Dana White Backs Joe Rogan's Commentary

[No More Sorrow]

LAS VEGAS – Joe Rogan will not be toning it down anytime soon. Neither will UFC president Dana White.

Despite Rogan recently revealing a producer asked him to "tone it down" during the UFC's first-ever FOX broadcast, White today said things will stay as is.

"Just to squash that whole thing, FOX never – the guy that was in his ear telling him to chill out, that was Bruce Connal, the guy who's our guy," White told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com). "But the guy in the truck from FOX was saying, 'Oh my God, he's fucking screaming.' They said the same thing to me. They're like, 'He's screaming at our fans.'

"That's what we do. We scream at you. We yell at you. That's not going to change."

White and Rogan typically end preliminary broadcasts with a quick on-camera preview of the upcoming night's pay-per-view fights. The sessions typically see both get a little red-faced and animated, and vocal levels rise as they discuss the upcoming match ups.

At the UFC's network-television debut this past November, both were similarly animated in the broadcast's opening sequences, putting FOX production staff on full alert.

"The first night we went live on FOX, they were telling me to tone it down, too," White said. "Me and Rogan are used to screaming at you because you just get all worked up and you're fired up. If you look at when we go from the prelims on to the pay-per-view, Rogan and I are always screaming. When we come bursting on to FOX, and you have these guys that do the NFL. 'Why are you screaming at our people? You're screaming at our fans.' That's how we fucking do it. We scream. We get excited.

"In the earpiece, where you're listening, they're like, 'Dude, tone it down. Calm down. Tone it down.' Yeah, we can't calm down. It's not like we're going on there and putting on some act or something."

White pointed to his recent video blog, which featured cageside footage of Rogan standing and excitedly describing Vaughan Lee's UFC 144 submission of Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto as an example of how Rogan's broadcasting style is simply an extension of his true personality and reflects his honest passion for the sport.

"Joe Rogan is standing up, screaming about the submission," White said. "That's the way he is. He loves this shit.

"He gets me fired up. When we talk about fights on the phone or whatever, we get [expletive] fired up. That's who he is, and that's how he is, and that's why he works here. I love it."

So fear not, volume enthusiasts. No one is putting a muzzle on Rogan or White.

"Nobody will tell Joe Rogan how to talk, act, do, whatever," White said. "He's not going to change. He is who he is, and that's why I love him, and that's why he works for us."

No surprise here from Dana backing Joe up on this, seems like Joe kind of made it a bigger deal then it was when he came out last week and said Fox was trying to change him.

 

[Troy]

I had always thought that they yell at each other because they can't hear themselves over the noise in the arena. No issue with how either guy talks and the UFC fans don't care about how passionate someone gets. If Rogan was silent throughout and spoke in one tone all night then there are issues but a guy getting excited about the action in the octagon is a good thing.