LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 13: (L-R) Conor McGregor and UFC President Dana White pose for a photo … [+]
Since Conor McGregor appeared on the recent season of the UFC reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, as one of the two coaches, UFC CEO Dana White has been fielding questions about when the former two-division champ would return to the Octagon. White has responded to those inquiries for months by saying he had no updates on McGregor. The UFC boss changed his tune in the aftermath of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 80 fight card.
White was asked if McGregor’s implication that he had rejoined the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug testing pool was true.
“No,” White said. “He (McGregor) is not officially in the USADA testing pool. He submitted the paperwork, probably by Monday he’ll be submitted. Again, don’t hold me to that, but the paperwork is submitted, next week sometime.”
Last week, McGregor wrote on social media that he had “Submitted my stuff to (UFC UFC Senior VP of Athlete Health and Performance, Jeff) Novitzky.” USADA oversees the UFC’s anti-doping policy.
According to the program, someone like McGregor, who had withdrawn from the pool sometime after the third quarter of 2021, must undergo six months of drug testing before being cleared to be booked for a fight.
With that timeframe, McGregor could be in the mix for April 2024, when UFC 300 is likely to occur. White was asked if the plan would be to book the ex-champ for that event.
“I literally have nothing planned for Conor McGregor right now,” White said. “The paperwork is being submitted. We’ll play it by ear, see how things work out, there’s still a lot of things that have to happen as far as fights go, and then we’ll decide where he’s going to land.”
If and when McGregor returns to action, it will likely be against Chandler. Chandler is a former Bellator lightweight champion and has also challenged for the UFC 155-pound title, losing that vacant belt to Charles Oliveira in May 2021. Chandler (23-8) is 1-2 since losing to Oliveira. His most recent fight was a November 2022 submission loss to Dustin Poirier in a “Fight of the Night” bonus-winning performance. According to USADA’s athlete test history, Chandler has been tested four times in 2023.
McGregor is 1-3 in his last four fights, with two TKO losses to Poirier and a submission defeat to then-UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. His win came in January 2020 when he knocked out Donald Cerrone in a welterweight scrap. McGregor last competed in July 2021. He broke his leg in that contest, a TKO loss to Poirier. His most recent USADA drug test came at some point during the fourth quarter of 2021.
