Yahoo Sports Dana White Says Joe Rogan is Going Nowhere
Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes may have recently lost their “lifetime” positions with the UFC, but company president Dana White said that as long as commentator Joe Rogan doesn't want to leave that he's going nowhere.
While there had been talk that new UFC owners WME-IMG might be willing to cut longtime broadcast team Mike Goldberg and Rogan loose in pursuit of a new television deal, at least one half of the team appears safe.
The UFC's current TV rights deal with FOX runs through 2018. The promotion is reportedly set to make less than $200 million from the deal in the final year of the contract. WME-IMG is reportedly looking for a new deal in the neighborhood of $450 million per year, but getting rid of Rogan won't be part of the deal if White has anything to say about it.
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“(It's an) absolute lie about Joe Rogan going away,” White said during a recent interview on The Fight Network in Canada. “How you could make (expletive) like that up is pretty (expletive) amazing to me.”
While he didn't reveal any details, White did confirm there are production changes afoot for next year.
“There are some things I'm working on for 2017, as far as the broadcast goes, but that story (about Joe Rogan being removed) is a complete and total lie.
“Rogan will be here as long as Rogan wants to be here. He's the best to ever do it. Rogan is the best ever, in my opinion.”
(Courtesy of Fight Network)
