UFC's Hunter Campbell skewers USADA for "disturbing" treatment of Conor McGregor, demands immediate retraction and public apology

UFC executive vice president and chief business officer Hunter Campbell recently sounded off on USADA for releasing statements targeting Conor McGregor and accusing the promotion of trying to break the drug-testing agency's standard rules.

Earlier this week, USADA CEO Travis Tygart issued a statement addressing the UFC-USADA split and McGregor's re-entry into the testing pool. It's no secret that the Irishman was forced to withdraw from active drug testing after suffering a nasty leg fracture during his bout against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

With Conor McGregor ready to make his return, Tygart claimed that the relationship between his agency and the UFC went sour due to the promotion seeking extraordinary exemption for their biggest superstar. However, Hunter Campbell strongly slammed Tygart's statement and dismissed the allegations.

At a recent presser, the UFC's CBO firmly iterated that the promotion didn't ask the drug-testing agency to let McGregor compete without the mandatory six-month testing period and said:

"Disappointingly, they used Conor McGregor as a vehicle to sort of articulate and re-frame a complete misrepresentation of what occurred over the last several months... What I can categorically tell you is what USADA has put out in the last 48 hours could not be farther from the truth."

He continued:

"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... For an entity that holds themself out to 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."

Watch the full presser below:

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UFC-USADA spilt: Hunter Campbell demands immediate apology and statement retraction from drug-testing agency

At the same press conference, Hunter Campbell not only went scorched earth on USADA but also demanded that the drug-testing agency issue a public apology for their recent statements.

Campbell explained that during a phone call with Travis Tygart earlier this week, the agency frontman was informed of the UFC's decision to discontinue their partnership after their contract ended in January 2024. The UFC will reportedly partner with the Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) beginning next year.

The UFC CBO stated that while he spoke calmly, Tygart was inexplicably "unhinged" and didn't react well to the news. Speaking about Tygart's reaction to the news, Campbell said:

"I couldn’t have been more clear about the reasons that we were making the change, and he was just completely unhinged. Truly, it was a version of a mental breakdown... I think that call was the straw that broke the camel’s back type of moment."

Building on his point, Hunter Campbell revealed that the UFC sent the drug-testing agency a legal notice demanding an apology and a statement retraction, which must be furnished no later than October 12 at 5 p.m. The letter stated:

"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." [h/t mmajunkie.usatoday.com]