Joe Rogan was one of those present on this day in 2004 to witness one of the best stop settlements in the UFC history.
Rogan has witnessed his honest part of the memorable, shocking, emotional and outright crazy moments while he is sitting at the UFC commentary table.
Mixed with his memorable reactions to results such as the main kick of Rose Namajunas against Zhang Weili, the comeback of Beneil Dariush versus Drakkar Klose and the incredible victory of Amanda Nunes on Cris Cyborg, has had the renowned podcast gastheer for somewhat row for somewhat.
Been fractures for Anderson Silva, Chris Weidman and Conor McGregor come up in me, but a serious arm injury ever went unnoticed and left a referee in the sights of furious fans until Rogan entered.
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Joe Rogan defended Herb Dean's call to stop Frank Mir vs Tim Sylvia after spotting a brutal arm fracture
UFC 48 took place in Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on 19 June 2004. Before the return of Ken Shamrock headed the event, the vacant heavyweight title was on the line.
Frank Mir and Tim Sylvia fought for the belt, with the unbeaten 'Maine-AC' who wanted to return immediately to the throne after he was stripped of the title earlier after a positive drug test.
Initially it seemed that Sylvia had lost unfair opportunity to do this after the decision of referee Herb Dean to call the fight halfway through Mir's Armbar entrance seconds in the fight. That was until the repetitions showed that Dean was correct in claiming the arm of Sylvia.
After he was stunned by the stopping in the immediate aftermath, Rogan saw the arm break on the repetitions and pointed to a raw crowd that had quickly rained and sung expletives.
“That was one of the first times that I think they had trusted me with a championship,” said Dean during a 2019 performance at the Joe Rogan experience. “The arm broke; I heard it, I saw it. I learned a lot about my work then.
“I went back and let the doctor come in and examine him. … Of course she comes in and she doesn't know what she saw. So he misleads her … And she says:” Hey, no, there is nothing wrong. “In my mind I thought,” It was great to be here, but I'm not going to do this anymore. “
“In my mind I thought of how I could get away when they started throwing things,” Dean added. “But then you found it, you saved me. … I'm going to thank you there because I think my career path would have been different.”
Tim Sylvia suffered recent complications for which the UFC would not pay
While Dean was left to thank Rogan, Sylvia continued to thank the now veteran officer for his phone call.
'The Maine-AC' admitted that Dean probably saved his career by preventing further damage to the arm, for which the insertion of a titanium plate was needed.
Sylvia returned and again won the UFC Heavyweight title two years later. But almost a decade after his MMA retirement, the 49-year-old still felt the consequences of Mir's Armbar.
In 2020 the ex-hunter went to Instagram to reveal that he had experienced complications of the injury, and explained how the screws in his arm were 'backwards'.
Sylvia said he contacted the UFC for help with paying to get medical attention to the horrible infection, but was rejected.
“So my arm has given me problems for more than a year now. The screws are declining from my arm break when I fought @thefrankmir.
“Contact the @UFC because it was paid by them the first time. Sort of the comp.
“The UFC says it is not their problem and will not cover it. I have no insurance and it will cost more than 10,000 dollars to get stuck. Some thoughts about what I should do?”
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Sylvia has set up a GoFundMe to pay for an operation, which resulted in slightly less than $ 16,000. The wife of the heavyweight legend later gave a positive update about his recovery.