Conor McGregor may be looking to be active going forward, but his UFC comeback fight could be delayed. The former two-weight champion is expected to return to action against Michael Chandler later this year once The Ultimate Fighter finishes airing.
Ideally, the month of August or September makes sense and would fit with the six-month timeline McGregor needs to be in the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug testing pool in order to compete again.
That said, McGregor is still yet to re-enter the pool since breaking his leg, but seemed confident it wouldn't be a problem.
“I'm not rushing nothing,” McGregor said Wednesday on The MMA Hour (via Aaron Bronsteter). “There's hurdles and what not, but we're in constant communication and there's an interview scheduled and a meeting happens and then it will be official. But the six months thing, what they had said was two clean tests and off I go, so I assume it won't be too long.”
Conor McGregor talks USADA.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/LhLgVsvmqU
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2023
That seemed like good news until USADA put out an official statement on Thursday denying McGregor's claims.
“While we meet with all athletes who enter or re-enter the testing pool, we do not currently have a meeting set with Conor and, as of today, we have not received notice of his coming out of retirement to compete. The UFC rules are clear that, in addition to two negative tests, an athlete must make themself available for testing for six months before returning to competition. This is a fair way to ensure an athlete does not use the retirement status to gain an unfair advantage by using prohibited substances during the retirement period, which would enhance their performance unfairly if they ultimately decide to return to competition.
“While the rules permit the UFC to make an exception to the six-month rule in exceptional circumstances, when the strict application of the rule would be manifestly unfair to the athlete, our position, which we have made clear, is that Conor should be in the testing pool for the full six-month period.”
Of course, it wouldn't be a surprise if the UFC made an exception for the biggest star in MMA history, but given that the circumstances aren't specifically unfair to Conor McGregor, it will be interesting to see what transpires.
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