UFC commentator Joe Rogan is a massive fan of Jorge Masvidal’s bare-knuckle MMA promotion.
Masvidal has turned into a promoter since his UFC career ended, as he started Gamebred FC which is a bare-knuckle MMA promotion. Although some fans of combat sports don’t like seeing people fight bare-knuckle due to the cuts it causes, Rogan is a massive fan of it. He also believes MMA should be bare-knuckle anyway.
“I love it, I love what Jorge Masvidal is doing, the bare-knuckle MMA fights,” Rogan said on an episode of his podcast with Eddie Bravo. “That is what I think MMA should have been all along. Why can you have bare elbows, bare knees, bare shins, a shin to the face is okay, but you have to protect your knuckles? The only thing that does is protect cuts. It also protects your hands because you can’t really go off. Bre knuckle guys are more cautious where they hit. They’re more precise. They break their hands. Well, a lot of people that go over to bare-knuckle are surprised at how little protection you have and how much it hurts. That’s where Mike Perry f***ing shines.”
Although Joe Rogan thinks MMA should be bare-knuckle anyway, he knows not every fighter can take those kinds of punches. He points to Mike Perry vs. Luke Rockhold, as he says Rockhold isn’t a guy who can do bare-knuckle while Perry has excelled at it.
“[He’s] killing it. Killing it. F***ed up Luke Rockhold in his last fight, made him quit. Knocked his teeth out. Luke’s like, ‘Enough’. He’s f***ing everybody up because he’s such an animal… There’s not a tougher human being alive than Mike Perry.”
With that, Rogan says it’s hard to know who else will go to bare-knuckle and be the next great sans-gloves fighter.
“The thing about it is, man, it’s different, it’s different. You are getting knuckles to your eyeballs and your face, it f*****g hurts more, it is more dangerous. You are losing teeth. You will probably need a crazy thick mouthguard you probably need something different. Even then, it’s knuckles, you are getting the bone of a bony ass knuckle and it’s going right here, it’s going to f**k your teeth up,” Rogan added.
Ultimately, when Jorge Masvidal’s promotion or BKFC has a big event, Joe Rogan says he always tries to tune in as he is a fan of the sport.
