'You can't control the man': Top UFC fighter's fierce defense of Joe Rogan against critics ignites cheers from the crowd

At an Ultimate Fighting Championship press conference, mixed martial arts fighter Israel Adesanya wasn't even asked about Joe Rogan, but he staunchly defended him nevertheless.

At the UFC 271 pre-fight news conference, a reporter asked Dana White about the controversies swirling around Rogan. Before the UFC president got a chance to answer, Adesanya intercepted the questions and fiercely defended the prolific podcaster.

"First off, let me take this one," Adesanya told White. "Hold up. I’m black. I can take this one."

"Look, there’s a lot of c**ts in this game. There are a lot of snakes in this game," the UFC middleweight champion started out saying.

"I've been in this fight game since 2008. Joe Rogan is one of the nicest, coolest, humble motherf***ers I’ve had the pleasure of working with. Understand that," proclaimed the Nigerian-born New Zealand MMA fighter.

The unapologetic defense of Rogan garnered cheers from the crowd at the press conference.

"F*** the noise. You know what they’re trying to do," he passionately defended Rogan. "You can’t control the man. He’s got the biggest platform in the world right now. That’s my n**** Joe Rogan."

The reporter asked Adesanya if he had any advice for Rogan, to which he responded, "F*** the noise. Just keep doing you, Joe. Have some mushrooms. Keep doing you." Adesanya – who appeared on "The Joe Rogan Experience" in 2019 – was referencing Rogan's appreciation of psychedelics.

Rogan has been besieged by allegations that he spread COVID-19 misinformation on his Spotify podcast, which he has denied. The more recent controversy is a resurfaced video compilation of him using the N-word. Rogan has since apologized for the language, calling it: "The most regretful and shameful thing I’ve ever had to talk about publicly."

Adesanya (21-1) will attempt to defend his middleweight title on Saturday against Robert Whittaker in the main event of UFC 271. Rogan will be providing color commentary for the UFC event at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Adesanya shared the video of him defending Rogan on his Instagram account, which has over 5.7 million followers.

He captioned the viral video:

United we stand, divided we fall. We are living in very strange times. When a voice speaks out against the mainstream narrative, the establishment have a systematic way of shutting said voice down. I’m not asking you to think like me, I encourage you to turn off your tv and think for yourself. Don’t let them pull the wool over your eyes.

(WARNING: Explicit language)