UFC no joke to funnyman Rogan

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A few weeks ago, Ultimate Fighting Championship commentator Joe Rogan was doing standup comedy in San Jose, Calif., when two groups of acquaintances showed up and hung out together: friends who never fight; and a group of guys from the American Kickboxing Academy, including Jon Fitch and Mike Swick — “two of the toughest guys in the world.”

“And my friends were, like, ‘They’re so nice and normal, and intelligent, and regular. They don’t act (jerky) at all,’ ” Rogan says.

Rogan told those friends, “They don’t need to act (jerky). They’re accomplished men.”

That is, Rogan says, “The best fighters are some of the nicest guys. It’s the ones that aren’t that good that are the douchebags” more often.

Why’s that? Because the most talented fighters are comfortable with who they are and have less emotional baggage, according to Rogan.

“That trips you up — the ego, the emotional baggage, all that stuff,” he says. “It makes (poor fighters) more vulnerable, because they have too much to think about. They’re not just battling (physically). They’re battling their own emotions.”

Rogan says athletes in team sports don’t get their egos checked to the degree fighters do.

“When you’re a basketball player, all you have to get good at is throwing that ball into the hole,” he says. “It’s not that difficult to lose a basketball game. You lose it, you come back the next night, you win. You rebound.

“It’s very difficult to lose a fight,” he says. “You get your ass kicked in a fight — that shit haunts you for a while.”

Fighters’ egos are checked by pushing themselves constantly, dealing with losses, rebounding from fights and objectively assessing their strengths and weaknesses.

“All those things are difficult,” Rogan says. “It’s almost like a judgment of your whole worth as a human — a judgment of your soul.”

It might be odd for nonfight fans to hear fight philosophy from Rogan, comedian and former host of “Fear Factor” and costar of “News Radio.”

But fight fans know he’s one of the best commentators in all of sports. His commentary is exciting, full of deep knowledge of the sport and its fighters, while being very present in each match.

The comedian knows what he’s talking about. He used to be a striker in mixed martial arts. He gave that up (it was too dangerous and it hurt, he says). But he still trains.

“What sets him apart from other people is his passion for the sport,” fighter and fight commentator Frank Mir said. “The one thing Joe has over everybody is you can tell he’s really into it. He loves what he’s doing. I think everybody appreciates that.”

Rogan sees the UFC as the most exciting, fastest-growing sport in the world.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a sport while I’ve been alive that’s exploded more than Ultimate Fighting Championship,” he says. “If you think about it, fighting is probably one of the oldest forms of competition men have ever engaged in. To find out the oldest sport is also the newest sport, how weird is that?”

And fighting is just part of human nature, he says.

“Violence is no different than sex; that’s no difference than the desire to eat. It’s a part of what makes us who we are — 96 percent of our genetics come from chimpanzees, and chimpanzees are super violent.”

Rogan points out that the UFC is organized violence in an agreed-upon situation with agreed-upon rules.

“When it’s over, you see these guys shake hands, and they hug. They have a great time after it’s over,” he says. “To the uninformed, or to the people that are quick to judge, yeah, it looks barbaric, yeah, it looks like it’s terrible. But it’s not bad.”

Like many of us, Rogan is aware of why the UFC has created a bigger buzz than boxing in recent years. It’s largely because the UFC has much better undercard fights, while boxing undercards have grown so dismal, boxing fans often show up only for main events.

Then, boxing fans often end up saying, “Jesus, did I really wait all day for that?” Meanwhile, UFC fans see 11 or 12 tight or at least interesting matchups, he says.

“You’re gonna see 11 kick-ass fights,” Rogan says. “You get your money’s worth.”

Rogan says boxing also overprotects its best fighters and makes them singular stars, while the UFC creates many stars under one canopy.

“With the UFC, the UFC itself is the brand. There’s a lot of great fighters people want to see. There are the Brock Lesnars and the Georges St. Pierres. That’s for sure a draw,” Rogan says.

“But (fans) also realize there’s so much worth in a UFC. There are so many different fighters who are great. So it’s never one guy. It’s the whole organization that’s exciting to people.”

Considering Rogan gets paid to cover and talk about all this, he says, working for the UFC doesn’t even feel like a job.

“I’ve never had more fun,” Rogan says. “I’m a professional fan sitting on the couch with a bunch of people explaining to them what’s going on when they have questions.”

Doug Elfman writes the VegasLand celebrity scene column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at delfman@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0391.