Ultimate Fighting Championship color
commentator Joe Rogan garnered some heat for interviewing Daniel
Cormier immediately after his TKO loss at UFC 241, and he took
some time over the weekend to defend and explain his decision.
Rogan has been criticized in the past for interviewing fighters who
had just been knocked out, with his infamous interview in 2016 with
Alistair
Overeem leading the veteran commentator to declare he would
never again interview a fighter who had just been concussed.
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In an Instagram post, Rogan provided the thought process behind his
decision to interview Cormier and said that he still felt strongly
about the importance of not interviewing fighters suffering from
concussion.
“Some people were confused as to why I interviewed DC after the
fight because I’ve publicly stated that I don’t think it’s a good
idea to interview fighters after they’ve been KO’ed. I think most
of what happened to DC was those brutal body shots, and although
Stipe dropped him with head shots he was never out cold, and seemed
clear headed after he stood up and the results were announced to
the crowd and Stipe got the belt given to him. The UFC asked for an
interview, and I asked DC if he was ok with it, and he said, Yes. I
think interviewing fighters after a brutal loss is kinda sketchy,
but I was also thinking that it’s possible that this may be the
last time we see DC in the octagon. I love DC, and I would never
want to put him in a bad position, but I made a judgment call and
felt this would be alright. Whatever he decides to do from here on
out the man is a future hall of famer and one of the best to ever
do it. It will be very interesting to see what he decides to do
from here out.”
Cormier seemed composed and with his wits about him during the
interview and while he didn’t announce his retirement from the
sport, he did say that he and his wife would sit down in the next
few weeks to make a decision about his future.
