- Joe Rogan delved into the possibility of the Ngannou vs Fury fight being fixed, but offered no concrete evidence, only speculation.
- Rogan’s conversation with Rampage Jackson on the topic of fight fixes highlighted differing opinions on Tyson Fury’s strategy.
- Francis Ngannou’s transition from the UFC to the PFL raises questions about his future fights and the potential for matchups with heavyweight fighters.
Joe Rogan has been the mouthpiece for the UFC since 1997. He started his podcast a little over 10 years later, which has been a longer format for fight fans to learn more about the MMA athletes they love and cherish. Rogan has been known to flesh out multiple scenarios for a single topic because of his three-hour-plus show. The UFC’s color commentator has an unrivaled eye when it comes to the sport. His passion and knowledge was a significant reason the sport became so popular in the early 2000s.
On a newly released episode, Rogan was joined by former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. “Rampage” has seen it all in the sport of MMA. Jackson was a prominent fighter for the Japanese-based MMA organization, PRIDE FC, where it has been heavily rumored that steroid use was rampant, with rumors of fixed fights, per Rampage.
Rogan And Jackson Talked About Fixes in Fighting
And discussed whether it’s possible the Francis Ngannou vs Tyson Fury fight was fixed
It should be noted that neither Rogan nor Rampage provided any evidence one way or another, and were merely speculating on the show. Rogan brought up the theory to Jackson that the Francis Ngannou and Tyson Fury fight was fixed because of a future match-up with Oleksandr Usyk. It is unclear, though, whether he thinks it could have been pre-written and the fighters followed a script, or if the judges had their scores already sorted regardless of what the fighters did.
“He’s fighting one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all-time and drops him in the second round. … And then he beat him up in the eighth round too. I thought [Ngannou] won that fight, but, you know, they were setting up that Usyk fight. They were not gonna let [Ngannou win], it just seemed like the fix was in a little bit.”
Rogan continued: “It was close enough that they could pull it off. You could go, ‘Ok, maybe. Maybe you could see him winning that,’ but I don’t think so. I thought Francis won it. A lot of people thought Francis won it.”
A contrasting viewpoint to Rogan’s was brought up a few weeks ago during one of his fight companion shows, where Rogan argued with the comedian Bryan Callen, who was saying that Tyson Fury ‘carried’ Francis Ngannou much in the same way Floyd Mayweather let Conor McGregor gain some success before closing the show himself.
“He might’ve had incentive to keep that fight going. The idea that Tyson Fury didn’t have a bag of tricks, that he didn’t carry him. For me, it’s very strange for me. It’s very strange. I don’t know maybe he didn’t train at all.”
Rogan’s response to Callen:
“Shut the f*** up! … If he was carrying , all that s*** would’ve went out the window after he got dropped or rocked like that!”
Francis Ngannou’s Next Fight
MMA record: 17-3 (12 KOs, 4 SUBs), Boxing record: 0-2, Best win: Cyril Gane
Though Ngannou has banked around $30 million — if not more — in his two massive boxing bouts, there is still a fire inside to prove to gain the respect of those that have doubted him. In an unceremonious affair, Ngannou parted ways with the UFC after UFC 270 because of his strict contract that wouldn’t allow him to explore the sweet science. The Cameroonian heavyweight fighter landed with the PFL, but is yet to debut in the tier 2 MMA organization.
The ultimate hope for Ngannou’s future as a Mixed Martial Artist is that now that the UFC and Riyadh have officially started to collaborate (starting with UFC 306), that we could get the greatest UFC heavyweight fight of all-time in Ngannou versus Jon Jones (barring Jones getting past Stipe Miocic in November). Another possible fight for Ngannou, could be a return to the ring against another heavy-handed puncher in Deontay Wilder.
