Conor McGregor must provide drug tests for six months before he is eligible to face UFC rival Michael Chandler.
The Irishman will finally make his UFC comeback this year after president Dana White announced 'The Notorious' would meet Chandler as part of the promotion's reality series The Ultimate Fighter. Both fighters will coach a team as opposition in a tournament before meeting in a showdown at the end of the programme, but a date and venue is yet to be officially confirmed.
White's reluctancy commit to a date could be largely down to McGregor's confirmed absence from the USADA drug testing pool which fighters are required to be enrolled in for competition. Having already established that the 34-year-old is not currently enrolled, the organisation have since explained the rules to which he must abide.
USADA released a new communication to TSN Sports, which read: “As we’ve confirmed before, as of today, Conor McGregor has not been re-enrolled in the USADA testing pool, which he would have to be in for a minimum of six months and have at least two negative tests prior to any competition.
“For all the obvious reasons, coaches are not in our testing pool and there is no requirement for him or other coaches to be in the testing pool just to coach. If there is eventually a plan for the coaches to fight each other, then he would have to be in the testing pool at least six months and have two negative tests before any fight.”
McGregor hasn't fought since July 2021 and has gone through an extensive course of rehabilitation. But he is now back in full training in Ireland as he prepares to fight out the final two outings of his UFC contract.
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The former two-weight champion did state he was confident of finding a loophole in order to push through an earlier date, but that now seems unlikely given McGregor's remaining absence. Although a date is not certain, Chandler has confirmed the fight will take place at 170lb after his rival's weight gain.
"The fight will be at 170lb that is true," Chandler admitted during an interview on Bussin' with the Boys when discussing his upcoming contest. I'm sitting here at around 190lb right now, I'd love to fight at 170lb. It's fantastic and hopefully it is in Las Vegas. Conor McGregor famously only really fights in Las Vegas, and I want to experience a Vegas fight week.
"It will be one hundred times different than any other fight. I knew Conor had expressed interest in fighting me before this and that was my approach to it. I wasn't going to trash-talk him by poking the bear, he doesn't need to fight anybody that calls him a name."
