Conor McGregor responds to Anthony Smith’s USADA criticism: “The audacity of this loser’

Former two-division champion Conor McGregor defended his withdrawal from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s testing pool in a fiery response to Anthony Smith.

“The audacity of this loser!” McGregor wrote Saturday on Twitter. “[Anthony Smith] you’re a loser. The [percent] of the bones joining back after a break like this is so low. You think I give a fuck about anything else. I am the most tested fighter all time in combat sport. I give everything to this game. You – Nothing!”

Smith criticized McGregor’s ability to bounce in and out of the UFC’s drug testing program while recovering from a broken leg, insinuating the ex-champ used banned performance-enhancers to speed up the process.

“There’s only one reason you would do that,” Smith said on the “Believe You Me” podcast. “He’s looking jacked as s***. You keep seeing videos of him flexing in front of mirrors and screaming and he’s huge. He healed really fast. Like, really fast.”

Like McGregor, Smith is recovering from a severe leg injury suffered in his most recent fight. The light heavyweight suffered a broken ankle in the first round of his UFC 277 meeting with Magomed Ankalaev, and he said his experience and those of others who’ve suffered broken limbs in the octagon doesn’t match up with the Irish star.

“[Chris] Weidman still hasn’t [recovered from his broken leg at UFC 261],” Smith said. “I talked to Weidman today. He’s still having struggles. He’s still struggling to get back. Anderson [Silva] took a long time. Corey Hill took a long time. Anybody who’s broken their leg has taken a long time. He’s seemingly pretty healed up. It just bugs me that he gets to jump out of the pool, juice up on whatever he’s juiced on, and then just jump back in the pool and no one’s going to say s*** about it? I don’t know. It’s weird. It bothers me.”

McGregor didn’t take kindly to the insinuation he’d cheated the system and lashed out at Smith with a flurry of tweets.

In a subsequent tweet, McGregor appeared to admit he’d involved USADA in his treatment program, writing “everything was fully disclosed before I began.” He did not specify what was disclosed or the exact role the anti-doping agency played in the process.

In October, USADA confirmed to MMA Fighting a six-month drug testing regimen McGregor must undergo before being re-admitted to the UFC, a fact that emerged after the agency’s testing history revealed he had yet to be tested this year. Per its policy, USADA officials can’t comment on any specific athlete’s participation in the UFC’s anti-doping program or those who have been removed from the testing pool.

McGregor’s 11 USADA tests in 2021 made him one of the most tested athletes on the roster, though testing dropped off with his injury, which came in a trilogy against Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.

McGregor said an upcoming Netflix documentary would detail his comeback from the injury. He is expected to return to the octagon next year against a to-be-determined opponent.

Smith, meanwhile, is expected to face Jamahal Hill at a March UFC event, eight months after his serious injury.