Conor McGregor Receives 18-Month Suspension for Anti-Doping Violations
The renowned mixed martial arts fighter, Conor McGregor, has been suspended for 18 months by the UFC’s anti-doping program, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD). The suspension, with retroactive effect to September 20, 2024, will end on March 20, 2026. This period of disqualification extends for more than three months before the UFC event at the White House, announced by former President Donald Trump for his birthday, June 14th. McGregor has been actively promoting his participation in this event, which would mark his return to the octagon after almost five years of absence. CSAD, the internal agency that manages the UFC’s anti-doping program, reported that the suspension is due to three “whereabouts failures.” These failures occurred when McGregor failed to appear for testing on June 13, September 19 and 20, 2024, in addition to not providing accurate information about his location.The statement also explains that UFC athletes must provide accurate whereabouts information at all times to facilitate no-notice testing. McGregor’s missed tests occurred on June 13, September 19 and 20, 2024, and were classified as “whereabouts failures” by CSAD. The June 13th failure coincided with UFC CEO Dana White’s announcement about the cancellation of the scheduled fight between McGregor and Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Despite not providing his whereabouts, CSAD indicated that McGregor was recovering from an injury and was not preparing for a fight at the time of the failed tests. CSAD highlighted that McGregor fully cooperated with the investigation, accepted responsibility, and provided detailed information which, according to CSAD, contributed to the test failures. Considering McGregor’s cooperation and circumstances, CSAD reduced the standard 24-month sanction for three whereabouts failures in six months. The disqualification period began on September 20, 2024, and will conclude on March 20, 2026. This suspension comes a day after McGregor announced on X that he would be taking an indefinite break from social media. The former two-division champion is currently in the UFC’s drug testing pool, having submitted four samples in 2025.“McGregor failed to appear for three biological sample collection attempts within a 12-month period in 2024, which constitutes a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping Program,” reads a CSAD press release on the UFC website.
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