The MMA community making a lot of the fact that Conor McGregor has not been tested by USADA so far in 2022, and now we have some direction about what is happening.
The fighting future of McGregor has been in question since the moment he broke his leg in the rubber match with Dustin Poirier, as that was the type of injury that some people never recover from, in terms of athletic performance.
Nevertheless, he has insisted that he will eventually return in some fashion, even though the timetable he originally set has long passed by, with rumors even floating around of a rematch between he and Floyd Mayweatherbeing in the works.
Conor McGregor Stands Alone
The questions surrounding whether or not Conor McGregor will fight again came back in full force, when it was noticed that the Irishman had not been tested by the UFC‘s anti-doping authority USADA, so far in 2022. This resulted in some people saying that “The Notorious” had secretly retired from MMA and withdrew from the drug testing pool.
Canadian MMA journalist Aaron Bronsteter did some digging into the situation and got a few answers, posting the information to his Twitter page. Here, he explained that McGregor and the UFC had refused to comment on the situation, but after doing some digging, he discovered McGregor was the only active fighter signed prior to August, who has not been drug tested this year.
“After cross-referencing the entire active UFC roster with USADA’s athlete test history database, I found that Conor McGregor was the lone active fighter, (aside from some athletes who signed after Aug. 1) to not be tested by USADA,” Bronsteter wrote.
“McGregor’s team and the UFC declined comment.USADA provided TSN with the following statement:”
The statement provided by USADA did nothing to directly address the lack of testing done to McGregor, saying that it is against their policy to speak on such matters, and instead noting the well documented consequences of a fighter announcing their retirement and then trying to re-enter the testing pool.
That said, Bronsteter was able to determine that the only way for the former champ-champ to avoid testing purposely, is by given written notice of his retirement or by being released by the UFC.
“According to the UFC’s anti-doping policy, the only way McGregor would be exempt from testing would be if his UFC contract was terminated or he provided the UFC with written notice that he was retiring.McGregor is currently ranked #11 in the official UFC lightweight rankings,” Bronsteter wrote.
There certainly seems to be more to the story, but with neither the UFC or Conor McGregor providing any comment, it is hard to determine the truth in what is going on. Only time will tell what the future holds for the Irishman.
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