Joe Rogan: Time Off Will Benefit Stipe Miocic Against Daniel Cormier

While ring rust is a concern for many mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, UFC commentator Joe Rogan believes Stipe Miocic‘s long layoff could benefit him.

Miocic will be making his return to the Octagon after over a year when he rematches heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in the main event of UFC 241 on August 17. The Cleveland native lost his title after getting knocked out by Cormier at UFC 226 last July.

Rather than staying active, Miocic notably chose to call out “DC” repeatedly. In the end, it paid off, as he now gets his shot at not only regaining his title, but getting some revenge as well, as things have become slightly personal between the two.

Rogan believes Miocic has had more than enough time to stew on his mistakes in the first fight and won’t find ring rust to be an issue:

“DC connected with that beautiful punch in the clinch, but Stipe has had over a year to stew on that. It’s been driving him f*cking crazy.” Rogan said on his podcast. “I think it’s [the time off] good for Stipe. Stipe’s an animal, I’m not worried about that. I think he’s going to be better.

“Stipe’s a real veteran. He’s a humble dude, he’s a hard a*s, he’s not going to come in there with a lot of expectations on himself. He’s just going to do his best. If Donald Cerrone was taking a year plus off and then was going to fight for a title, I’d be like ‘woo, I’d like Donald to get a fight in.’”

Do you think Miocic made the right call to fight Cormier after more than a year’s layoff?