Conor McGregor still has not re-entered the UFC’s anti-doping program to undergo the required six months of drug testing before he can compete again.
This is according to UFC President Dana White, who confirmed the news during an interview with UFC TSN Thursday. White added that the promotion wants to book McGregor before the end of 2023. McGregor has been attached to a match against a teammate Episode 31 trainer Michael Chandler, but no date has been announced for the proposed fight.
“not him [back in the USADA testing pool]White said. “100 percent [there’s a chance Conor McGregor fights this year]. “
In May, United States Anti-Doping Agency officials confirmed that McGregor’s team had been contacted about returning him to the drug testing kit, which is required for all UFC players. McGregor came out of the UFC’s anti-doping program sometime after he fractured his leg during his fight with Dustin Poirier in 2021.
Despite that conversation, it appears McGregor hasn’t actually returned to the drug testing suite. Although he said in May that he had resolved his issues with USADA, he was not submitted to join the UFC’s anti-doping program.
Under current USADA rules, all athletes returning from retirement — McGregor has placed a technicality since leaving the anti-doping program while still under a UFC contract — must undergo a six-month drug test and submit at least two negative samples before he is allowed to compete.
With the calendar already in July, that would prevent McGregor from fighting in 2023 – unless he is granted an exemption, which is allowed under the UFC’s anti-doping program.
The loudest example of this was at UFC 200 in 2016, when Brock Lesnar was granted an exemption to compete on the card. He then tested positive for a banned substance, upending his win over Mark Hunt into a no-contest. He was later suspended for one year by USADA.
It remains to be seen what happens with McGregor, though White doesn’t seem too interested in that at the moment without a fight already booked.
“We’ll see how that goes,” White said. They say it now, but who knows. I’m not talking about s*** until s*** happens. To sit here and hypothetically think about how a million different things could happen, there is no idea. I focus on what happens next Saturday, and then next Saturday. UFC 300 is not on my mind right now.
“Connor thing, who the hell knows how that’s going to happen – who cares what USADA says, we’ll see what happens when it happens so I don’t know.”
Multiple messages requesting comment from USADA were not returned.
Although there has been no final word on McGregor’s next fight, he did get into a physical altercation with Chandler while filming the reality show. The melee episode aired on Tuesday.
The incident occurred after Chandler’s team remained undefeated for the season, as Kurt Holubeau eliminated McGregor’s teammate Lee Hammond. McGregor then erupted and shoved Chandler, which led to Wyatt rushing into the cage to prevent the altercation from getting worse.
“It started spiraling, and there was no one standing in the middle of it,” White said. So I realized I had to do it. Not good. Because what people don’t understand is when they see things like that happen, and they’re like, “Oh, they loved that!” The committee doesn’t like it, and it sucks when those things happen.
“It’s a pain in the ass for us, and it can mess up a lot of things. So this could never happen. I was waiting for someone to jump in, and they didn’t, and instead of jumping in, it actually started to ratchet up, so not good.”