Joe Rogan concerned about bugs, heat affecting UFC White House fights
Joe Rogan thinks holding UFC Freedom 250 outdoors is a bad idea.
The June 14 one-of-a-kind event will unfold on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. UFC CEO Dana White recently encountered a bug issue while having dinner with President Donald Trump in the White House's Rose Garden. White also said on "The Pat McAfee Show" that it rained for eight days straight since his team has been at the White House building the venue.
Rogan, who's been critical of UFC Freedom 250 taking place during the U.S. war with Iran, shared his thoughts about the uncontrollable factors at play.
"I don't like the idea of fighting outside at all," Rogan said in a recent episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience." "June, and it's DC, and we looked it up last year: The same day was 100 degrees. Hot as (expletive). How about dehydration? The bugs are a big one. How the (expletive) are they going to do anything about the bugs? Dana was talking about that recently. They were talking about maybe using fans. Is that enough? You're gonna get bug strips everywhere? What are you going to do? How are you going to stop the bugs? There's a lot of bugs. Pesticide the (expletive )out of the place? I just don't think you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment. It should be inside an air-conditioned arena. It should be a controlled environment.
"You wouldn't ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy. You play in a (expletive) air-conditioned arena, and that's how it should be. Build a (expletive) roof. You've got all the money in the world, right? You want to do this for America. It's 4,000 seats? You build a 4,000-seat arena. Imagine if someone loses a fight because it's too hot out. Imagine if that becomes a factor. Imagine the dehydrated fighters, the dehydrated fighters that are now being forced 24 hours later to fight. We did one outside in Abu Dhabi. There were bugs flying around. It looked like birds. They were so big."
UFC Freedom 250 is headlined by a lightweight title-unification bout between champion Ilia Topuria and interim champ Justin Gaethje. In the co-main event, Alex Pereira takes on Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.