When Joe Rogan wanted to legalize the banned MMA move that Sean Strickland later accused Dricus du Plessis of

Joe Rogan once wanted to legalize a banned MMA maneuver. Incidentally, Sean Strickland accused Dricus du Plessis of utilizing that very maneuver several years later.

Strickland lost his UFC middleweight championship after getting outpointed by Du Plessis in their first encounter at UFC 297 in January 2024. The American later insinuated that a headbutt, which is a banned maneuver in MMA, from 'DDP' impaired his vision. He wrote on X:

"Well f**k haha... man that headbutt really made it difficult to see but I thought we got the job done. Blood and all!!! Onto the next one!!! Thanks everyone who supported me!!!!!!"

During his UFC 297 post-fight press conference, Dricus du Plessis was asked if he noticed any headbutt from him or Sean Strickland during the fight. 'DDP' responded:

"No. I can't say that I did. It's the first I'm hearing of it. No. I didn't feel a headbutt."

The South African later reaffirmed he didn't feel any headbutt during their title showdown.

Check out du Plessis' response below:

While hosting ex-UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich on The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast, Joe Rogan had notably argued to legalize headbutts in MMA. On episode #18 of the JRE MMA Show in March 2018, the UFC commentator said:

"Yeah. I mean, I'd see how they think and I see that thought. But I think today, even to this day, I don't mind headbutts. And it's a legit technique. Like, why is it okay to slam your elbow into someone's face, but it's not okay to slam your forehead into someone's face? And it's very effective."

"If a guy is tying you up in the guard, and his head's right there, and you can do that [headbutt]. And he can't really do it back to you... Headbutts, like, that was Mark 'The Hammer' Coleman's move. Knees on the ground, knees to the head on the ground... When Coleman was in his prime, he was all about headbutts."

Joe Rogan implied that headbutts could be legally utilized/defended against like other techniques, citing how Maurice Smith defended against Mark Coleman's headbutts in their UFC heavyweight title fight in 1997.

Watch Rogan's assessment below (3:19):

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Joe Rogan highlighted an allegedly "deliberate" headbutt at a UFC PPV

The UFC 302 pay-per-view (PPV) in June 2024 saw Ailin Perez defeat Joselyne Edwards via unanimous decision. Their women's bantamweight grudge match was preceded by a reported altercation at the UFC PI (Performance Institute).

During a sequence when Edwards was in Perez's guard, the former appeared to land a headbutt. Joe Rogan pointed out that the referee chose to call for a timeout and gave a warning to Edwards rather than taking a point away from her right away.

Calling out the allegedly intentional headbutt foul, Rogan said:

"So deliberate... Interesting. They didn't even take a point. That was a deliberate headbutt. I mean, there's no other thing that could have been happening from that movement."

Check out the headbutt and Rogan's remarks below: