Longtime podcast host and UFC analyst Joe Rogan admits that mistakes were made with the Freedom 250 lineup at the White House in Washington, D.C.
UFC fighter Josh Hokit sparked controversy with his post-fight remarks on Michelle Obama. Hokit boasted that "Michelle Obama is a man" following his victory at the Freedom 250 event. Hokit has since made it clear that he doesn't regret what he said.
“You’ll never hear me backtrack from what I say," Hokit said to Ariel Helwani.
"I thought it was a perfect opportunity to show the world how great this country is with the freedom of speech. You go somewhere and you say something like that and you die. And I'm not suicidal, by the way. I'm in good spirits. I'm a little under the weather right now, but other than that, I'm good.
“And so in other parts of the world, you say something like that and you're not here to speak to Ariel Helwani. Yeah, I don't know. There's a few answers to that and there's a certain side that pokes at another side and there's no outrage there. And so I thought it was a perfect time to take a jab.’’
© Amber Searls-Imagn Images.
Rogan, who was interviewing Hokit at the time of his post-fight remarks, admitted on his podcast that the UFC fighter probably should not have been a part of the lineup.
Rogan admits UFC made mistake
Rogan owned up to it.
“That guy, Josh Hokit, he’s got a shtick. Like, he’s got a character he does—The Incredible Hoke," he said on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience.
“And so he’s basically like a pro-wrestling bad guy, who also is a really good fighter,” he continued. “So there’s a real problem there. This guy keeps winning.”
“They probably, in retrospect, if they wanted to avoid this, probably shouldn’t have had him fight on the White House lawn,” Rogan admitted. “Because if he said that at the T-Mobile Arena or in Madison Square Garden—outrageous—but not that big a deal.”
Rogan previously took issue with the fight setup in general.
“The White House thing is odd. I don’t like it,” he said then. “I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a non-controlled environment... You wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun. That would be crazy.”
