He’s just healing - Dillashaw defends McGregor leaving USADA pool

“He’s not doing anything wrong.”

UFC superstar Conor McGregor is currently out of the USADA testing pool, which led to his recent removal from the UFC rankings. “The Notorious,” who may have indirectly admitted to taking a banned substance during this period of hiatus, says his decision to remove himself from the testing pool was to allow himself to properly “heal” from the broken leg he suffered at UFC 264 almost a year and a half ago.

Many are taking issue with McGregor’s absence from the USADA pool, which does put him in a position to take a banned substance. Fellow ex-champion T.J. Dillashaw, however, sees no issue with it.

“We don’t have an off-season. We don’t get an off-season. We’re tested 365 days a year. You don’t get time to heal. You don’t get these downtimes,” Dillashaw said in his recent re-appearance on Brendan Schaub’s Food Truck Diaries.

“The guy’s in movies, he’s doing all this shit, his leg’s broken in half. And even if he were to take steroids to recover himself, he can’t compete with it in his system. So he’s not gonna have any kind of advantage from taking what he’s taking. All he’s doing is healing.”

For Dillashaw, McGregor’s healing process – whatever it entails – only benefits the UFC in the long run.

“If you’re telling me that a guy can’t heal, that’s gonna make — not only himself but the UFC hundreds of millions of dollars — that makes no sense not to.

“He’s not doing anything wrong.”

Likely because of McGregor’s situation, USADA recently added a stipulation to its existing rules. Now, retired fighters who want to re-enter the pool must disclose any prohibited substance they may have used in the last 12 months before being back in the program.

Once such a declaration is made, the fighter in question won’t be allowed to compete for at least six months and will need to provide at least two negative samples.