UFC champion Israel Adesanya defended controversial podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan during a fight press conference Thursday evening.
A reporter began to ask UFC President Dana White a question about Rogan, when Adesanya, a New Zealander born in Nigeria, chimed in.
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“First off, let me take this one. Hold up, I’m black — I can take this one,” Adesanya said. “There’s a lot of c***s in this game. There’s a lot of snakes in this game. I’ve been in this fight game since 2008, and Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf***ers I’ve had the pleasure of working with.”
“F*** the noise, man — you know what they’re trying to do. You can’t control the man. And he’s got the biggest platform in the world right now, so that’s my n***** Joe Rogan,” he said.
.@stylebender stands up for @joerogan at fight press conference last night.
“That’s my n***** Joe Rogan.” pic.twitter.com/ZX2vjLdWOr
— Matthew Miller (@mattmiller757) February 11, 2022
Rogan is facing backlash after a video compilation of him using the N-word over nearly a decade of podcasts surfaced on social media. The compilation emerged as the comedian also faced pushback for interviewing doctors who expressed their concerns over the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.
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Adesanya is preparing to fight Australian mixed martial artist Robert Whittaker on Saturday, completing a trilogy between the two fighters. Adesanya appeared at the Friday press conference wearing an NFT chain showing a video of his previous knockout victory over Whittaker.
Israel Adesanya got an “NFT chain” with his knockout of Robert Whittaker from their first fight ahead of the rematch at #UFC271 ??? pic.twitter.com/iiQ6LO8RjE
— Josh Sánchez (@joshnsanchez) February 11, 2022
