Thoughts on Joe Rogan taking a stand against brain damage.
(Also at 411mania.com)
Lost in all the “CM Punk signs with the UFC” hoopla and the usual five MMA events per week was Brendan Schaub getting ripped a new one by Joe Rogan. In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap:
*Rogan said that Schaub won’t be UFC champion and can’t beat elite fighters, expressed his concern over Schaub getting hit too much, and talked about the brain damage that Schaub has incurred over his career.
It was a career intervention for Schaub, one he obviously wasn’t expecting when he appeared on the podcast, and hopefully opened up some eyes to the reality of MMA.
The problem was it came from Joe Rogan.
Rogan is in a powerful position in MMA. He’s the lead analyst for the biggest MMA company in the world. Uneducated people are influenced by what he says because he’s been given a voice by Dana White and company and they expect him to explain situations that they might not understand. Unfortunately Rogan isn’t all that great at his job. He’s a comedian acting like an announcer. He takes the approach of your buddy watching the fight with you while drinking a beer when he’s on commentary. It was fun for awhile, but as the UFC has grown, Rogan has failed to grow with it.
Educated fans know that Rogan’s words don’t hold much weight nowadays. We’ve heard him describe too many mediocre fighters as “killers” or describe a guillotine as “tight” only for the guy to escape. We’ve heard him screw up simple details like a fighters weight class or a historical event. Hell, we’ve even heard him say, “I’m retarded” on a UFC broadcast.
I don’t disagree with anything Rogan said to Schaub, but why did it come from him and why did he decide to take a stand now?
Rogan said that if Schaub fought again, he would ask for the night off, implying that he didn’t want any part of seeing his friend get KO’d again and suffer more brain damage. It was a powerful statement to make and one that he certainly won’t follow through with.
Why single out Schaub though?
Mark Munoz just signed on for his next UFC fight. Munoz is 36, won’t ever be a champion or beat elite fighters, has been KO’d twice in his last four fights, and takes a ton of damage to the head. Why isn’t Rogan imploring him to retire? Why won’t he refuse to call his fights?
How about Diego Sanchez. He’s never been KO’d, but look at all the head damage he’s received ever since the BJ Penn fight. Instead of asking him to retire because he continues to get way too easily and isn’t improving, he’s praised for his toughness. The same goes for Roy Nelson.
Andrei Arlovski has been KO’d seven times in his career. But when he fights again, Rogan won’t be asking him to retire, he’ll be talking about how he has his career on track and is in a position to fight for the UFC title again.
I could rattle off at least another dozen non-elite fighters who have taken way too many damaging blows to the head or who get KO’d way too easily. Why isn’t Rogan sitting them down for an intervention or refusing to call their fights?
People will say that Rogan was just trying to be a friend to Schaub, which I can understand. But Rogan made his points not only as a friend, but as an analyst of the sport as well. He was the one who brought his job into things when he talked about taking the day off from work if Schaub fights again.
Rogan can’t pick and choose his fighters on this subject. He can’t take a stand for one fighter who is getting hit in the head and KO’d too often and then turn around and promote the same type of fighter as a “monster” on the same broadcast.
I applaud Rogan for speaking out on this subject because it’s definitely a topic that needs to be addressed. The athletic commissions don’t care because they’ll license anyone, promoters don’t care because they continue to book these fighters, and the fighters want to continue to fight.
I just wish Rogan hadn’t ruined any credibility he had over the years with his poor commentary and he actually continued to take a stand instead of singling out one fighter.
No comments:
Post a Comment