The UFC production trucks have their own audio feed with Joe Rogan. They direct him, he directs them on when to play replays, and the two communicate back and forth, rarely letting it be known to the public. Now, Joe Rogan’s audio with the truck was leaked, and it reveals how critical he can be of UFC fighters, unbeknownst to the rest of the world.
In the post USADA era of the UFC, many fighters appear to have changed shape. When Jose Aldo returned to the octagon Joe took note, and discussed these physical changes with the UFC production trucks.
This audio was never supposed to see the light of day. However, it should also be noted that several recent statements from UFC fighters state they believe Aldo was on PEDs during his championship run.
UFC’s Jeremy Stephens recently threw Aldo under the bus, stating recently that that he believes Jose Aldo was using performance enhancing drugs throughout his title reign. He also said that Aldo hasn’t been the same ever since USADA came into the fold. However, Stephens was not the only fighter to make the claim.
UFC’s Derek Brunson quickly went to Twitter to offer his thoughts on the matter. Replying to what Jeremy Stephens said, Brunson stated “Salute Stephens. Sad but 100% agree. Doesn’t have that edge anymore. He still young…”
The Twitter post has since been deleted from Derek Brunson’s account, but a screen shot of the message can be seen below:
Of course everyone’s entitled to their opinion. You’re even allowed to express your opinion with colleagues, friends, and even strangers if you want. However, hearing his opinion in this brand new allegedly leaked footage seems a bit unfortunate.
In the clip Joe Rogan and a UFC producer are chatting back and forth while Aldo vs. McGregor was getting announced by Bruce Buffer. During the discussion Rogan shares his brutally honest opinion about the former champion. Stating that he “doesn’t want to jump to any conclusions”, about Aldo’s softer looking body, and that the Brazilian looks very nervous during his staredown with McGregor.
The replay of the leaked footage is in the player above, and it prompted Rogan to issue the following public apology:
“There was an audio “leak” from inside the UFC production truck right before Saturday night’s fight where I said that Jose Aldo’s body looked smooth and deflated, and that I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions and that it could have just been from doing a lot of cardio. I also said he looked nervous. Needless to say this caused a lot of controversy.”
He continued, “Since then people have posted photos of Aldo recently as well as from this fight, and he looked very similar.”
“So for that, I stand corrected. My apologies for being wrong to Aldo and his trainer Andre Pederneiras. I have nothing but admiration and respect for both of them.”
“This wasn’t supposed to be a public conversation, I was just talking to my friend the producer in the truck privately.”
“As you can see from this photo from earlier in his career his body looked different from how he looked Saturday night. There are several possible reasons for that, one of them being that the 1st photo is him moving, and another that he had endurance problems in the later rounds of his fights and might have leaned out.”
“Another thing some were upset with was that I didn’t want an immediate rematch, and that I thought Conor should fight Frankie Edgar. My reasons for this are that I think Frankie stylistically is a great match up for Conor. I also think that when someone suffers a brutal knockout they should take a lot of time off to recover. I’m not a promoter, and I don’t get to decide who fights who or when, and for that I’m grateful. What I am though, is someone who respects and cares very deeply for fighters and their health. Too many times I’ve seen fighters come back too soon from being KO’ed and watch them not be able to absorb punishment anymore.”
Joe Rogan went on to say that Jose Aldo just happens to be on a short list of fighters he admires.
“Aldo is on my short list of all time favorite fighters, along with Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva, GSP, Mighty Mouse, and Fedor.
I would love to see Aldo back motivated for revenge and gunning to regain his title. First though, I’d like to see him rest and recover.
Again, my apologies to Jose Aldo and Andre Pederneiras and anyone else I offended with my opinions.”
