Conor McGregor has yet to re-enter the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's testing program, according to Dana White.
But the UFC President still believes the Dubliner could face Michael Chandler this year.
McGregor and Chandler are coaches on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter and have agreed to fight each other once TUF concludes.
READ MORE: Conor McGregor accused of missing "a lot" of training sessions on The Ultimate Fighter
However, USADA have said in the past that fighters may not compete for six months from the date that they re-enter the testing pool, which would rule McGregor out of fighting this year.
But when asked by TSN if the bout could still go ahead before the end of 2023, White said: "100 per cent."
He added: "He's not (back in the USADA testing pool). We’ll see how that plays out. They're saying that now but who knows?
"I don’t talk about s*** until s*** happens, you know what I mean? To sit here and think hypothetically how a million different things could happen, no idea.
"I’m focused on what’s happening this Saturday [UFC 290], and then next Saturday. UFC 300 isn’t even in my mind right now. The Conor thing, who the hell knows how that’s gonna play out? Who cares what USADA says? We’ll see what happens when it happens. So, I don’t know.”
In the latest episode of TUF, McGregor and Chandler almost came to blows after squaring up to each other in the octagon, with the UFC President forced to defuse the situation, which he described as "s***" and "not good".
White said: "It started escalating and nobody was getting in the middle of it so I realised that I had to do it.
"It was s***. It was s***. Not good because what people don't understand is when they see stuff like that happen and they're like 'they love it'... the (Nevada State Athletic) Commission doesn't love it and it's bad when that stuff happens.
"It's a pain in the ass for us and it can mess a lot of things up so that can never happen. I was waiting for someone to jump in and they didn't. Instead of jumping in, it actually started to escalate so not good."
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