Joe Rogan is excited by the UFC’s massive new broadcast deal, enough so that he confirmed a very strange stance on one of the sport’s biggest controversies.
Divisive commentator Rogan has been a key figure on the broadcast for UFC pay-per-views since June of 2002. And the podcast host maintains his role despite being one of the most influential broadcasters in the world.
Next year, the UFC will begin to wean off the idea of pay-per-view events, which had led to some confusion about Rogan’s role. But he will still be involved even though numbered events, previously costing a premium of $80, will now be a part o f the Paramount+ subscription for just $12 a month.
Fans were clearly excited to learn yesterday that the new UFC broadcast deal, worth $7.7billion over seven years to the company, will see pay-per-view become a thing of the past. As of now, Paramount+ subscriptions cost as low as $8 with ads, and many events will be made available for free on CBS.
Joe Rogan was equally ecstatic with this news, telling listeners on the new episode of his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience: “For $120 a year you can watch every UFC pay-per-view? Two UFC PPVs right now is like $160, right? You get all of them, everything’s free? It’s incredible.
“The sport is going to go f—ing hypernova… It’s going to be nuts and it’s such a smart move for Paramount because there’s a built-in audience that’s immediately going to jump over there because you have to renew your ESPN subscription anyway.
“So just buy a Paramount subscription too. I’m kind of bummed out and I hope they don’t lose the relationship with ESPN with all their MMA shows, I hope they don’t go ‘f— them, they went to Paramount. I hope it’s a mutually beneficial thing where UFC still does some content on ESPN.
“That’s also a big factor in pulling casual viewers that watch other sports and might occasionally watch a UFC fight. Then they see Max Holloway or Dustin Poirier and they’re like ‘holy s—‘, then they’re hooked.”
One part of Rogan’s reaction that may have slipped under the radar, however, is his insistence that he prefers shows from the UFC Apex to events in front of a live crowd. He used to commentate on pay-per-view shows from the empty facility during covid time, but has been in arenas for the past three years.
However, he claimed to prefer the Apex, which is a wildly controversial take among fans of the sport. “All the events are going to be available for everybody for free. Every pay-per-view, every fight card that they have from the Apex, which are my favorite.”
Fans famously hate watching cards from the Apex, which only allows a select crowd in due to its size. It tends to suck the atmosphere out of bouts, and in general the promotion tends to put on weaker events at the venue just to fill the schedule.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!