Joe Rogan’s UFC 136 Comments Draw Ire

By Raphael Garcia

An often-overlooked element of any sports broadcast is the voice behind the broadcast. Throughout sports history, many memorable moments included the commentator’s voice describing the action we were viewing. (Yes, some of those even include Gus Johnson and college basketball.) However, what happens when that commentary takes a turn for the worse, or makes a failed attempt at presenting information in an objective light?

I’ve never been one to join the bandwagon of fans who bash his practices during broadcasts, but during UFC 136 it was interesting to listen to Joe Rogan’s performance. He’s an expert on the sport and a practicing BJJ competitor, which is important for people who are in his role. However, at two points during the event of Saturday night, Rogan’s role as a broadcast commentator was marred by lapses in journalistic objectivity:

The first instance happened during the Garcia-Phan fight. There is no question that Leonard Garcia and Nam Phan put on one hell of a show. The third round alone was enough to get people out of their seats. Still, I don’t believe that “This is what MMA is all about” was the right statement to make during the post fight speech. Mixed martial arts is about much more than one fighter throwing caution to the wind and winging punches with reckless abandon. Especially when he has a strong set of skills across multiple disciplines such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While many people respect him as a fighter, Garcia’s fighting style exemplifies many of the sport’s issues when it comes to both judging and the expectations and perceptions of mainstream fans when it comes to the action that takes place during a MMA bout. With his statement during the in-cage interview, Rogan may have unwittingly supported and endorsed such misguided notions about the sport.

The second instance concerned Kenny Florian, who is a staple among UFC competitors. He’s a great talent who has had a very good career as a professional fighter. However, I think that Rogan crossed the line as a commentator during Florian’s fight with Jose Aldo. It was apparent that he was pulling for Florian to win the bout, and while that may have been his own personal opinion and desire, as a commentator, that bias should not have been displayed. There’s a term that is often used when talking about sports commentary called “Homerism.” No, this isn’t a tribute to the iconic Simpsons father or the Greek storyteller; it means that a sportscaster is blatantly pulling for the home team, or spinning events to create the best possible perception of the home team, regardless of what is actually taking place. During UFC 136 Rogan came seriously close to crossing over into this realm, which is very dangerous for any broadcaster.

It’s easy to get excited during sports. Fans throw their arms into the air and cheer their favorite athletes to victory. But those actions must be confined to the fans and should never cross over to the commentators. Fans turn to those individuals for expert knowledge on the sport and when commentators are too caught up in being fans, they may not be able to give the clear, objective insight that is needed. Media personalities are supposed to stay 100 percent objective at all times, and that includes sports personalities. At UFC 136, we witnessed firsthand an occurrence of that line being crossed.