Joe Rogan, like almost everyone else in combat sports, is caught up in the hype surrounding Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather.
It’s a fight that’s a long shot at best but the hype around these two men working together shows their star power and influence in combat sports. On a weekend where Canelo Alvarez starred in his match-up against Amir Khan, the headlines were dominated by a cross-sport fantasy fight.
Joe Rogan weighed-in on the Mayweather vs McGregor talk:
“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 and I can’t imagine that they would let him fight Floyd Mayweather.”
He goes on to explain why letting McGregor box Mayweather would actually benefit the UFC financially.
“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. We can still make a lot of money with Conor McGregor in an MMA fight. We can still make a lot of money if Conor rematches Nate Diaz’ which I hear they’re trying to make happen as well, that’s what the rumor’s been. But is he gonna beat the best guys in the world now? After Nate Diaz boxed him up and choked him out, is that going to happen again? If that does happen again, how much will that deflate his value on the open market? If you’re playing a game of chess, not looking at it in terms of a guy’s career as an MMA fighter but looking at it as a game of financial chess, how do you move your piece?
“You might say, look the amount of money that you can make with the Mayweather fight is off the charts. Off the charts. 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 fucking 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. He’s not a Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin. Golovkin is a bad fight for him. Someone like that is a bad fight for him, a murderous puncher, because most likely they’re gonna take him out. But Mayweather, it’s very possible he is gonna get to the decision.”
Rogan is notorious for thinking outside of the box, so it’s not a surprise that he sees a way for this fight to occur. The question is whether anyone at the UFC is brave enough to think along the same lines.
