“If the sale goes through, I’m a ghost. That’s a fact”.
Conor McGregor may have stated that he’s “in a good place” with Dana White following the controversy that led to his infamous non-retirement from the UFC, but announcer/commentator Joe Rogan isn’t too happy with the prospect of working with a new boss at the UFC.
Recent reports have suggested that four different ventures are interested in purchasing the company with WME/IMG, China Media Capital, The Blackstone Group and Dalian Wanda Group having all submitted bids for the UFC.
The winning bid is expected to be valued somewhere in the region of $3.5 – $4 billion.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rogan has stressed that he’s definitely not interested in working for any potential new owners.
“If the sale goes through I’m outta there. I’m already wondering whether or not I can continue doing this as it is. I will always be a fan, I’ll always love it, but shit, I’ve been working for the UFC on and off for almost 20 years. And that’s more than I’ve done anything in my life. I’d like to move on. The only other thing I’ve done longer than that is stand-up comedy, but you know, with stand-up comedy I’m constantly writing new material, I’m traveling, I do it out of my schedule, I do it whenever I want. You know, it’s a very different thing calling fights rather than just being a fan. I’ll always be a fan, for sure, but as far as calling fights…boy, I don’t see that going on very much longer”, he says.
Rogan also reiterated his stance on the cancellation of the rematch between McGregor vs Diaz at UFC 200.
“I think that Conor made a mistake. I get where his perspective is, but I think the guy’s just obsessed with improvement, and he just wanted to have a crazy training camp and get ready for Nate Diaz. He didn’t want to be distracted. I get it from his perspective. I think that was a mistake, though. I think he has a media obligation. It’s a part of any contract you sign when you are promoting fights. It’s part of how the UFC does business. They’re essentially all business partners, and the UFC wanted Conor to do his part of the business. And he didn’t want to do it”.
