Joe Rogan Openly Supports Using PEDs for Injury Recovery as UFC Gains a New Anti-Doping Program

When Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) broke his leg in a legendary match against Dustin Poirier back in July of 2021, everyone knew it wasn’t going to be an easy road to recovery.

The leg is one of the athlete’s most important tools, even for an MMA fighter. While still disappointing, it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that McGregor has yet to return to the ring. Thankfully, there are plans for him to return in the first half of 2024, but things aren’t too concrete yet.

One thing that has fans speculating was that McGregor withdrew from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool as soon as he’d received the injury. The withdrawal makes sense, as there’s no need to test someone who won’t be returning anytime soon. He’s since returned to the testing pool since October, but the thing that has people speculating, however, is the theory that McGregor has been taking Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) during his recovery to help him heal. He’d teased it on social media, but there is no concrete proof that he’s actually taken PEDS.

For quite awhile, the UFC has been fairly strict in their stance against non-traditional recovery methods due to their partnership with USADA. However, their partnership with the agency will be ending this month, and soon they’ll be shifting to a new anti-doping partner: Drug Free Sport. The theories are that Drug Free Sport will be more lax when it comes to using PEDs for injury recovery. One of the more outspoken commentators on this topic is Joe Rogan, who has openly supported using PEDs to help recovery.

When people see fighters like Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva coming back with a limp after their own leg breaks and struggling to make their return a success, there are some like Rogan who fully believe that sidelined fighters should be allowed to use non-traditional methods for such an injury. After all, a leg break is no small thing.

When speaking about the upcoming Drug Free Sport partnership, Rogan said on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, “I would imagine it’s going to be a little more lax, and I would support that. I certainly support guys taking things to recover from injuries like Conor did with his leg injury. 100 percent, no question about it. I’m 100 percent all in on that. That’s the only way. No one comes back from that. No one has ever come back from that catastrophic leg break.”

Note that Joe Rogan himself uses testosterone replacement therapy on a regular basis.