Joe Rogan theorizes why Conor McGregor is trying to clean up his act

In an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan and guest, Frankie Edgar, spoke about some of the recent events in MMA and how the sport’s favorite Irishman, Conor McGregor, is trying to clean up his image.

McGregor has always been a rowdy, loud, funny and vicious competitor — a character that many have come to love or hate due to his rambunctious nature… But Rogan and Edgar think we may be starting to see a new side to the biggest name in the UFC.

The build-up to McGregor’s January 2020 fight against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone was not quite as crazy or intense as for other fights he’s had in the past, and Rogan and Edgar have theorized why they think this is.

Turning the conversation on to the Irish superstar, Edgar says: “He’s made a little 180-flip on his personality. He’s still funny, he’s still mouthy, but it seems like he’s trying to clean his image up.”

• Read More: Joe Rogan and former CIA agent say Tik Tok is actually a “cyber threat”

Rogan presses it, asking if he thinks it’s because Cowboy was his opponent, which Edgar says could be the reason, as Cowboy is easy to get along with, but suggests that there’s more to it than meets the eye.

“Maybe it was just because of Khabib and, you know, hitting the old guy,” Edgar explains, referencing an altercation McGregor had with an older man in a Dublin pub in April 2019. Rogan backs him up, agreeing that “lawsuits” could be the issue McGregor is laying a little lower than before.

They also mentioned that he could be toning down his act a bit because of his Proper Twelve whiskey brand, potentially realizing that maintaining a good image is paramount to his success outside of the octagon.

“You’ve got to think, Proper Twelve is an enormous amount of money for him,” Rogan says. “He’s making sh*t tons of money. I was in Vegas and his billboards were everywhere.”

• Read More: Conor McGregor defends Joe Rogan following Stephen A Smith UFC feud

Making a final point, Rogan also says that he doesn’t think McGregor “needed psychological warfare” with Cowboy like he did with recent opponents, as he already had such a huge advantage over the Colorado-born fighter.

Rogan’s podcast often brings in a strange assortment of guests and conversational topics, so it’s nice to see him discussing an industry that he is so heavily involved in and where his roots stemmed from.

Whether his theory that McGregor is cleaning up his act turns out to be true remains to be seen, but he’s definitely right in that the usually loud-mouthed fighter has strayed from the limelight a little.