Wesley Snipes almost fought Joe Rogan in the UFC
Wesley Snipes made his fame and fortune with a prolific acting career over the late 1980s and ’90s. With central roles in movies like Passenger 57, Rising Sun, Demolition Man and, of course, the Blade franchise, Snipes made his fair share of moolah. Alas, in 2020, he found himself in unimaginable debt after being ordered to pay the IRS $9.5million after a fierce court battle.
The IRS tried to collect $23.5million from Snipes in outstanding taxes for the years 2001 to 2006 in the late 2000s, leading to a three-year prison sentence from 2010 to 2013. During his trial, the actor attempted to settle for significantly less than the amount owed by only paying $850,000 in cash. The request would also have freed Snipes from the federal tax lien against his property assets.
The offer was declined by US Tax Court Judge Kathleen Kerrigan, who ruled that Snipes, and his lawyers, didn’t provide sufficient proof of his assets and financial situation. In response, she upheld the IRS’ decision for Snipes to pay $9.5million, adjusted from the initial demand for $23.5 million.
Snipes may have been somewhat relieved that the court didn’t order him to pay the full $23.5million requested by the IRS, but $9.5million is no small sum. In a bid to generate some quick cash to pay off his debts, Snipes challenged outspoken podcast host Joe Rogan to a UFC fight in 2010 prior to his prison term.
The pair had engaged in a spat back in 2005 for unclear reasons, and the bitter taste had ostensibly lingered on Snipes’ palate. Initially, Snipes had begun making arrangements to call fellow actor Jean-Claude Van Damme out for a fight, but UFC official Campbell McClaren advised against that option and instead suggested the desperate debtor fight Rogan.
“He’s like, ‘nobody’s gonna pay to see you and Jean-Claude Van Damme fight'”, Rogan recalled on his podcast in 2016. “You have to fight someone who was ‘current.’ So he said, ‘would you fight Joe Rogan? And he said, ‘Yup, let’s do it.’ So they came to me, and I went, ‘How much money?’ And then they started talking, then I said, ‘OK, let’s see what happens.'”
“I just didn’t think that anybody who didn’t know any jiu-jitsu could learn it quick,” he added. “I was already a brown belt by then, and I just knew what happened when a brown belt fights a white belt. I just can’t imagine. I know how to stand up, and even if I wasn’t good at striking anymore like I was when I was a kid, I’m good enough to know what to not do and where to not be. And if I get a hold of someone who doesn’t know jiu-jitsu, I’m pretty sure I’m choking the fuck out of them”.
He added: “He’s never wrestled; he never had a competitive martial arts match, whether it’s a kickboxing fight or karate fight. I was like, ‘I’m gonna choke the fuck out of this guy. I’m gonna get a hold of him, and I’m gonna squeeze the shit out of him, and they’re gonna give me a lot of money, and he’s probably not even gonna get hurt.’ That’s what I thought.”
Rogan opined that Snipes’ ultimate decision to rescind his fight offer came because he did some research and realised that the podcast host was well-versed in MMA. “He realised I was going to choke the shit out of him.” Rogan said, adding that all he would have to do is “grab that guy and choke the fucking life out of him.”
