Conor McGregor’s awaited UFC return continues to be one of the hottest topics in MMA. Joe Rogan has an idea about what’s going on.
There’s been quite a lot of hype about ‘The Notorious’ coming back. His longtime coach John Kavanagh thinks he’ll still fight in 2019. UFC President Dana White insists McGregor hasn’t turned down any fights since his last one in October 2018. McGregor recently congratulated the UFC on their new Apex facility, teasing a potential meeting there.
But none of it has resulted in anything concrete. Octagon commentator Rogan has a theory why. Asked what McGregor was going to do on his ‘Joe Rogan Experience Podcast’ (via BJPenn.com) by recent guest Will Harris, Rogan had the following to say:
“Whatever he wants… probably do a lot of coke [laughs]. I’m just kidding. I think he’s going to have some fun. I think if he finds a fight that’s fun — he’s got $100M in the bank — if he finds a fight that’s fun, he’s going to do it.
“They wanted him to do [a fight with Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone]” Joe Rogan continued. “There was talk of him doing a Cowboy fight, but he wanted to be a main event, but the UFC wants main events to all be big-time championship fights.”
Rogan expanded on the UFC’s current view of main event fights, adding they somehow think McGregor vs. Cowboy wouldn’t be big enough to headline:
“They think somehow that having no championship title on the line, it wouldn’t be that valuable.”
Any fight involving McGregor certainly is big enough to headline any UFC event, however. That includes pay-per-view cards as well, as the Irish star has proven to be the biggest pay TV draw in company history.
But he wants a piece of the profits if and when he does return. That is and probably always will be a tough sell for UFC owners Endeavor. McGregor may be at a crossroads involving his return as a result. He supposedly wants a rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov and could get it if ‘The Eagle’ beats Dustin Poirier at UFC 242.
And he may get it, but it’s going to take some major dollars to make it happen.
Will McGregor finally find the ‘fun’ fight Joe Rogan insists he wants?
