McGregor in 2 USADA Testing Pools as Mayweather Bout Nears

Less than a month remains before UFC superstar Conor McGregor will make his professional boxing debut, against former five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Mayweather, 40 years old, is coming back after two years of retirement. He walked away from the sport in September 2015, after dominating Andre Berto over twelve rounds.

The contest will headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View event on August 26th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

They will battle at the junior middleweight limit of 154-pounds and with 10 ounce gloves.

Drug testing was no issue for the contest, as the UFC has an exclusive contract with USADA to handle all of their company drug testing - and USADA has been Mayweather's drug testing company of choice for many years.

McGregor is now a part of two separate USADA drug-testing pools. As the UFC lightweight champion, he remains under the UFC’s anti-doping policy. In addition, McGregor has been placed in USADA’s pool for professional boxers and is subjected to testing there as well, according to statements that an USADA spokesperson detailed to MMA Fighting.

“Mr. McGregor is subject to both the UFC Anti-Doping Policy (because he's still an active UFC athlete) and the anti-doping program agreed to for the Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing match,” the spokesperson told MMA Fighting via e-mail.

McGregor has not been tested by USADA under their boxing program, but he's been tested five times in 2017 by USADA in connection to the UFC’s anti-doping policy, including twice in July.

Mayweather has been tested twice this year, both times this month - and it was the first time that USADA tested Mayweather since he retired in 2015.

According to the USADA rep, all drug-test samples will be tested for EPO, HGH, peptide hormones, and be subject to carbon-isotope ratio (CIR) screening.

“The program is consistent with other professional boxing programs USADA has conducted over the years where the athletes agree to robust testing,” the USADA spokesperson said. “It primarily focuses on out-of-competition testing, all samples are analyzed at WADA accredited labs and the rules are consistent with the WADA Code and UFC Anti-Doping Policy. And like all our anti-doping programs, we start by educating the athletes and their representatives to ensure they’re properly informed of their rights and responsibilities.”