It appears that Conor McGregor is not coming back this year.
For the past few months, there has been speculation as to whether or not McGregor would be able to fight this year. The main sticking point is that McGregor must be enlisted in USADA’s drug testing pool for six months before he can return. As of July 13th, McGregor has yet to appear on USADA’s website as having been tested.
As of July 13, Conor McGregor doesn't show any USADA Sample Counts in 2023. pic.twitter.com/f6t6FBKQGx
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) July 13, 2023
During an interview with MMA Junkie, McGregor’s manager Audie Attar said the UFC superstar is currently in talks with USADA about returning to the tested pool and blasted all the misinformation being spread on the Internet.
“One of the things everybody forgets is that Conor was one of the most tested athletes when he was competing, and we’re going about things the right way,” Attar told MMA Junkie. “We’re in active discussions with the UFC, we’ve spoken to USADA, and we’re going to do things the right way.”
“That’s all I’m going to say about that. The thing about Conor McGregor is, people will speculate and stories run wild that are nine times out of 10 very inaccurate and false, so that’s all I’ll say about that:”
Attar admitted that Mcgregor is likely coming back sometime early next year.
“But certainly, he’s looking for a comeback in 2024.”
“You can’t rule out the end of the year, but I think just in terms of where we are right now in terms of the date, it’s likely going to be 2024,” “I think that’s what the UFC has their sights set on so, we’ll see kind of exactly when that will be.”
It’ll be interesting to see how long Michael Chandler is willing to wait for McGregor to return considering their fight was announced back in February of 2023.