Conor McGregor was in bad shape ahead of Nate Diaz fight at UFC 196, says Joe Rogan

Conor McGregor, the current featherweight and lightweight champion, was in a bad shape going into his fight with Nate Diaz at the UFC 196 event, claims Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) commentator, Joe Rogan. The event was held at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas on 5 March, 2016.

The Irishman, who went into the clash with the American as the favourite, suffered a shock defeat via a rear naked choke submission in the second round. This was McGregor first loss in UFC and only third in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) history.

However, Rogan claimed that McGregor, who took the fight on short notice, was suffering from a staph infection, which leaves a person light-headed and weak. The commentator said that Notorious did not tell anyone about it.

"He took the Diaz fight on short notice and, by the way, after a staph infection. Here's a little thing that a lot of people don't even know. He had a pretty significant staph infection. He was on antibiotics until about two weeks before the fight. If you think that doesn't drain your gas tank, you've never had a staph infection and you never had to take antibiotics, they're brutal on your body", Rogen said, as quoted by Sports Joe.

Earlier in the week, the Irishman's coach John Kavanagh revealed that Notorious was carrying a knock ahead of his lightweight bout against Eddie Alvarez in UFC 205. However, McGregor dominated the fight, winning via total knock out in the second round to become the first fighter in UFC history to hold two title belts at the same time.

"I have a thing where I always move the joints in his fingers around, before a fight, but I avoided those two fingers because I didn't want to inflame them. I think, 48 hours out, when he was doing the open work-out with Owen Roddy, he hit it then and hurt it. He jarred it on Owen's body when they were grappling," he said.