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Will he or won’t he?
That is the question surrounding Conor McGregor and his potential return to the UFC for a fight with The Ultimate Fighter counterpart Michael Chandler.
McGregor has not fought in the promotion for over two years and, in his time away, changed his physique fairly significantly.
McGregor and Chandler starred on the latest season of the UFC reality show with the understanding that they would fight sometime after it finished.
But there was a catch.
McGregor cannot return to the UFC before first re-entering the United States Anti-Doping Agency testing pool. He must remain in the pool for six consecutive months before returning to the cage.
Thus far, he has yet to do so.
There had been rumors that McGregor may get an exemption from the rule.
“I like USADA, and I do think they’re doing a good job of cleaning up our sport. But, for me, if they waive [the six-month window] and allow him to compete with no drug testing, it kind of just makes a joke of the whole thing. Just remove it completely, you know,” fellow UFC star Dustin Poirier said of those rumors. “There shouldn’t be gray areas. It’s white and black with USADA. You take tests and pass them, you’re able to compete. You don’t take tests, you won’t be able to compete. There was never a gray area before.”
But those proved untrue.
Now, McGregor says he’s finally back in the testing pool and ready to rumble.
“Find my targets. Hit them. F*** 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 b****,” he said in an Instagram post early Thursday morning.
But there’s just one problem.
As of a week ago, McGregor was nowhere to be found in the testing pool. Could he have entered since? Sure.
But the continuous game of cat and mouse can’t make Chandler or UFC president Dana White very happy.