Joe Rogan Criticizes Officiating in Usyk vs. Verhoeven Fight

UFC commentator Joe Rogan has strongly criticized both the judging and refereeing in the fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven in Egypt.

Rogan took issue with the scorecards as well as the stoppage in the 11th round, describing the outcome as deeply unfair to the Dutch kickboxing star.

“This was a complete robbery. I felt like Rico was winning 8–2 in rounds. I thought Verhoeven was ahead 8–2 going into the 11th. That fight should never have been stopped like that,” Rogan said, according to Bloody Elbow.

He added that, in his view, the stoppage came at an extremely questionable moment — right at the end of the round.

“There was one second left. Literally one second. The round was basically over. The referee stopped the fight when the round had already ended. It was a bad stoppage,” Rogan said.

Rogan also questioned the overall level of officiating throughout the contest.

“Whoever was judging that fight was incompetent. Those people are a joke,” he added.

Despite the criticism, the official result remains a technical knockout victory for Oleksandr Usyk in the 11th round, while Verhoeven’s team has already filed a formal protest over the ending of the bout.

According to the official scorecards, the fight was extremely close after 10 rounds, with two of the three judges reportedly scoring it even at that stage — adding even more controversy to the finish in Giza.