Veteran UFC color-commentator, Joe Rogan has cast doubt on Conor McGregor’s ability to follow through on a UFC return promise, particularly after the Dublin striker admitted to cocaine use during his recent civil case in the High Court last month.
McGregor, a former undisputed lightweight and featherweight champion under the banner of the promotion, has yet to feature in the Octagon since 2021, where he suffered a brutal first round fracture of his left tibia and fibula, resulting in a doctor’s stoppage TKO loss to bitter-rival, Dustin Poirier.
And booked to return at UFC 303 in June, Conor McGregor was slated to headline the International Fight Week event against Michael Chandler at the welterweight limit, until a fractured toe ruled the 36-year-old striker from his hiatus-snapping return.
Last month to boot, McGregor was found civilly liable for assault in the High Court, after plaintiff, Nikita Hand alleged the mixed martial arts star had raped her during an incident at the Beacon Hotel in December 2018.
Joe Rogan has reservations about a UFC return for Conor McGregor
And during his cross examination, McGregor admitted to cocaine use on the night of the alleged incident. And according to Rogan, the Crumlin native’s admitance to recreational drug use makes a return to active competition in the Octagon all the more unlikely.
I don’t know if Conor’s ever going to fight again,” Joe Rogan said on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. “I know his version of it, and her (Nikita Hand’s) 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 was talking about cocaine. That was the whole thing: ‘We were doing cocaine, we were f*cking.’ He likes coke.”
“We’ve all seen Conor get beat up and knocked out,” Rogan explained. “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. A lot of fighters, especially toward the end of their careers, turn to drugs. There’s probably a constant state of discomfort that they live in where their dopamine levels are all f*cked up, their cortisol levels are f*cked up. You’re not supposed to get punched in the head 1000 times a year. It’s just not supposed to happen, and that’s the reality of consistent training.”