Daniel Cormier has not been pleased by suggestions that USADA could give Conor McGregor an exemption to fight this year. 

The ‘Notorious’ has been out of the cage since his defeat to Dustin Poirier in 2021, as he suffered a broken leg.

Thereafter, McGregor underwent an extensive period of rehabilitation as the talk over his return began to gain traction.

He was linked with a fight against Michael Chandler this year. However, the failure to enroll in USADA has now potentially ruled that out.

USADA requires fighters to submit two negative samples over a six-month period before they can fight.

And since there are less than six months left before the year is out, the only way for McGregor to compete in 2023 would be to get an exemption. 

That is possible since Brock Lesnar was given one for his fight against Mark Hunt. Although Lesner won, the victory was overturned into a no contest as the fighter later failed a test for clomiphene.

And since that substance is known for masking steroid use, it did not look good for the UFC and USADA. With that being said, Cormier was against an exemption for McGregor. 

Cormier On McGregor

"There really is no base amount of test that you have to take in order to be eligible,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “It’s not like they say it’s six clean tests before you can fight. They may test McGregor more and maybe it’s not six months, maybe its three months and he takes as many tests as he needs to in order to be cleared to fight.

"Here’s where the issue becomes: You make that exception, then how do you implement this rule for the rest of the people? We’ve seen exceptions before, and generally, they are for the most high-profile and best fighters in the world, which – Conor McGregor does fit into that category," Cormier

Regardless of what you may think about McGregor, he is a major cash cow in the division. And that may have a factor in how he is treated moving forward.

Outside of that, Conor McGregor has confirmed that he will be preparing Dillon Danis for his fight with Logan Paul on October 14th, 2023. 

Danis will face Paul in a crossover fight on the fight card of KSI v Tommy Fury in what will be Danis’ boxing debut.

Meanwhile, this will be Paul’s first fight since his exhibition bout with Floyd Mayweather.

And given that McGregor knows what it takes to enter into a crossover fight, having faced Floyd Mayweather in 2017, the ‘Notorious’ was keen to impart his knowledge to Danis. 

McGregor On Danis

"Dillon will win, for sure. I’m guiding him, I’m gonna train him for this, and I guarantee a win. I hope this lad shows up. He’s trying to put a bill on us if we don’t show up. We’re gonna come at him with a bill if he don’t show up," McGregor

In addition to this, McGregor also turned his attention to his next fights. He called out KSI, as well putting Michael Chandler, Justin Gathjae and Nate Diaz on notice by confirming his upcoming bouts. His following comments confirmed as much. 

"December – [Michael] Chandler, I have to do it. I’ve just got to grab him by the chest [and smack him]. That’s what I’ve got to do. Chandler next in December and then [Justin] Gaethje, BMF and then we’ll do the Nate [Diaz] trilogy," McGregor

Adesanya On Strickland

Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya has promised to make his upcoming fight with Sean Strickland easy. 

Adesanya will take on Strickland at UFC 293 on September 9th, 2023, in Sydney in order to defend his middleweight title.

Prior to getting this announced, however, there was an expectation that Adesanya would face Dricus Du Plessis.

The latter is the top-ranked contender in the division, having beaten Robert Whittaker at UFC 290.

Although Adesanya did have a face-off with Du Plessis in the aftermath, the turnaround time meant that the latter could not get ready. 

And yet, having Strickland next is not something that Adesanya is worried about. 

"I never underestimate anyone. I was just thinking about [Michael] Bisping vs. [Luke] Rockhold [2] when Bisping finally beat him, took the fight on like 1.5 weeks’ notice or something, two weeks’ notice. Goes in there, shocks the world. That’s a possible reality. My job is to make sure it’s not in this reality. 

I’m not underestimating this guy but at the same time, I’m not overestimating him. I want to make this look easy," Adesanya

Strickland, though, is in good form having won his last two fights. Victories over Nassourdine Imavov and Abus Magomedov followed after his losses to Jared Cannonier and Alex Pereira.

And given that Strickland is the underdog, he has nothing to lose. Accordiong to BestFightOdds, Strickland is at +300 to win. 

And yet, Adesanya recognized that his opponent did have something about him. 

"He’s got a nice guard, he’s got a good jab, and to be honest, [he’s] just crazy. He’s crazy. That’s the X-factor. But again, so am I," Adesanya

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