The fact that Conor McGregor is going to fight Donald Cerrone in a welterweight contest seemed to surprise more than a few folks. But, Joe Rogan believes the UFC’s former featheweight and lightweight champ has “calculated” well.
Rogan comments on the fact McGregor’s fighting Cerrone at 170
Several weeks back reports surfaced that Cerrone was the front-runner to face McGregor in his return bout, and that the contest was being targeted for January 18th. But, the expectation was that the fight would be a 155, as McGregor hadn’t been talking about fighting at welterweight again.
Well, fast forward to today, and McGregor – Cerrone is headlining UFC 246 in a five-round, welterweight contest. During a recent episode of Rogan’s podcast, the veteran commentator had this to say about McGregor’s decision to fight at 170 (quotes via MMA Fighting):
“…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.”
“He’s fighting a guy who, I think in his eyes is not really a welterweight,” Rogan said. “I think he thinks of Cowboy as a guy who will fight at 170 but he’s really a 55er… I think Conor’s calculated in his comeback. I think this is a smart fight for him because he’s not fighting someone who is too big, where I feel like that was the argument about Nate even though Nate did fight at 155 for a long time. He’s a big dude. And then there’s some other guys that want to fight him at 170 that are real 170s. [Jorge] Masvidal is a perfect example of that. Masvidal was a 155er for a long time but he’s not anymore.”
It’s certainly true that Cerrone isn’t a large welterweight, and many would agree that he’s smaller than Diaz or Masvidal, who both competed at 155 as well. So, there’s a good chance McGregor and his team considered all this when booking the fight. That said, there’s also been talk that McGregor could be moving up to welterweight again as a means to lock-up a bout with Masvidal later in 2020 (which Chael Sonnen believes is the plan). A third fight with Diaz is also a possibility, and as Rogan noted, it’s hard to imagine Diaz fighting at 155 again.
Rogan’s take on the bout
And in terms of whether Rogan is pumped to see the fight? The comedian said this:
“Look, it’s gonna be f*cking great,” Rogan said. “Whether you watch it on TV or you watch it live, it’s gonna be f*cking great. And if Conor can catch him early, it could be very interesting… [But] if Cowboy can use his distance – and he’s very good at doing it – and he can avoid that straight left because Conor’s got a piston of a left hand.”
It’s going to be an interesting night. UFC 246 will go down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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