Conor McGregor has the reputation of being a habitual line-crosser. He punched out the Atlanta Hawks’ mascot; got into legal trouble; got into a physical altercation with Michael Chandler and narrowly avoided a complete and humiliating sweep on TUF at his hands this calendar year alone. So, it was par for the course when the whiskey baron made his infamous “Your wife is in my DMs” remarks to Dustin Poirier as he sat distraught, frustrated, and angry in the octagon following his loss to Poirier at UFC 264.

But UFC fans have criticized Joe Rogan for interviewing McGregor at such a time. Rogan, in the post-fight interview itself, explained why he chose to speak with McGregor following his loss.

Joe Rogan explains why he spoke to Conor McGregor after UFC 264

Conor McGregor was re-matching Poirier to avenge his UFC 257 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans native. However, the bout went horribly wrong for McGregor, who suffered a broken leg in the first round itself. Poirier was declared the winner via doctor’s stoppage.

Rogan was in the Octagon, waiting to interview the victorious Poirier, when he was beckoned over by the Irishman for a chat. Rogan, who had been criticized earlier by fans for interviewing an emotional and confused Daniel Cormier after the latter’s loss to Jon Jones, complied.

Then, McGregor went on one of his most infamous rants, calling out Dustin Poirier’s wife Jolie, and claiming he was winning the fight. Fans have questioned Rogan for interviewing Conor immediately after his loss and a broken leg, when he would have been in shock with spiked levels of adrenaline.

However, Rogan explained his reasons for interviewing ‘Notorious’:

“People are like, ‘Why did you interview him?’ He actually brought me over.

“He goes ‘Come over here lad, let’s have a podcast… Come on Joe let’s have a f***ing podcast’.

“He asked me to sit down next to him. I was like, ‘How am I going to do this? I feel like I should just get something out of him.’

“Even if you recognize the fact that he is emotionally charged up, this is just him expressing himself while he was emotionally charged up.” he said.

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The Dubliner has been out of the octagon for two years, healing from the broken leg he suffered against Poirier, but is expected to return to the octagon relatively soon.

When will Conor McGregor return to the UFC?

Conor McGregor is a coach on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter against welterweight Michael Chandler. The two were slated for a matchup in December, but USADA rules have cast serious doubt on it.

All fighters are required to enter the USADA testing pool at least six months in advance before they can fight in the UFC. McGregor has not entered the pool as of yet, which could see the bout moved up to next year. The UFC can, however, exempt the former two-division champion from the six-month rule and schedule the fight for December.

Clearly, Conor McGregor was not in the right state of mind when he made those comments, but maybe Rogan should have exercised better judgement and held off on interviewing him. What do you think about Joe Rogan’s explanation? Let us know in the comments section below.

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