Fight fans hardly ever find themselves eagerly awaiting the return of a fighter on a 1-3 run with the three losses by stoppage and the lone win coming more than three years ago. That is exactly where fans sit with Conor McGregor, however, as the biggest star in mixed martial arts' return has been teased but remains a mystery.
McGregor's return for the first time since suffering a TKO loss when his leg snapped in his July 2021 trilogy with Dustin Poirier seemed set when he was announced as one of the coaches of the current season of "The Ultimate Fighter." A fight with opposing coach Michael Chandler was expected to follow the season, as is tradition for the show.
A date for the fight with Chandler has failed to materialize and now seemingly won't because McGregor has still not re-entered the USADA testing pool. A fighter must be in the USADA testing pool for at least six months before they can fight. If McGregor has been in the pool, he has yet to have been tested. Assuming this means he is not enrolled, it means he will not be available to fight in 2023.
McGregor has previously hinted that he believed he would be given an exemption to return with just two clean tests, circumventing the standard rules.
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"I'm not rushing nothing," McGregor said during a March appearance on The MMA Hour. "There's hurdles and whatnot, but we're in constant communication and there's an interview scheduled and a meeting happens and then it will be official. But the six months thing, what they had said was two clean tests and off I go, so I assume it won't be too long"
This echoed a tweet in November when McGregor wrote, "I am clear for testing in February. I will complete my two tests per USADA and we are booking a fight."
In both cases, USADA shot down the idea of McGregor receiving an exemption, including in a March statement.
"The UFC rules are clear that, in addition to two negative tests, an athlete must make themself available for testing six months before returning to competition," the statement read. "This is a fair way to ensure an athlete does not use the retirement status to gain an unfair advantage by using prohibited substances during the retirement period, which would enhance their performance unfairly if they ultimately decide to return to competition. While the rules permit the UFC to make an exception to the six-month rule in exceptional circumstances, when the strict application of the rule would be manifestly unfair to the athlete, our position, which we have made clear, is that Conor should be in the testing pool for the full six-month period."
Ultimately, the UFC can grant an exemption, though it would likely be received poorly. It would not be unprecedented. UFC granted Brock Lesnar an exemption for UFC 200, allowing him to avoid the then-four-month testing pool requirement when he returned from a five-year absence to fight Mark Hunt. Lesnar failed two drug tests around the event and his win was overturned to a no contest.
Ultimately, it could be more than simply adhering to the drug testing requirements that keep McGregor -- who has appeared to have packed on a significant amount of muscle since his last fight -- out of the cage.
Boxing legend Marvin Hagler famously said, "It's tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5 a.m. when you've been sleeping in silk pajamas."
UFC president Dana White seemed to suggest that quote may apply to the 2023 version of McGregor when he was asked about the status of the former featherweight and lightweight champion's return at a Fight Night post-fight press conference earlier in June.
"First of all, Conor called me a couple of days ago and loved the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter, and saying how happy he was that he was a part of it," White said. "I think being here and the environment and everything else, he felt it again and felt like he wants to get back and fight. The one thing that you guys have to understand is, this kid has so much money. It's like Khabib now. It's like, these guys got shitloads of money and it's hard to reel these guys back in and get them fired up to get in a fight."
The delays in McGregor's return could also be due to financial disagreements between what McGregor wants and what the UFC is willing to offer.
The UFC continues to turn incredible profits year after year due to television rights, pay-per-view business and live gates while keeping a low percentage of revenue flowing in the direction of the fighters.
McGregor is a huge star. but the UFC doesn't rely much on individual stars to make money. McGregor no doubt demands a high price, and would have few reservations about demanding more than on any established contract.
The UFC and parent company Endeavor, who is in the process of acquiring WWE, may simply not be willing to meet McGregor's demands. This may be even more true considering that, since becoming a two-division champion in 2016, McGregor has been marred by legal troubles, lost to Floyd Mayweather in the boxing ring and has been stopped by Khabib Nurmagomedov and Dustin Poirier (twice). McGregor's lone win since that triumphant moment over Eddie Alvarez was in January 2020 over Donald Cerrone in the middle of a stretch where Cerrone went seven fights without a win before retiring.
McGregor is a superstar, of that there is no doubt. But he's a superstar who has not proven he can hang at the elite level in many years. The asking price may be too high given the quality of McGregor's recent performances and the UFC's ability to simply make money by sticking to the status quo.
Whatever the reason, it seems as though McGregor's return to the Octagon is much further off than it seemed just a few months ago.
Fans in need of a McGregor fix may simply need to settle for his appearances on The Ultimate Fighter, where his team is currently 0-5 and he has received much online criticism for appearing to have rarely been around to do any actual "coaching."
