Former two-weight division champion Conor McGregor was slapped with a lengthy suspension after violating the anti-doping policy, but UFC vet Matt Brown feels the punishment is unwarranted.
McGregor was hit with an 18-month suspension after missing three separate drug tests. Although the violation for such an offense is a two-year suspension, McGregor was given a reprieve due to his compliance with the anti-doping agency, and he will be allowed to compete once his suspension ends on March 20, 2026. Despite this advantage, UFC veteran Matt Brown doesn’t think the punishment was fair on McGregor. Brown believes there is a much bigger problem in the relationship with CSAD since the expulsion of USADA.
“UFC controls the doping,” Matt Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Who’s to say they’re not letting certain people dope and not even saying anything? They could absolutely be doing it and just not saying anything.
“Do I think they’re doing that? It doesn’t matter. It’s irrelevant whether they are or not. If they have the power to do it, that’s what matters. I don’t know what it’s going to take for fighters [to step up]. I don’t know if it’s possible for fighters to ever step up and be like, ‘yo, this is some bullshit.’”
The UFC has been known to request the help of the United States Anti-Doping Agency to facilitate the company’s anti-doping policy, but the two sides split after the most recent contract between them came to an end. Since the split, they remain irreconcilable, and the end result was the introduction of a new entity known as CSAD. UFC officials have stressed that CSAD operates independently, but Matt Brown is skeptical about this and even questions McGregor’s suspension.
“Whoever’s fighting Conor, are they not going to be like what the fck?” Brown said. “He knows what’s happening. You’re going to tell me if the UFC’s controlling the doping, and they’re doing a White House card next year, and then say Conor fails a test the week before, are they not going to be like, ‘all right Conor, we can’t really say anything right now.’ What the fck are they going to do? Are they going to pull out Conor from the f*cking White House event?”
Matt Brown also explained that McGregor never tested positive for any banned substances and that the fighter could have easily found a way to avoid getting caught if he wanted to.
“It’s just not right,” Brown said. “We could get deep into the subject of drug testing. I think, for the most part, it’s kind of garbage anyway. Not anybody, but the vast majority that can afford to beat a drug test are beating the drug test. It’s a cat-and-mouse game, and the mice have a huge head start. There are things that you don’t know about, that I don’t know about, that we’ve never heard of. There’s a lot of money in this industry of beating drug tests.
“When you’re talking about dealing with multi-million-dollar athletes around the world, and you’re the guy that can help them beat a drug test and still get them on shit, you’re a f*cking multi-millionaire. There’s a lot of money in this shit. It’s just when you’re an athlete, can you afford this or not?”
Matt Brown also believes that McGregor might never set foot in the cage again, and his ridiculous fight purse request pretty much sums up the UFC vet’s point.
“I’ve said it before, if you take a calculation of his net worth, it makes zero f*cking sense for him to fight for the amount of money that [the UFC] will pay him. Period,” Brown said. “My conspiracy theory is he’s going to want them to plan for it, but he has no intention of fighting.”
