The new double champ is demanding independent testing on top of USADA, and he’s willing to pay to get it.
In addition to an excellent main event that saw Daniel Cormier become only the second fighter in UFC history to hold two belts at the same time, we also got a tantalizing glimpse of a potential superfight between Cormier and Brock Lesnar. Cormier wants it, Lesnar wants it, and the UFC definitely wants it. But a lot has to go right before the match up materializes.
The biggest roadblock is the UFC’s USADA drug testing program. Lesnar still has a six month suspension to serve after failing a drug test leading up to his UFC 200 fight with Mark Hunt. Fortunately for him, it will be served concurrently with the standard six months worth of testing all fighters re-entering the USADA testing pool have to go through. That’s still six months Lesnar will have to test clean for, and if Daniel Cormier has his way there’ll be an extra layer of testing done as well.
”Brock’s gotta be clean, man,” Cormier said at the post-fight press conference. “I’m not gonna fight him if he’s not clean. We’ll do USADA testing and we’ll do other testing. We’ll do testing above USADA to make sure this man is clean. Cuz I’m not fighting him if he’s cheating, I’ve done that on a number of different occasions already. I don’t want to fight him if he’s dirty, man. Do it the right way.”
”You watch boxing, sometimes they do USADA testing and they do independent testing,” he said when pressed on what kind of testing could be added. “And I just want him tested all the time. He’s gonna be getting tested, even if I have to pay for it. We’ll get him tested as often as we need to make sure he’s clean.”
Cormier has made it clear in the run-up to this fight that he considers both his losses to Jon Jones the byproduct of steroid use on Jones’ part. Considering how badly that second fight went with Cormier getting brutally knocked out, it should be no surprise he wants to make sure Lesnar isn’t physically enhanced for their fight as well. But we have our doubts the UFC is going to play along with Cormier’s demands.
USADA testing is already one of the toughest testing regiments in all of sports, and they’re good enough that they caught Lesnar the last time he was under their purview (and Jones as well — twice). Once all this heady excitement about Cormier vs. Lesnar wears off, people are already going to be betting on whether Lesnar even makes it through the six month testing window. So do we really need an extra layer of testing?