EXCLUSIVE | Chatri Sityodtong responds to praise from Joe Rogan

Speaking on a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan shared his appreciation for ONE Championship and the way the Asian organization promotes mixed martial arts.

“I appreciate the way ONE FC handles things,” Rogan said. “They just concentrate on fighters being honorable and fighting their best, and fighting the best fighters they can fight. They don’t emphasize that s**t talking at all. They emphasize the martial arts aspects of it.”

Speaking to BJPenn.com on Wednesday, ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong responded to this comment from Joe Rogan.

“I’m a huge Joe Rogan fan,” Sityodtong told BJPenn.com. “Obviously, he’s a lifelong martial artist too, a taekwondo blackbelt, a BJJ blackbelt. I have the utmost respect for him. I think because he’s a lifelong martial artist, he understands the deep authenticity of martial arts and he totally understands what we’re trying to do at ONE Championship, and what we’ve already achieved at ONE Championship in terms of mixed martial arts.

“It’s the sport of mixed martial arts done the right way, in terms of martial arts values,” he added. “Honor, respect and humility, none of the trash talking or violence or anger.

“ONE Championship doesn’t sell fights. All of our competitors are selling fights. We don’t care about selling fights, we are building heroes. At ONE Championship, we build heroes, we don’t sell fights. Every other organization sells fights, it’s a big difference.”

What do you make of this exchange between Joe Rogan and Chatri Sityodtong? Could we see the ONE boss on a future episode of Rogan’s podcast?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/24/2019.