MMA News Roundup: Conor McGregor USADA Break Was “Pseudo-Retirement”, Jon Jones Reveals Painful Elbow in Injury Update, Sean Strickland Attacks Colby Covington

The world of MMA continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and this trend persisted in the past as well. With the highly anticipated UFC 297 just around the corner, it comes as no surprise that each day brings forth a multitude of noteworthy developments. Therefore, we are here once again with our MMA news roundup, ensuring that you stay informed about the significant incidents that captured widespread attention in the MMA world over the last day.

We will start with Michael Chandler, who opined on Conor McGregor‘s decision to avoid the USADA. Then we will shift our focus to Jon Jones, who provided an update regarding his injury. Finally, we will sum up the daily news compilation with Sean Strickland going off on Colby Covington during the UFC 297 press conference.

Michael Chandler talks about Conor McGregor snubbing USADA

‘Iron’ recently made an appearance on the 97.1 FM Talk’s ‘Morning Show’, where he talked about Conor McGregor being out of action for over two years. When asked if ‘The Notorious’ was retired after his serious leg injury, Michael Chandler claimed that it was a false retirement because he was out of the USADA’s testing pool.

“It was a pseudo-retirement. He retired himself by pulling himself out of the, what they call the USADA testing pool, which was the drug testing [protocol],” said Chandler. However, he seemed to have no problems with what Conor McGregor had to do since he was suffering a serious injury, as he mentioned that his exclusion from USADA was the primary reason why their fight was on hold.

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“He had to do what he had to do, but now he’s back, he’s back in the drug testing protocol and that was part of the hold-up of this fight,” Michael Chandler added. He and McGregor are set to fight this coming June during the International Fight Week. However, there is still no official confirmation on that front.

Jon Jones claims to be healing faster

The UFC heavyweight champion of the world has been out nursing a torn pectoral muscle injury that he suffered days before UFC 295, where he was scheduled to fight Stipe Miocic. Recently, a fan tweeted, asking Jon Jones about the state of his injury. ‘Bones’ claimed that his recovery was going way better than he expected it to be, but he was still waiting to get his full strength back. The heavyweight champion said, “It’s progressing in an amazing way. I have great mobility, not that’s a full strength yet.”

Furthermore, Jon Jones also suffered a lot of pain in his elbow region, but other than that, there were no problems and he claimed that he would get better sooner rather than later. “Honestly, the elbow has been more painful, lots of nerves in there. I’m healing quickly,” added ‘Bones’. It will surely be a massive event when Jones makes his return, but it remains to be seen how quickly can he get back in action.

Sean Strickland rants on Colby Covington

Sean Strickland came to the support of Leon Edwards when Colby Covington made some ill-fated comments about the welterweight champion’s late father. During the UFC 297 press conference, ‘Tarzan’ unloaded on ‘Chaos’ when a reporter mentioned his name, claiming that the former interim welterweight champion was a selfish individual and also added that what he said about Edwards’ father was shameful.

“Colby Covington is a f***ing fraud. He don’t give a f*** about anybody himself, man. It’s a f***ing damn shame that he f***ing is even in that Octagon talking his s***. He is a f***ing coward, and I’m happy that Leon came out and represented,” said Sean Strickland.

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We will have to wait and see how Covington reacts to these comments since he is known to respond to remarks more often than not.