‘Bro Found Out Who Joe Is’: Ilia Topuria’s Collab With UFC Commentator Rogan Has Fans Reviving Classic Meme

The internet has a special talent for turning even the smallest moments into legendary memes. Case in point: the now-iconic “Who’s Joe?” exchange between Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway. What started as a simple miscommunication has since become a running joke in MMA circles. 

But let’s rewind for the benefit of those healthy souls who aren’t chronically online. Topuria and Holloway participated in an interview ahead of their fight at UFC 308, where some fun was had at the expense of a unique drill being practiced by Justin Gaethje. 

Holloway claimed that he also practised that same drill. Unfortunately, Holloway does chew on his words a lot. It also doesn’t help that Topuria’s ear for English is just not that good.

So drill sounded like “Joe”, leading a puzzled Topuria to ask, “I don’t f**king know who is Joe, Who’s Joe?”. Cut to earlier today: Topuria shared a picture with commentator Joe Rogan, announcing that he would be a guest on the podcast; fans jumped in with the reference. 

“Bro found out who Joe is” was a commonly used combination of English alphabets in the replies. 

“Banger pod”, commented a fan, evidently excited about the prospect of seeing the former featherweight champion on the Joe Rogan Experience. 

This Instagram user randomly took a shot at Rogan’s height and joked, “Didn’t know Dana was only 5’8″.  “No way joe’s taller”, said another in response.

Topuria is in the States enjoying some downtime. Or so you would think. It seems that after being openly denied a title shot by Islam Makhachev and Team Khabib Nurmagomedov, the Spaniard is lobbying to garner some much-needed public support.

Much like how movie stars get on promotional tours of talk shows before their films’ release, Topuria, too, is showing up on targeted podcasts for an MMA audience. 

Topuria lobbying for Islam fight amid Khabib’s rejection

 The former featherweight champ officially vacated his 145 belt ahead of UFC 314. He had announced making a permanent move t0 155 lbs weeks ago, claiming the weight cut was no longer suiting his health. 

He has since revealed that the UFC brass had promised him a title shot on his lightweight debut. But somewhere down the line, it seems either party communicated this deal to Makhachev and his team.

Islam, who has already defended his title twice against a featherweight and once on short notice against someone like Renato Moicano, doesn’t want to waste his time on fighters who don’t deserve it.

At least, that’s what his mentor Khabib said earlier today.

“Let’s imagine, Islam beats Topuria, then Topuria fights again and loses, basically he was a nobody at 155, Islam beat a guy who was a nobody at 155, in terms of Islam’s legacy“, the 29-0 former fighter said.

In addition, Khabib also asked fans to consider that Islam was about to be 34 and just wanted to fight big names at this stage of his career.

Unfortunately for Khabib and Islam, Topuria doesn’t seem to be giving up hope just yet.

“I feel like I have the advantage in everything.” He even threw a jab at Khabib, saying, “I’ll take [Makhachev] down, and talk to Khabib while I do it—just like Khabib used to do with Dana, ” he said on the PBD podcast. 

He even claimed that since the D’Arce choke was Islam’s favorite, he would make it a point to submit the Dagestani champ with it.