Why Joe Rogan Isn't Appearing In EA Sports UFC 4

Joe Rogan does not appear in UFC 4 because he hates doing voice-over work for the franchise.

The 52-year old is widely deemed to be the voice of UFC and although he did commentary for UFC 1 and UFC 2, Rogan told EA Sports he did not wish to record soundbites anymore as he "absolutely hates" the recording process.

Image: PA

Reflecting on being in the booth when speaking on the The Joe Rogan Experience in 2016, he said: "Dude we did a f**kload of hours. It was hours and hours and hours."

For UFC 3, the alternative was to take pieces of Rogan's commentary from UFC pay-per-views over the years and pipe it in for the game but a whole different approach was taken for the upcoming iteration.

Rogan is absent and instead gamers will have the duo of Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik calling the action. The duo did several four hour sessions together in the booth, drinking plenty of tea and honey to ensure their voices were still in tact and able to scream their lungs out.

And UFC 4 creative director Brian Hayes believes the authentic nature will make for the best commentary in the EA Sports UFC series so far.

He told SPORTbible: "Our presentation producer was really happy to work with Cormier because the opportunity to get him in the booth with [Jon] Anik at the same time really led to a lot more commentary quality and organic natural back and forth between the two.

"When we started the franchise Joe Rogan was the only person we could have worked with because at the time only he and Mike Goldberg commentated on UFC fights.

"As the sport's got bigger and we see more and more events, if you're a new UFC fan you might only hear Rogan at an event three or four times a year unless you're literally buying every single big pay-per-view because he only does stateside pay-per-views.

"You're more likely to hear Daniel Cormier than Rogan. Not only having him in the game is more current and up to date, the quality is going to be much higher than it's ever been."

Those who pre-order the UFC 4 game ahead of its August 14 release will not only get British boxing heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury as playable characters, they will also get a special Kimbo Slice inspired backyard customisation pack to go along with the brand new fight environment.

Topics: Daniel Cormier, joe rogan, UFC News, MMA News, UFC 4, UFC, MMA

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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