UFC analyst Joe Rogan, a staunch critic of Canada’s Liberal Party, has confirmed he will not be attending UFC 315 in Montreal, stating he’d rather travel to Russia.
During his UFC London Fight Companion, Rogan, host of the world’s most popular podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, confirmed that “I won’t be there,” adding that “I don’t go to Canada anymore. I don’t. I’d rather go to Russia.”
Rogan also sat out UFC 297 in Toronto and UFC Edmonton in 2024, so the news isn’t exactly a shocker. The podcast host and comedian long ago ditched international travel, though initially he still made the trip to America’s northern neighbour. Despite cutting out international travel for events in 2016, he was in Toronto for UFC 231 two years later.
Rogan’s preference for Russia, who invaded neighbouring Ukraine in 2022 in a brutal, illegal conflict that has seen tens of thousands killed, does come as a shock however. Yet it echoes the political stance of American President Donald Trump, who has sided with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Ukraine and a host of other issues, turning his back on America’s role as the world’s leading democracy.
In 2022, Rogan called democratically elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “creepy f*cking dictator” in response to comments Trudeau made about protesters in Ottawa, who were comparing COVID-19 restrictions to the holocaust.
“Freedom of expression, assembly and association are cornerstones of democracy, but Nazi symbolism, racist imagery and desecration of war memorials are not,” Trudeau said at the time, in response to memorials being plastered with offensive slogans. “This is not the story of our pandemic, our country, our people. My focus is standing with Canadians and getting through this pandemic.”
Many criticized Trudeau’s response to the “Trucker Convoy” protests in Ottawa that year, which included invoking the Emergencies Act (formerly the War Measures Act), which allowed the Canadian government to freeze the bank accounts of protest organizers. Canadian courts deemed the move illegal, siding against the government. The Trudeau government appealed, making its case in February. A ruling on the matter is pending.
That’s how democracies work, however. The Constitution Act, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is there to protect citizens from government overreach. The government, at the highest level, can be held accountable. Compare that to Russia, whose government murders political dissidents at home and abroad and whose “President” is a former KGB strongman and de facto dictator for life.
Russia has also been known to kidnap American citizens traveling there on trumped up or minor charges, using them as pawns in prisoner swaps.
Oddly, Rogan’s most recent comments come just a week or so after questioning Trump’s continuing attacks and threats of annexation aimed at America’s former number one ally.
“Why are we upset at Canada? This is stupid,” Rogan stated on his podcast. Later, he’d explicitly state “I don’t really think they should be our 51st state. There. I said it.“
