Rogan clarifies Hardy comments: He’s not ready for a co-main event fight
Joe Rogan went on to clarify the comments he made regarding Greg Hardy’s UFC debut.
Joe Rogan’s recent statements regarding Greg Hardy’s UFC debut in Brooklyn a few weeks ago were not exactly pleasant. During the broadcast of his Fight Companion podcast over the weekend, the veteran UFC analyst commented on how he thought Hardy’s performance was “terrible and a “joke.”
“I knew that guy was fading quick,” he added. “I was like, ‘He’s fading. I don’t like the way he’s stepping, he looks exhausted.’ He tired out quick, then he hit that dude with the illegal knee.”
But on Thursday’s episode of his JRE MMA Show podcast with T.J. Dillashaw, Rogan went on to clarify these statements.
“You’re watching the highest level of fights,” he said. “You’re watching the co-main event. He’s just not ready for a co-main event.”
“He rushed out, he gassed out, he burned himself out and Crowder recovered. The way it should be is you should have the early fights for people who are learning the sport. And then you get to the last couple of fights, the co-main and the main, you’re supposed to be seeing assassins like you and Henry Cejudo,” Rogan told Dillashaw.
Both Rogan and Dillashaw went on to agree that the co-headliner should have been Donald Cerrone vs. Alexander Hernandez, which took place as the last fight of the preliminary card. They also agreed that Hardy was instead placed at the co-main event spot because the ESPN card was being hyped up.
“There’s another fight they could have put in place of that,” Rogan continued. “A hundred percent. And again, this is not a knock on Crowder or Hardy. They’re guys out there doing it, they’re trying, they did their job, they’re fighting. The ending was super unfortunate.
“Again, you don’t know whether or not he did it on purpose. Look, you’re getting punched in the face. It’s chaos.”
Hardy has been called out for the illegal knee strike that he threw, but according to him, it was simply a mistimed shot. He was also candid about being hurt by the criticisms thrown at him for it.