It’s been five long years since the world went into lockdown as millions died across the globe from COVID-19. And yet, somehow, UFC commentator Joe Rogan continues to be baffled by the mask mandate.
This was a time when every global sporting event had been called off, with the exception of soccer and the UFC. Rogan happened to be on commentating duties during the time, calling some of the biggest fighters on the calender.
One such fight took place at UFC 249 on May 10th, 2020. For some reason, the memory of this fight and the days leading up to it continue to haunt the JRE host.
Speaking to stand-up comic Ron White on his podcast, Rogan expressed his displeasure at having to wear a face mask every single day at work.
Brooding over the restrictions that the Dana White-led promotion had imposed on its employees, Rogan said, “I watched a UFC fight the other day- an older fight and all the cornermen had masks on. It’s the craziest thing we went through.”
“It was a fight that took place in an arena in Florida with no crowd. It was Justin Gaethje vs Tony Ferguson. It was one of the first fights we did back”, he continued.
As his guest continued to nod in agreement, the UFC commentator called it a ‘weird f*cking time’ and spoke further about how his co-workers would get upset if he didn’t wear a mask backstage.
Still appearing confused by their actions, Rogan exclaimed, “What are we doing? What is this for? These guys are beating the f out of each other, sweating on each other, you know? And all of us tested negative. That’s how we got through here.”
“Is someone magically going to get COVID while we are wandering around together?” he asked.
With a frown firmly placed on his brow, the UFC commentator stated that they had to be tested just to be in the room. “Take that stupid f***ing mask off”, he added while visibly holding back a shout.
Odd as it may appear, considering his stance on multiple things during the pandemic, this doesn’t come as a surprise.
Rogan’s feud with CNN and Big Pharma
This was a time where the US government, along with the majority of the world, had most of their citizens on lockdown, hospitals were overflowing, and countries’ ability to offer healthcare was being overwhelmed by the sheer number of sick people.
As of April 13, 2024, the US alone had recorded more than 1.2 million deaths, with many others suffering from the effects of Long COVID- something that continues to plague parts of the population to this day.
However, Rogan has been consistent in his methods of dealing with the pandemic. During the height of the event, just days after the FDA had asked people to stop taking Ivermectin as a cure, Rogan openly claimed having taken the horse dewormer, along with antibiotics, and getting better in under a week.
At the time, this led to serious scrutiny of the comedian across mainstream news channels like CNN and MSNBC.
This forced Rogan to suggest that he was being shamed for taking the medication because it was a generic, cheap drug, and pharmaceutical companies don’t like those.
