Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone has one strike against him per USADA code. The UFC lightweight title contender picked up his first of three allotted whereabouts failures recently.
Cerrone told Tait Fletcher on the Pirate Life podcast of the violation. Cerrone mentioned that USADA testers showed up at his house, but he had already taken off to Vegas “on a whim”. Under the USADA code, an athlete must contact the organization and file any changes to their whereabouts to avoid a violation.
MMA fans reading this information will not be shocked. In fact, “Cowboy” getting a whereabouts failure may have been the most predictable violation for a UFC fighter under the USADA regulations. Cerrone is a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-type character, and adhering to whereabouts rules is the antithesis of his style.
Under the USADA code, athletes who receive three whereabouts failures in a 12-month period are hit with an anti-doping rule violation. Failures can result from a missed test or a filing violation. Fans of track and field and the Olympics are likely familiar with whereabouts failures and rules. There are currently five USA Track & Field athletes suspended for such violations.
The old USADA rules stated that three failures within an 18-month period were to be considered a violation, but as of 2015 that has been updated to 12 months.
These failures may not seem that important on the surface, but when an athlete gets three within a year that result in a violation, it will turn into a very big deal. This should serve as a warning shot to the UFC roster as it acclimates itself to the USADA process.
The whereabouts failure will not prevent Cerrone from competing at UFC on Fox 17 on Dec. 19. “Cowboy” is slated to challenge for the UFC lightweight championship against Rafael dos Anjos in the main event.
Nathan McCarter is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He can be found on Twitter.
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