Former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor hasn’t competed in an MMA fight in over three years, And UFC commentator Joe Rogan has an explanation for why he believes this is the case.
In his time away from the sport, McGregor has gotten himself caught up in a ton of legal drama. Whether it be his recent civil court case or rumors of him potentially using substances, McGregor is quite clearly not in any shape to fight in the UFC mentally or physically.
On a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan questioned whether McGregor will ever fight again in the UFC.
“I don’t know if Conor’s ever gonna fight again,” said Rogan. “I don’t know the real details of that case. I know his version of it and her version of it and what played out in the court. But the reality is that guy’s partying, and he’s partying real hard. And he talked about it in the court case. He’s talking about (doing) cocaine.”
As for why McGregor has seemingly turned to this wild lifestyle instead of focusing on his MMA career, Rogan believes that the constant blows to the head, perhaps the biggest factor in CTE, is a big reason for choices in his personal life.
“But I think there’s another issue to talk about, and that is that a lot of fighters, when they’ve sustained a significant amount of damage over the course of their career – and there’s no way to not get that,” Rogan said.
“We’ve all seen Conor get beat up and knocked out. We’ve seen Conor’s sparring footage. He’s sparring pro boxers, he’s sparring elite fighters, you’re getting hit in the head a lot. And a lot of fighters, especially toward the end of their career, turn to drugs.
“And I think there’s probably a constant state of discomfort that they live in … you’re not supposed to get punched in the head a thousand times a year. It’s just not supposed to happen, and that’s the reality of consistent training.”
At his peak, McGregor was certainly one of the most skilled fighters in the history of MMA. And undoubtedly it’s biggest superstar in terms of popularity and fandom.
Now, that all appears to be fading away for “The Notorious” amidst the wrong turns in his personal life. So it will be interesting to see if he does one day decide to return to the octagon ever again.
[University of JRE on YouTube]
