Joe Rogan Apologized For Interviewing Daniel Cormier After His Brutal UFC 214 Knockout

“It was 100% my f*ck up.”

Shortly after Daniel Cormier’s devastating knockout loss to arch-rival Jon “Bones” Jones in UFC 214 on Saturday night, Joe Rogan went to the groggy, teary-eyed fighter for the brief interview in the video above, which has since caused some controversy. 

Shortly afterward Rogan stepped up and admitted he’d made a big mistake because he said some time ago he wouldn’t interview a fighter right after they got knocked out.

In a series of tweets which he then condensed and refined in an Instagram post, Rogan admitted he screwed up because he was shocked by the fight’s outcome and perhaps not thinking about what he was doing. 

My apologies to D.C. And to everyone else upset at me for interviewing him after the fight. In all honestly I was kind of in shock and I don't think I realized what I was doing until I had a mic in my hand and I was talking to him. I've said that I don't want to interview fighters after they've been KO'ed and then I did it to someone that I care a great deal about. It was 100% my fuck up and no one pressured me to do it. I posted a series of tweets about it on twitter but I know some of you folks only use instagram or Facebook so I thought the right thing to do is post it here as well. I was beating myself up about it all night, and whenever something like that happens it's always my sincere intention to apologize and express my honest feelings. It'll never happen again.

A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan) on Jul 30, 2017 at 9:34am PDT

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In his press conference following the fight, Dana White fielded questions about Rogan’s choice, as it was apparent the highly emotional Cormier was still reeling, possibly even concussed from the knockout. White indicated it was Rogan’s call, which the commentator owned up to in his apology.

While Rogan clearly did the right thing in admitting he was wrong, that didn’t stop others from ripping into him. One of the sharpest commentaries was the video below, which contrasted Rogan insisting he’ll never interview fighters who have been knocked out with his Cormier interview.

So chalk Rogan’s dumb move up to shock, then, and give him credit for manning up about it. 

Meanwhile, Cormier issued a classy statement on Sunday about the stoppage on Instagram here: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BXMcRjEhW6j

And Jones had nothing but kind words for his bitter rival after the knockout:

“I want to take this time to thank Daniel Cormier for being my biggest rival and motivator. Daniel Cormier, guys, he has absolutely no reason to hang his head,” said Jones in the Octagon after his win. 

“He has been a model champion, a model husband, a model father, a teammate, leader and I aspire to be a lot more like that man. Unfortunately we are opponents, but outside of that he is a true champion for the rest of his life.”