{"id":291672,"date":"2023-10-08T15:24:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T15:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=291672"},"modified":"2023-10-08T15:24:13","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T15:24:13","slug":"dana-white-confirms-conor-mcgregors-return-to-usada-testing-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/mma\/dana-white-confirms-conor-mcgregors-return-to-usada-testing-pool\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana White confirms Conor McGregor&apos;s return to USADA testing pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Dana White confirms Conor McGregor&#8217;s return to USADA testing pool is imminent as the Irish star moves closer to UFC comeback<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>McGregor dropped a major hint last week that he was back in the testing pool<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He&#8217;ll have to complete six months of random drugs tests before he can compete\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>It means mooted fight with Michael Chandler could happen next year\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Conor McGregor has moved another step closer to his fighting return after UFC supremo Dana White confirmed the Irishman is returning to the USADA testing pool.<\/p>\n<p>Notorious, 35, hasn&#8217;t been in the Octagon since July 2021 when he suffered a broken leg against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.<\/p>\n<p>But the odds on a comeback, likely against Michael Chandler in the first half of next year, are shortening.<\/p>\n<p>McGregor has been back sparring and training for several months now, as well as coaching a in a series of The Ultimate Fighter against Chandler.<\/p>\n<p>However, McGregor has been out of the US Anti-Doping Agency pool since the third quarter of 2021 and so must complete six months of random drug testing before being cleared to fight &#8211; ruling out a UFC return this year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/13\/76301555-12607521-image-a-26_1696769919795.jpg\" height=\"452\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Conor McGregor has taken another step towards his UFC comeback with Dana White and USADA confirming the Irishman will imminently return to the testing pool<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/13\/76301553-12607521-image-a-27_1696769962671.jpg\" height=\"450\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>UFC supremo White was giving little away and isn&#8217;t planning with McGregor just yet<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/14\/76196955-12607521-The_Irishman_has_not_competed_inside_the_octagon_since_breaking_-a-28_1696770001386.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>The Irishman has not competed inside the octagon since breaking his leg at UFC 264 in 2021<\/p>\n<p>Last week, McGregor excited fans with an Instagram post in which he revealed he&#8217;d &#8216;submitted my stuff to Novtizky&#8217; to get the &#8216;ball rolling&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Novtizky is the senior vice president of Athlete Health and Performance for the UFC &#8211; who helps with USADA testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>White confirmed McGregor&#8217;s return to the testing pool is imminent. &#8216;No, he is not officially in the USADA pool. He has submitted the paperwork so probably by Monday he will be submitted,&#8217; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Again, don&#8217;t hold me to that but the paperwork is submitted so next week sometime.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>White added: &#8216;I literally have nothing planned with Conor McGregor right now, the paperwork is being submitted.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>USADA also released a statement to this effect: &#8216;We have recently been in direct contact with Conor McGregor. As he confirmed today in the media, we expect to receive his paperwork coming out of retirement and re-entering the USADA testing pool immediately.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Like other athletes who come out of retirement, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, McGregor will be subject to testing for at least six months and must provide at least two negative samples before being permitted to compete.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The purpose of this rule is to ensure that all athletes who are not subject to a period of testing are adequately tested over a reasonable period of time before competing to ensure a level playing field for all athletes.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>White wouldn&#8217;t be committed on when precisely McGregor could return, though UFC 300 is a possibility.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/14\/76196931-12607521-McGregor_has_thrown_a_hint_that_at_a_potential_UFC_comeback_on_s-m-30_1696770015163.jpg\" height=\"568\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>McGregor threw out a hint at a potential UFC return in an Instagram post last week<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/14\/76197545-12607521-image-m-32_1696770045860.jpg\" height=\"143\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We&#8217;ll play it by ear and see how things work out. There is still a lot of things that have to happen, as far as fights go, then we&#8217;ll figure out where he is going to land.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Chandler told the MMA Hour, as per MMAfighting.com, that he is confident a bout with McGregor will take place.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8216;The status is, unequivocally, the fight is still happening. The fight is not booked for a date, the fight is not booked for a venue, but the fight is booked.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There&#8217;s no way Conor comes back and doesn&#8217;t fight me. If Conor doesn&#8217;t fight me, he&#8217;s probably just not coming back, and that&#8217;s out of my control. He&#8217;s coming back, he&#8217;s fighting me.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;At this point, by deductive reasoning, by process of elimination, there&#8217;s a main event in December, there&#8217;s a main event in November, we&#8217;re not going to not be a main event, so that pushes it into 2024.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;m ready to fight in January, February, March, April, May, whatever. We&#8217;ll see. Obviously, it makes a lot of sense that there&#8217;s a very historic card coming up with the UFC.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I haven&#8217;t been told that&#8217;s when it&#8217;s going to be, but I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if that&#8217;s when it is. And if it is, I&#8217;ve got more and more time to prepare.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/08\/14\/76196967-12607521-Michael_Chandler_right_is_still_confident_that_he_will_fight_McG-a-33_1696770059916.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Michael Chandler (right) is still confident that he will fight McGregor, saying it would &#8216;make a lot of sense with a &#8216;historic card coming up&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/mma\/article-12607521\/Dana-White-confirms-Conor-McGregors-return-USADA-testing-pool-imminent-Irish-star-moves-closer-UFC-comeback.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Dana White confirms Conor McGregor&#8217;s return to USADA testing pool is imminent as the Irish star moves closer to UFC comeback McGregor dropped a major <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/mma\/dana-white-confirms-conor-mcgregors-return-to-usada-testing-pool\/\" title=\"Dana White confirms Conor McGregor&amp;apos;s return to USADA testing pool\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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