Joe Rogan | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

We all have regrets, even Joe Rogan.

One of the biggest podcasters on the planet, Rogan is also one of the faces of the UFC, having served as a color commentator for the promotion since 2002. In that time, Rogan’s seen it all, from the best fights to the ones that got away, and while there are many things he might wish had happened differently, one stands above all the others: Fedor Emelianenko never made it to the UFC.

“My main regret in MMA is we never got to see Fedor fight in the UFC when he was in his prime,” Rogan told Ilia Topuria on his podcast. “If I could have one thing, one fight in their prime, Fedor vs. Cain Velasquez. In their prime. That would have been incredible.”

Widely regarded as the greatest fighter to never compete in the UFC, Emelianenko was once considered to be the top pound-for-pound fighters in MMA, back when he was champion of Pride FC. After the UFC acquired Pride in 2007, many staples of the organization did make their way into the octagon, but Emelianenko wasn’t one of them. Instead, he struck out on his own, competing for a number of other promotions. But, Rogan says, it wasn’t for lack of effort by the UFC.

“They tried,” Rogan said when asked why the UFC didn’t sign Fedor. “I’ve got to be careful how I say this: Fedor was controlled by some Russian people that were very rough men, as it were. Gangster-type characters. They had a bunch of negotiations with the UFC, but they were very unreasonable demands. They wanted part of the promotion; they wanted to own a piece of everything because they knew with Fedor, they had their golden ticket, and they wanted to play it out as much as possible. Negotiations were very intense and very confrontational. They got bad, where Dana had to up his security. It got pretty heavy. These were dangerous people. … It got crazy.”

Emelianenko competed for several promotions, including Strikeforce and Affliction, before ultimately ending his career with Bellator in 2023. Velasquez, meanwhile, had the best years of his career from 2009 to 2013, just as Emelianenko was starting to go through a rough patch. But Rogan would have loved to see them lock horns in that small window of overlap that was available.

“That guy had a gas tank that was superhuman,” Rogan said of Velasquez. “For a heavyweight?! It didn’t even make any sense. You would see guys that would just fall apart. They would just wilt. Pure boxing style, great wrestling, incredible chin, indomitable will. Too tough for his own good. Too tough, which is why he wound up toward the end of his career, his body had deteriorated so much. He had so many injuries, neck injuries, back injuries, shoulder injuries, knee injury. …

“In his prime, Cain Velasquez vs. Fedor. That’s my biggest regret. A fight that we never got to see.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m with Joe on Fedor not ever fighting in the UFC is probably the biggest miss in MMA history. But then again, they brought over Mirko Cro Cop and didn’t even give him a title shot. Can you imagine that happening today? And we did ultimately get to see Fedor against the top UFC heavyweights during the Pride era, so that was something at least.

EXIT POLL

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