Conor McGregor has been hit with an 18 month suspension for violating the UFC’s anti-doping policy on several occasions.
McGregor was punished after he failed to make himself available for drug testing on three separate occasions last year, which is against the whereabouts rule laid out by the Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD).
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The news isn’t quite as dramatic as it seems however due to the suspension being handed down retrospectively, meaning that he’ll have served it in full by March of next year, enabling him to still compete on the UFC: White House event on June 14th.
A statement from the UFC’s anti-doping partner CSAD reveals that McGregor’s whereabouts failures occurred on June 13th, September 19th and September 20th of 2024, and then went on to explain how that led to a reduction in the length of his suspension.
“Although McGregor failed to make himself available for testing on those dates, CSAD noted that he was recovering from an injury and was not preparing for an upcoming fight at the time of the three missed tests,” CSAD wrote in their statement. “McGregor fully cooperated with CSAD’s investigation, accepted responsibility, and provided detailed information that CSAD determined contributed to the missed tests.
“Taking McGregor’s cooperation and circumstances into account, CSAD reduced the standard 24-month sanction for three whereabouts failures by six months.”
It’s worth noting that McGregor’s first violation occurred on the same day his comeback fight with Michael Chandler at the end of the June had been scrapped due to him suffering an injured toe.
McGregor is currently back on the UFC’s drug-testing program and has made it clear he intends to fight on the UFC: White House event next year, with Chandler believed to be his intended opponent.
Dana White has so far insisted that he won’t make any match-ups for the event until February of next year, but he has acknowledged that he is interested in having McGregor compete on it, as the former two-division champion attempts to finally make his comeback five years after breaking his leg against Dustin Poirier in 2021
Source: ameyawdebrah.com/
