Conor McGregor‘s return to UFC has been questioned by Joe Rogan, who is unsure whether the Irishman will ever be able to fight the same way after his leg injury.
McGregor suffered a horror leg break in his shin back in 2021 in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in Las Vegas, a rivalry seven years in the making having first met in 2014.
However the fight didn’t make it past round one, with Notorious winding back for a punch but seemingly putting too much weight on his left leg, his Tibia snapping as a result.
Now, more than two years later, he is lining up a return against Michael Chandler, but despite the bout long having been floated, it remains to be seen whether it goes ahead in 2024.
As such, Rogan remains sceptical over whether the Irishman will ever be able to fully compete at his own high standards.
Joe Rogan has questioned whether Conor McGregor will ever be able to reach his previous standards
Rogen claimed that Anderson Silva was the ‘only guy’ who ever came back from a similar break
‘No one comes back from that,’ Rogan said on his podcast. ‘No one has ever come back from that catastrophic leg break. The shin break.
‘Not a single athlete has come back from it and performed at the same level.
‘Anderson Silva’s the only guy who came back and fought multiple times, and he was not the same guy.’
McGregor recently re-entered the WADA pool of
The former two-division champion claims he will make a return to the Octagon in April following a three-year hiatus as he insists he is in for UFC 300, although his coach John Kavanagh revealed his return has been ‘delayed’ until the summer.
Despite fans having to potentially wait until next summer to see the MMA superstar in action, it would appear that the Irishman’s preparation for a return is already well underway.
McGregor had previously dropped out of UFC’s testing pool during his recovery, before re-entering it recently as he gears up his preparation.
As a result, a number of sceptics suggested he might have taken a performance enhancing drug while untested to aid in his recovery, although Rogen suggested there was nothing wrong with this.
‘I certainly support guys taking things to recover from injuries like Conor did with his leg injury,’ Rogan said. ‘
‘100 percent. No question. I’m 100 percent all-in on that. That’s the only way.
‘They just started testing him recently. He was jacked and also, that’s when you should do it, when you have something like a catastrophic leg injury.
McGregor is gearing up for a return to the cage against Michael Chandler in 2024
Rogen suggested there was little wrong with McGregor taking performance enhancers
‘I mean, he’s got rods in his legs, he’s had multiple surgeries. It’s not just one. It doesn’t always heal right and it breaks again’
McGregor has previously denied using performance-enhancers, and last year responded to a fan by outlining his diet.
He replied with a brief description of his diet, which included nothing more than his own brands of whiskey and stout, as well as organically grown beef.
He said: ‘Proper Twelve and Forged Irish Stout. Served alongside my own, organically grown, Irish beef, served on a hot stone. Tidl spray for pain.’
The Irishman insisted he was ‘using’ nothing more than a diet of whisky, stout and organic beef
