Joe Rogan Doubtful of Conor McGregor ahead of UFC 200

“If it goes to the ground? Oh, that’s the wrong guy,” Rogan said of Diaz on his podcast. “Nate Diaz is the wrong guy to go to the ground with. Nate Diaz is a legit black belt, a really high-level black belt. I knew Conor had gotten submitted by Joe Duffy. Anybody can get submitted if you get caught, but he got submitted by that Joe Duffy guy just a few years ago. Joe Duffy is a very talented fighter, no doubt about it, but Nate wouldn’t have gotten submitted by that same guy. I highly, highly, highly doubt it.

“A guy like Conor, if you’ve been tapped before by Joe Duffy just a few years ago with an arm triangle … to get caught like that, you’ve got a lot to learn and I don’t know if you’ve learned it all in time. You’ve got to be obsessed with jiu jitsu. You’ve got to be in there every day training and I didn’t think he did [for UFC 196]. I thought it was more about movement and striking and all that stuff. I know he was doing some jiu jitsu but it’s not like the primary focus. So I felt like, ‘That’s a big f**king deep end jump.’ ”

At UFC 196 McGregor had the upper hand in the fight in the first round and half of the second round as he landed his signature left on Diaz multiple times, but failed to take Nate Diaz. With Nate Diaz coming in on 10 days notice to fight Conor McGregor it was supposed to be a showcase for McGregor at UFC 196, give him a fight, and also to save the card. Nate Diaz more than rallied back in the fight with McGregor as he threw shots of his own and continued to come forward before rocking McGregor which prompted the ill fated take down attempt.

That take down attempt sealed the fate of Conor McGregor as he went into Nate Diaz field of expertise and was submitted to win the fight in the 2nd round.  With Joe Rogan being a long time practitioner of BJJ, he might actually have more than a good idea of what he’s talking about here.