Rogan: ‘Very possible’ Mayweather-McGregor could go distance
Rogan talks about Mayweather-McGregor possibilities:
I don’t think [McGregor can fight Mayweather]. I would imagine, unless the UFC is involved, [or they let him out of his contract] and I can’t imagine they would be willing to do that. If enough money gets thrown the UFC’s direction, the UFC might look at it this way, here’s a pragmatic way to look at it: ‘We can still make a lot of money with Conor McGregor’…You’re talking about a three million PPV buy or something crazy. So you do that, you move that up, you take that chance, and he gets boxed up by Mayweather and maybe he survives. If he survives and loses a f-king decision and he goes back and he says ‘All respect to Mayweather. Back to MMA. I just didn’t understand his hands. It’s a learning experience.’ and he has this great press conference. If he can survive, he’s not diminished too much. And Mayweather’s not a murderous puncher…it’s very possible [McGregor] is gonna get to the decision.
If McGregor and Mayweather fight in MMA, McGregor will f-k him up. He will f-k him up…But, in a boxing match, I can’t imagine a world where Mayweather doesn’t f-k [McGregor] up. In a boxing match I think Mayweather is arguably the greatest boxer of all time…He’s just so much better. And if people don’t know, if you think you’re really good and then you get in there and box a guy like that, he will f-cking expose the shit out of you. But, who knows man? One of the things we know about Conor is he has a ridiculous belief in himself and he has unbelievable power. One of the things we know about Floyd is he’s 39. So when a guy turns 39, you never know.
Rogan: UFC right to rematch McGregor-Diaz
Rogan says that the UFC made the right decision in rematching McGregor with Diaz.
The emperor has been stripped down, okay? So now, he’s been exposed, someone has beaten him. So here’s the thing, what do you now? Do you want to make money? Because if you want to make money, you make the biggest fight you can right now while he’s been exposed. And the biggest fight for sure is (a rematch with Diaz). And when I say exposed, I don’t mean he’s not talented. I mean exposed meaning he’s a human and that he can lose. And that happens with every fighter. They lose and once they lose people go ‘oh, you can be beat. So, this is not an invulnerable perfect fighter who is unbelievable durable who can take punishment like no man. We’re talking about a guy who got dinged up (and) shot for a sh***y wide open takedown, got taken down, got demolished on the ground and got choked unconscious – quickly afterwards. But, you’ve got to put him in against Nate again. Because, that’s the big money rematch and if this guy turns out to be a guy who is going to win some and lose some and the beginning of his career he’s the unbeatable and wild Celtic warrior character, uhhhh, that’s all gone.
Rogan: McGregor should fight Nick Diaz
Rogan says McGregor should fight Nick Diaz next
[Welterweight’s] where the money is. It would be amazing. Nick’s on a totally different level [of smack talking]. Nate’s a great fighter and a really tough guy, but even he said after the fight: ‘Shoutout to my brother – the best fighter in the world’. It would be a different experience in there. I want to see that more than anything in life. More than the Aurora Borealis, more than I want to go to Keck Observatory in Hawaii and see the Milky Way.
Hints at McGregor-Alvarez fight
When asked if McGregor will fight Alvarez, Rogan appears to confirm.
I know a little something that I wish I could tell. It’s an interesting fight. If it happens…allegedly…at Madison Square Garden…allegedly…in a couple of months. Maybe it’s going to happen, I don’t know.
‘People are f–king sleeping on Alvarez’
Rogan and Schaub say that Alvarez is being underrated. Rogan:
I think people are f-cking sleeping on Eddie Alvarez. I think he’s a dangerous, dangerous 155 lber. That motherf—er can punch. He punches hard, he’s fast as f–k and there’s not a human alive that’s more game than that kid. Conor is a God damn phenom. He’s got as Firas Zahabi likes to call it, ‘The touch of death,’ in his hands.”
Schaub:
It’s a scary fight man. Anyone who thinks it’s an easy fight or not a big fight for Conor, they just don’t know the sport. I’m talking about the underground king. I think at 55, and everyone knows I’m the biggest Conor nut-rider in the world, at 55, I just don’t see a ton of success there. I think Eddie Alvarez, If you look at the top five, it’s his easiest match-up and that’s a f-cking nightmare for him. Because Eddie can grapple his ass off, he’s been in so many big fights, he doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t mind winning by the decision either…Well think about it. How does Conor win this fight? He has to knock him out. He has five rounds to knock him out. You’re not winning a decision against Eddie. The grappling, the takedowns, the endurance, with the striking. As the rounds go on the knockout power goes down.
Rogan: McGregor a ‘once-ever kind of guy’
Rogan says no one come close to McGregor.
Well, Conor’s a special human; there’s not a lot of humans that come along in anyone’s generation that has that kind of impact in any sport. And it’s not just because of his ability to fight; it’s because of his mind, his charisma, his ability to articulate things. And also his ability to rise to the occasion when it matters most, like the Jose Aldo fight and the second fight with Nate Diaz…I mean he’s a special person and special people can move the needle in a way that no one else can. It takes a guy like Conor McGregor to sort of light the fires of people’s interests. You’re getting people who watch MMA specifically because of Conor McGregor; they might not know any of the other fighters, but they know who this f-cking crazy Irishman is…You either have that or you don’t and Conor has it like no one I’ve ever seen. But all of that would mean nothing if he didn’t have the courage to take that Nate Diaz rematch and at the same weight..That win over Jose Aldo for the Featherweight title is the most spectacular win for a title in the history of the sport. Not just the fact that it was 13 seconds. He had f-cked his mind up so hard, from the trash talking and mindf-cking and stealing his belt at the press conference… he’s such a presence. By the time Aldo got in that cage he was f-cked he looked so nervous and overwhelmed by the pressure of it and Conor fought perfectly. He was so loose and so relaxed and slid backward out of the range of Aldo’s attack and just planted that left hand on him. It was a flawless victory, literally a flawless victory.
Alvarez vs McGregor – Champion vs Champion
UFC releases a promo video for UFC 205, called Champion vs Champion, featuring McGregor and Alvarez. Rogan narrates:
Eddie Alvarez is an incredibly dangerous fighter. He is a blood and guts warrior…Eddie’s bigger, he’s as fast, and he’s a better wrestler than Conor McGregor. Conor McGregor is coming off the most important victory of his UFC career. The Nate Diaz fight showed that he can be one of the best 155 pound fighters in the world.
Post-fight interview
Directly after being declared the winner McGregor asks about his belts.
Where the f-ck is my second belt? I’ve already got this one. Where’s the second one at? Cheap motherf-ckers. $4.2 billion this company was sold for. Where’s that second belt. Go backstage and grab that f-cking belt somewhere.
He then talks to Rogan about his win over Alvarez.
They’re not on my level. You’ve got to have size, reach, length. If you come in any way equal to me I’m going to rip your whole head off. Eddie’s a warrior, but he shouldn’t have been in here with me and that’s just the truth of it.
McGregor had staph infection weeks before first Diaz fight
Rogan says a possible reason McGregor lost the first fight against Diaz was that he had a staph infection weeks before the fight.
The guy steps in, loses to Diaz, takes the Diaz fight on short notice-by the way, after a staph infection. Here’s something not a lot of people know, he had a pretty significant staph infection and was on antibiotics until like, I think two weeks before the fight. If you don’t think that drains your gas tank you’ve never had a staph infection, and you’ve never taken antibiotics. They’re brutal on your whole body. Your body is made up of all this shit you don’t consider to be you, but it is you, stomach flora is a real part of you. Your body is essentially an ecosystem, and when you have a staph infection, staph infections are dangerous as f-ck and people die from them. So they hit you with some heavy duty antibiotics, I’ve had staph twice and it’s not fun. The first time I had it, I took the medication and I couldn’t believe how I felt. So weird, I felt lightheaded, I felt weak, I was like ‘woah’. It’s super strong stuff. I was like ‘Wow, imagine this guy 2 weeks after that.
Rogan: McGregor will fight Nurmagomedov next
Rogan says McGregor will fight Nurmagomedov next.
The UFC is about to go to Russia. They want to get in there. Conor McGregor versus Khabib Nurmagomedov, that’s what I think is up. Giant!
Joe Rogan Predicts Conor McGregor's Next Fight https://t.co/YyyyXVsGFZ
— Conor McGregor News (@ConormcGregor5) December 27, 2016
Rogan: ‘There’s Conor McGregor and there’s everyone else’
Rogan says only McGregor can draw big numbers of fans to the sport.
The next pay-per-view is Holly Holm vs Germaine De Randamie, which is a tough sell. I would buy it, as a hardcore fan [but] it ain’t going to be Conor McGregor numbers…Honestly, there’s Conor McGregor and there’s everyone else. There was a thing the other day that showed that Conor, in three fights, drew more pay-per-view than the entire UFC roster in 2014.
Rogan: McGregor, UFC missed out on a huge payday
Rogan says both McGregor and the UFC have missed out on a huge payday by not selecting Nate Diaz’s brother Nick as McGregor’s next opponent.
I think they missed the boat if they want to make the f-cking biiiiig money. I think it’s Nick Diaz versus Conor McGregor. They fight at 170 [pounds]. It’s a great story. I love a great story. Big brother steps in. Come on, son.
