In almost every television broadcast of almost every sport, one of the commentators is an athlete who has competed in the sport being shown. You never watch an NFL game without hearing analysis from a former football player, or a Major League Baseball game without hearing the voice of a former baseball player.
But in the UFC, the commentary role goes to Joe Rogan, who's undeniably knowledgeable about MMA but whose background is in comedy and acting, not in fighting.
Matt Hughes says it's time for the UFC to add a fighter to the broadcast.
On his web site, Hughes wrote up some of his thoughts on UFC 121, and Hughes says Rogan didn't serve the viewers well with his analysis of the welterweight fight between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann.
"From a technical view, Kampmann had a terrible fight, in my opinion, he gave the fight to Shields," Hughes writes. "One thing I will say is Joe Rogan's commentary was a little off during the fight. The ground game was pretty even in my book with Shields doing a little more controlling. Kampmann escaped to his feet several times and Kampmann had more submission attempts than Shields had, but listening to Rogan, you would have thought Shields had submitted him the first ten seconds of being on the ground. I really think the UFC could use a third man doing the broadcast, that has some experience inside the Octagon. I don't disagree with everything Rogan says, but there are a lot of things he says that I just laugh at."
In general I'm a fan of Rogan's, and I actually think Rogan usually does a better job of analyzing the fights than most of the former professional fighters who have tried their hands at TV commentary. But with respect to the way Rogan analyzed Shields vs. Kampmann, I do think there's some merit to what Hughes is saying.
Rogan seemed to go into the Shields-Kampmann fight expecting to see Shields dominate Kampmann on the ground. "This is a different level of grappling," Rogan said of Shields a couple minutes into the first round -- right before Kampmann bucked Shields off him and rolled right back onto his feet. Rogan didn't seem to have any explanation for why Kampmann was able to get back to his feet so easily when Shields had established a dominant position. When the fight didn't go exactly as expected, Rogan didn't seem prepared to adjust his analysis accordingly. Maybe a UFC fighter would have provided more insight.
It's not a knock on Rogan to say that an experienced, intelligent, articulate fighter could be a great third man on the broadcast team. In fact, Hughes -- even though he probably isn't interested, as he'd rather stay home with his family than travel to every UFC event -- would be perfect in that role.
But in the UFC, the commentary role goes to Joe Rogan, who's undeniably knowledgeable about MMA but whose background is in comedy and acting, not in fighting.
Matt Hughes says it's time for the UFC to add a fighter to the broadcast.
On his web site, Hughes wrote up some of his thoughts on UFC 121, and Hughes says Rogan didn't serve the viewers well with his analysis of the welterweight fight between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann.
"From a technical view, Kampmann had a terrible fight, in my opinion, he gave the fight to Shields," Hughes writes. "One thing I will say is Joe Rogan's commentary was a little off during the fight. The ground game was pretty even in my book with Shields doing a little more controlling. Kampmann escaped to his feet several times and Kampmann had more submission attempts than Shields had, but listening to Rogan, you would have thought Shields had submitted him the first ten seconds of being on the ground. I really think the UFC could use a third man doing the broadcast, that has some experience inside the Octagon. I don't disagree with everything Rogan says, but there are a lot of things he says that I just laugh at."
In general I'm a fan of Rogan's, and I actually think Rogan usually does a better job of analyzing the fights than most of the former professional fighters who have tried their hands at TV commentary. But with respect to the way Rogan analyzed Shields vs. Kampmann, I do think there's some merit to what Hughes is saying.
Rogan seemed to go into the Shields-Kampmann fight expecting to see Shields dominate Kampmann on the ground. "This is a different level of grappling," Rogan said of Shields a couple minutes into the first round -- right before Kampmann bucked Shields off him and rolled right back onto his feet. Rogan didn't seem to have any explanation for why Kampmann was able to get back to his feet so easily when Shields had established a dominant position. When the fight didn't go exactly as expected, Rogan didn't seem prepared to adjust his analysis accordingly. Maybe a UFC fighter would have provided more insight.
It's not a knock on Rogan to say that an experienced, intelligent, articulate fighter could be a great third man on the broadcast team. In fact, Hughes -- even though he probably isn't interested, as he'd rather stay home with his family than travel to every UFC event -- would be perfect in that role.