Herb Dean received crucial support from Joe Rogan during a main-card fight at UFC 285. In the middle of the battle, Dean was alerted to something by the UFC colour commentator.
In the first round of his match against Geoff Neal at welterweight, Shavkat Rakhmonov lost his mouthpiece. The Kazakh superstar persisted in fighting, seemingly unconcerned that he had lost his mouthpiece.
While the commentary booth picked up on the issue right away, Herb Dean was blind to it until Joe Rogan removed his earpiece and shouted from cageside to call the referee’s attention to it. When the combat finally stopped, Dean had to go seek for Rakhmonov’s gumshield because he was unaware of its whereabouts.
“He had no idea. He wouldn’t know if I hadn’t told him, “said Rogan
Daniel Cormier offered his colleague pundit the following similar job description:
Joe, you now have two jobs: officiating assistant and commentator.
Watch the following sequence:
After trading blows in the opening round, Rakhmonov began to outstrike Neal as the bout went on. Even in the third round, though beaten up, “Handz of Steel” performed a great job of repelling takedowns. Finally, “Nomad” used a standing rear-naked choke to defeat Neal via stoppage for the first time in his professional career.
Joe Rogan is a fan of Shavkat Rakhmonov
Before the entire MMA scene became aware of the Kazakh sensation, Joe Rogan was a fan of Shavkat Rakhmonov.
When Rogan brought “Nomad” to the attention of lightweight great B.J. Penn during an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rakhmonov was coming off his third consecutive victory in a UFC fight by finish. The UFC colour analyst stated:
You know you think of a wrestler when you picture a man like him. Yet even though this guy is an excellent grappler, his kicks are really ridiculous. He can wrestle, too, but his strength is as a hitter. He kicks the body violently. Just a tremendously strong attacker who is unbeaten and tough as f**k. But despite the fact that he doesn’t receive much attention for whatever reason, I believe he is someone to watch.
