UFC color commentator Joe Rogan believes he knows why Conor McGregor will be competing as a welterweight in his next outing.
McGregor is scheduled to collide with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in the main event of UFC 246. The bout will take place on Jan. 18 in Las Vegas. It’ll be McGregor’s first bout as a welterweight since his Aug. 2016 rematch against Nate Diaz.
Rogan Talks McGregor Fighting At 170 Pounds
During an edition of his JRE MMA Show, Rogan gave his take on why McGregor has decided to fight Cerrone at welterweight (via MMAFighting.com).
“Because Conor doesn’t want to lose any weight,” Rogan said. “I think that guy tortured himself to get down to 145 so hard – and when you look at what he looked like when he was on the scale, when he was flexing, he looked like a god damn zombie. It was horrible. So I think, whether he complains or not about that, nobody rides for free. You do that to your body for a couple of years, you do some damage and it makes it harder to lose the weight afterwards.
“So then he’s going up to 155. He’s obviously elite at 155, wins the title at 155, has the great rematch with Diaz at 170 and then comes back and fights Khabib at 155 and gets mauled. He has a fight with Cowboy, he’s really a 55er that can fight welterweight. That’s the right size for him versus, I don’t think Nate is fighting 155 any time in the future anymore.”
