LAS VEGAS – UFC executive vice president and chief business officer Hunter Campbell has responded to statements released by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), and is demanding an apology for comments targeting Conor McGregor.
On Wednesday, USADA CEO Travis Tygart issued a statement addressing the split between the UFC and USADA, and Conor McGregor’s re-entry into the drug testing pool. McGregor previously withdrew from the testing pool as he recovered from a broken leg suffered in his UFC 264 trilogy bout against Dustin Poirier.
Tygart’s statement claims the relationship between USADA and the UFC soured as McGregor prepares for a return to action.
“The relationship between USADA and UFC became untenable given the statements made by UFC leaders and others questioning USADA’s principled stance that McGregor not be allowed to fight without being in the testing pool for at least six months,” Tygart said.
Tygart’s statements were directly addressed at a news conference on Thursday, where Campbell, along with senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitsky, announced the UFC’s new partnership with Drug Free Sport International.
“Disappointingly, they used Conor McGregor as a vehicle to sort of articulate and re-frame a complete misrepresentation of what occurred over the last several months,” Campbell told MMA Junkie and other reporters in attendance at the UFC Apex. “… What I can categorically tell you is, what USADA has put out in the last 48 hours could not be farther from the truth.”
Campbell is of the belief that Tygart’s messaging was a “self-preservation tactic” as USADA prepares to move forward without one of its largest clients. Without invoking McGregor in the statement, Campbell believes USADA’s message would have not received the same level of media attention.
Tygart’s claim that the UFC wanted McGregor to return without having to be tested for six months, as required of any fighter returning to the testing pool, was categorically denied by Campbell.
“At no point in time did Jeff, myself, or any other UFC representative, Dana – not a single person ever went to USADA and told them anything other than Conor McGregor would re-enter the program when he was healthy,” Campbell said. “In doing so, we would require him to be in the program for six months. There would be no exception to the rule. What I said to Travis on multiple occasions, including the call on Monday, was there would never be a situation where Conor would fight until he had been in the program for six months. And my words were, ‘I don’t give a sh*t if he has 37 clean tests.’ This is one of those cases where Conor was the most tested athlete in the UFC before he catastrophically shattered his leg.
“The conversations I had with Conor and his physician when that occurred had nothing to do with fighting, they were legitimately concerned he wasn’t going to regain full use of his leg ever again, including the ligaments around it. And I’ll say it one last time, what they’ve done to him is disgusting. For an entity that holds themself out to have a level of honor and integrity, using him as a media vehicle to advance a fake narrative is disturbing, disgusting, and I think they have some legitimate legal liability that they should be very concerned with.”
According to Campbell, he previously sat in a meeting with McGregor and came to an understanding that there would not be an exemption to the six-month rule. In addition, Tygart was also involved in conversations with McGregor in order to get everyone on the same page.
Campbell said he had a phone call with Tygart on Monday to deliver the message that the UFC would be going in a different direction beginning January 2024, when the contract with USADA expires. While Campbell says he spoke in a calm demeanor, conversely, Tygart did not react well to the news.
“I couldn’t have been more clear about the reasons that we were making the change, and he was just completely unhinged,” Campbell explained. “Truly, it was a version of a mental breakdown. The only thing that I logically can sit back as I reflect and think on that call is this is an individual that’s dealing with a lot of sh*t right now. I think that call was the straw that broke the camel’s back type of moment.”
Campbell and the UFC are not just content with candidly explaining their side of the story amid the ending of the UFC-USADA partnership. They have demanded that Tygart and USADA issue an apology for their recent statements that claim McGregor’s situation was the reason for ending the business relationship.
“As such, we hereby demand that you publish an appropriate retraction and apology to the UFC by no later than Thursday, October 12 at 5:00 p.m.,” a letter from Campbell’s law firm to Tygart states. “The retraction should acknowledge the falsity of the representations of the statement that express or imply the UFC ended its relationship with USADA in order to expedite McGregor’s return to the UFC. The retraction should also acknowledge the UFC’s repeated representations to you that McGregor will not fight in the UFC until he has spent six months in the testing pool and returned two clean tests as required by the ADP.”
