Daniel Cormier believes there's a potential issue with Conor McGregor getting a special exemption from USADA.
McGregor's return to the UFC this year was all but ruled out given that it's now August and he would need to enter the USADA drug testing pool for a period of six months — with at least two negative samples — in order to compete.
However, the Irishman made headlines this past weekend during the Anthony Joshua vs. Robert Helenius fight when he declared his three-fight plan beginning with a December bout with Michael Chandler.
If McGregor does fight in December, that would mean USADA would have to give him a special exemption where he'd bypass the six-month testing period.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be tested less either according to Cormier.
“There really is no base amount of test that you have to take in order to be eligible,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel (via MMA Junkie). “It’s not like they say it’s six clean tests before you can fight.
“They may test McGregor more and maybe it’s not six months, maybe its three months and he takes as many tests as he needs to in order to be cleared to fight.”
Of course, Brock Lesnar was the last fighter to get a special exemption for his UFC 200 fight with Mark Hunt back in July 2016. However, his eventual unanimous decision win was overturned to a no contest after he tested positive for a banned substance which doesn't seem to support Cormier's theory.
Lesnar was making his one-time return to the UFC at the time — as he was contracted to the WWE — and so, he was given a special exemption. The special exemption has since been deemed only valid for the highest-profile superstars of the sport and McGregor certainly qualifies as he's the biggest superstar in MMA history.
However, Cormier worries that with this exception, it could lead to other fighters who are not in the testing pool to ask for the same exemption when making their UFC comebacks.
“Here’s where the issue becomes: You make that exception, then how do you implement this rule for the rest of the people?” Cormier added. “We’ve seen exceptions before, and generally, they are for the most high-profile and best fighters in the world, which – Conor McGregor does fit into that category.”
Based on what we know, the star power of the fighter should eventually determine if they get an exemption — especially if that turns out to be the case for McGregor despite the former two-weight champion receiving a number of steroid accusations.
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