Joe Rogan shares examples of “artistic” fighters in boxing and MMA: “If you watch it, it’s beautiful”

Like many fight fans, Joe Rogan believes there is real artistry in the martial arts.

The UFC commentator got to talking about the artistry of combat sports in a conversation with television personality Mike Rowe on a recent episode of his podcast.

“I think martial arts are art — for people that understand it,” he said. “If you watch it, it’s beautiful. There are some fighters that are just so artistic.”

Rogan then went to give an example of a fighter he considers a true artist — retired boxer Emanuel Augustus.

“You know who Emanuel Augustus is?” he asked Rowe. “That guy is an artist.

“He’s completely unique, doing a thing in this beautiful deceptive way,” he continued when Rowe ask what makes Augustus an artist. “He’s dancing, but he’s also has an understanding of distance that’s fantastic, so he’s really good at avoiding punches. His head movement, even with this unorthodox dancing style, is fantastic.

“Floyd Mayweather said [Augustus] was the most skilled opponent he ever fought, and his record didn’t indicate his actual physical ability… It was such a wild style. It was so unusual… He gave Floyd a hard f**king time. He’s so difficult to fight.”

Rogan then pointed to former featherweight champ Naseem Hamed as another example of a fighter with an unusual style that verges on artistry.

“Prince Naseem Hamed kind of had a similar thing going on when he was in his prime,” he said. “Naseem Hamed was very, very unorthodox.”

“A weird style” in the UFC

In terms of UFC fighters that meet that criteria, Rogan conjured up a name that is likely to surprise some fight fans: former UFC middleweight champ Sean Strickland.

“Sean Strickland, he was the UFC middleweight champion,” he said. “He stands straight up… [mimics Strickland’s stance] and beats the f**k out of everybody. Stands straight up. Everyone else is down, everyone else is moving. Sean stands straight up, moving towards you, phenomenal head movement, awesome timing, and walks people down. It’s a weird style. There’s a bunch of guys that fight weird, but they’re really good at it.”

“There’s guys that come around in fighting that have styles that are so weird and so unique, you go ‘wait a a minute, how come nobody else is doing this? Is this going to work?’”

Joe Rogan will be back on commentary duty at UFC 310 in Las Vegas this weekend.