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Joe Rogan thinks Conor McGregor did enough performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to “burn a hole right through the bottom of a USADA cup.” Others claim “Notorious” has gotten so huge over the last two years that he may be using Photoshop edits to enhance his ever-growing physique.

McGregor has never failed a drug test during his UFC career, though it should be noted the power-punching Irishman spent the better part of his injury timeout removed from the promotion’s drug-testing program, which recently changed from USADA to DFSI (but not without some controversy).

Michael Chandler, who is expected to fight McGregor during International Fight Week, is not concerned about his opponent’s extracurricular activities.

“Not really,” Chandler told TMZ Sports. “You know I mean everybody is on their own journey and everybody has their different ways that they would do things. Obviously, I’ve always looked at [PEDs} as a crutch. If there was something that somebody would be able to take while they weren’t being drug tested, compared to when they were, to me that would be nothing but a mental hurdle to get over.”

The jacked-up Chandler, who claims he’s bigger than McGregor, has also faced his fair share of steroid accusations but continues to test negative.

Chandler and McGregor are tentatively scheduled to hook ‘em up on June 29, presumably in Las Vegas. That said, the promotion has yet to make the fight official.

“We all know it’s never 100 percent officially confirmed until we actually step in the Octagon, but obviously my team has been in touch with the UFC,” Chandler told ESPN. “June 29 is what I’m preparing for. I’m leaving my family [at home in Nashville] to head down to Florida to get into fight camp — the fight camp that has been looming now for a year.”

Expect an official announcement in the coming weeks, if not days.

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Matt Brown didn’t get to fight at UFC 100 or UFC 200, but he’s hoping UFC 300 might have a spot open for him.

The veteran welterweight with the most knockouts in the history of the division revealed on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer, which drops Tuesday, that he spoke to the UFC about potentially returning on the April 13 card taking place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While nothing is set in stone yet, Brown says UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby was receptive to the idea, although he couldn’t say for certain where he’d end up on what’s expected to end up as an incredibly stacked card.

“I’m working on it,” Brown said. “I talked to Sean [Shelby] and said ‘I’d like to be on it.’ That’s as far as I’ve got so far.

“We talked a little bit. To sum it up as easy as I can, he said basically he can more or less guarantee me a spot on 300 — he didn’t use the word guarantee — but the placement, I could get a higher place on a different card potentially, if that makes sense. Being that it’s 300, you might end up a little lower than you want to be where as you might get on a different card and be higher. So which one do you do?”

Brown, who is coming off a knockout over Court McGee in his last outing this past May, hasn’t decided exactly what he’ll do, but he definitely welcomes the chance to compete on a historic card like UFC 300, which also falls in line with an ideal time to fight again.

It’s likely that Brown would end up on the preliminary card, especially with UFC 300 expected to feature several marquee fights at the top, but he admits that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“The only thing is when you are the first fight on the prelims, you know exactly when you’re going to fight so you know when to warm up,” Brown explained. “You get out of there early and you get to hang and chill. I get paid the same.

“I’m there to fight and try to smash a f****** elbow through somebody’s forehead. That’s what I’m going to do no matter whether it’s in my backyard or UFC 300.”

Brown didn’t speak to the UFC about any specific opponents because ultimately he just fights whoever gets put in front of him.

The opponent doesn’t matter as much as the timing so Brown now just awaits final word on an actual offer so he can decide his next move.

“I’m down for whatever,” Brown said. “I don’t really question a whole lot. They throw me an opponent and I say let’s go.

“They’ll probably get back to me pretty soon. I’m already ramping up, getting in shape. Unfortunately, I had a staph infection this week so that kind of threw things off the loop a lot but getting back into it and starting to get the weight down, training hard. We’ll see what happens.”

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Former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya has claimed his corner and head coach, Eugene Bareman prevented him from going out on his shield against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 back in September, despite his demands.

Adesanya, a former two-time undisputed middleweight champion, has been sidelined from the Octagon since that shocking upset loss to Strickland back in September in Australia, dropping his middleweight crown for the second time in the space of a year in the shocking upset blemish. 

Israel Adesanya reflects on UFC 293 loss

Outpointed comfortably by massive betting underdog, Strickland over the course of five rounds, Adesanya claims despite his intentions, head coach, Bareman prevented him from standing and trading with the former in the fifth and final round of their UFC 293 clash, and effectively, going out on his shield.

“I never lost hope, I went back to the corner, and I was like, ‘Right, we ‘go’ this round, we must ‘go’ this round.’” Israel Adesanya told Teddy Atlas during a recent interview. “So, I was – even like when I asked Eugene (Bareman) in the fifth round, like, ‘Is this the fifth round?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, right, and I said, ‘Should I just should I just go out there and go?’”

“I wanted to,” Israel Adesanya explained. “Like, kind of like, ‘F*ck it, let’s go.’ Like if I die, I die, like, go out on my shield.” (H/T MMA News)

Linked with a potential return to the Octagon in the coming months after laughing off initial claims he would not fight until 2027, former two-time middleweight best, Adesanya appears to have put on some significant muscle mass since his loss to Strickland.

And the recent uptake on mass has led to mass speculation across social media that Adesanya is gearing up for a trilogy rubber match with two-time Octagon foe, Alex Pereira in a bid to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion.

Who do you expect Israel Adesanya to fight in his UFC comeback?

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Second-ranked UFC middleweight contender Dricus Du Plessis faced Darren Till on the UFC 282 main card back in December 2022.  The rising star submitted Till in the third round to become 4-0 in the promotion at the time.

Du Plessis fights for the middleweight championship in the UFC 297 main event on Jan. 20 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada against titleholder Sean Strickland.  Look back at his win over Till.  

Dricus Du Plessis vs. Darren Till UFC Fight Video 

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UFC CEO Dana White promised he would be announcing some big fights, and he certainly came through with a pair of massive bouts in the promotion’s best division.

On Sunday night, White revealed that former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier will face the surging Benoit Saint-Denis in the five-round co-main event of UFC 299, which takes place March 9 in Miami, and former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will look to stop the title push of Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in April.

Following the big news, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, Alexander K. Lee, and Jed Meshew react to the pair of high-stakes 155-pound matchups, discuss which piece of business is more surprising, White saying that the Oliveira vs. Tsarukyan winner gets champ Islam Makhachev next and where that leaves Justin Gaethje, which fighter has the most to lose, early predictions, and more.

Audio-only versions of the podcast can be found below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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The Mixed Martial Arts Hour is back in your life! Below is a rundown of Monday’s show, which begins at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT / 6 p.m. UK time.

1 p.m. ET: We react to the Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua news and latest fights announced by Dana White.

1:15 p.m. ET: Francis Ngannou discusses his upcoming boxing fight against Anthony Joshua.

1:45 p.m.: UFC welterweight Ian Machado Garry talks about his upcoming UFC 298 fight against Geoff Neal and more.

2:20 p.m.: UFC middleweight Bo Nickal breaks down his UFC 300 fight with Cody Brundage.

3 p.m.: UFC light heavyweight Aleksandar Rakic talks his UFC 300 fight with Jan Blachowicz.

3:30 p.m.: Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn returns to talk Ngannou vs. Joshua and more.

For the latest episodes of The MMA Hour, subscribe on Spotify or iTunes.

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