Joe Rogan has offered some surprise pushback to a planned UFC event scheduled to take place outside the White House next month. The veteran fight commentator took issue with the concept on Wednesday, specifically because the bouts will be held outdoors.
Rogan's Concerns
'I don't like the idea of fighting outside at all,' Rogan told guests Josh Thompson and John McCarthy, a retired UFC fighter and referee, respectively. He foresaw 'problems' like bugs and fierce summer heat. The fights are being hosted by Donald Trump, a figure Rogan has soured on recently.
'In June, in DC, we looked it up last year - the same day was 100 degrees. Hot as f*ck. How about dehydration,' Rogan began. Thompson pointed out how large stage lights being stationed on the South Lawn were sure to attract insects. 'The bugs are a big one,' Rogan agreed. 'How the f*ck are they going to do anything about the bugs?'
Rogan criticized the White House's plans to hold a mixed martial arts event outside the White House this summer on Wednesday's edition of the Joe Rogan Experience. Donald Trump helped organize the event, which is being headlined by lightweights Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje. The bouts will be held outside on the South Lawn on June 14.
Call for Controlled Environment
'You're gonna get bug strips everywhere? What are you going to do?' he went on. 'I just don't think you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment.' Rogan - a former Trump supporter - said he found the whole concept 'odd.' 'It should be inside an air-conditioned arena. It should be a controlled environment,' he said. 'Just like you wouldn't ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You have to play in a f*cking air-conditioned arena and that's how it should be. Build a f*cking roof,' he concluded. As of writing, no such plans have been drawn up.
Rogan has been a play-by-play commentator for the UFC since 2002 and joined the company as an interviewer in 1997. Construction is officially underway for the outdoor Octagon. Rogan found the concept 'odd' and a bad idea. 'Just like you wouldn't ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You have to play in a f*cking air-conditioned arena and that's how it should be,' he said on Wednesday, after months of criticizing the administration.
Rogan's Political Shift
He recently soured on the president over his approach to immigration and foreign policy, after offering a last-minute endorsement and air-time on his popular podcast back in 2024. Trump's use of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US military have both surfaced as sticking points. In March of last year, Rogan reacted with rage to reports of innocent people being mistakenly rounded up and thrown into maximum security prisons in El Salvador. In January, as Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota escalated, Rogan compared ICE agents' tactics to those of 'the Gestapo'. The month before, Rogan told comedian Shane Gillis any type of war 'would be a terrible idea'. The conversation occurred just before the US's invasion of Venezuela. Last month, after the US's initial strikes on Iran on February 28, Rogan called Trump's military aspirations in the region 'insane'. He maintained Trump supporters should 'feel betrayed' by those strikes. Trump, 79, campaigned on an 'America First' foreign policy. Rogan is a self-professed libertarian whom many see as a centrist.
UFC Freedom 250, as it is being called, is slated for Sunday, June 14. The event's name is a reference to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
