USADA responds to Hooker’s claims of increased tests after IV accusations

USADA has issued a statement to Bloody Elbow about Dan Hooker’s recent claims.

Last week, UFC lightweight Dan Hooker grumbled about unfair treatment from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after his unsubstantiated claims that Islam Makhachev had used an IV to rehydrate following weigh-ins for his UFC 284 lightweight title fight opposite Hooker’s teammate Alexander Volkanovski.

“I’ve had two or three knocks on my door at 6 a.m. by USADA, blood and piss over the last couple of weeks,” Hooker told the All-Star. “You think that’s a coincidence? That ain’t no coincidence, baby. On the same hand, you think I’m just gonna shut up and bite my tongue?”

“Brother, I’ve almost had 50 knocks at my door, and that’s a stranger coming into your house, asking you to pull down your pants and stare at your dick. You think I’m gonna sit silent while other guys are skirting the rules when I got some stranger knocking on my door, asking me to pull my pants down? I ain’t playing this game.”

Not long after Makhachev defeated Volkanovski by unanimous decision to retain his 155-pound title in Perth, Australia, Hooker tweeted, “Dumb cunt thinks he can fly to Australia hire a nurse to give him an I.V. and we won’t find out. Cheating dog.”

Hooker later added that “He doesn’t cheat, he doesn’t win.” Hooker later clarified who he was referring to by posting, “Islam is a cheat.”

In response to Hooker’s accusations, Western Australia Combat Sport Commission Chair Bob Kucera told MMA Fighting, “The Commission has no conclusive evidence that any athlete at the UFC 284 event held at RAC Arena has breached WADA or the commission’s policies,” Kucera wrote. “The Commission has not received a complaint relating to any athlete at the UFC 284 event held at RAC Arena. The Commission invites anyone with any relevant information to contact us.”

Further, outside of talking about Makhachev using an IV to rehydrate, Hooker has offered no proof that Makhachev did so.

As for Hooker’s claims that he has seen increased testing from USADA, before the latest update to USADA’s online test history on March 13, the overseer of the UFC’s drug testing program had not taken a sample from Hooker in 2023. The March 13 update to USADA test history showed the organization took two samples from Hooker between the March 2 and March 13 testing history update.

In a statement to Bloody Elbow, USADA wrote, “We are sorry Dan feels this way, but it is absolutely not the case. He’s only been tested once this year, as reflected on our website.”

As per the USADA website, “The number of samples USADA has collected is typically not the number of test sessions an individual athlete has been selected for during a given period, as multiple samples (e.g., blood, urine, Dried Blood Spot) are often collected during a test session. Thus, the number of samples collected typically does not equate to the number of times an athlete has been selected for an in-competition or out-of-competition test session with a USADA Doping Control Officer.”

Hooker’s sample count in 2022 was 11.