Joe Rogan reflects on UFC’s pandemic era rules, slams mask mandate during Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje bout

Joe Rogan recently looked back at the pivotal calendar year 2020 in the UFC. With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down nearly every sporting event, the UFC led the charge, safely conducting live events and broadcasting them to the world.

Because of this, they never laid off a single employee and had one of the most profitable years in the company's history. However, achieving this was not easy as every UFC employee, from fighters, cornermen, referees, to commentators, had to strictly follow the safety measures.

Rogan remembers one of the fights during the pandemic. In episode #2302 of The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC commentator said:

"I watched a UFC fight the other day - an older fight - and all the cornermen had masks on. I'm like, 'This is the craziest thing'... It was a fight that took place in an arena in Florida with no crowd. No crowd. It was Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson. It was one of the first fights we did back."

He continued:

"And I was watching the fight the other day and I was looking at the cornermen. They all had masks on. I was like, 'What a weird f**king time'. I remember, like, people would get upset if I didn't wear a mask backstage. I'm like, 'What are we doing? What is this for?' Like, this is crazy. These guys are beating the f*ck out of each other and sweating on each other, you know? And all of us tested negative."

Check out Joe Rogan's comments below (1:39:39):

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Joe Rogan talks more about the strict rules COVID-19 imposed on UFC fighters and cornermen

One of the things the UFC had to adjust to during the pandemic was the advent of fights getting postponed or canceled due to a fighter testing positive for COVID-19. And it's not just the fighters. Even cornermen could cause fights to be scrapped.

Speaking more on what he thought were ridiculous measures by the UFC to keep fighters safe during the pandemic, Joe Rogan said in the aforementioned JRE episode:

"The athletes and the fighters, like, what we would have to do is if one of the cornermen got COVID - even if the fighter didn't have COVID - the fighter was pulled from the card. So one of the cornermen tests positive for COVID coz the fighter had been around him, even if he's negative." [1:41:40]

A few notable bouts that were cancelled/ postponed during the pandemic due to cornermen testing positive were Jacare Souza vs. Uriah Hall, Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns, and Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez.