MMA News Roundup: USADA releases statement on Conor McGregor, UFC middleweight makes bizarre requests to Elon Musk, Alex Pereira admits he was scared of Sean Strickland

Welcome to today's edition of Sportskeeda's daily MMA News Roundup, where we present the biggest UFC updates and other stories from the world of mixed martial arts.

In today's issue, we talk about USADA finally commenting on Conor McGregor's testing pool status, Alex Pereira saying he was scared ahead of the fight against Sean Strickland, and more.

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#3. USADA addresses whether UFC plans on giving exception to Conor McGregor

Fans noticed a few weeks ago that USADA had not tested Conor McGregor since the third quarter of last year.

The Irishman took to Twitter to clarify that his rehab from his leg break and subsequent withdrawal from the testing pool was in accordance with the authorities and admonished fighters like Anthony Smith who raised doubts about the matter.

Addressing the subject, USADA released a statement to ESPN by its director of communications Averi Walker, in which they confirmed that McGregor had indeed withdrawn from the testing pool. He will serve the six-month eligibility period before competing.

"[Conor] McGregor is not enrolled in our testing pool and would have to be for six months unless an exception is granted, which we do not think would be applicable." [Averi Walker statement]

The UFC is capable of waiving off the rule and granting permission to the fighter to return sooner after passing two drug tests. However, USADA does not see the exception being implemented in McGregor's case, per the report by Marc Raimondi.

McGregor stated in a previous tweet that he would be "clear for testing" in February and book a UFC fight after completing the tests. If the megastar re-enters at the said time, he will be eligible for a fight sometime in August next year, provided he doesn't test positive for any banned susbtance.

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#2. Paulo Costa keeps Twitter humor alive with series of tweets at Elon Musk

Paulo Costa on social media is effortlessly hilarious and he kept his reputation alive by posting a series of tweets today addressing Elon Musk.

It started with the Brazilian UFC fighter urging the business magnate to "buy TikTok and delete it," followed by several similar requests. 'Borrachinha' took shots at Brendan Schaub and Michael Bisping in the tweets as well.

Check out the tweets below:

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#1. Alex Pereira feels fear like other humans - who knew?

Alex Pereira has a physique that looks carved out of stone and a fighting style as exciting as any in the world.

But Alex Pereira feels human emotions, just like the rest of us!

The newly crowned UFC middleweight champion recently admitted on Brazilian podcast So Papos MMA that he was afraid of Sean Strickland in the build-up to their fight, and even more so when standing opposite him inside the octagon:

"For a few months since the fight was booked I had fear, but it was under control. But I’ll tell you when I was the most afraid. Everything he said and up until the weigh-in, everything was fine. When he entered the octagon and started staring at me, he hadn’t looked at me that way before. That was when I became scared."(H/t MMA Mania)

Strickland could not capitalize on Pereira's fear and got knocked out in the first round in a pretty lopsided manner. But 'Poatan' feels it was the fear that alerted and awakened him that eventually helped him land the winning blow.

Watch the video below: