UFC legend Matt Brown has given his opinion on how he thinks Conor McGregor could emulate former WWE and UFC Champion Brock Lesnar to make his return to the Octagon in 2023.
Brock Lesnar began his UFC career during his time away from WWE, going on to become UFC Heavyweight Champion of the world – becoming the first man to capture that title in addition to the WWE Championship that he first won in 2002 against The Rock (Dwayne Johnson).
Could Conor McGregor use the same loophole as Brock Lesnar?
Conor McGregor has indicated that he could return to UFC in 2023 but UFC President Dana White declared that his fighters must be enrolled in the USADA pool for random drug testing for six months before competing in the Octagon.
Speaking on The Fighter vs. The Writer podcast, Matt Brown suggested that Conor McGregor could get an exemption from that rule in the same way Brock Lesnar did to compete at UFC 200:
“If you have a criticism against that rule then you have to criticize that rule but anybody can do that. So fair game to him for that. Having the ranking is questionable and then I heard he’s attempting to get an exemption kind of like Brock Lesnar did when Brock came back for UFC 200.”
“I don’t know why the UFC would do that for Conor being that him fighting in March or February versus him fighting in August or September doesn’t really change the bottom line. He’s going to be a draw no matter when he fights. We can all exploit the loophole. Any of us could exploit it. I don’t think most of us make the money he has to afford that much time off, right?”
“He has the money, he’s still pretty young. He’s young enough. He doesn’t have to fight again if he doesn’t want to. Most guys, the vast majority of guys, can’t afford to take a year off. Otherwise, I guarantee you, way more people would be doing it. It’s a simple loophole.”
At UFC 200 Brock Lesnar originally defeated Mark Hunt by unanimous decision but that result was later overturned to a no-contest after Lesnar tested positive for clomiphene.