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It’s safe to say that the UFC and United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) bridge hasn’t just been burned, it’s been nuked from orbit. Yesterday, news broke that the two companies would no longer be doing business at the start of 2024, and that announcement included an incendiary comment from USADA officials about Conor McGregor’s usage of performance-enhancing drugs to recover from injury.
UFC didn’t take that claim lying down. UFC CEO Dana White lashed back at the “scumbag” company, and UFC CBO Hunter Campbell held a special press conference to announce the promotion’s new drug testing plan moving forward. During the conference, Campbell expressly denied pushing for a McGregor to return on a faster timeline. As such, he attacked back at USADA’s official statement.
“At no point in time did Jeff, myself, or any other UFC representative, Dana – not a single person ever went to USADA and told them anything other than Conor McGregor would re-enter the program when he was healthy,” Campbell said (via MMA Junkie). “In doing so, we would require him to be in the program for six months. There would be no exception to the rule. What I said to Travis on multiple occasions, including the call on Monday, was there would never be a situation where Conor would fight until he had been in the program for six months. And my words were, ‘I don’t give a s—t if he has 37 clean tests.’ This is one of those cases where Conor was the most tested athlete in the UFC before he catastrophically shattered his leg.
“The conversations I had with Conor and his physician when that occurred had nothing to do with fighting, they were legitimately concerned he wasn’t going to regain full use of his leg ever again, including the ligaments around it. And I’ll say it one last time, what they’ve done to him is disgusting. For an entity that holds themself out to have a level of honor and integrity, using him as a media vehicle to advance a fake narrative is disturbing, disgusting, and I think they have some legitimate legal liability that they should be very concerned with.”
Campbell and UFC are willing to take legal action to combat this “fake narrative.” The promotion wants to protect its star, as well as its reputation. To that end, Campbell sent a letter demanding USADA walk back its words and apologize to both parties, and they set a deadline … that expired a few hours ago.
“We hereby demand that you publish an appropriate retraction and apology to the UFC by no later than Thursday, October 12 at 5:00 p.m.,” a letter from Campbell’s law firm to Tygart states. “The retraction should acknowledge the falsity of the representations of the statement that express or imply the UFC ended its relationship with USADA in order to expedite McGregor’s return to the UFC. The retraction should also acknowledge the UFC’s repeated representations to you that McGregor will not fight in the UFC until he has spent six months in the testing pool and returned two clean tests as required by the ADP.”
USADA has responded, and it’s not an answer UFC is likely to be impressed by — they’re standing their ground.
USADA just released a statement on behalf of CEO Travis Tygart:
“We stand by our statement and our credibility.”
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) October 13, 2023
Stay tuned for further updates to this still-developing story.
Insomnia
A bit of a banger between Light Heavyweight knockout artists …
Dustin Jacoby will take on Alonzo Menifield at #UFC296 on December 16th.
[per @DamonMartin]#UFC296 #UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/jCgcLu4Am5— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) October 12, 2023
And an even better scrap at 185 lbs!
Breaking
Chris Curtis will fight Marc-Andre Barriault on January 20th at UFC 297 in Toronto, per sources pic.twitter.com/p7TZ2ECcc3
— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) October 12, 2023
I thought this demonstration of spear skills was pretty neat.
This spear is very long and heavy. In traditional martial arts, spear is one of the weapons that must be trained. Have you mastered it?#wushu #kungfu #spear #taichi pic.twitter.com/gPoOmK8Ago
— TaiChi Zhe (@TaichiZhe) October 12, 2023
The idea that there’s another Dan Cormier out there that has a complicated relationship with fast food … maybe we are in a simulation?
Just found out there’s another Daniel Cormier pic.twitter.com/iWPwIqJ6Lw
— (@sinoUFC) October 11, 2023
I am pretty down for Merab Dvalishvili vs. Henry Cejudo, and my money is firmly on “The Machine.”
Hey @HenryCejudo first of all put respect on my name. there is no contract!What should I sign? Since Sean O’malley doesn’t want the smoke of a real contender and the UFC gives their boy what he wants,I will fight you. I am not sitting around waiting. I’m here and ready to go. pic.twitter.com/fHCcxNlRqK
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) October 11, 2023
Throwing a microphone that cuts your opponent is certainly a new way to try to pull out of a fight. Dillon Danis is an innovator!
How many fighters are going to immediately fail drug tests in Q1 2024 because they’ve forgotten about the new testing?
Slips, rips, and KO clips
Yup, that’s a liver kick, and they don’t feel great!
Sickening body kick KO by Ken Sekeletu just now at EFC. Just listen to this one. 37 seconds #EFC108 pic.twitter.com/au97XjVnQB
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) October 12, 2023
Given the dominance of the back mount position in MMA, I believe there is potential for more Suleov Stretch submissions.
Bektas Sultanbek win by Suloev Stretch at EFC 37 today. He did The Zabit pic.twitter.com/17KPDZIqMX
— Matysek (@Matysek88) October 12, 2023
An underrated boxing war:
Best Fights of 2023;
Giovani Santillan UD10 Erick Bone.
07/22/2023. pic.twitter.com/4R3o1q75He— . (@BoxingJournaIs) October 12, 2023
Random Land
Another crazy sport the internet taught me about.
Midnight Music: Indie rock, 2005
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.