Joe Rogan Explains Why He Is Against Win Bonuses
It is common practice for mixed martial artists to get additional bonuses for winning their fights. These bonuses can often be as lucrative as the fight pay itself. It seems like a good idea in theory to give cash-hungry fighters extra incentive to win and put on a good show. However, Joe Rogan doesn’t like win bonuses in mixed martial arts. He shared his opinion on the topic during a recent episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast (as transcribed by BJPenn.com).
“That win bonus, I do not like,” Rogan stated. “I have said this from the beginning, I just don’t think it’s fair.”
Rogan’s gripe wasn’t actually with the bonuses themselves. It was more of an attack on the system.
“First of all, if you’re going to do a win bonus, you need to do something about the judging. You need to have a better scoring system, and you need to get rid of incompetence.
“In other states, it’s dire. I don’t want to name states, but there’s been states where we do fights where I’m just going ‘who watched that fight?’ How is this even possible? People just get f***ing robbed. So, if you have win bonuses, and a guy comes in and he’s getting $50,000, and then if he wins he gets another $50,000, you stole $50,000 from that guy by giving him incompetent judging.”
The Opposite Effect
Rogan continued by explaining how win bonuses often make the fights less eventful.
“If you’re a fighter, you’ve got to do your best to win. If that means taking a guy down and hump and throw enough punches to keep the referee from standing it up, that’s $50,000 for you.”
Rogan has been hammering on the judging and scoring systems in mixed martial arts for years. He did not offer a solution to the problem but he did like a suggestion his guest, Bellator MMA heavyweight Josh Barnett, made where they offer finishing bonuses to fighters instead.
Would you rather see win bonuses or finishing bonuses?
