Ahead of another big card at UFC 198, Joe Rogan was speaking to the Dan Le Batard show on ESPN, and gave his take on where it all went wrong for Conor McGregor in his battle against the UFC.
McGregor's dispute with Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta saw him dropped from the big UFC 200 card in July, where he had been slated to have a rematch with Nate Diaz.
Rogan stated that while it's a shame that the Irish fighter now won't be involved in the showpiece event for the promotion, he does feel that the two will meet in the Octagon again sooner rather than later.
"Ultimately it's not really going to matter," Rogan told the show. "I think it's much ado about nothing [...] I think that fight will get made, probably in UFC 202 so it will just be a couple of months later that he'll wind up fighting Nate Diaz, or he'll wind up fighting somebody else.
"Conor's not dumb, it's just they had a pissing contest and Conor lost. It's really that simple. He just decided that he was going to put his foot down and tell the UFC he wasn't going to do any media obligations and the UFC said 'well, that's not how it works'".
Rogan further added that it was a bad idea on McGregor's part to pick that battle, as "you don't win those things against the UFC. They don't want to be in a contest with you, so if you engage in a contest with them they have to set a precdent that they're not there to engage with fighters [like that]. They're there to promote fights."
"When you promote a fight, you have to do your media obligations. That's their position, and I understand their position, and honestly I understand his position too. He doesn't want to have to do media, he wants to just prepare for a big fight and he thinks he's a big enough star that the fight's going to sell itself. The UFC disagrees and that's where they had an impasse."
The wide-ranging discussion also featured an exchange on whether or not athletes who are in tough sports which take a toll on your body should be allowed to use marijuana as a pain relief tool, with Rogan arguing for its use. He also added that the simply flat out did not want to see a fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
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