Having Fumbled Khabib’s Brother Name, Joe Rogan Reveals Messing Up Fighters’ Names Is His Biggest Anxiety Trigger

From breaking down complex grappling exchanges to calling brutal knockouts in real time, Joe Rogan juggles a lot on fight night. But the biggest problem he faces doesn’t involve explaining mixed martial arts with a magnifying glass – it’s pronouncing fighters’ names. 

While Rogan is nowhere near as bad as Chael Sonnen or Brendan Schaub in terms of butchering names, he has had his fair share of blunders. The most notable one is a clip where Rogan tried multiple times but just could not get ‘Nurmagomedov’ right while interviewing Umar Nurmagomedov following his win at UFC 272 in 2022.

Rogan tried a few times before he eventually gave up. This clip went viral with fans having a laugh at Rogan’s expense. 

Speaking to Schaub, Rogan explained that some of the names were just “fu**ing hard”. And since he has to do it without a choice of opting out at the weigh-ins, Rogan calls it his “biggest anxiety“. 

“And I have to have the people in the back, they say it to me in my ear, and I am like say it again, and then I write it out phonetically. You have these weird names that you have to spell it out the way it sounds”, Rogan said, explaining his meticulous process.

Of course, he gets it more right than he does wrong, especially compared to Schaub, who has multiple Reddit threads and YouTube compilations of butchering the names of fighters who aren’t American.

So, this confession by Rogan might have been a bit wasted on the former UFC heavyweight fighter. Of course, Schaub’s apparent incompetence is nothing compared to Sonnen, who remains the ‘undefeated and undisputed’ mispronouncer of even the simplest of names.

He still calls former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira – ‘Peirra’. To be fair, fans believe he does it on purpose because it’s funny.

But since neither Schaub nor Sonnen are officially affiliated with the UFC, their mistakes or quirks don’t get as prominently spoken about as Rogan’s.

The JRE podcast host, of course, doesn’t help matters in the midst of online criticisms about him winging the job as a UFC caller.

Fans claim Rogan wants out of UFC commentary

Rogan has been a part of the promotion since UFC 12 in 1997 and, in the years since, has played a pivotal role in popularizing mixed martial arts across the globe.

However, with his podcast reaching new heights each passing day and his schedule now limited to traveling within the US, fans are speculating that his time at the commentary desk with Jon Anik and Daniel Cormier is coming to a rather sad end.

There are been multiple comments on social media claiming that Rogan has unofficially already checked out of the sport and was only doing it as an obligation.

Some have been complaining about how bad his analysis has been for a few years now.

Some Twitter users also find his analysis stale and reeking of favoritism. “Calf kicks are 90% of his talking points and he is extremely biased towards fighters he likes“, said one UFC fan.

Another reiterated the sentiment after watching the main event light heavyweight title fight at UFC 313 and said, “Joe Rogan really glazed Alex Pereira’s leg kicks the entire fight even though they didn’t affect Ankalaev at all“.

“I’ve said this for years but Joe Rogan is a complete casual mma fan who offers commentary equivalent to a brain dead sound board”, said another, sounding alarm bells.

Neither Rogan nor the UFC have yet to comment on the ever-increasing dissatisfaction amongst their fan base.