane clinched the victory. This was one of the most highlighted judging fiascos of last year.

In his conversation with Ilia Topuria, the UFC color commentator raised concerns over the competency of the UFC judges in general.“I remember early on in the UFC, one of the judges turned to someone next to them—it was a woman—and she goes, ‘What is he doing?’ Someone was trying to get a kimura, and she didn’t even know what that was. They were boxing judges. So the boxing judges—they started using them for MMA fights, with no martial arts experience at all. Never stepped on the mat, never put in a mouthpiece, never got punched in the face.”

Be it boxing or MMA, athletic commissions are responsible for how judges score the cards, and the onus of false judging lies with them. This has been a concern for the UFC for quite some time. However, with the integration of AI into the fight business, things might change, at least according to UFC CEO Dana White. Given that, what are your thoughts on Joe Rogan’s episode with Ilia Topuria? State your favourite moments of the episode in the comments below.