Top UFC featherweight contender Cub Swanson has his mind open when it comes to dealing with USADA, but not so much with those fighters who have been flagged in the past due to tainted supplements.
Swanson returns this weekend at the upcoming UFC 227 pay-per-view event, where he’ll look to get a W in the win column after sustaining back-to-back losses following a four-fight win streak with wins over Hacran Dias, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dooho Choi, and Artem Lobov. In his last two fights, he was submitted by Brian Ortega this past December and then lost by decision to former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in April.
While speaking with Luke Thomas on this week’s episode of The MMA Hour, Swanson talked about how his latest loss cost him significant leverage in talks with the UFC about a new deal that saw him sign a contract that would keep him with the promotion. One of the reasons he made this decision was the organization’s commitment to random drug testing with USADA, but make no mistake about it, he does have his doubts about the excuses made by those who have failed tests.
“I feel like when it was all said and done, we were able to see eye-to-eye [financially],” Swanson said Monday on The MMA Hour. “It was more than they were initially offering me. I did get some huge offers, but the companies weren’t as stable and things like that, and it was really making me really think hard. But one of the biggest things is, I’m all for USADA.
“I spent a long time fighting for the company without the major drug testing, and I feel like I wasn’t a big fan of that, so I just was thinking in my head, ‘Do I really want to be fighting guys who I know are just cheating?’ And I’m not one to do that, so I was happy to sign back with the UFC and be in a clean sport.”
“I don’t think they’re catching everybody. I think there are some people who are getting around it, but for the most part, they are catching people,” Swanson said of USADA. “A lot of the people who are getting caught, everyone’s making excuses. Maybe a handful of those people are legitimate, but I doubt it.
“I have a hard time believing a lot of those [tainted supplement excuses]. I mean, you’re supposed to be on top of all that stuff. With our coach Sam (Calavitta), everything that we take, he’s putting a stamp of approval on it, and if we were to test positive, he’s basically putting our whole team — like, ‘Hey, we all take this stuff. We give it to USADA, this is what we’re taking. Feel free.’ And I feel very confident every time they test me. I’m like, yeah, come on, test me, I’m good, I’m clean.”
Swanson is set to take on Renato Moicano in a featherweight bout at the UFC 227 pay-per-view event, which is headlined by two title fights from Los Angeles, California, this Saturday.
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