The UFC’s welterweight champion, Georges St-Pierre, is going further than anyone in MMA has ever gone in proving to the world that he is a drug-free athlete.
After going on record that he would like himself and his upcoming opponent, Johny Hendricks, to undergo the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency’s procedures for testing athletes for drugs, he now says he will gladly pay for the tests for both of them.
In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti, GSP said:
I’m ready to pay [for our testing] myself, because I’m the champion. All from my purse, I paid for the tests because I’m the champion. That’s why I’m ready, I’m ready to do it. That’s a point I want to make.
I wouldn’t mind doing it for the rest of my career. Of course it sucks. They can come anytime, you have to give your address and then [VADA representatives come] in the morning. It sucks. But it’s my sport and it could be an inconvenience of my job, I’ll do it no problem.
The vehemence with which he’s out to prove that he’s a clean athlete makes you wonder whether the lady doth protest too much. Certainly, he’s been facing accusations of cheating throughout his career, as well as having a penchant for bending the rules (note “greasegate”).
Perhaps it was this talk, as well as the incessant accusations from his last opponent, Nick Diaz, that he uses steroids, that finally got to him.
In any case, Hendricks has enthusiastically agreed to the VADA testing, which will follow the same protocol as set out by the World Anti-Doping Agency—that is comprehensive unannounced tests during the months of training leading up to a contest as well as immediately after.
VADA was created specifically to help clean up the sports of boxing and mixed martial arts, which are independently regulated both by the promotions which make their money off the fighters as well as state regulators.
The organisation hopes to plug the gap in drug testing due to the pitiful inadequacy of the many athletic commissions that currently oversee combat sports. These commissions lack the money and the resources to perform the full range of tests on every fighter and usually only test the week before and immediately after a contest.
That can potentially allow fighters to use performance-enhancing drugs for their entire training camp but still test clean on fight night.
In the past, fighters such as Ben Askren, Roy Nelson and B.J. Penn have successfully completed VADA testing.
GSP will be hoping that he too can join their ranks and prove the doubters wrong. He will be defending his welterweight crown for the ninth consecutive time at UFC 167 on Nov. 16 in Las Vegas.
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