http://twitter.com/Tomas_Rios/status/6415062101139456 http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/mma.cfm?go=forum.posts&forum=1&thread=1731713&page=1 Some of Rios' mockery of Rogan This content is protected
Joe Rogan's Homophobic Slur May End in Reporter's Dismissal; Rogan Apologizes for Use of Term http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/11/...omophobic-rant-may-end-in-reporters-dismissal The situation started ugly and only got worse. As the day went on slurs flew along with hard words. It ended with the UFC's iconic announcer Joe Rogan claiming credit for getting Fighter's Only writer Tomas Rios fired from one of the industry's leading magazines and using a homophobic slur to describe the reporter. It all began, believe it or not, with an obscure kick popularized by Brazilian K-1 star Francisco Fihlo. The so-called "Brazilian kick" was employed in the Tyson Griffin-Nik Lentz fight at UFC 123. Rogan, a former taekwondo standout, called the kick a "question mark kick" and Rios, an acerbic and aggressive journalist took him to task on twitter: That is par for the course for Rios, who has rarely been called to the carpet for his attacking style. But following the lead of fighter Sean McCorkle, who claims his own flame war with Rios caused the reporter to be fired from Sherdog earlier this month, Rogan fired back on the Underground: K-1 announcer Michael Schiavello joined the pile on: But simply embarrassing Rios wasn't enough for Rogan. Whether his pride was injured by Rios's twitter attack or he just wanted to settle the score in the most permanent fashion, Rogan pushed the war of words further. Calling Rios a homophobic slur of the most repulsive variety, Rogan claimed he had him fired from Fighter's Only: Here's another example of MMA not quite being ready for primetime. Can you imagine John Madden or Joe Buck going on a popular sport's message board, calling a Sports Illustrated reporter a "f**got" and then bragging about getting them fired? It would be front page news in sports sections nationwide and the lead story on Sports Center. It's entirely unacceptable, if true, that Fighter's Only would allow Rogan to dictate who covers the sport for their magazine or website (the magazine didn't respond to requests for comments prior to publication). The use of the homophobic slur only makes the entire ugly incident just a little sleazier. Joe Rogan should know better than this. The world is not a giant comedy club and a critical reporter is not a heckler to be shouted down. It's one thing to make the decision to engage a critic head on. I do that all the time in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, although like Rogan, it's often to my own detriment. I also understand his frustration with Rios, a needlessly negative journalist I don't personally care for. But the repulsive name calling is inappropriate in any circumstance. The sport deserves a better representative than that. I hope Joe keeps that in mind the next time he goes on the offensive. Update: Rios offers Bloody Elbow an exclusive statement UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: I changed one word in the title of Jon's post. I substituted "rant" for "slur". In reading through Joe Rogan's comments, I'm not sure it's fair to say there was a rant, much less a homophobic one. That said, the term Rogan used is certainly a slur. I'm not really sure where I stand on the issue because Rogan occupies a weird space between sports professional and often crude entertainer. I'm also very certain he does not hate homosexuals in any way. Still, the use of the term seems awfully unnecessary. UPDATE 2 Rogan apologizes for the use of a slur in reference to Rios:
LOL - Rogan owned Rios. It is called the question mark kick and has only recently known as the brazilian kick. I learnt this kick nearly forty years ago and it was always known by that term or kobe gaeri.
Rogan did own him. I completely agree with Rogan about words. I've been saying for years that it is about intent not a word.