Despite the rare international UFC card that will be within North America, and despite a highly anticipated matchup between Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena, longtime fight analyst Joe Rogan will not be at the event.
That’s because UFC 315 will be hosted in Montreal. And Rogan is sticking to his guns on not visiting the country for political reasons.
“I won’t be there. I don’t go to Canada anymore,” Rogan said on a Joe Rogan Experience “Fight Companion” podcast from over the weekend.
After agreement from his co-host, Rogan jokingly said, “I’d rather go to Russia.”
Earlier in the episode during a tangent conversation about World War II, Rogan said it was “stupid” that Americans hate Canadian people.
“They have terrible government, but the Canadian people are awesome,” he said.
Previously, Rogan had expressed criticism for former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. As Front Office Sports noted in its write-up of Rogan’s comments about UFC 315, the popular podcast host said last July that his issues stemmed from a 2022 protest in Ottawa led by truckers who were protesting the country’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. In response, Trudeau targeted the protestors’ bank accounts under the country’s Emergencies Act for the first time in its history.
In the July 2024 podcast, Rogan said he would consider returning to Canada once Trudeau was gone and the country had ended its “tyranny” and “the erosion of people’s rights.”
During the podcast, Rogan expressed support for conservative Pierre Poilievre in the April election to replace Trudeau.
At UFC 312 in February, Michael Bisping replaced Rogan on the call in London. Unless Rogan sees change from the Canadian government before May’s card, it would appear that he is sticking to his guns and sitting out the Muhammad-Della Maddalena fight in protest.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.