Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor is “clean,” explains why he thinks the Irishman left the USADA testing pool: “I think that he made the right decision”

Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Conor McGregor is using steroids.

McGregor has been under fire from Anthony Smith and other fighters and fans for leaving the USADA testing pool. Many have wondered if the Irishman is taking steroids when he is not in the testing pool, but Sonnen doesn’t think that is the case.

“Conor’s clean,” Sonnen said on The MMA Hour. “He’s been trolling, he’s been having fun with people. Come on. A guy doesn’t go out and do a crime and then document the crime. Conor put the pictures out. He’s having fun with people. He’s clean.”

According to Sonnen, he believes Conor McGregor left the pool so USADA didn’t bug him while he was filming a movie and on vacation. While you are in the pool, you have to always fill out your whereabouts which Sonnen thinks the Irishman couldn’t be bothered to do while he was out rehabbing his broken leg and couldn’t fight anyway.

“I will tell you, I believe that Conor left the pool. He’s never been clear on this. I believe he left because of logistical reasons,” Sonnen said. “The whereabouts clause in violation of having to let someone know where you are 24/7/365, right, if you’re not where you said you’re going to be, it’s a mark and if you get three marks in a calendar year it’s an instant fail and that fail comes with a minimum punishment of two years.

Sonnen thinks McGregor ‘did the right thing’

“I just bring for you that if he was off doing Road House and medication and he knew he wasn’t going to fight anyway and he just didn’t want to keep up on the organizational side of it, I think that he made the right decision,” Sonnen continued about McGregor. “I think Conor is having fun with people, making them think that he’s on some form of anabolics.”

Along with that, Chael Sonnen thinks while a fighter is rehabbing a major injury, they should be able to take anything their doctor prescribes to help them. However, some things may be banned by USADA, which only adds to why he thinks McGregor left the testing pool.

“There are things that are against the rules that would flag you for USADA that are 100 percent medically appropriate and sometimes even urgent and I don’t think any athlete, including Conor McGregor, should have to balance advice of a doctor about his health against a sports agency and they don’t really have room for that,” Sonnen said. “I don’t think USADA has a lot of flaws, in fact I put them in the category of very reasonable people, but they don’t have anything for that. So if Conor wanted to remove himself to remove subjectivity to any kind of—He did the right thing.”

For now, the entire Conor McGregor situation is a murky one but Sonnen is confident the Irishman isn’t using any PEDs.

Do you agree with Chael Sonnen that Conor McGregor is a clean athlete?