Rogan: McGregor ‘best shit-talker in history of combat sports’
Rogan says McGregor is the best trash-talker in combat sports.
He’s the best shit-talker in the history of combat sports. Before him it was Chael Sonnen and Muhammad Ali and now it’s Conor McGregor. He just knows how to say it. When Jeremy Stephens started talking [at the UFC 205 press conference] and Conor just destroyed him with one sentence. I mean, he finds the perfect shit to say.
Rogan: Rousey likely won’t return to fighting
Rogan says Rousey will most likely not return to fighting,
I don’t think she is [going to fight again]. Amanda Nunes is a very, very dangerous puncher. She kicks and punches so f-cking hard, and she has long arms. She puts you on the end of those long punches, and she dinged Ronda very early in the fight, and you could tell she was rocked…If she does, she should come back in a calculated manner. Don’t just rush in and fight for the title like she did. I think that’s crazy. Taking a year off taking a head kick getting knocked out – where’s your head at? Was she 100 percent committed to this as far as training for the entire time off, or did she just get in really good shape over the last few months and had she been training at all before then? You’d have to ask her and answer all those questions, but if she doesn’t want to be fighting, she shouldn’t be fighting.
Rogan: McGregor can beat Mayweather using MMA gloves
Rogan says McGregor can beat Mayweather if he uses MMA gloves:
Let me tell ya, here’s where Conor McGregor can win… MMA gloves. Let’s have a boxing match, with MMA gloves. Floyd’s had some serious problems in the past with his hands. And he uses those big ass pillow gloves because of it, and he’s been known to not really sit down with his punches. He just picks guys apart. There’s no doubt about it, Floyd is a masterful boxer but that’s a big transition for him, to fighting with smaller gloves.
Rogan: Mayweather can’t pull as many PPVs as McGregor
Rogan says Mayweather doesn’t have as much power in negotiations as he thinks.
Hey dude, it’s a lot of f-cking money. Here’s the deal; Floyd Mayweather’s last pay-per-view had 300 thousand pay-per-view buys. Conor’s last two pay-per-views were 1.3 million and 1.5 million.
Rogan: McGregor-Diaz trilogy fight will happen
Rogan says that if McGregor stays at lightweight, he will be challenged to a third fight by Diaz.
They’re already saying that Conor shouldn’t have fought Nate because Nate was too big for him. But Nate is a 155er. That’s a fight that’s going to happen again if Conor stays the 155lb champion. It’s going to happen again, it has to.
Rogan: McGregor Promotions means UFC will be ‘star driven’
After McGregor announced that he has formed McGregor Promotions, Rogan says that the fighter will have more leverage.
It’s going to become what boxing is. It’s going to become that. It’s star driven…And when it’s star driven like that, guys like Conor who are legitimate stars, they have the leverage. And they’re going to manipulate that leverage. They’re going to utilise that leverage and we’re going to see what happens.
Rogan: 70-80% chance of McGregor-Mayweather fight
Rogan says that there is a strong chance of a McGregor-Mayweather fight happening.
Well I would say, if you looked at it in terms of a zero percent chance to a hundred percent chance, I think we’re in the 70’s. I think we’re in the 70’s or 80’s. I think there’s a significant legal hurdle to overcome with the UFC and they might not overcome that depending how they play that card. Now, McGregor has publicly stated that he believes, because of the Ali Act, he can compete in boxing and not do it with the UFC but, he wants everything to be smooth so he would rather have the UFC involved. But, he also wants the UFC to recognise, what he says, is ‘their place’. So there’s Mayweather Promotions, McGregor Promotions and the UFC. So this is what he is stating now, he is going to be a partner in the promotion. And so, there’s going to be some sort of negotiation for how things are split up in three ways.
Rogan explains how McGregor can beat Mayweather
Rogan says McGregor may have something up his sleeve.
There’s something about [Conor McGregor]. I’m telling you, there’s something about that dude. He’s got something going on. He’s got a little something extra special but he would need everything to line up. Mayweather would have to dismiss him as a threat. He’d have to not train hard enough, he’d have to not seriously consider the possibility that Conor connects on him and knocks him out. And then Conor would have to do some roughhousing. He’d have to hold him in the clinch. He’d have to hold him and hit him. He’d have to try and get off as many shots and bully him around and wear him out. It’s a possibility. He’s a much bigger man. He’s a much bigger man. If you compare the two of them frame-wise, if they ever do do it, and they’re standing right at each other, looking down at each other doing eye-to-eye, you’re gonna go ‘oh, shit.’ [Conor]’s a big f-ck. He can make that 145-pound cut when he’s on death’s door, but Mayweather makes it easy.
