Joe Rogan has some advice for anyone who criticised Conor McGregor for tapping out in the main event of UFC 229.
McGregor was forced to submit to a neck crank in the fourth round of his clash with Khabib Nurmagomedov last month and was ridiculed by some fans for tapping out.
More was made of the post-fight melee than the submission itself but some fans latched on to the theory that ‘The Notorious’ had tapped prematurely.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan has come to the defence of McGregor, claiming that no credence should be given to comments from those who have never trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
“He did not tap prematurely,” Rogan said on his podcast with Ross Edgley. “He did not defend it though. Here’s the deal. He was done, he was beaten down. Khabib fucked him up. Khabib smashed him.
“There was a lot of people who don’t train – and this is very frustrating to me – who think that that was something that you shouldn’t tap to. They are out of their fucking minds. That is what is called ‘a fulcrum choke’. It’s not necessarily a choke but it does choke you and it really feels like your fucking head is going to pop off.
“What he’s doing is wrapping around the face and you don’t even have to go under the jaw. You can get it on the chin, especially if you’re as strong as Khabib. Then you clamp your hands together and you’re pressing your forearm against his back. And Khabib is so strong. He’s been grappling since he was a baby. All of his muscles are designed to squeeze and crush and smash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3yeS4wW1VQ
“If you look at what Conor did, Conor just waited until he couldn’t take it anymore more and tapped. Both of his arms were down, he was getting his neck cranked and he didn’t defend with two on one. That was a perfect example of the fulcrum choke. It’s a neck crank, it’s a choke, there’s a lot of shit going on there. It doesn’t have to be under the chin, it can be on the face and you’re going to get fucked up.”
Rogan, a BJJ black belt under Eddie Bravo, has urged McGregor’s critics to test their resilience under the vice-like squeeze of the submission which Nurmagomedov used to defend his 155lbs title.
He added: “All those folks out there saying it wasn’t a choke need to go have someone apply that to them. They need to start training jiu-jitsu and stop talking about MMA submissions. You’re going to tap, bitch!
“Not everyone is going to tap to that because other people, unlike Conor, are going to be better at defending that. If you get a hold of a world class Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who’s also an MMA fighter like Vinny Magalhaes. He’s going to grab a hold of that, he’s going to defend properly, he’s going to adjust, he’s going to try to get out of it. He might have to tap. People tap! But he’s not going to just have one arm posted. That’s just not the right way to handle it. I think it was because Conor had eaten bombs.
“It would help if he wasn’t as tired. If that choke was applied during the first few seconds or minutes of the first round then I think he probably would have had a good chance to survive.”
