Joe Rogan holding a FOX Sports microphone during the FOX UFC Saturday event, inset mystery icon and throwback banner. Credit: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Joe Rogan labelled a UFC event as ‘haunted’ as legendary champion and ex-WWE star topped one of the smallest cards ever

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Aug 30, 2025 1:35 PM ET

Joe Rogan was stunned after a UFC event that happened on this day in 2014 went through a lot of changes.

The stand-up comedian and podcaster has seen it all during his time as one of the voices of the UFC.

As proven by Aaron Pico’s comments about Rogan ahead of his Octagon debut, the popular figure is an integral part of the promotion and is closely tied to the history of the sport.

His experience as a mixed martial arts commentator is second to none.

While this recently allowed Rogan to share some insight with his colleague, there are times where even he is left reacting to something he hasn’t witnessed before.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC 177 only had eight fights following a run of unfortunate cancellations

On this day in 2014, the Octagon returned to Sacramento, California for UFC 177 at the Sleep Train Arena.

There were two characteristics that stand out in particular from this event, aside from the performances that took place on August 30.

UFC 177 underwent a lot of changes in the build to the card as a result of some big matchup cancellations.

Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson were scheduled to headline the card in a light heavyweight title rematch at one point in time, though this ended up falling through.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Demetrious Johnson’s flyweight title defense against Chris Cariaso was also rescheduled, as was TJ Dillashaw’s rematch with Renan Barao, and that’s just the title fights.

In the end, all of the fight cancellations and postponements led to just eight bouts taking place on this date, making it the smallest UFC PPV event since UFC 72 seven years prior.

Many of the changes to the card took place on very short notice, meaning that the promotion didn’t have enough time to find replacements for some of them, though Joe Soto did step in to face Dillashaw in the main event at the last moment.

When Joe Rogan walked out at the weigh-ins to announce the fighters, he referred to UFC 177 as “the haunted UFC card” following all of the hurdles that it encountered.

The final UFC 177 card featured TJ Dillashaw, Tony Ferguson and Shayna Baszler

There may have only been eight fights left on the card following all of the cancellations, but with six of the bouts ending in finishes, there were still some highlights at UFC 177.

TJ Dillashaw stopped Joe Soto with a head kick to defend his bantamweight title, Tony Ferguson narrowly beat Danny Castillo in the co-main event and Bethe Correia stopped former WWE star Shayna Baszler.

Weight class	UFC 177 winner	UFC 177 loser	Method of victory
Bantamweight	TJ Dillashaw	Joe Soto	KO – Round 5
Lightweight	Tony Ferguson	Danny Castillo	Split decision
Women’s Bantamweight	Bethe Correia	Shayna Baszler	TKO – Round 2
Lightweight	Carlos Diego Ferreira	Ramsey Nijem	TKO – Round 2
Lightweight	Yancy Medeiros	Damon Jackson	Submission – Round 2
Middleweight	Derek Brunson	Lorenz Larkin	Unanimous decision
Heavyweight	Anthony Hamilton	Ruan Potts	TKO – Round 2
Lightweight	Chris Wade	Cain Carrizosa	Submission – Round 1