The last time Conor McGregor embraced the heat of the Octagon was in 2021 at UFC 264, when he faced Dustin Poirier. McGregor went all in against ‘The Diamond’ and ultimately suffered a complete shin fracture – a snapped tibia, to be precise. McGregor’s shin injury forced him out of the promotion for years and he pulled his name out of the USADA testing pool amidst the retirement speculations. However, back in 2023, McGregor re-entered the testing pool to make a comeback. Since then, USADA and DFSI (Drug Free Sport International) have tested the athlete multiple times and so much so that the fighter has acquired a new bizarre record.

Fairly recently, MMA Pro Picks shared statistics on their X handle regarding the most drug-tested athletes under the UFC roster. Kayla Harrison topped the list with 13 official drug tests, followed by Conor McGregor and Arman Tsarukyan, each with 11 tests. Jose Aldo, Marlon Vera, and Oumar Sy ranked next, each undergoing 10 tests, while Merab Dvalishvili and Bruno Aruddo followed with 9 tests each.

Conor McGregor is currently the second-most-tested athlete in the UFC. You might wonder, what’s so bizarre about that? Well, the only thing that differentiates the former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion is, unlike the other fighters mentioned above, Conor McGregor didn’t actually compete in the UFC in the time that he was tested. This makes him the most actively tested athlete without any fight.

Well, it must be noted that Conor McGregor was stopped from competing back in 2023 against Michael Chandler specifically due to the fact that USADA claimed that the fighter had to undergo multiple tests before embracing the heat of the Octagon. The fighter had visibly bulked up, with many (jokingly) speculating that ‘The Notorious’ would return to the UFC as a middleweight.

This intervention by the USADA derailed Dana White’s plans who wanted another PPV banger from ‘Mystic Mac’. McGregor did agreed to be tested under USADA regulations but Dana White had enough of the drug testing agency and the UFC CEO decided its better for them to part ways and their partnership finally came to and end in October 2023, with the agency no longer testing athletes form January 2024 onwards. Pulling his name out of the USADA testing pool seemed to work for Conor McGregor, but it backfired when TJ Dillashaw tried to take advantage of pulling out of the USADA system.

TJ Dillashaw confesses about double standard by the USADA

Conor McGregor willingly pulled out of the testing pool after his injury and USADA was silent on it but when former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw tried to pull the same antic, things were a bit different. When the former bantamweight champion tried the same after injuries but it didn’t go as smoothly for him as it was for Conor McGregor. While having a conversation with The Casuals Podcast, the former bantamweight champion confessed, “When I retired, it wasn’t a real retirement. I mean, I did do the f–king Conor McGregor.”

He further added, “It’s like I wanted to get healthy. Like, I had a surgery, it did not take… your rotator cuffs in your shoulder are muscles, right? So, how am I gonna get those muscles to become what they need to be? I’m gonna retire and come back and get out of the USADA pool or whatever it may be and get healthy. But unfortunately, those weren’t in the cards… Ever since that day, I’m being told to get out of the sport for some reason. I always believe that life’s got a purpose. You just gotta believe it and follow it and it’ll work out for you. So, for me, I just got to flip that negative into what it is, you know.”

It must be noted that Dillashaw was under the radar after having popped for EPO back in 2019, which is why he relinquished his title before the UFC stripped him. Furthermore, he was banned from competing for two whole years. This is perhaps why the testing agency didn’t give him leeway to do the same as McGregor. In his final dance in the Octagon in 2022, TJ Dillashaw left the fight business after suffering from a brutal shoulder injury after his last clash against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280.

What are your thoughts on Conor McGregor’s dance with anti-doping agencies? Do you think that his treatment by the former testing agency was fair, compared to how Dillashaw was treated? Sound off in the comments down below.