Joe Rogan didn’t do UFC 4 video game voiceovers because “he hates doing them”

You won’t hear the voice of long-time UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the new UFC 4 video game. Why? Because he hates doing the voiceovers.

UFC 4’s Creative Director Brian Hayes opened up on Rogan’s absence from the game in an interview with GameSpot.

“He hasn’t been shy about saying this on his own podcast; like, he hates doing it,” Hayes said of Rogan (via MMA Mania). “If you’re not a person that [can] mentally get into that space, then I can see how it could be a very, you know, challenging, potentially mind-numbing experience for a certain type of individual.

“He was open with us from from the very beginning that he hated his experience of doing voiceover on previous iterations of other UFC games, and things were no different for us,” Hayes added. “He hated doing voiceover on these games as well. That has nothing to do with with us in particular, or, you know, our games versus other games. He just does not like sitting in a booth reading lines for hours at a time.”

Joe Rogan has been working for the UFC since 1997. Initially, he served as a backstage interviewer for the promotion, but he quickly moved into a color commentary role. He has worked for the promotion ever since, and has become as much a part of big UFC cards as the Octagon itself.

Over the last few years, Rogan has been joined at the broadcast booth by play-by-play man Jon Anik, and fighters like Paul Felder and Daniel Cormier. Anik and Cormier will reportedly handle the bulk of commentary voiceovers for UFC 4.

See the brand new gameplay trailer for the game, without any trace of Joe Rogan, below:

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