Almost all of the competitors scheduled to fight at UFC Fight Night: Mir vs. Duffee got a surprise last week.
The California State Athletic Commission will be testing almost the entire card for the July 15 UFC event in San Diego out of competition, CSAC executive officer Andy Foster told MMAFighting.com. Last week, CSAC collectors took urine samples from every fighter scheduled except for the ones who live and train in foreign countries.
The test results are expected back from the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory before the event. CSAC does not yet have a contract to collect in foreign countries. Foster said he was considering collecting samples from those international fighters as soon as they arrive in California and running stringent carbon isotope ratio (CIR) tests for them to make it fair.
UFC Fight Night 71 is headlined by a heavyweight contender bout between former champion Frank Mir and Todd Duffee. The co-main event features Gilbert Melendez off a quick turnaround facing Al Iaquinta. Bobby Green was supposed to fight Iaquinta until he tore his ACL earlier this month.
California has been a recent leader in anti-doping measures. Last week, CSAC suspended former Bellator champion Alexander Shlemenko for three years and fined him $10,000 for testing positive for anabolic steroids with an off-the-charts 50:1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio. Anything more than 4:1 is illegal in California.
CSAC also recently suspended Bellator’s Mike Richman two years for testing positive for steroids and screened the entire UFC 184 card with blood tests on fight day in February, a rarity because of its high cost.