Joe Rogan has responded to Ronda Rousey's explosive comments claiming he isn't an 'expert' in MMA because he didn't fight in the UFC.
Rousey enjoyed a glittering MMA career after becoming the first female fighter to sign for the UFC.
She entered the promotion as the UFC women's bantamweight champion, having held the Strikeforce women's bantamweight title.
Rousey beat the likes of Miesha Tate, Alexis Davis and Cat Zingano before retiring from MMA in 2016 following back-to-back defeats to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes.
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After calling time on her legendary UFC career, the 38-year-old claimed people within the sport turned on her, including UFC commentator Rogan.
"It was really disappointing to see how happily everybody turned on me and how people like Joe Rogan, who were crying in the ring about the honour of being able to call my fights, people I considered friends in the media, so quickly turned on me," she said last year.
On her appearance on the Bertcast Podcast with Bert Kreischer, Rousey reignited her feud with Rogan by claiming he isn't an 'expert' in MMA, having not fought professionally.
She said: "He wouldn't know. He's not an expert, he's a fan with an audience... [He] never fought!"
Well, on Rogan's latest podcast with guest Jeff Dye, Rousey's disparaging comments were brought up.
But the 58-year-old refused to get involved in a war of words as he played down her criticism, calling her a 'legend' who has a champion mindset.
“Ronda’s a legend. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for that lady. When she said I wasn’t an expert everyone’s entitled to their opinion," he said in response to Rousey's expert claim.
"It didn’t really bother me. She has a champion mentality: 'If you’ve never fought, you ain’t shit'. I get it. That’s all she said. It’s just an opinion. If I was a p**sy, it would’ve been mean."
Rogan added: "I never had a bad thing to say about Ronda (Rousey), I still don’t. I understand her mentality. I mean, she’s a champion-minded person. She’s like, 'You’re f**king with me or against me. It’s me against the world'.
"She doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder, she’s got a forest - she’s got a whole forest on her shoulder. That’s why she was so good. And we’re lucky she was a woman, if that lady was a man, she would be f**king Genghis Khan. She would take over the world. She’s an animal.”
UFC star Valentina Shevchenko defends Joe Rogan after Ronda Rousey criticism
Rousey's comments on Rogan attracted plenty of interest within the MMA community.
Valentina Shevchenko, who defends her UFC women's flyweight title against Zhang Weili at this weekend's UFC 322, jumped to the defence of the podcaster following Rousey's outburst.
On X, she wrote: "I see Joe Rogan as huge expert of Martial Arts, noble man, hunter, sportsman, and good example for youth!"
It appears Rogan has the support of the MMA world following Shevchenko's social media post.
Topics: Joe Rogan, Ronda Rousey, UFC
Nasir Jabbar