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Chael Sonnen recently went back on his statements regarding Conor McGregor's withdrawal from his fight against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 and iterated that it may not have been "substance abuse" that led to him being forced to pull out.
For context, Sonnen hinted at McGregor being in rehab for substance abuse issues soon after the Irishman withdrew from the UFC 303 event. During an episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy show, Sonnen pointed out that McGregor and Chandler both had massive interests in alcohol-based companies.
He then proceeded to point out the "irony" of the situation and said:
"What an incredible irony that both sides have these massive interests in alcohol and one side is in the middle of rehab for substance abuse including alcohol, not that that has anything to do with this... Two guys pushing alcohol and another guy is in rehab for alcohol and other substances."
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After Sonnen's statement began gaining traction on social media, McGregor's official representatives addressed the matter and dismissed the idea of the former two-division UFC champion suffering from substance abuse issues.
Speaking to TMZ Sports, McGregor's representative Karen Kessler denied her client being in rehab and said:
"The fight was canceled after an injury he sustained during training. He is looking forward to a new date."
Chael Sonnen retracts previous statements about Conor McGregor potentially being in rehab
Given the latest developments regarding Conor McGregor not suffering from substance abuse issues, Chael Sonnen went back on his prior comments and clarified his stance on the matter.
In a recent episode of his Beyond The Fight podcast, Sonnen cleared the air about his take on rehabs in general and speculated that McGregor probably didn't want to leave anything to chance after his recent stretch of partying. He said:
"I do not know that Conor [McGregor] is in rehab, for one. For two, I wouldn’t begrudge or tease Conor in the least if he was in rehab, I would be very proud of Conor, and I would imagine for somebody in his spot, to go into rehab is something you want to keep quiet... I think it was alcohol [in his drink], he didn’t want a mistake to be made, he partied it up and made some bad decisions.” [H/T BJPenn.com]
Watch Chael Sonnen's full video below:
