Veteran UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan, doesn’t appear to be the biggest fan of AI (artificial intelligence) – particularly rousting through one of the controversial tool’s shortcomings.
Best known likely for his time with the Octagon leader, the New Jersey native notably hosts comedians at his own Mothership comedy club in Austin, Texas.
A long-time proponent of stand-up comedy, hosting many other comics on his Experience podcast, Rogan has remained more or less steadfast in his support of a person’s ability to crack a good joke. And this is where his problem with ChatGPT comes from.
Developed back in 2022 by OpenAI, the controversial chatbot has taken many industries by storm in recent years and in quite a polarizing fashion to boot. However, Rogan remains unbothered by its ability to take a good comic’s job.
Comedian Tim Dillon, Rogan’s guest for the evening, was talking about how not everyone should be doing stand-up, even if they could.
“Everyone can’t be a clown. There’s something deeply unhealthy about the Illuminati doing stand-up“, Dillon said. After a brief moment of introspection about how that would even work, Rogan asked, “Unless they are using ChatGPT, how good could their material be?”
The UFC commentator then went ahead and straight up dismissed the idea altogether.
“ChatGPT has not shown any real ability to craft a good joke, yet,” Rogan told Dillon on his podcast this week.
But the use of AI is something his promotional boss, Dana White, is keen on.
Not for stand-up comedy, of course, but White has remained vocal in his criticism of the media-voted ranking system the UFC has been using for years now.
UFC rankings take another hit after Pantoja fall
“We’ve already started to work on some innovations with Meta around a new fighter rankings system that will debut later this year,” White had said on Instagram earlier this month.
While his remarks are said to have stemmed from Jon Jones not being the pound-for-pound No. 1 fighter in the world anymore, issues with UFC rankings have long plagued fans and analysts alike.
The current system reportedly uses a swap system wherein a fighter who defeats a higher-ranked opponent immediately takes their spot on the roster- a proponent of the notoriously unstable MMA math!
Then there have been fighters like Michael Chandler, who, for a long time, was ranked among the top fighters in the division despite losing consistently.
Meanwhile, fighters like Renato Moicano have also complained about not climbing up the ladder despite racking up win streaks.
This lack of clarity over how the rankings words resurfaced after UFC 315 once again.
Reinstating newly minted featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski, back to number nine, the list dislodged a number of fellow titleholders.
Most notably, controversy arose from flyweight kingpin Alexandre Pantoja’s fall in the list. Riding an impressive run at the 125lbs limit, the Brazilian enjoyed a fruitful and active campaign last year.
“Just to put into perspective how sh*t the P4P Rankings are: (Brandon) Moreno was #9 when (Alexandre) Pantoja beat him, but after 4 straight title wins Pantoja is down to #10??????? HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?” A user on X questioned.
Naturally, the UFC boss hopes that this issue can be dealt with once Meta comes up with a way to remove human interference from the system.
“I just can’t take it anymore. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t let people that I don’t believe know what the f— that they’re talking about deal with the rankings anymore. I just can’t do it. I have to figure out a solution“, White had told reporters last year, claiming that some big changes were to be seen in 2025.
Hopefully, the UFC can debut the new system soon.
