With Conor McGregor confirming December return, Daniel Cormier questions USADA’s potential exemption
Daniel Cormier is not fond of USADA potentially bending the rules for Conor McGregor.
McGregor (22-6 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Chandler (23-8 MMA, 18-5 UFC) recently wrapped taping Season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which airs its season finale Tuesday on ESPN. McGregor claimed his fight with Chandler will take place in December, but the Irish superstar has yet to re-enter the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) testing pool.
McGregor, who hasn’t competed since he broke his leg in a TKO loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021, has not been tested in 2022 or 2023. According to USADA, McGregor has to be tested for at least six months and must provide at least two negative samples before he’ll be permitted to compete. But if McGregor will indeed return in December, it appears he will be given an exemption.
“There really is no base amount of test that you have to take in order to be eligible,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “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.”
Brock Lesnar was granted an exemption when a layoff of more than four years to face Mark Hunt at UFC 200, which stirred plenty of controversy. The testing period was waived for Lesnar, who defeated Hunt by unanimous decision. The win later was overturned to a no contest when Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene.
“Here’s where the issue becomes: You make that exception, then how do you implement this rule for the rest of the people?” Cormier said. “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.”
