Joe Rogan would abandon UFC’s ‘business model’ to pay fighters extra money

Here’s what Joe Rogan would do if he was Dana White.

Rogan first appeared within the UFC as a backstage interviewer in 1997 and has now served as a color commentator for over twenty years.

With that in mind, it’s protected to say that not many names have been as present for the incredible growth and development of mixed martial arts as Rogan.

However the renowned podcast host doesn’t imagine things have evolved to be perfect. Along with some radical ruleset changes, Rogan has turn into the most recent to suggest that fighters are underpaid within the UFC.

• LATEST NEWS: Gable Steveson predicted to beat Tom Aspinall ‘today’ by ex-UFC star despite huge experience gap

Joe Rogan would eliminate standups, boost fighter pay, and scrap the cage within the UFC

The UFC inked a $7.7 billion cope with Paramount ranging from 2026. When the printed partnership was announced, many immediately questioned what impact it might have on fighter remuneration.

Dana White insisted that fighter pay will rise, specifically highlighting increased bonuses — though they’ve yet to be announced just days out from UFC 324.

While hosting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on his podcast, Rogan recently revealed he would eliminate the UFC’s controversial business model to be able to boost fighter pay.

He also reiterated his desire to see standups from grappling exchanges eliminated, and he even pitched scrapping the Octagon entirely.

“I’m a terrible businessman,” he said on the Joe Rogan Experience.

“I might give the fighters extra money, I might f— up the entire business model.

“I might eliminate the cage,” he continued. “I might have all of them fight in a basketball court. Just put mats around… I feel the cage gets in the way in which. It becomes a technique to get back up.

“That’s realistic (not having a cage). You’re using a foreign object to enable you perform.”

The UFC continues to return under fire for its low revenue sharing with its athletes, which falls drastically in need of other major sporting entities.

• LATEST NEWS: Jon Anik reveals he would cut 150 UFC fighters to assist fix one massive issue if he was Dana White

Dana White continues to dismiss Joe Rogan’s advice

Those aren’t the one things Rogan would implement within the UFC. He would even have the promotion expand its sporting reach into the kickboxing realm.

Rogan has long pitched kickboxing to White, however the UFC president stays tired of adding the game to a set that already includes MMA, submission grappling, Power Slap, and now boxing.

“Joe Rogan has been throughout me about this,” White said when asked why kickboxing has evaded his interest during an interview on the Spinnin Backfist MMA Show.

“I actually have never been a believer in kickboxing. I used to look at it back within the 80s. It was imagined to be the large thing, but it surely just never worked.

“Even once you had what was occurring out within the Netherlands, all those big names at the moment, it still didn’t — if Pride didn’t exist, all those guys would have never made the cash they made,” he added.

“I actually have never been a believer. I like watching it. Just so far as promoting it and selling it, for my part, may be very hard to do.”