Longtime UFC analyst Joe Rogan has been around the fight game plenty, and without question knows a thing or two.
But a handful of fighters outside the UFC have some thoughts about his recent assertion that if you’re not in the UFC, “no one’s watching.”
On “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast with guest UFC fighter Bo Nickal, Rogan said fighters in Bellator, the PFL and other organizations are shorting themselves.
The UFC long has been the top MMA promotion in the space. De facto No. 2 Bellator in November was sold to the PFL and that brand will be folded into that organization in 2024. PFL’s stated purpose in acquiring Bellator was to have a combined roster its executives think is as strong as the UFC’s, which would create a co-leader in the field.
UFC CEO Dana White and others, like Rogan, appear to think that’s a little ambitious on the part of the PFL, and Rogan in particular seems to think even if fighters outside the UFC are elite-level, they’re not getting the recognition they’d get with it.
But longtime UFC light heavyweight Corey Anderson, who made the move to Bellator in 2020 and challenged for the title there in 2022, took issue on Instagram with some of Rogan’s contentions and said it’s not all about a popularity contest or fame – but it is a little about fortune, and Bellator gave him that in a way that changed his life.
Now yall know I LOVE my guy Joe!
But as someone who spent 7 years in the UFC and left at #4 in the organization….. fans seeing me fight wasn’t enough to pay bills or even begin to set my family up for a future. My wife and I both had to have jobs to keep afloat in between fights until my first fight in Bellator. I always say “I make more money in Bellator”, well my last fight ranked in the top 5, and my purse didn’t even make close to 6 figures… that’s 100K… after 7 years, 15 fights, 13 top 15 opponents, and being ranked in the top 10 within my first year. (My debut fight I made 16k). Hell, even to go be on @joerogan podcast, I had scramble to find someone to cover for me at work to go.
Yet my first fight in Bellator I made 5x more and was able to free my wife of a job and focus fully on my career as a fighter for the first time ever.
SOOOOO what good is it to have a fan base when I still have to work everyday to afford life. Compared to having fewer fans, financial freedom, and set your family up for life after fighting?
Yes I make that money bc of my start in the UFC but there’s fighters like @ajmckee101 and @patchymix that built that financial freedom in Bellator who may have never gotten it in UFC and also has a fan base! Even @mikechandlermma and @michaelvenompage
So if you want fans and stardom… yes, you have a better chance in the UFC. But if you want to make money… test the field and go where the money is. 🤷🏿
FAME DOESN’T PAY BILLS……..MONEY DOES!
Rogan sold his podcast to Spotify in 2020 for $200 million. By contrast, Anderson said his final UFC bout before his free agency move to Bellator, he made five times less money than he did his first fight for Bellator, and that while he was in the UFC both he and his wife had to continue working regular jobs.
Other fighters chimed in, as well, in Anderson’s comments, including fighters who fought for the UFC, but moved on to Bellator or elsewhere, like Anderson. Check out some of their responses to Rogan’s take below.
Matt Mitrione
Sergio Pettis
Todd Duffee
Shane Burgos
Roy Nelson
Lance Palmer
Maurice Greene
Eddie Gordon
