Conor McGregor has come up with a crude new nickname for UFC contender Beneil Dariush after he was accused of cheating by the No.4-ranked lightweight.
Dariush expressed his frustration at McGregor's lack of drug tests, insisting the Irishman could have been given an exemption instead of claiming to retire in order to recover from his broken leg. And it clearly upset the Irishman, who has branded him Beneil "the douche" Dariush in a quickly-deleted tweet.
During his time out of the octagon over the last two years, McGregor has become infamous for his 'tweet-and-delete' sprees in which he will attack fellow fighters and celebrities. The Irishman has slowed down since recovering and returning to training, but had a quick one last night to hit back at Dariush.
The top lightweight made his argument that McGregor may still be taking banned substances, telling The Schmo: “I think Conor is cheating. In reality, if you want to fix your knee or you want to fix your leg and get certain growth hormones or whatever he’s doing, you can get a therapeutic exemption.
"You can speak to USADA and get a therapeutic exemption – but you can’t add extra stuff. Whatever you are putting in, you have to declare with them and get it figured out. This is 'BS', to be honest with you. The fact that they say, ‘Oh, while he’s doing this, he’s not getting tested right now because of his leg.’ No – you can still get tested.
"You just have to declare and say, ‘Hey, this was a therapeutic exemption.’ But that’s not the case [for McGregor]. He even put down ‘retirement’ [when filling out his forms], so he went into retirement, I guess. USADA recently said when you come out of retirement, you need six months and two clean tests. So this is garbage. But that’s the game.”
McGregor has always denied any use of illegal substances, and recently tweeted and deleted a statement which read: “Over 70 clean tests. Never violated once. I will not be scapegoated by this garbage organisation. You are not the end-all and be-all in this equation USADA.”
What are your thoughts on Conor McGregor's new nickname for Beneil Dariush? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
In order to return to the UFC after a lengthy period on the sidelines in which fighters are not tested, it is required they enter the testing pool six months before competing and are tested at least twice. But the Irishman has argued he will be granted a special exemption and will simply have to test negative twice before he can book his comeback bout with Michael Chandler.
A statement from USADA read: "While we meet with all athletes who enter or re-enter the testing pool, we do not currently have a meeting set with Conor and, as of today, we have not received notice of his coming out of retirement to compete. The UFC rules are clear that, in addition to two negative tests, an athlete must make themselves available for testing for six months before returning to competition.
"This is a fair way to ensure an athlete does not use the retirement status to gain an unfair advantage by using prohibited substances during the retirement period, which would enhance their performance unfairly if they ultimately decide to return to competition.
"While the rules permit the UFC to make an exception to the six-month rule in exceptional circumstances, when the strict application of the rule would be manifestly unfair to the athlete, our position, which we have made clear, is that Conor should be in the testing pool for the full six-month period."
