USADA lays out drug testing plan for Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor

TORONTO, CANADA - JULY 12: (L-R) Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor face off during the Floyd Mayweather Jr. v Conor McGregor World Press Tour event at the Budweiser Stage on July 12, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images) /

Both Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will be subject to intensive drug testing leading up to their fight on Aug. 26, per a USADA spokesperson.

As professional athletes, both Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are used to submitting to random drug testing per the request of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The USADA began testing UFC athletes back in 2015 and has had a long run with professional boxing. Per the contract signed by Mayweather and McGregor, the two must submit to drug testing throughout their training camps leading up to the fight on Aug. 26.

According to the USADA testing website, Conor McGregor has yet to be tested for this upcoming boxing match. Despite this fact, he has been tested five times in 2017 for his active status in the UFC. Floyd Mayweather has been tested twice in 2017, both times in the month of July, per MMAFighting.com. A spokesperson from USADA spoke with MMA Fighting yesterday about the testing protocol for this upcoming superfight.

"“Mr. McGregor is subject to both the UFC Anti-Doping Policy and the anti-doping program agreed to for the Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing match,” said the spokesperson to MMAFighting.com. “There is no maximum number of tests that can be performed and like our other programs, we will test robustly leading up to and during the fight in order to maximize deterrence and detection.”"

There was some controversy following Floyd Mayweather’s last fight with Manny Pacquiao in 2015. Shortly after the weigh-ins for that fight with Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather was tested for prohibited substances. The results of that test showed the use of an IV which was prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). The use of the prohibited IV was not reported for 20 days, and Mayweather was ultimately granted a retroactive therapeutic use exemption.

With just one month to go before this historic bout, both fighters will be required to notify the USADA of their whereabouts daily in order to be available for random and unannounced testing.

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