UFC commentator and podcast host Joe Rogan expressed his opinion that MMA stars shouldn’t wear shorts during grappling exchanges in MMA fights. In a conversation with former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya on the JRE MMA Show, Rogan said:
“I don’t feel like anybody should be wearing shorts in grappling. I feel like the temptation for grabbing is just too much.”
Adesanya agreed, recounting an instance where an opponent grabbed his shorts during a bout:
“It happened to me even with, what’s his name, Brunson. In the Brunson [event] he grabbed my tights and I was like ‘Yo that’s two times you’ve done it now.'”
The two discussed how tights or spats would be preferable to shorts for grappling exchanges. However, Adesanya noted that some UFC stars prefer shorts for aesthetic reasons:
“Some people, I guess maybe their body type, maybe they got no ass, they don’t want to be… I got something back there, but like I don’t know, [for] a guy like… I wouldn’t drop no names, but like you know, wearing tights you look like a f***ing… stick or something.”
Rogan and Adesanya agreed that covering fighters’ fingers to prevent eye pokes would also be beneficial. They suggested ideas like webbing between fingers or curved gloves to reduce accidental eye pokes during fights.
