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Joe Rogan has long been an advocate of changing the UFC weigh-in system. To prove his point, the commentator talked about Kamaru Usman's drastic transformation during weigh-ins and the actual fights.
According to Rogan, the UFC welterweight champion weighs nowhere near 170 pounds – the division's threshold – on days when he's not fighting. Speaking to Andrew Huberman in episode #1683 of the Joe Rogan Experience, the popular podcaster said:
"Take a guy like Kamaru Usman, he's the UFC welterweight champion. He weighs in at 170; for about an hour, he's 170. And then he gets up to around 200 pounds."
Rogan pointed out that judging solely by Usman's imposing physique, it's impossible to think that his natural weight is 170 pounds. The comedian added:
"You stand next to him and you go, 'How is that guy 170?' Well, he's not. He's 170 in the weigh-ins. And he's not even the most egregious. There have been guys who cut way more weight than that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe on fight days, he's 190. But he's a big guy. There's no way he's 170; he's not even close to 170. And he's the 170-pound champion."
This isn't the first time Rogan has spoken out about the hot-button issue. In an August 2018 episode of his podcast, Rogan claimed that weight-cutting is worse than using performance-enhancing drugs to gain an advantage. However, the UFC commentator made it clear that he does not have anything against Usman and is a massive fan of the champion.
Listen to Joe Rogan's take on weight-cutting below:
Joe Rogan's solution to the UFC's weight-cutting issues
Joe Rogan has put forth a couple of suggestions to fix the issue of cutting weight in the UFC. For Rogan, the problem needs to be addressed because weight cutting can be a way of "legalized cheating" in some cases and very detrimental to the fighter's health in others.
One of Rogan's suggestions is to establish more weight divisions to eliminate massive gaps between the existing ones. His other solution is to follow the lead of ONE Championship's hydration testing.
The podcast host also revealed that he had brought these ideas to the attention of the UFC's decision-makers. However, Rogan said his pleas always "fall on deaf ears."
Listen to the full episode with Andrew Huberman below:
