Joe Rogan warns Conor McGregor he should’ve taken a ‘tune-up fight’ for UFC return as MMA icon expresses huge concern
UFC commentator Joe Rogan believes Conor McGregor may be jumping into the deep end with his clash with Michael Chandler.
The former two-division champion is set to make his long-awaited octagon return against the fan favourite on June 29 – 16 months after their showdown was officially announced.
McGregor, 35, hasn’t fought since snapping his left leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier nearly three years ago but insists he’d ready to mix it with the best of the best at lightweight and welterweight
But Rogan reckons the Irishman should’ve considered taking a “tune-up” fight for his cage comeback.
During a recent episode of his Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the veteran commentator said: “If you were a coach and you wanted to look at this in terms of a long-term career strategy, I would want a tune-up fight.
“100 per cent. I would not want him going right in there against Islam Makhachev.”
McGregor’s insistence that he’s capable of fighting the top of the heap at 155 and 170lbs doesn’t surprise Rogan, who said: “That’s him.
“That’s why he’s a champion, that’s why he’s a warrior. He feels like he can [get right back in there].”
McGregor blamed the first of his back-to-back defeats to former interim lightweight champion Poirier in 2021 on inactivity.
And Rogan believes it could plague The Notorious once again when he takes on Chandler, who has fought four times since the UFC‘s poster boy snapped his leg.
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He said: “One of the things that he said about the Dustin Poirier fight, the second fight – the first of the most recent of ones – where he got knocked out, he said I was inactive. It caught up to me, I could feel it.
“I could feel it when I was in there. My timing wasn’t as good.
“You need to be active to be at the highest levels of world-class mixed martial arts competition.
“I just don’t see how you can take two years off [and have] multiple surgeries and then jump in there against the best of the world.”
Rogan isn’t completely ruling out the possibility of McGregor making good on his promise to complete the “greatest comeback of all time” but believes his team should’ve picked a more winnable fight for his return
He continued: “Maybe he can do it. But if I was his coach and the option was available, I’d say, ‘Let’s get someone that’s not even in the top 15.
“‘Let’s get some guy who is beatable but is a good test.
“We’ll call it a tune-up fight and we get to see how you perform.
“‘This guy gets an opportunity to beat Conor McGregor and you get an opportunity to test your skills again and feel the lights and feel the pressure and get your timing back.
“Have that fight and six months later you have a big fight.'”