Comedian and UFC commentator Joe Rogan shared this thoughts on the "Strikeforce: Miami" event, as well as the "Best of Pride" series that is currently airing on Spike TV.

Rogan is a regular on The Underground Forum, and he recently dropped in to issue a bit of praise for the exciting show that Strikeforce put on last Saturday night. 

Nick Diaz is a fucking MONSTER. That dude just gets better with every performance, and he was in some rare air last night. Brutal body shots, and relentless striking. I thought it was fucking awesome. The Lawler fight was insane. That was one of the greatest, come from behind KO's ever, and the fact that he only landed 3 punches makes the story perfect. That shit was MMA history. People will be talking about that KO for decades."

Rogan also discussed what it's like taking in a big MMA show as a fan rather than carrying the load of commentator.  

I was just thinking about how fucking fun it is to watch shows when you don't have to commentate. I love working for the UFC, and the job is a complete and total honor, and one of the coolest jobs on the planet, but it's so much fucking fun to watch fights when you don't have to talk all the time. After all these years of being an MMA fan, it's still just as exciting.

 On his blog at JoeRogan.net, he also provided his thoughts on Pride FC and "The Best of Pride" show that SpikeTV has been running. Here are some snippets from his blog, or check it out in it's entirety here.  

There was something extra special about those fights. Part of it was that they were in Japan, and their culture is so much different than ours. The pageantry of the event was off the charts – giant video screen entrances that really built up the hype, and rules that were quite different than we have here. First of all, they didn’t allow elbows on the ground, because they caused cuts and they didn’t like the idea of a cut stopping a fight. Although elbows on the ground are very effective weapons, the people running Pride felt like it was better to leave them out to avoid potential indecisive doctor stoppages. What they were allowed to do however, is stomp each other in the head while they’re down and soccer kick each other in the face while they’re down. THAT is some pretty brutal shit, and there’s something about that added element of danger that just cranks the dial up on the excitement meter considerably when you’re watching it.

 Rogan on the judging system utilized by Pride:  

Another thing I really liked about Pride rules was their judging of a fight. They treated the fight as a whole unit, and the rounds were just to give the fighters a break so that they could refresh and charge out harder. The rounds were not counted as individual units, but rather strung together as a whole and judged as a complete fight, just how God intended it to be done.

 Rogan on the 10 minute first round:  

The first round was 10 minutes long, a concept I also liked. Nothing more frustrating than when you’re watching a good, close fight, and one guy struggles for 4:30 trying to get his opponent down on the ground, and when he finally does the bell goes off in 30 seconds. I like the idea of giving fighters the extra time to work, and breaking it up when it’s just starting to shift momentum can be frustrating. I could see the argument that a 10 minute round is just too long for guys to go all out, but that just means that they have to be better conditioned and better at pacing themselves. Over all, these rule differences; the longer first round, the fight being judged as a whole, and brutality of stomps and soccer kicks made Pride rules much closer to the idea behind the original UFC.

 Finally, Rogan chimes in about the brutality of soccer kicks and stomps allowed by the Pride rules:  

I was watching the fights in the green room Friday night with a buddy, and when Shogun tried to stomp Little Nog’ and punt his head while he was standing over him my friend audibly gasped. He’s not a martial artist, but he is a fan of the UFC and enjoys some pretty brutal fights, but the purity of intent he witnessed in that move – completely without remorse – of standing over a guy laying on the ground and trying to smash his head like a roach – that kinda freaked him out. 'That’s too much.' He said. 'That’s like they’re trying to kill each other.' I can kind of see where he’s coming from. At least the fights that take place in the UFC under the guidelines of the unified ruled don’t allow such savagery. Stomps and soccer kicks are quite a bit more dangerous with the cage too, because a fighter can get trapped against it and not be able to move their head out of the way like they would be able to in a ring. I agree with it, but I have to admit there’s something extra crazy about watching fights where they’re allowed to do shit like that. I’m not saying we should allow it back, but FUCK it made some of those fights intense.

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