On Tuesday, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre rocked the mixed martial arts world with his comments toward the UFC in a French-language interview.
Among other things, St-Pierre claimed the UFC did not support his efforts to step up drug testing in the sport, and he also claimed the company has a “monopoly” on the MMA business.
A day later, UFC president Dana White fired back. Asked about the comments at the UFC Fight Night 35 post-fight press conference, White came out swinging.
“If he wants to talk man to man, he can see us face to face,” White said. “But everything that he said is ridiculous.”
White went point by point through St-Pierre’s contentions, first getting into St-Pierre attempts to line up out-of-competition drug testing with Johny Hendricks prior to their UFC 167 bout.
“Georges St-Pierre is the one who said he wanted to do the extra drug testing, because wanted to prove he wasn’t on drugs,” White said. “It wasn’t that he thought Johny Hendricks was on steroids of performance enhancing drugs of any kind, he wanted to do this. And just like you see in boxing, when I said I thought it was ridiculous, you see it in boxing all the time, one guy comes out and says I want to do extra drug testing because I’m worried about this guy, I’m worried about what’s going on. They never come to an agreement.”
White defended the company’s record on drug testing, pointing out that the company footed the bill for the Nevada Athletic Commission’s pre-fight testing of the UFC 168 heavyweight fight between Travis Browne and Josh Barnett.
“Not only did they test Josh Barnett last time because Josh Barnett was a guy who got tested for performance enhancing drugs before, they also made Travis Browne do it at the same time,” White said. “And the UFC paid for that. We paid for that drug testing.”
As to the charges that company is lenient on PED usage, White used the example of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who was suspended for a year and stripped of his bonuses after testing for elevated testosterone following his Fight of the Year candidate draw with Mark Hunt in December.
“The fight I was yelling about, screaming about that was the greatest fight I had ever seen, Mark Hunt and Bigfoot Silva, we tested the guys for that fight, we caught Bigfoot Silva, and he got destroyed for testing positive, for going over the limit. He didn’t test positive,” White said. “What he did was, Vitor Belfort, Bigfoot Silva, any of these other guys who are on TRT, we test them throughout their whole camp. So he did his last test the week of the fight and his numbers were fine. He took a shot after he got tested, and his levels were through the roof and he got destroyed. Lost the win money that we gave him, lost the bonus money we gave him, and obviously he’s not getting an extra bonus. And he’s suspended for a year. So if that’s lenient on drugs, I guess we’re lenient then.”
White also scoffed at the notion the UFC holds a monopoly on the sport, a charge made by St-Pierre, noting their primary competitor, Bellator, is owned by a corporate giant.
“Viacom is our competitor,” White said. “They have a $40 billion market cap. I’m never going to see $40 billion as long as I live. So we’re not a monopoly either.”
When push comes to shove, White’s gut feeling is that St-Pierre is upset for reasons other than what was stated in the now-infamous interview.
“What I heard is, GSP is upset about some of the things I said at the press conference, and he’s upset that I said he didn’t win the fight, that I said Johny Hendricks won the fight,” White said. “But if that’s the case, call me, man to man. Let’s talk on the phone. Let’s sit down face to face. I talked to him after the fight face to face. He didn’t say any of that to me.”