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Joe Rogan signs new 1-year deal with UFC, but won't travel internationally

Tim Heitman / USA TODAY

Joe Rogan will stay on as the UFC's primary color commentator for "at least one more year," he confirmed Tuesday on his podcast.

Rogan says his schedule will be reduced so that he will not travel internationally and he will only be covering pay-per-view events. There were reports following the sale of the promotion that Rogan may opt out of his UFC duties.

"I was on the fence, man," Rogan said. "I just do too much shit. I'm too fucking busy. After a while I'm like, I don't know if I'm doing myself or all the different things I do a disservice. I was real close. It was like, either I'm just gonna completely bail off of this or I'm gonna figure it out."

Rogan, who doubles as a comedian, has been with the UFC since 1997. He confirmed that a conversation with boss/friend Dana White helped him decide to stick around, along with the excitement of UFC 196, which saw upset wins by Nate Diaz and Miesha Tate.

"That night was so crazy and so chaotic," Rogan said. "I walked out of there going, ‘How could I not do this?' I'm sitting right there cageside for the craziest shit in the sporting world ever. It was real recent. It was touch and go. I just didn't know what I was going to do."

Rogan said the deal is for just one year, but hasn't closed the door on staying with the promotion for longer. He had complaints about how travel obligations affected his other career, but made it clear that he enjoys working with the UFC.

"I don't want anybody to think that I don't appreciate it or I don't know how lucky I am or I don't think it's an amazing job," said Rogan. "I definitely do. But I'm almost too lucky. I have too many amazing jobs."

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