UFC-kommentator Joe Rogan er i hardt vær etter helgens UFC 223. Den svært erfarne ekspertkommentatoren kritiserte Khabib Nurmagomedov sine stående ferdigheter i lettvekt-tittelkampen Al Iaquinta, på tross at “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov hadde betydelig flere treff; 134 slag sammenlignet med Iaquintas 41.

Dessuten tok den ubeseirede dagestanske sambo-utøveren alle fem rundene klart med sifrene 50-43, 50-43 og 50-44.

Nurmagomedov (venstre) sparker Iaquinta under tittelkampen på UFC 223

“Forstår ikke”

Rogans kommentarer forargret blant annet Nurmagomedovs hovedtrener hos American Kickboxing Academy Javier Mendez.

I et nytt intervju med MMA Fighting mener Mendez at Rogan ikke hadde gjort noen forberedelser før kampen, og derfor skjønte lite av det som foregikk.

“Jeg så kampen sist natt med Joe Rogans kommentarer og han forstod virkelig ikke hva helvete som skjedde.” sa Mendez under Mandagens “The MMA Hour”.

“Fordi han bedømmet kampen fullstendig feil. ‘Oj han [Iaquinta] eksponerte Khabib. Det er mange hull i gamet hans.’

Det er ingen hull i gamet hans. Han har aldri vært en stand-up fyr, men han har blitt bedre og hvis du ikke erkjenner hvor mye bedre han har blitt i forhold til forrige gang, har du egentlig ikke gjort forberedelsene dine.

Fordi han [Nurmagomedov] byttet til southpaw, han prøvde til å med et rundspark på fyren, for Guds skyld.”

It is insanely rare to have a fighter as dominant as @khabib_nurmagomedov. In one of the most talent stacked divisions to go 25 and 0 is incredible, but to do it without even having a rough moment in a fight is completely unheard of. The closest thing to adversity he’s had to face in the Octagon before Saturday was one solid punch that was landed by Michael Johnson in a fight that was otherwise a horrifically one-sided mauling. When I’m commentating on someone that dominant I am constantly looking for cracks in their armor, and on Saturday night we saw the first of those cracks exposed by an incredibly game Al Iaquinta. Most people, myself included, expected the highly favored Khabib to rag doll his last minute opponent the way he’s done to everyone else he faced in the Octagon, and that was the case in the early going, but as the fight got into the later rounds Al was able to keep the fight standing and we saw some possible flaws in Khabib’s defense. Make no mistake about it, Khabib won that fight by a landslide, but it went to a decision, and that in and of itself was an upset. When I’m looking at a fighter as spectacularly talented as Khabib fighting a guy like Al who is an almost impossible underdog I’m not just looking at this fight, but I’m looking at openings that can possibly be exploited by the best fighters in the division. I saw some of those openings Saturday night, and I certainly found them interesting. In no way am I biased against Khabib, in fact I’m a massive fan of his and he’s one of my all time favorite fighters. If any of you were annoyed by my concentrating on that aspect of an incredibly dominant performance by one of the most impressive guys in the history of the division, please accept my sincere apology. When I commentate on fights my goal is to highlight the action and make it more exciting for the fans at home. Obviously all this is done live in real time, and if I had to go back and do it again I would often be able to do a better job. Even after all the years I’ve been commentating I still learn something new about the position with each and every event, and when that stops happening that will most likely be when I quit.

A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan) on Apr 8, 2018 at 9:53pm PDT

Ber om unnskyldning

Rogan sendte ut en unnskylding via Instagram for sine bemerkninger i etterkant av tittelkampen, som Mendez mener dette er unødvendig men forstår hvorfor Khabib-fansen reagerer.

“Jeg elsker Rogan, men ja, hvis han unnskyldte seg, burde han ikke,” sier Mendez.

“Han trenger ikke å be om unnskyldning. Hey, den karen er fantastisk i mine øyner. Han sier noe, det skaper kontroverser.

“Så til meg, trenger han ikke unnskylde seg. Men jeg er sikker på at han sannsynligvis får mye hat-mail.”