Conor McGregor has revealed that he’ll return to USADA’s drug-testing pool in February, and with six months required after that before he’s eligible to compete again in the UFC, that places his likely comeback at around July of next year.
“I am clear for testing in February,” McGregor wrote on Twitter. “I will complete my two tests per USADA and we are booking a fight.”
The reason why McGregor isn’t current in the USADA testing pool is puzzling to say the least as even though he’s been out of action for a long time due to the broken leg he suffered against Dustin Poirier last year, he’s still under contract with the promotion.
Nevertheless, USADA data showed that McGregor hadn’t been tested this year, and indeed Dana White confirmed recently that he’s not currently in the testing pool, which has raised a red flag for fellow fighters like Anthony Smith, who spoke out about it on Michael Bisping’s podcast this week.
“It bothers the f*ck out of me – like that he pulled himself out of the USADA pool,” Smith said on Bisping’s “Believe You Me” show. “There’s only one reason you would do that. He’s looking jacked as sh*t. You keep seeing videos of him flexing in front of mirrors and screaming and he’s huge. He healed really fast. Like, really fast.
“(Chris) Weidman still hasn’t (from his broken leg). I talked to Weidman today. He’s still having struggles. He’s still struggling to get back. Anderson (Silva) took a long time. Corey Hill took a long time. Anybody who’s broken their leg has taken a long time. He’s seemingly pretty healed up. It just bugs me that he gets to jump out of the pool, juice up on whatever he’s juiced on, and then just jump back in the pool and no one’s going to say sh*t about it? I don’t know. It’s weird. It bothers me.”
