(If the OAC wants to be taken seriously, it can’t expect promotions to self-regulate.)
If you recall, we reported after UFC 129 that the Ontario Athletic Commission had passed the buck in terms of post-fight drug testing to Zuffa for the April 30 event held in Toronto and that the UFC had hired an unnamed independent laboratory to look after testing the fighters on the historic card.
According to UFC Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, Marc Ratner, who responded to a request from CagePotato.com today for test results from the event, all of the samples came back clean two weeks ago “for both [performance enhancing drugs] and illegal street drugs.”
This isn’t the first time that the UFC has administered its own tests. An independent lab discovered that Chris Leben had the anabolic steroid Stanazolol in his system for his UFC 89 loss to Michael Bisping October 18, 2008. He was handed a nine-month suspension from Zuffa for his indiscretion.
What’s of note is that the results of the UFC 129 tests were not made public by the Ontario Athletic Commission, which begs the question: Is the OAC properly regulating the sport in the province, or are they depending on promotions to self regulate?
Part of the OAC’s mandate in sanctioning MMA in the province was that it would provide drug testing for promotions that require it of its fighters. Right off the bat they dropped the ball with the first promotion that required testing.
What other rules are being overlooked by the established commission that many feel is ill-equipped to handle regulating MMA as it stands today due to deficiencies in manpower, experience and knowledge of the sport?