Conor McGregor Suspended for 18 Months for Non-Compliance with Anti-Doping Tests
The renowned MMA fighter, Conor McGregor, has been suspended for 18 months by the UFC’s anti-doping program, Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD). The suspension, which began on September 20, 2024, will extend until March 20, 2026. This sanction comes after three “whereabouts failures” in which McGregor did not show up for testing on the indicated dates and also did not provide precise information about his location.The failures occurred on June 13, September 19, and September 20, 2024. Each of these was classified as “Location Failures” by CSAD. On June 13, the day of the first failure, also coincided with the announcement of the cancellation of the scheduled fight between McGregor and Michael Chandler at UFC 303. CSAD noted that, although McGregor was not available for testing, he was in the process of recovering from an injury and was not in preparation for a fight at that time. In its statement, CSAD also highlighted McGregor’s cooperation during the investigation, his acceptance of responsibility, and the detailed information he provided. Due to cooperation and mitigating circumstances, CSAD reduced the standard 24-month sanction for three failures to locate within six months. The suspension comes a day after McGregor announced on X that he would be taking an indefinite break from social media. Currently, the former two-division champion is part of the UFC’s drug testing pool, with four samples submitted in 2025.“McGregor missed three attempts to provide biological samples within a 12-month period in 2024, which constitutes a violation of the UFC ADP,” according to a CSAD press release on the UFC website.
CSAD Statement
