During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience featuring comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, Joe Rogan and his guest discussed the unusual case of Sean Strickland being barred from attending a UFC event held on the White House lawn, despite Strickland being the reigning middleweight champion at the time.
The topic came up when Rogan recalled Strickland deciding to attend the event anyway after allegedly being told he was not welcome.
“He showed up at the UFC even though he was banned. He showed up and they arrested him,” Rogan said.
Rogan then confirmed that Strickland was removed by security.
“They kicked him out,” Rogan said. “He’s the world champion. There’s a UFC event at the White House. At the time before Justin won, he was the only American world champion. And they’re like, ‘You can’t come because you talk too much s**t about Israel.'”
Rogan questioned the decision, arguing that excluding the only American UFC champion from such an event made little sense.
“You think you would want to celebrate the American male world champion,” he said. “I think he said some other stuff too though. Epstein stuff there. ”
Rogan criticized what he believed was the reasoning behind the decision.
“That’s wild,” he said. “That your criticism about Israel is what keeps you from going to the White House as a world champion in world title matches at the White House.”
The pair also recalled an incident from the weigh-ins the night before. According to Hinchcliffe, Strickland arrived wearing a hoodie in an apparent attempt to avoid drawing attention. However, someone reportedly instructed him to remove it, despite Strickland warning that doing so would create a scene.
As Hinchcliffe described it, the moment Strickland took off the hoodie, the crowd erupted and quickly surrounded the former champion.
Despite the controversy surrounding Strickland, Rogan spoke highly of the former champion, saying there is a different side to him than many people see publicly.
“Sean, when he lets the whole shtick down and just gives you his opinions on things, very smart guy,” Rogan said.
Rogan also said he believes Strickland has a future in podcasting once his fighting career comes to an end. “I told him when he retires from competing, he 100% should do a podcast,” Rogan said to Hinchcliffe.
