LAS VEGAS—The Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced plans for sweeping changes to its overall drug-testing program that could change the face of mixed martial arts as we know it, including punishments that could potentially be far more severe than what currently exist.
UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, president Dana White and counsel Lawrence Epstein took the stage in a ballroom at the Red Rock Casino resort to announce the changes, which were spurred on by a recent spate of high-profile test failures, including Anderson Silva, Nick Diaz and Hector Lombard.
Fertitta opened the news conference by detailing the UFC’s history with regulation and drug testing, noting that they have always run toward more government regulation and not away from it. White then went into specifics about recent test failures, including Jon Jones’ failed out-of-competition test for cocaine metabolites and Silva’s multiple test failures for performance-enhancing drugs and benzodiazepines.
After laying out recent history, Fertitta then began discussing the UFC’s vision for the future of drug testing. That vision was brought about when looking at the statistics for out-of-competition tests. In 2013 and 2014, out of 19 fighters tested on an out-of-competition basis, five failed.
“That is an alarming statistic,” Fertitta said. And because of that statistic, Fertitta continued, the UFC would be running toward eliminating PEDs from the sport just as they ran toward regulation over a decade ago.
He noted that the UFC will advocate for all athletic commissions to conduct enhanced out-of-competition testing for all main event fighters, including both championship and non-title fights. The UFC will pay for all additional costs accrued for these additional testing procedures, which would include blood testing and carbon isotope ratio testing on samples that show abnormal levels of testosterone.
In addition, Fertitta said, the UFC will begin testing every fighter on its roster randomly and out of competition. And the punishments for offenders will be far harsher than the ones that currently exist. Fertitta said they have come to realize that the current punishments handed out by athletic commissions are not enough of a deterrent to cause drug abusers to stop, and so he is supporting even longer punishments for first-time offenders.
Fertitta said that he would even support a four-year banishment for first-time offenders in accordance with current World Anti-Doping Agency code. The current WADA code changed from a two-year ban for first-time offenders to four years on January 1, 2015.
The UFC’s drug-testing program will be handled by an outside source.
“We will partner with an international, leading anti-doping agency,” Fertitta said. “That agency will handle all of the testing. They won’t even tell us who they’re testing or why. They will handle it.”
Fertitta and Epstein declined to announce who their agency partner will be. Leading candidates would include USADA and the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency. The promotion is still in discussions with various agencies about assuming those duties.
The UFC’s new drug-testing policy will go into effect on July 1, 2015.
Jeremy Botter covers mixed martial arts for Bleacher Report
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