Conor McGregor Back To UFC? Says ‘Submitted My Stuff’ For USADA

The Conor McGregor watch got more interesting on Thursday when the former two-time UFC champion insinuated that he had filled out the paperwork to rejoin the UFC’s anti-doping program.

McGregor wrote on Instagram, “Find my targets. Hit them. (expletive) the consequences. You’re going down. This is fighting. Sparring day with slick @grozdevnikolay. Always a banger of a spar with the slick fella. Submitted my stuff to Novitzky. Ball rolling ⚽️ See you soon you little light work (expletive).”

McGregor’s light work reference seems to be directed at former UFC lightweight title challenger Michael Chandler, who coached opposite the Irish fighter on the most recent season of the UFC’s reality TV program, The Ultimate Fighter. The two will likely face off if McGregor returns to UFC action.

The ex-champion has not fought since he suffered a broken leg in his TKO loss to Dustin Poirier at UFC 264 in July 2021. McGregor has been out of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) drug testing pool for quite some time. His last test under USADA, which oversees the UFC’s anti-doping program, came in the third quarter of 2021, according to USADA’s athlete test history database.

According to USADA’s rules, once a fighter withdraws from the anti-doping program, they must “send a return-from retirement statement through courier, fax, or email to the UFC.” Novitzy is the UFC Senior VP of Athlete Health and Performance and would be one of the most likely UFC contacts with USADA.

With the timing of McGregor’s social media post, it is likely, if McGregor did inform the UFC of his intention to re-enroll in the anti-doping program, that he is looking at fighting again at UFC 300, which is likely to take place in April 2024.

According to USADA, any fighter who leaves and then rejoins the anti-doping program must provide at least two negative samples over six months before they can be eligible to compete. However, the UFC can, at its discretion, provide a fighter with an exemption to that rule.

According to Article 5.7.3 of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy:

“An Athlete who gives notice of retirement to UFC, or has otherwise ceased to have a contractual relationship with UFC due to Athlete-Initiated Inactivity, may not resume competing in UFC Bouts until he/she has given UFC written notice of his/her intent to resume competing and has made him/herself available for Testing for a period of six months before returning to competition. UFC may grant an exemption to the six-month written notice rule in exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an Athlete provided that in either instance the Athlete provides a minimum of two negative Samples before returning to competition.”

McGregor is 1-3 in his last four fights, with two TKO losses to Poirier and a submission defeat to then-UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. His win came in January 2020 when he knocked out Donald Cerrone in a welterweight scrap.

Chandler is also 1-3 in his four most recent UFC outings. He lost to Charles Oliveira via knockout in a fight for the vacant lightweight crown in May 2021 and then dropped a decision to Justin Gaethje. In May 2022, Chandler knocked out ex-interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson. He followed that with a November 2022 submission setback to Poirier.

*I contacted the UFC for confirmation regarding the promotion receiving McGregor’s re-enrollment into the anti-doping program. The UFC did not respond before publication. This story will be updated if the promotion replies.