Conor McGregor and his long-time rival Khabib Nurmagomedov are once again back in the headlines after the two took jabs at one another.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping discussed the latest chapter in the seemingly endless saga that is ‘The Eagle’ versus ‘The Notorious’ on his podcast, giving fans a quick recap of why we are once again talking about two men who may never actually step foot inside the Octagon again.
“Khabib was talking a little bit of sh*t. He was somewhere, in Toronto I think, and this has been tagged everywhere. Any social media account that has to do with MMA has put it up there. That’s how I know. I saw it like 30 times. Khabib was talking a little bit of sh*t. He said, ‘Yeah, you know, the Irish said that they were going to come here.’ He said, ‘Somebody said,’ obviously meaning McGregor, that they were coming here ‘not just to take part, but to take over and we have taken over,’ talking about the Dagestanis.”
McGregor swiftly responded in a now-deleted tweet, calling out Khabib for only being undefeated because he “quit and ran.”
Anthony Smith’s Candid Thoughts on Conor McGregor Withdrawing Himself From USADA Pool
Michael Bisping’s podcasting partner Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith was a little hesitant to continue talking about the never-ending feud between Khabib and McGregor. He instead questioned why we were even having this conversation when McGregor clearly has no desire to fight in the UFC, as referenced by his no longer being part of the USADA testing pool.
“It bothers the f*ck out of me that he pulled himself out of the USADA pool,” said Smith. “There’s only one reason you would do that. There’s only one reason you would do that. He’s looking jacked as sh*t. Keep seeing videos of him flexing in front of mirrors and screaming. He’s huge. He healed really fast. I talked to [Christ] Weidman today. He’s still having struggles. Still struggling to get back. Anderson [Silva] took a long time. Corey Hil took a long time.
“Anybody who’s broken their leg, it’s taken a long time and he’s seemingly pretty healed up. It just bugs me that he gets to jump out of the pool, juice up on whatever he’s juiced on, and then just jump back into the pool and no one’s gonna say sh*t about it. I know it’s weird. It bothers me.”
In order for Conor McGregor to compete in the UFC once again, he will have to be in the USADA testing pool for no less than six months. With the Irishman having not undergone a single screen through the United States Anti-Doping Agency in 2022 thus far, the earliest we could potentially see McGregor back in the Octagon is June, and that’s only if he got back into the testing pool immediately.
