Joe Rogan believes one of the UFC's weakest points could be fixed with some performance-enhancing drugs.
Rogan has been covering MMA for the better part of thirty years, witnessing many eras in the UFC.
Primarily, he laments about the golden age of heavyweight UFC, where fighters like Alistair Overeem and Brock Lesnar ran rampant.
It's no secret that the current UFC heavyweight division is in shambles. The roster is made up of roughly thirty fighters, meaning half the division is ranked. It is the weakest division in the UFC, next to women's bantamweight.
Longtime commentator Rogan believes performance-enhancing drugs would bring the heavyweight division back to its glory days, specifically referencing Overeem in his fighting prime.
Alistair Overeem antes y después de la llegada de USADA a UFC. ¿Qué opináis? #UFCStPetersburg pic.twitter.com/7TwiGepGmG
— El rincón de las MMA (@RinconMMA) April 18, 2019
"When UFC brought in USADA... People's physiques melted," Rogan remarked on his JRE podcast. ". . . Alistair Overeem's the greatest example. Alistair when he fought Brock Lesnar got drug tested, and he was saucy as f***.
". . . 260 [lbs], solid as f***, ripped and one of the more elite strikers on planet Earth and Brock was f*****. . . . They make him take a drug test. . . He wasn't the Ubereem anymore. This destroyer.
"[...] I don't want to see fat heavyweights," Rogan jested. "Get the f*** out of here. I want Alistair back. Get them back on the sauce."
Of course, there's always the debate that world-class athletes in the heavyweight division have a better chance of finding a career in other sports.
MMA is dangerous, requires years of training, and doesn't pay well. Top-caliber big men aren't vying for their place in MMA; they're considering the NFL and other accommodating sports.
Has the new era of UFC heavyweights been brought about by drug testing, or is it a pay structure issue?
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