McGregor ‘Won The Drug War’

Morning Kombat’s Luke Thomas argues that McGregor has beaten the USADA system by stepping out then stepping back in after two years of unsupervised treatment.

After months and months of waiting and delays and speculation, Conor McGregor is getting back in the USADA drug testing pool.

This is an extremely important development because UFC fighters can’t compete without being in the USADA pool, and most have to spend six months being tested as well. We’ll see whether the UFC grants him an exemption which would allow him to compete before April 2024 at the earliest, but even if he has to wait? He’s still managed to pull one over on USADA.

McGregor and USADA have ended up taking shots at each other through the media, with USADA claiming “The Notorious” doesn’t qualify for an exemption and McGregor calling them a “garbage organization.” It’s become a story as to whether Conor would end up coming back with an exemption or if he’d be forced to wait the six months.

On the latest episode of Morning Kombat, host Luke Thomas argued that McGregor has already beaten USADA by dipping out of the pool in the first place and doing who knows what in the interim.

“If it’s the case that Conor McGregor has to wait six months, that they don’t waive [the six month testing period]?” he asked. “I don’t know how people exactly interpret the war between USADA and Conor and Conor getting his way or not. But I want to point out: he’s already won.”

“Because he never retired. He got out of the testing pool. He got to take whatever drugs, via medical intervention or however it went down, that he wanted. Whatever methods he used to fuse the bone that weren’t USADA approved and who knows what else may have happened beyond that. That he’s going to be able to get back in without penalty — even if he has to wait the six months — he already won. He already won.”

“He had a devastating injury, he was able to take time off, not retire, was still able to be ranked, take all the drugs he wanted for whatever purpose, and come right back,” Thomas continued. “Conor McGregor already beat the system. We will see how many times he gets tested, and that will tell us ultimately what the proof in the pudding is. But no matter what, the guy already beat USADA just to get to this point.”

“You need a new t-shirt, Luke,” co-host Brian Campbell suggested. “‘Drugs won the drug war,’ but you’re saying ‘Conor McGregor also won the drug war.’”

“By a considerable margin, I’d say,” Thomas replied.

We can’t disagree with Thomas on this one. McGregor didn’t just heal up his badly broken leg. He also packed on a ridiculous amount of muscle, returning to the spotlight a year ago a full weight class bigger. Joe Rogan commented that his urine would melt any cup USADA used. The popular PED-pontificator ‘More Plates More Dates’ said there was no question what was going on with McGregor’s sudden size explosion.

“The pictures look fake, like that’s how juicy this guy looks,” he declared.

Honestly, there’s probably a debate to be had on whether fighters should be allowed to use non-USADA approved treatments to heal serious injuries. Should they be able to game the system like McGregor did, to drop out of the program completely and then return all jacked up? Yeah, probably not. McGregor has totally gamed the system, even if he does have to ride the bench another six months before fighting again.