Joe Rogan reflects on 'wildest experience' calling UFC Freedom 250 at White House
Joe Rogan certainly had his share of concerns about UFC Freedom 250 leading up to it, but now he’s got nothing but praise for the historic event held at the White House.
Rogan, the UFC’s longtime lead color commentator, was cageside on the South Lawn to call the fights this past Sunday. Prior to the event, Rogan said it was “crazy” to host a UFC event at the White House in the “middle of a f*cking war” with Iran. He was also worried about how fighters would deal with the heat and bugs on the South Lawn.
Despite day-of-the-event weather forecasts predicting “severe thunderstorms” and possible showers, turns out it was all for naught following a delay to the start of UFC Freedom 250.
“It was perfect. The temperature was perfect,” Rogan said on his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. “I was very concerned about that. I was really concerned that these guys were gonna have to fight in the heat, but it was not an issue at all. It seemed like it was in the 70s, and the storm just miraculously passed us. … Somehow or another, the storm went around the White House. I don’t know what that is. I don’t know if that’s science or if that’s consciousness. I don’t know what steered the storm or if it was just random luck. It could’ve been all of the above. But all of my fears of the weather getting in the way, they were null.”
Rogan marveled at “the magnitude of the event,” which wasn’t simply about the fights on the South Lawn in front of roughly 4,500 spectators, mostly military members. There was also the Ellipse across the street from the White House, where tens of thousands of fans gathered to watch the fights on giant screens.
Rogan described what it was like to sit cageside, hear fans at the White House react to the finishes, as well as the roar of the crowd in the distance at the Ellipse.
“The magnitude of the event – I know people saw it on television, and it looked insane. But the magnitude of the event being there live … it was insane,” Rogan said. “Just the magnitude of it was insane.”
UFC Freedom 250 featured seven fights that all ended by knockout. Capping it off was Justin Gaethje‘s shocking upset of Ilia Topuria to claim the undisputed lightweight title.
Rogan doesn’t see anything topping UFC Freedom 250.
“I’m a hyperbolic individual,” Rogan said. “I’m always like, ‘this is the greatest, this is awesome,’ (but) that was the wildest experience that I’ve ever had in my 20-whatever years of calling combat sports. There’s nothing even close. It was the greatest night of fights of all time.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Joe Rogan reflects on ‘wildest experience’ calling UFC Freedom 250
