UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal is a tremendous fighter with great striking. Among his other accolades, “Gamebred” holds the record for the fastest KO in UFC history. Despite this, not many people think Masvidal is a better mixed martial artist than welterweight GOAT, Georges St-Pierre. However, UFC commentator Joe Rogan believes that Masvidal is on another level compared to GSP.
On an episode of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, the former Fear Factor host revealed his opinion on this comparison. “I just think the level of competition he faced is higher,” said Rogan. He continued, “Yeah, I think if Masvidal was around at that time he would be dangerous for everybody, I think he is on another level. I think everyone is on another level.”
Joe Rogan on current fighters vs different fighting eras
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“Yeah…I think if Masvidal was around at that time he would be dangerous for everybody, I think he is on another level (than GSP)”
via JRE & @ColeShelton91 pic.twitter.com/E56gXMa2i7
But here’s why Joe Rogan’s assessment is way off this time. For starters, Jorge Masvidal made his debut just one year after GSP, meaning they fought in practically the same era. Furthermore, before his lightning-quick KO of Ben Askren in 2019, Masvidal was no more than a UFC journeyman. Yes, he had impressive victories over Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone but he also lost two successive fights to Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia respectively.
On the other hand, during his career, Georges St-Pierre beat every one of his opponents. He had 2 losses to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra but he avenged those losses in the subsequent rematches. Joe’s take is frankly bizarre and former UFC fighter, Chael Sonnen also felt that Rogan’s opinion was very heavily flawed.
Chael Sonnen reacts to Joe Rogan saying Jorge Masvidal is better than Georges St-Pierre
The American Gangster, Chael Sonnen has always been outspoken. Never shirking from making his opinions heard loud and clear, he monetized this using his YouTube channel. And after these comments from Joe Rogan surfaced, Sonnen immediately pointed out why Joe was wrong in a hilarious manner.
In a video titled, “Joe Rogan’s on drugs”, Chael said, “When somebody said something stupid when they were stoned, you would say, ‘He’s on drugs.’… But now we don’t tease them. So now when we have a doper, named Joe Rogan in this case, saying that today’s fighters are better than Georges St-Pierre, we address this and we debate this. Why? What happened to the good ol’ days when we said, ‘Guys on drugs’… That’s not a rational statement.”
In the video, he did give Joe props for being good at his job and acknowledged that even Joe could slip up sometimes. But Chael pointed out that the level of GSP’s competition has no bearing on his ability as a mixed martial artist. He ended the video by asking who in the UFC’s welterweight division could best GSP, something which Chael believes just wouldn’t happen.
Whether Joe Rogan is right for thinking this is up for debate. However, GSP, who has an objectively better resume than Masvidal will remain the GOAT in many people’s books. But Masvidal can help change people’s opinions soon if he can beat Gilbert Burns in their upcoming clash at UFC 287.
