Joe Rogan took aim at critics of the UFC’s White House event during Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, defending the event as a nonpartisan, unprecedented national event.
President Donald Trump celebrated his 80th birthday in the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary with a celebration on the South Lawn, where 14 fighters from around the world competed inside a mesh cage during UFC Freedom 250.
The estimated 4,300 attendees, including about 1,200 active duty personnel, greeted the president with loud cheers while the crowd occasionally chanted “Happy Birthday.”
The $60 million event began with the Marine Band’s performance of the national anthem, sung by country music star Zac Brown, and concluded with a flyover by the Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force’s Thunderbirds.
Rogan spoke to author Chase Hughes on his podcast on Wednesday, recalling the incredible fights he witnessed last weekend, where he claimed that in addition to the official 4,300 in attendance, there were an additional 85,000 people watching on huge screens just outside the venue.
“It was crazy. The size of it was crazy,” Rogan noted. Although he is a natural exaggerator, he said, “That was the wildest experience I’ve ever had in the 20 years I’ve been calling combat sports. There’s nothing close to that. Nothing even close. It was the greatest night of fights ever. And it was the only night in the history of the sport that every fight ended in a knockout.”
He also added that he actually had to convince some people to attend in the first place, noting, “I talked a bunch of people into going who didn’t want to. Like Shane Gillis was thinking about not going. I’m like, ‘Bro, you gotta go.’ It’s going to be epic. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Not once in a lifetime. Once in anyone’s life. This has never happened before. “Maybe it will never happen again.”
“Probably not,” Hughes agreed.
“No,” Rogan said. “But this is something you have to see and experience.”
The host went on to lament that “a lot of people are trying to make it a partisan thing. Like they’re mad at people for being there. Like, ‘Oh, you support Trump.’ Like, it’s an ongoing battle in the White House. Not that you support foreign policy. Like, shut up. Just please. Just please stop.”
“And again, that’s the thing, the ego is where people are just — wanting so badly — and on both sides for sure,” Rogan continued. “You know, the right celebrates this as a victory for masculinity and patriotism and all these different things. Like, OK, settle down. Everybody settles down. You’ve got to all be together.”