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“They can’t do it any other way. If he can’t stand up with you… and he can take you down anytime, why would he ever let you up?” There are, however, exceptions—fighters who use grappling to dominate and finish. Rogan cited former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov as the perfect example. “Khabib gets you down. You’re getting f—ked up. He’s crushing your legs between these legs and he’s f—king trying to choke on you,” Rogan said. Rogan concluded by acknowledging that some fighters with elite grappling can still beat potential champions purely through their ground control. “It sucks, but it’s real,” he said during the podcast. That’s quite true, if you look at it in a way. Take Ryan Hall, for example. His bread and butter was the Imanari roll into some sort of leg entanglement, leading to a heel hook finish. But as soon as Ilia Topuria figured his game out, his jig was up. Bottom position rolls and heel hook submissions began to take a backseat after that fight. Grappling is an essential skill in mixed martial arts, but learning just enough to prevent takedowns or hold certain positions without advancing leaves everyone frustrated. Truly, ‘The Eagle’ is one of, if not the only one, who had an offensive approach with 90-100% efficacy in his takedowns and ground control. People would also point to Khamzat Chimaev, but he wasn’t able to put away names like Gilbert Burns, Kamaru Usman, or Dricus Du Plessis with his offensive grappling. All three fights went to a decision. Khabib, meanwhile, finished Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje in his last three UFC fights. While names like Charles Oliveira and Fabricio Werdum come to mind when you talk about exceptionally good grapplers in MMA, they would still use their striking to set up grappling exchanges. Demian Maia is a rare example who was heavy on the offensive grappling front, and even Islam Makhachev can be grouped in the same category. But neither of them has shown the level of grappling dominance Khabib has displayed with his leg trap sequence or positional pressure to exhaust. But coming back to Rogan’s ‘No Standup’ rule, that’s not the only one he has proposed. Rogan’s ‘wacky’ rule changes for UFC if he were in control The color commentator has previously revealed what he would change if he were in charge of the promotion. “I got some wacky ideas,” Rogan admitted in one of his podcasts. “I don’t even think they should fight in a cage.” The 58-year-old, who has worked with the UFC since 1997, believes the octagon limits the essence of fighting. His suggestion? Something like a basketball court. Rogan calls for a big matted up space, with a warning track that deducts points on crossing a certain limit. He doesn’t believe in the cage where you get to push someone against something, allowing them to get back up. While Rogan’s no stand-up rule might not get implemented in the UFC anytime soon, he clearly continues to advocate for it. Where do you stand on Rogan’s brilliant ideas?
