Joe Rogan has served as a UFC color commentator for well over two decades. The 57-year-old American previously worked as an actor and a reality TV host as well.
Prior to that, Rogan competed as a Taekwondo athlete in his teenage years, extending into his adulthood. However, he eventually had an experience that changed the course of his life. Speaking about it on his podcast a few years ago, the MMA personality highlighted how it led to his exit from fighting.
Why Did Joe Rogan Quit Fighting?
On episode #1647 of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in May 2021, Joe Rogan hosted fellow stand-up comedian Dave Chappelle. One of the topics they discussed was Rogan’s career as a Taekwondo fighter. He notably harked back to a match that transpired when he was a 19-year-old in Anaheim, Calif., U.S.A.
Around the 35:39-minute mark of his podcast episode, Rogan stated, “There was one time that I never recovered from. When I was 19 years old, I fought in Anaheim, California.” He claimed to have hit his opponent with a wheel kick so hard that he himself was limping for a couple of days, owing to the impact of the clash between his heel and his foe’s head.
The podcast mogul indicated that his opponent face-planted, started snoring, and was later stretchered to the hospital. Rogan emphasized that it scared the living daylights out of him to see his opponent face such a fate.
He seemed to suggest that the realization of the potential health risks and brain damage from fighting pushed him to quit competing in combat sports. Rogan recalled going to his own teacher, Jae Hun Kim — a Korean martial artist who learned Taekwondo from its founder, General Choi Hong-hi.
Revisiting his conversation with his instructor, he said, “We were talking about the tournament. [He said], ‘Heard you had a really good knockout.’ And I said, ‘It was very scary. It made me nervous ’cause he never got up. I thought he was dead.’ He goes, ‘Sometimes, they die.’ And then he walked away. And then I was like, ‘Oh sh**. That is me.'”
Rogan reiterated that he was just 19 years of age at the time. He further implied that his aforementioned knockout win and subsequent interaction with his teacher marked the beginning of the decline of his Taekwondo career. He said, “And that was the decline of my Taekwondo career, from that moment on. My fighting career. I fought for a couple of more years. But I lost a lot of my enthusiasm with that one fight.
Rogan quit being a Taekwondo fighter in his twenties and later moved over from his Hollywood ventures to ultimately become a UFC commentator. To this day, he serves as a commentator at some of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view (PPV) events, in addition to operating his world-renowned JRE podcast.