Joe Rogan was in the squad for UFC 285 on Saturday when Jon Jones defeated Ciryl Gane to win the heavyweight title in his return to the Octagon in more than three years.
Before the night came to the big main event fight, Rogan helped make sure Shavkat Rakhmonov was safe during his fight against Geoff Neal. In the first round, Rogan alerted referee Herb Dean about Rakhmonov’s mouthguard falling off during the fight with over a minute remaining.
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Joe Rogan walks inside the Octagon during the UFC 282 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 10, 2022 in Las Vegas. (Carmen Mandate/Zuffa LLC)
Dean pushed the pause in the fight to make sure Rakhmonov found his mouthpiece and then the fight would continue. Daniel Cormier said on the broadcast that Rakhmonov didn’t seem to «care» about finding the team to keep his mouth safe from him and kept fighting.
Dean checked Rakhmonov’s mouth and then found the mouthpiece on the octagon floor.
Shavkat Rakhmonov of Uzbekistan speaks with Joe Rogan in a welterweight bout during the UFC 285 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 4, 2023 in Las Vegas. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
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«He didn’t know it,» Rogan said. «If he hadn’t told him, he wouldn’t have known. That’s crazy.»
Rakmonov defeated Neal via submission in the third round and remained undefeated with a 17-0 record. Neal fell to 15-5. Initially, his fight was supposed to take place at UFC Fight Night in January, but Neal pulled out due to injury.
Then their welterweight fight was rescheduled for March. However, Neal entered the weigh-ins four pounds over the limit and the fight continued as a catchweight.
Joe Rogan hosts the broadcast during the UFC 281 event at Madison Square Garden on November 12, 2022 in New York City. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
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Rakmonov has been fighting in the UFC since 2020. He submitted Alex Oliveira at UFC 254. Neal was in Dana White’s Contender Series 3 in 2017, defeating Chase Waldon via technical knockout. He then defeated Brian Camozzi via submission at UFC Fight Night in 2018.