Conor McGregor Eyes UFC Return, Says He Submitted Paperwork to Anti-Doping Program

Conor McGregor said Sunday that he has filed his paperwork to be added to the UFC's anti-doping testing pool ahead of a presumed return to the octagon.

"I'm back in the pool," McGregor posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Will be doing my stint at high elevation before the bout."

UFC CEO Dana White told reporters that while McGregor has submitted his paperwork, he he's still waiting on official approval.

"He is not officially in the USADA testing pool," White said. "He submitted the paperwork, probably by Monday he'll be submitted. Again, don't hold me to that, but the paperwork is submitted, next week sometime."

McGregor previously posted photos of a sparring session on Instagram and included the following caption:

"Find my targets. Hit them. F--k the consequences. You're going down. This is fighting. Sparring day with slick Nikolay Grozdev. Always a banger of a spar with the slick fella. Submitted my stuff to [UFC senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff] Novitzky. Ball rolling. See you soon you little light work bitch."

The last sentence of McGregor's post was seemingly in reference to Michael Chandler, who has been the Irishman's rumored return opponent for months.

During an appearance this week on The MMA Hour (h/t Jed Meshew of MMAFighting.com), Chandler said the fight with McGregor is "unequivocally" happening, and suggested that it could potentially occur at UFC 300 next spring.

The 35-year-old McGregor has not fought since UFC 264 in July 2021. He lost the bout to Dustin Poirier by technical knockout via doctor stoppage since he suffered a broken leg.

Per Damon Martin of MMAFighting.com, McGregor dropped out of the USADA testing pool while recovering from the injury, but a fighter must be back in the program for six months before returning to action.

Martin noted that while McGregor was in contact with USADA as far back as May, he never officially rejoined the program.

The latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, which aired during the spring and summer, saw McGregor and Chandler serve as the head coaches against each other.

That made McGregor vs. Chandler an obvious fight for UFC to try to make happen, but there is still no event or date set in stone for their anticipated encounter.

Prior to his injury, McGregor was mired in the worst stretch of his career, losing three of his past four fights, including two to Poirier and one to the now-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Still, McGregor is a former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion with a career record of 22-6, and he remains one of the biggest draws in UFC history.

The 37-year-old Chandler is 23-8, and he too has lost three of his past four fights, falling to Charlies Oliveira, Justin Gaethje and Poirier.

Chandler, who is a former Bellator lightweight champion, was victorious in his UFC debut over Dan Hooker in 2021, but he fell short in his bid to win the vacant UFC lightweight title in only his second UFC bout.

A clash with McGregor would be the biggest fight of Chandler's career, and it would provide a massive opportunity for both Chandler and McGregor to get back on track amid their recent struggles.