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Topics: Conor McGregor, MMA, UFC
Jack Kenmare
Conor McGregor announced his departure from social media in an eyebrow-raising post, just a day before the news emerged surrounding his lengthy UFC sanction.
On Tuesday afternoon, the UFC confirmed in a statement that McGregor has accepted an 18-month period of ineligibility for a violation of the UFC Anti-Doping policy.
The former two-division champion, who hasn't fought in the octagon for more than four years, failed to provide accurate whereabouts information on June 13, September 19, and September 20, 2024, preventing proper test collection.
However, despite failing to make himself available for testing on those dates, the Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) noted that McGregor was "recovering from an injury" and was "not preparing for an upcoming fight at the time of the three missed tests".
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The statement added: "McGregor fully cooperated with CSAD’s investigation, accepted responsibility, and provided detailed information that CSAD determined contributed to the missed tests."
Taking McGregor’s cooperation and circumstances into account, CSAD reduced the standard 24-month sanction for three whereabouts failures by six months, meaning his period of ineligibility began on September 20, 2024 (the date of his third whereabouts failure) and will conclude on March 20, 2026.
The much-anticipated UFC White House event – a card McGregor is expected to feature on – will take place on June 14.
A day before the UFC confirmed McGregor's sanction and the Irishman confirmed he would be taking a break from social media.
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Taking to X and Instagram, he wrote: "Hey folks online, I’m out of here for a bit, see you again soon! My love, unwavering! Thank you all."
The post comes just days after the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) co-owner showed a rare moment of vulnerability as he discussed his meteoric rise in the UFC and how it almost broke him.
Speaking at the latest BKFC event, McGregor said: “Listen, yes I’ve just come on board as a promoter and owner of the bare-knuckle, for what a year or so, but I’m doing it a long, long time.
“I came up through the school of the Fertitta empire and with Dana White at the helm and I was the protégé."
He continued: “I’ll tell you this and this is why we must really, really, really put our maximum respect and support behind our combatants in here because to fight as well as promote is the real deal.
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"To promote on its own is easy and also coincidentally, to fight on its own is easy. People don’t really realise that. You get these fighters, they come up and no one cares about you.
"You’re rocking under the radar, no one asks you a question, you get to show up and have fun and do your thing and there’s no stress of the outside world and it’s perfect.
“Then when you rise, you’ve got to add this promotional element to it and both of them combined is incredibly draining. I wouldn’t be the first to tell you it almost broke me. And to be honest, maybe it did break me.
"As I went on and achieved massive success and global, otherworldly superstardom. It overcame me at times. To promote and fight at a high level deserves support and respect and that is what I’m here for. To ensure that is what happens. To promote on its own, it’s absolutely amazing.
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"I put on a nice suit. I put on a nice watch. It’s what I love to do. But don’t get me wrong, I miss the fight game, and I’m excited about what’s ahead.”
As mentioned above, McGregor hasn't competed in the octagon for more than four years, with his last fight coming at UFC 264 in July 2021, where he suffered a broken leg in the first round of his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier.
He was expected to make his comeback against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 last year but that fight was cancelled after McGregor suffered a broken toe in the build-up.