Joe Rogan, the well-known fight commentator, has expressed unexpected criticism towards an upcoming UFC event slated to occur outside the White House next month.
During a discussion on Wednesday, Rogan voiced his concerns, particularly about the outdoor setting for the matches.
“I’m not fond of the idea of outdoor fighting,” Rogan shared with guests Josh Thomson, a former UFC fighter, and John McCarthy, a retired referee.
Rogan predicted potential issues such as insect interference and the intense summer heat.
The event is set to be hosted by Donald Trump, a figure Rogan has recently become more critical of.
“In June, in D.C., we looked up last year’s weather on the same day—it was 100 degrees. Extremely hot. What about dehydration?” Rogan questioned.
Thompson pointed out how large stage lights being stationed on the South Lawn were sure to attract insects.
‘The bugs are a big one,’ Rogan agreed. ‘How the f*ck are they going to do anything about the bugs?’
Joe Rogan criticized the White House’s plans to hold a mixed martial arts event outside the White House this summer on Wednesday’s edition of the Joe Rogan Experience
Donald Trump helped organize the event, which is being headlined by lightweights Ilia Topuria (left) and Justin Gaethje (right). The bouts will be held outside on the South Lawn on June 14
‘You’re gonna get bug strips everywhere? What are you going to do?’ he went on.
‘I just don’t think you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment.’
Rogan – a former Trump supporter – said he found the whole concept ‘odd.’
‘It should be inside an air-conditioned arena. It should be a controlled environment,’ he said.
‘Just like you wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You have to- you play in a f*cking air-conditioned arena and that’s how it should be.
‘Build a f*cking roof,’ he concluded.
As of writing, no such plans have been drawn up.
Rogan has been a play-by-play commentator for the UFC since 2002 and joined the company as an interviewer in 1997.
Construction is officially underway for the outdoor Octagon. Rogan found the concept ‘odd’ and a bad idea
‘Just like you wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You have to you play in a f*cking air-conditioned arena and that’s how it should be,’ he said on Wednesday, after months of criticizing the administration
He recently soured on the president over his approach to immigration and foreign policy, after offering a last-minute endorsement and air-time on his popular podcast back in 2024.
Trump’s use of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the US military have both surfaced as sticking points.
In March of last year, Rogan reacted with rage to reports of innocent people being mistakenly rounded up and thrown into maximum security prisons in El Salvador.
In January, as Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota escalated, Rogan compared ICE agents’ tactics to those of ‘the Gestapo’.
The month before, Rogan told comedian Shane Gillis any type of war ‘would be a terrible idea’. The conversation occurred just before the US’s invasion of Venezuela.
Earlier this year, after the US’s initial strikes on Iran on February 28, Rogan called Trump’s military aspirations in the region ‘insane’.
He maintained Trump supporters should ‘feel betrayed’. Trump, 79, campaigned on an ‘America First’ foreign policy. Rogan is a self-professed libertarian whom many see as a centrist.
UFC Freedom 250, as it is being called, is slated for Sunday, June 14. The event’s name is a reference to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
