Joe Rogan responds to commentary criticism from Conor McGregor

On Tuesday, BJPenn.com’s Mike Pendleton released footage of former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor criticizing UFC commentator Joe Rogan. McGregor made these comments during a recent Q&A session in Chicago.

“He’s a great man, he’s got a great following, he’s got crazy insight, gets great guests, maybe at some stage of the game I’ll be on his podcast, who knows,” McGregor said of Joe Rogan. “I’d like him to call a fight how he sees it correctly, instead of reading off a script though.”

“The Diaz rematch it was like he was reading a script from the first fight and that last one [against Khabib Nurmagomedov], he was talking about my face was being smashed in,” he added. “I left that Octagon with a black eye, the same way his two rat cousins left with. His brother and his cousin left the Octagon with a black eye, so what is he [Rogan] talking about? But maybe one day I’ll be a guest on his podcast.”

Speaking on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rogan responded to these comments from Conor McGregor. His first priority was assuring that, despite McGregor’s comments, he never reads off a script.

“That is not really true because no one ever gives me a script and that’s a fact,” he (via SportsJoe.ie). “I don’t know exactly what he said but maybe he just didn’t like my commentary. I bet he likes it when he wins! I think he’s awesome.”

Joe Rogan then addressed the rest of McGregor’s issues.

“Well that’s his perception. I understand what he’s saying,” he said. “Sometimes people think that but it’s very difficult when someone’s calling your fight. If he’s talking about me calling someone’s fight who’s not his friend, that makes much more sense. It’s fucking hard for me. I have a really hard time calling friends’ fights. I don’t know him that well but I like him a lot. I respect the fuck out of him.

“I get his position. That Diaz fight was a good fucking fight. It was a hard fight. I wasn’t calling it like the first fight but I had to call it with the knowledge of the first fight. I had to know what happened in the last fight and in the last fight, Diaz survived a storm, tagged him, had him rocked and then finished him on the ground. That doesn’t mean he didn’t win the second fight.

“It was a close fucking fight. The second fight was a very close fight but you have to acknowledge that the other fight took place.

“He was having fun,” Joe Rogan concluded. “Listen, I think that guy is one of the most dynamic individuals to ever compete in the sport. He’s a special person, a very special person and a very unusual guy.

“Even if he doesn’t beat Khabib ever again or he loses to this guy or loses to Floyd Mayweather. Who cares? He’s still a one in a billion human being.”

Needless to say, the UFC commentator doesn’t seem to be taking McGregor’s comments to heart.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 3/20/2019.