When people think of Joe Rogan, they’re often reminded of his podcasts and UFC commentary. That makes perfect sense since the star is widely recognized as a podcasting powerhouse. But, Rogan revealed a fascinating chapter of his life that most people might not know of—being a trained fighter who qualified for nationals, Rogan was once scheduled to face the Blade actor and amateur martial artist Wesley Snipes.
During a discussion with fitness expert Derek from More Plates More Dates, on his renowned podcast The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC commentator recalled the time from the early 2000s, when he was asked to fight against Wesley Snipes. Reflecting on how he prepared himself to choke the life out of the actor, Rogan later expressed disappointment over the canceled match, as Snipes withdrew himself for some reason.
Joe Rogan was scheduled to have a potential fight with Wesley Snipes
Can you imagine Joe Rogan, the renowned podcast host, stepping into a ring to take down Blade himself, Wesley Snipes? Sounds like a fever dream, right? Well, it almost happened in the early 2000s, and not just for fun. This was supposed to be a real fight with money on the line and potential bruises to the ego and face.
During a discussion on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, the UFC commentator reflected on the time when the vampire-slaying action star was dealing with some financial problems, which led him to seek ideas to make some quick cash. That’s when Wesley Snipes reportedly showed interest in a celebrity fight with another action star, Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Unfortunately, as the fight was dismissed by industry experts who believed that it wouldn’t be commercially feasible, Joe Rogan was then contacted for the face-off. It was Campbell McLaren, the original producer of the first UFC, who reached out to Rogan and informed him about the bout.
I did agree to fight Wesley Snipes like 20 years ago. Remember what happened with him with taxes? So I think they were trying to figure out a way to make money to pay the government off.
I guess it was in 2004 or 2005 or somewhere around then… Wesley Snipes wants to have a UFC fight… and I said when are we talking about? Cause I’ve been training. I was brown belt jiu-jitsu and I’d been training kickboxing still… and so I’d have to really ramp everything up.
Considering how Joe Rogan was still in his early 30s, the UFC star recalled training consistently. Further, claiming to have competed nationally for taekwondo for five to six years, Rogan recalled how he was prepared to take down Wesley Snipes, who unfortunately had no experience in real fight, despite training in MMA.
Despite agreeing to Wesley Snipes’ terms, Joe Rogan never got to fight
Joe Rogan being a legit martial artist, wasn’t just planning on showing up during the fight and hoping for the best. Oh no, he was ready to strangle the life (figuratively, of course) out of Wesley Snipes. So much so that the UFC commentator even agreed to all of Snipes’ terms and conditions, just to have a face-off against him.
After training for months, and undergoing the grueling process, Joe Rogan mentioned how determined and pumped up he was to fight against Wesley Snipes and show him stars in broad daylight. That’s when Rogan recalled how the agreement initially started with an equal pay split and went on to 60/40. But determined as he was, Rogan eventually agreed upon a mere $500,000 cheque, just to strangle Snipes. Yes, he was that pumped!
The first negotiation was 50-50… and I said ok great. And then a couple of weeks went by… and then it was like Wesley wants 60-40… and I go ok… and it got to a point where I was like ‘just give me half a million dollars, I don’t care what you give Wesley’.
I’m going to f*cking strangle this guy. I’m gonna get a hold of him, and there’s not gonna be a goddamn thing he can do about it. I was convinced.
Unfortunately, despite agreeing to Wesley Snipes’ terms, while investing his time in sharpening his jiu-jitsu skills and getting pumped for battle, Joe Rogan never actually got the opportunity to get the actor in a chokehold. As per Rogan, while he was preparing for the bout, Snipes decided to ghost the whole thing.
He didn’t wanna do it… as time went on I think he kinda understood that it was a bad idea. I think he initially thought—I mean who knew? This could have been chemically fueled…
I trained for six months. I was kickboxing with Rob Cayman in the morning, I was doing jiu-jitsu at night. I was f*cking exhausted.
Despite Joe Rogan agreeing to take a pay cut for the fight—being as confident as he was—Wesley Snipes eventually canceled the whole warrior showdown. And quite obviously, Rogan was left hanging, disappointed that the fight never came to be. After all, he was way too excited and honestly prepared to choke out a Hollywood star.
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