Rogan: I don’t like to see fighters suffering financially
Joe Rogan: “I’m an idiot when it comes to business, but I don’t like when I see fighters suffering financially. I don’t like it. At all.”
When the Reebok deal was first announced, with compensation tiers based on rankings, it received widespread criticism, both discretely and publicly. When the new tiers based on tenure were announced, the response was generally positive. However, when the numbers were announced, the majority of fighter responses were not positive.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan discussed the issue on his latest Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and expressed understanding for fighter criticism.
I’m not a business man,” said Rogan as transcribed by Mike Bohn for MMAjunkie. “I’d be the s—-iest businessman in the world; if I owned the UFC I would probably file for bankruptcy right now. I would have never gotten it to where it is. I would have never done any of the smart moves these guys have done. I’m an idiot when it comes to business, but I don’t like when I see fighters suffering financially. I don’t like it. At all.
Whenever you see these guys complaining and talking about the difference in the amount of pay that they’re getting, that’s not good – just not good. All that stuff had to be worked out. It should have been worked out, I think, before.
Even the champs get 40 grand. The best guys in the world get 40 grand? That just doesn’t seem like enough to me. It just doesn’t.
It’s great to have a big sponsor like Reebok involved, but not if the fighters have to suffer.”
