“They Better Read Their Own Paperwork”: Conor McGregor’s USADA “Exemption” Explained by UFC Legend

Conor McGregor will be making his return to the Octagon against Michael Chandler later this year. However, for him to fight, ‘Notorious’ has to join the USADA pool. Every fighter has to go through this process. Meanwhile, UFC legend and critic Chael Sonnen claims that McGregor’s battle with USADA will be exciting as time goes by.

Conor McGregor opted out of the USADA’s testing pool in 2021 following his knee injury. He was taking a lot of medication at that time which could have been deemed illegal. Now, several sources claim that there is an immediate need for the former ‘Champ Champ’ to get back into the testing pool, but Chael Sonnen has another opinion regarding it.

Chael Sonnen claims that Conor McGregor has exemptions

When Dana White recently announced that there will be two big events in November and December, Chael Sonnen started believing that one of those events has to include Conor McGregor’s fight against Michael Chandler. However, USADA had already mentioned that ‘Notorious’ has to go through the 180-day testing pool process before participating in a fight. But Sonnen claims that USADA was wrong. While talking to Brendan Schaub, he said, “USADA says Conor needs 180 days. USADA is wrong. If that ever gets tested, USADA’s wrong.”

USADA even mentioned that there will be no exemptions for any fighter and everyone has to go through the given process. However, Sonnen believes that Conor McGregor does have some basic advantages and perks. “There are exemptions from Conor and McGregor says, ‘I’m taking one of those exemptions,” said the retired UFC legend.

UFC legend claims ‘Notorious’s battle with USADA is the real fight

Chael Sonnen mentioned how Dana White announced that the date for the McGregor vs Chandler fight has been decided. However, USADA revealed that the Irishman is yet to join the testing, which would make it difficult for him to fight anytime soon. The UFC legend claims that either Dana White or USADA could be lying. Sonnen said, “Dana’s saying, ‘We’ve got the dates set. I haven’t revealed but we have it set and I’ll reveal it through The Ultimate Fighter, and USADA said [the] he’s [McGregor’s] not in the pool yet. So all of those things can’t be true.”

When it will all comes down to Conor McGregor’s eventual face-off with the dipping agency, Sonnen theorizes that things may not turn in favor of USADA. He is eager to see how things will turn out in the days to come. “That’s the fight I’ve been waiting to see – McGregor vs USADA. That’s the fight that I really want to see but USADA’s not gonna like how this one turns out. They better read their own paperwork,” said the 46-year-old.

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Regardless of how things turn out, fans are eager to see MMA’s biggest export return to fight and entertain in ways that only McGregor can. As he looks to make his way back to the octagon for a while, he wants to prove that he’s one of the top fighters.

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