Joe Rogan has been very vocal about how he feels about the UFC heavyweight division.
The veteran commentator has repeatedly expressed his concern about how ‘shallow’ the weight class is.
Joe Rogan believes there is a distinct lack of contenders to push UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Now, the 58-year-old has revealed how he thinks heavyweights from yesteryear would do against the current crop of fighters that make up the division.
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Tank Abbott was a fan favorite knockout artist who fell just short of UFC gold in the 1990s.
The 60-year-old retired fight icon from MMA with an unimpressive 10-15 record in April 2013.
Abbott wasn’t a great in his own time, but Joe Rogan thinks he would ‘do really well’ right now.
Three decades after Abbott’s peak, the heavyweight division should be on a completely different level.
It’s not. That’s why the world’s most popular podcast insists Abbott could compete in the UFC today.
“I think Tank Abbott would do really well, because the heavyweight division is the most shallow division,” Rogan said on a recent episode of his podcast.
“Would he do really well against the guys like Ciryl Gane or Tom Aspinall? Probably not, but he didn’t do really well against guys like Maurice Smith. The real elite strikers of the day.
“But Tank Abbott was a f—ing huge man. He was an enormous, powerful guy who had ridiculous knockout power, and he would brawl.
“I mean, look at Derrick Lewis. Derrick Lewis has the most knockouts in the history of the UFC. He’s not the most highly skilled guy in the sport. He’s just a really big powerful guy who has unbelievable knockout power. He’s still relatively successful even today. He has the most knockouts in the history of the heavyweight division.
“Tank Abbott would still f— a lot of people up in the lower ranks of the heavyweight division.”
Rogan went on to name two other heavyweight legends who would cause current contenders problems.
“Dan Severn would still take a lot of people down and beat their a–es because he was an elite wrestler,” he added. “
Mark Coleman would take a lot of people down and beat their a—es. Those skills that they have, like the elite wrestlers and the really powerful punchers, they would always do well….
2026-02-04 13:00:00
