Joe Rogan makes eye-opening remark on how training for Floyd Mayweather may have cost Conor McGregor his epic title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov

Joe Rogan made an eye-opening comment about how Conor McGregor's preparations for his boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr. likely cost him in his MMA fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov. Additionally, Rogan underscored McGregor's combat sports brilliance prior to boxing against Mayweather.

Back in August 2017, McGregor made his professional boxing debut against Mayweather, who's considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. The fight witnessed 'Money' defeat McGregor via 10th-round TKO.

The Irishman's next professional combat sports contest was an MMA bout at UFC 229 in October 2018, wherein he suffered a fourth-round submission defeat against his archrival and then-UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Check out the UFC 229 highlights below:

On the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) Fight Companion earlier this month, UFC color commentator and podcast mogul Joe Rogan hosted his friends Brendan Schaub, Matt Serra, and Bryan Callen for a UFC 312 watch party.

Their conversation veered toward unbeaten MMA great Nurmagomedov's dominance. Rogan noted that the retired fighter previously bested McGregor and other elite foes in one-sided fights.

Moreover, Rogan agreed with Schaub's indication that McGregor too had some success against Nurmagomedov. Also, Schaub, who's himself a former UFC heavyweight, asserted that McGregor had an "atrocious" camp heading into the Nurmagomedov matchup.

Rogan implied that the complete diversion from MMA to boxing training, for the Mayweather match, hurt McGregor when he eventually returned against Nurmagomedov who's one of the greatest grapplers ever:

"This is post-Floyd ... Yeah, that's a problem too. Right? You get ready for a boxing match with one of the all-time greats. You got to take six months where you're not doing any takedowns, no leg kicks, no nothing. All you're doing is boxing. You're not going to take any extra energy and train your f**king Jiu-Jitsu when you're training for a Floyd Mayweather boxing fight."

Rogan added:

"Who was it that said -- someone said recently that I think if the Conor McGregor who beat Eddie Alvarez faced Khabib, it would've been a completely different fight. I don't remember who it was, but I listened to that and I said, 'You know what? I think that's true.' I think he was a different guy ... He was a f**king animal ... [Nurmagomedov's wrestling] was always going to be a problem, but Conor was so f**king good on his feet back then."

They further seemingly concurred that McGregor supposedly went from avoiding excessive partying to allegedly excessive partying, which adversely affected the former two-division UFC champion's fighting career.

Check out Rogan's comments below (33:30):

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Joe Rogan seemed to reference Dricus du Plessis' praise for Conor McGregor

It's believed that the comments Joe Rogan referenced on the aforementioned JRE Fight Companion episode were made by reigning UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. On the Shadow Banned podcast in 2024, du Plessis hailed Conor McGregor for his UFC lightweight title-winning flawless knockout of Eddie Alvarez in 2016.

The South African opined that the version of McGregor that fought Alvarez would've defeated Khabib Nurmagomedov:

"He fought one of the greatest fighters in the world and he made him look like an amateur ... I think he [the Conor McGregor who faced Eddie Alvarez] beats Khabib."

Conor McGregor, who hasn't competed since July 2021, has consistently maintained that he'd surely return to professional combat sports competition in 2025.

Watch du Plessis' assessment below (1:20:25):