Joe Rogan Goes After Referee In UFC 285 Video

In the lead-up to Jon Jones winning the heavyweight title by beating Ciryl Gane in the main event, Shavkat Rakhmonov put his unbeaten 16-0 record on the line against a formidable opponent in Geoff Neal. Despite Neal pushing him all the way and hurting him on multiple occasions throughout the fight, Rakhmonov managed to secure a very late submission win, keeping his 100% finish rate intact and picking up the biggest victory of his MMA career.

However, the most talked-about moment of the fight occurred in the first round when Neal knocked out Rakhmonov’s mouthpiece, and the referee failed to notice. UFC commentators, including Joe Rogan, openly discussed the issue on air and pointed out multiple times that the referee, Herb Dean, had not noticed that Rakhmonov was fighting without his mouthguard.

After Neal landed a massive punch, Rogan took off his headset and was captured on camera pointing at the gum shield on the floor, informing the referee of what had occurred. Dean then stepped in and temporarily halted the fight to allow Rakhmonov to put his mouthguard back in before the two fighters resumed their epic battle.

As the action resumed, Rogan commented, “He didn’t know. If I didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t know. That’s crazy!” UFC commentator Daniel Cormier then jokingly stated that Rogan had taken on a new role as both a commentator and officiating assistant.

For his efforts, Rakhmonov presented Rogan with a new hat before calling out Colby Covington during his post-fight interview. If Covington declines the challenge, the 17-0 contender wants to go straight for a shot at the 170lb title, which will be contested by Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman for the third time at UFC 286 in London on March 18th.