The Texas regulatory body has no plans to test any UFC 185 fighters out of competition.
Greg Alvarez, the Texas Combative Sports Program director, told MMAFighting.com on Tuesday that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) has no policy in place that would enable random, out-of-competition testing before MMA fights and boxing matches. UFC 185 takes place March 14 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
“Nobody has ever brought it up,” Alvarez said. “If it gets brought up at our medical board, then it would get put on the agenda and we would talk about it.”
Some of the UFC’s most high-profile fighters have tested positive in random, out-of-competition screenings recently in Nevada. Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva failed a Jan. 9 test for anabolic steroid metabolites ahead of his UFC 183 main event against Nick Diaz on Jan. 31. The results did not come back until three days after the fight and Silva is facing discipline from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).
Jon Jones, the UFC light heavyweight champion, popped for cocaine metabolites in an out-of-competition test, but the recreational drug is not prohibited out of competition so Jones faced no penalty from the NAC. He was fined $25,000 by the UFC for violating its code of conduct.
Alvarez said the TDLR will administer pre-fight, in-competition testing the day of UFC 185 for all fighters at the sanctioning body’s cost. He said no one from the UFC has spoken to him about implementing random testing. The UFC has volunteered to pay for out-of-competition testing in Nevada and California.
The director said it usually takes five to 10 days to get the results back from the pre-fight tests. Alvarez said he has read the news about Silva and others failing tests, but there are no current plans to change the way things are done in Texas until it is added to their medical advisory board agenda.
“When we test, we test whether it’s going to affect their ability that day in that fight,” Alvarez said.
“The way it’s set up here in Texas, we don’t do that pre-testing beforehand. Just the day of.”
UFC 185 will have two title fights. Anthony Pettis will defend his lightweight belt against Rafael dos Anjos and Carla Esparza will attempt to retain her women’s strawweight championship against Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks will also meet Matt Brown on the card.