White says it was ‘bad judgement’ and not corruption that led to several foreign fighters being forced to give urine and blood immediately after UFC Paris weigh-ins.
Dana White is denying that the new FMMAF and AFLD that regulate MMA and handle drug testing in France were involved in any corrupt shenanigans during last week’s UFC Paris card.
The controversy comes from weigh-in day where Brendan Allen says he and other foreign fighters were forced to give urine and blood to the French anti-doping agency AFLD, a process that took three hours because they was so dehydrated.
“So while my opponent gets to go upstairs [to the fighter hotel] and sleep after he makes weight I have to stay down for, what, three and a half hours. No main, top guy of France had to do this s—.”
Fellow UFC fighter Jim Miller agreed with Brendan Allen’s assessment.
NEW: Jim Miller speaks out against the French Commission(FMMAF) that oversaw #UFCParis, and subjected foreign fighters Brendan Allen and Renato Moicano to impromptu blood and urine testing FOR 3.5 HOURS, immediately after they made weight, and says he “can’t believe” the #UFC… pic.twitter.com/eo7cHUdEsG
— Parry Punch (@ParryPunchNews) October 1, 2024
“To take a fighter and to sit them down at the venue where the the weigh-ins are and be like, ‘You’re not allowed to leave until you give us 90 milliliters of urine,’ literally just after stepping on the scale? Now you’re forcing a fighter to speed up their rehydration,” Miller said.
“Which even though they’re in a dehydrated state, they start loading up on water. They’re gonna produce the hormones that you’re going to produce when your belly gets full of water and they’re gonna start flushing which is gonna be even more detrimental to their health. Yeah. I’d be f—ing pissed. I’d be f—ing livid. I’m shocked that the UFC even allowed this s— to happen.”
Main event fighter Renato Moicano was also subject to the same treatment while his French opponent Benoit Saint-Denis was not.
When asked about the incident following Tuesday night’s Contender Series event, Dana White said the FMMAF and AFLD weren’t corrupt, just a little clueless when it came to MMA.
“It’s not true,” White said of the allegations of national favoritism. “The French guys were available. They have their own doping organization that they use. Did they make probably bad judgment around the weigh in time? Yes. It’s when those guys are the most miserable, dehydrated. The list goes on and on. There was no foul play whatsoever with them. We get why they felt that way, but it wasn’t true.”
French fighter Nassourdine Imavov’s coach also addressed the situation on Saturday before the fights.
“The problem is AFLD still doesn’t seem to understand the cutting system,” he wrote in French on X (formerly Twitter). “They did the same thing to Benoit Saint-Denis at the first UFC Paris, and [French fighters] Taylor Lapilus and Kevin Jousset suffered the same thing as Brendan yesterday. He didn’t receive any special treatment because he’s American.”
As Napoleon Bonaparte famously said, ‘Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.’