UFC commentator and popular podcast host Joe Rogan would like to see changes to mixed martial arts rules but admittedly has no say in what happens in the fight promotion or the sport.
In a perfect world, Rogan would like to eliminate the use of the cage and get rid of standing fighters up. He’d also like each round to begin in the same position that the previous round ended.
“There’s many times I wish I was running the UFC. I would change so many different things,” Rogan said on The Joe Rogan Experience. “I’ve got some whacky ideas. I don’ even think they should fight in a cage.
“I think it’s an unnecessary element in fighting. Like to push someone against something, or to be able to get up from something, I don’t think it’s necessary.”
Rogan explained what fighting environment he’d prefer and his reasoning behind it. His ideas centered around fairness more than the marketability.
“I think they should be in like a basketball court. Like a basketball court that’s matted up. Have a big space. Have a warning track. If you go outside the warning track too many times you could lose points,” Rogan said. “So, when someone takes you down, you have to actually get up.”
Joe Rogan has radical idea about how rounds should begin
Each round begins standing. That’s been the standard and part of the sport’s presentation from the beginning. Rogan questioned why.
“I also think, at the end of a round, like say if you’ve got a guy mounted at the end, you start the next round mounted on him,” said Rogan. “Because why would you give him the advantage of getting up when he never got up? He never got up. You have to earn a get up. You have to stand up by yourself.”
“No stand-ups, ever. Ever. No stand-ups unless someone commits a foul. If someone commits and foul and you want to stand then up and take a point away, that’s fine,” continued Rogan. “But if the guy on the bottom and he commits a foul, like if the guy’s on the bottom and he gouges someone’s eyes on purpose, take a point way, put him back in the same spot.”
“Otherwise, like say if you’re fighting a guy like Alex Pereira, who is never taking anybody down. He’s going to strike with you. Why would you let him back up again and have the advantage of standing up again? The beginning of the round, he starts standing up again. Now you have to take him down again.”
