Conor McGregor (image via UFC/YouTube)

By FCF Staff

Following comments from USADA CEO Travis Tygart regarding the UFC’s decision to end its partnership with the organization, UFC executive vice president and chief business officer Hunter Campbell is demanding an apology.

Recently, Tygard announced that the UFC has decided not to renew its partnership with USADA, and in addition, he claimed the “relationship between USADA and UFC became untenable given the statements made by UFC leaders and others questioning USADA’s principled stance that McGregor not be allowed to fight without being in the testing pool for at least six months.”

In a follow-up press conference to announce the UFC will be partnering with Drug Free Sport International moving forward, Campbell fired back at Tygart’s recent comments (quotes via MMA Junkie.com).

“At no point in time did Jeff, myself, or any other UFC representative, Dana – not a single person ever went to USADA and told them anything other than Conor McGregor would re-enter the program when he was healthy,” Campbell said. “In doing so, we would require him to be in the program for six months. There would be no exception to the rule. What I said to Travis on multiple occasions, including the call on Monday, was there would never be a situation where Conor would fight until he had been in the program for six months. And my words were, ‘I don’t give a sh*t if he has 37 clean tests.’ This is one of those cases where Conor was the most tested athlete in the UFC before he catastrophically shattered his leg.

“The conversations I had with Conor and his physician when that occurred had nothing to do with fighting, they were legitimately concerned he wasn’t going to regain full use of his leg ever again, including the ligaments around it. And I’ll say it one last time, what they’ve done to him is disgusting. For an entity that holds themself out to have a level of honor and integrity, using him as a media vehicle to advance a fake narrative is disturbing, disgusting, and I think they have some legitimate legal liability that they should be very concerned with.”

In addition, a written statement was issued from Campbell’s law firm, which is demanding an apology and retraction from USADA.

“As such, we hereby demand that you publish an appropriate retraction and apology to the UFC by no later than Thursday, October 12 at 5:00 p.m. The retraction should acknowledge the falsity of the representations of the statement that express or imply the UFC ended its relationship with USADA in order to expedite McGregor’s return to the UFC. The retraction should also acknowledge the UFC’s repeated representations to you that McGregor will not fight in the UFC until he has spent six months in the testing pool and returned two clean tests as required by the ADP.”

During the press conference regarding UFC’s new partnership with Drug Free Sport International, UFC senior vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky detailed various elements of the new program. The same rules and regulations reportedly remain in place for now; however, some practices, like when fighters need to be available for testing during weight cuts, may change.

Former FBI special agent, George Piro, will serve as the program’s independent administrator.