Joe Rogan on Justin Gaethje: ‘In a Sport That’s Violent, He Stands Out As the Most Violent’
Count veteran commentator Joe Rogan among those who is looking forward to the new UFC 249 main event.
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One of the sport’s most notorious action fighters, Gaethje enters the matchup on riding the momentum of consecutive first-round KO/TKO wins over James Vick, Edson Barboza and Donald Cerrone.
“Justin Gaethje is a monster,” Rogan said on the “Joe Rogan
Experience” podcast. “He is a terrifying individual. In a sport
that’s violent — it’s an inherently violent sport — he stands out
as the most violent.
“You watch his knockout of Edson Barboza. You watch how that motherf—er attacks people. There’s a reckless abandon to his calculated wildness. It’s terrifying. He’s something special and he’s better all the time. The question is, how much has he been training? He’s taking a fight on very short notice, he’s taking a fight on essentially two week’s notice.”
Gaethje is not normally a fighter who would accept a bout on short notice, but he made an exception in this case because a championship belt is on the line.
“He’s a man with a plan, he’s trying to be the UFC lightweight champion, so he’s probably not getting too out of shape,” Rogan said. “And he probably knew that in this case there is a potential that one of these guys could drop out.”
While Gaethje could be at a disadvantage in the cardio department against Ferguson come fight night, Rogan points to one of the UFC’s most famous bouts as a time when a fighter defied the odds while competing on short notice.
“This is a wild situation, where there’s a guy who’s gonna fight the interim title — that’s also how Nate Diaz beat Conor McGregor in their first fight — that was 11 days out,” Rogan said. “They call Nate Diaz, he’s eating tacos and f—ing drinking tequila in Mexico.
“For Justin Gaethje it really depends on how much time he’s been spending in the the gym.”
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