NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 16: Joe Rogan speaks before the UFC 309 event at Madison Square … More
UFC commentator Joe Rogan made some waves earlier this year when he said he would not work the UFC 315 fight card, which takes place on Saturday, May 10, at Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Rogan has stayed true to his word. With Rogan out of the mix for the UFC 315 PPV, former UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz serves as part of the commentary team for this week’s UFC pay-per-view fight card.
Joe Rogan: “I’d Rather Go To Russia”
“I won’t be there. I don’t go to Canada anymore,” Rogan said on a late March edition of his JRE Fight Companion podcast. “I don’t.”
Former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub responded to Rogan, “Nor should you. Discipline them.”
“No, I’d rather go to Russia,” Rogan said with a laugh.
This was not the first time Rogan spoke out against Canada and its leadership.
In July 2024, on an episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rogan was critical of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and what he referred to as the country’s “ridiculous free speech laws.”
“They can come down on you for a lot of things. They seized up the bank accounts for people who were protesting, the truckers. People who were donating to the truckers, they seized their bank accounts,” Rogan said.
“It’s not a good place under this administration, at least.”
“Get rid of that guy, I’ll come back. I just don’t trust any of it up there,” Rogan added.
“I think they’re so far into tyranny right now…the erosion of people’s rights. I don’t want to support it. I think it’s horrible.”
Joe Rogan’s History Of Working UFC Canada Events
EDMONTON, ALBERTA – JULY 27: (L-R) Jon Anik and Joe Rogan anchor the broadcast during the UFC 240 … More
Rogan has not traveled to international UFC events for some time. In 2016, after signing a new deal with the UFC, the long-time commentator and popular podcaster said he would reduce his schedule and that he would only work UFC pay-per-view events and not travel to international fight cards.
I was on the fence, man,” Rogan said. “I just do too much sh*t. I’m too f*cking busy. After a while I’m like, I don’t know if I’m doing myself or all the different things I do a disservice. I was real close. It was like, either I’m just gonna completely bail off of this or I’m gonna figure it out.”
“If I go to Brazil, that’s five days out of my life that I can’t do this and I can’t do all the other stuff that I do,” Rogan added. “And on top of that, there’s the recovery time. When I come back, I’m (expletive) toast. That flying just (expletive) my head.”
Despite his decision not to work international events, Rogan traveled to Canada as recently as July 2019, when he worked the UFC 240 fight card at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
As of now, it seems as if Rogan will only work American PPV cards.
UFC 315 Commentary Team
According to MMA Fighting, the following team will work the UFC 315 pay-per-view card.
Jon Anik: Play-by-play
Daniel Cormier and Dominick Cruz: Color commentary
Brendan Fitzgerald: Additional reporting
We will have more on the UFC 315 fight card as fight night approaches.
