Conor McGregor has teased he is back in the USADA drug-testing pool and that a return to the octagon after two years could now be imminent.
McGregor's comeback fight with Michael Chandler hit a snag due to his issues with the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after he 'retired' from the sport during his time recovering from a broken leg. The former two-weight world champion was forced out after suffering a broken leg in his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier, and left their testing pool.
Fighters in the UFC must be tested regularly and randomly by USADA, even when they don't have a fight scheduled. And they are forced to give the agency their whereabouts at all times, with returning fighters needing a minimum of six months and at least two negative tests before they can fight again.
McGregor has insisted he will be granted an exemption on the lengthy six-month process, but the drug testing outfit have regularly denied that claim. And in a new series of tweets, he posted about "the pool", referring to a swimming pool where he is staying.
One fan wrote that they "want to see him in the pool", to which he replied with a brief cryptic message reading "I am long in the pool". He then followed it up with another tweet moments later, telling his nearly 10million followers to "Stay Ready for the date," implying that his comeback is looming.
The Irishman has regularly denied he has taken any performance-enhancing substances, and despite his issues with USADA has never returned a positive drugs test. He recently tweeted-and-deleted a message 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.”
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After his claims that he would be meeting with the Agency imminently back in March, USADA's most recent statement on McGregor 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."
