- Anthony Smith clarified his read on Conor McGregor’s pullout from USADA
- “Lionheart” questioned how it was possible for “The Notorious” to pull out and do what he wants
While hinting at his UFC return, Conor McGregor found an enemy in Anthony Smith. The two have been going back and forth after Smith accused “The Notorious” of using steroids or performance-enhancing drugs while recovering. For “Lionheart,” the fact that McGregor pulled out of the USADA pool speaks volumes about the shady things that the Irish MMA superstar has been doing.
McGregor hit back at Smith and suggested that his situation was worse therefore he doesn’t have the right to jump to conclusions. And now, Smith addressed the issue once again.
No pulling out
In one of the recent “Believe You Me” episodes, Smith clarifies his point and insisted that it wasn’t about how sever the injury was. Instead, “Lionheart” said what bothers him was how only McGregor was able to pull out like that and do whatever he wants with his body when everybody else didn’t have that luxury.
“It seemed like he calmed down a little bit from the tweets once he put the voice note out. Like I’ve said, it was a medial malleolus break. He compared it to his, it’s a totally different part of the leg but I never said that mine was worse or his was worse. “What I took from that, just from his whole little freakout, is that’s exactly the point that I was making,” Smith explained.
“He said that he had to do it because he wasn’t healing correctly and the break was so bad that the percentage was really low. I’m not even questioning, I get it,” he continued. “If there’s something out there that could help me heal that I could do legally, I totally would, because I would heal a lot faster. But it’s not even his reasoning that I’m questioning. What bugs me, and bothers me, is that guys like Anderson (Silva) and guys like Chris Weidman and myself have had lots of bad injuries, and we didn’t have the ability to just step out of the USADA pool, get yourself healed, and then come back with no repercussions. That was my issue.”
“Did he break any rules? You’re the one who played devil’s advocate. You said ‘technically’ he’s not breaking any rules,” he added. “That’s because different rules apply to him. I don’t have that capability, or at least I didn’t think. I mean, it’s that the thing, can we do that?… In the USADA bylaws, the only way you can get out of the pool is if you’re no longer in a contract with the UFC or you retire,” Smith added. “As far as the rules are written, that’s in their rules.”
Smith also pointed out that he totally understands why McGregor was “pissed.” For “Lionheart,” McGregor knows why his situation bothers some of their peers and it’s because the narrative is that “he was cheating.”
“He was pissed. I called him out, said something about it, it was viewed a lot, media wrote sh*tty headlines, it triggered him,” Smith explained. “I think, deep down, Conor still is a fighter. So, I bet, deep down, he gets it. I bet he understands why that’s bothersome for some people. But is he gonna say that? No, never… I never once said that Conor McGregor was breaking rules, and I think that was the insinuation, that he was cheating.”
Nothing is clear
It is yet to be known when McGregor will be back in the UFC. Meanwhile, he’s been busy working on his body and appears to be in tremendous shape.
As it stands, McGregor said they are already “booking a fight” but USADA confirmed that he is not yet enrolled in their testing pool yet. From the looks of it, McGregor’s earliest UFC return may come in 2023. By that time, it would be three years since he last tasted a victory. He is coming off two devastating defeats to the same fighter , Dustin Poirier.
