Dana White turned heads a few weeks back when he said that the UFC is mapping out a strategy to begin randomly testing the fighters they have under contract.
That’s a stark difference from White’s position as recently as a month ago, but it’s the right one. As I’ve noted here in the past, the UFC introducing a random drug testing program would go a long, long way towards cleaning up the sport before it becomes an epidemic.
And make no mistake about it: there is no epidemic. At least not yet, anyway. But it could become a real problem in the future, and taking steps to avoid that now is the right move.
White was interviewed about the proposed drug testing policies by Ron Kruck from InsideMMA and gave his first real explanation of what the promotion has in mind. But if you’re a pot smoker, White said, you’re still out of luck:
“It is what it is. You go out and you smoke marijuana, it’s illegal. I don’t care if ‘Dr. Reefer’ gave you a prescription for it, you absolutely, positively cannot do it, according to the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
I don’t care how many lawyers you get or what happens, you cannot smoke marijuana. You cannot takes PEDs. There’s a whole list of things that you cannot do, and if you get caught doing these things, you will be fined, and you will be put on suspension.”
I don’t know who Dr. Reefer is, but he sounds sketchy and I probably wouldn’t go to him for any kind of medical advice.
White obviously discusses Nick Diaz in the above video, but he also delves into Jon Jones, Alistair Overeem and other recent high-profile cases. It’s worth 20 minutes of your time to watch the entire thing.
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