Before becoming a well-known entertainer and UFC broadcaster, Rogan competed in taekwondo. Rogan quickly rose to prominence in the sport, when he won the US Open Taekwondo Championship at the age of 19. He was also a four-time Massachusetts state champion.
It wouldn’t be long before Rogan decided competing was no longer right for him. During a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the beloved UFC commentator explained why he ended his fighting career early (via MMAfighting).
“I stopped fighting when I was 22,” Rogan said. “I started doing comedy when I was 21 and I still trained and fought a few times while also doing comedy, but I didn’t have the dedication I had before. I had had a series of events that made me not want to compete anymore. One of them was recognizing brain damage. Recognizing it in other people. Recognizing it in friends and then lying in bed with a headache after sparring sessions asking ‘where does this lead?’ and I don’t even make any money from it.
“I started boxing and kickboxing and I saw so much brain damage. I saw so much unreported brain damage. Just weird stuff. Guys were telling you the same story they just told you five minutes ago. They’re just telling you again. I realized, oh these guys can’t remember just saying this five minutes ago. It was like they were stoned and they weren’t. They were just starting to show the first signs of brain damage.”
Rogan very much stuck to the fight game, even though he was no longer throwing kicks at an opponent. He eventually earned his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has helped others perfect their taekwondo technique.
He even gave UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre some tips during the prime of his career.
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