New marijuana testing rules implemented by the UFC will mean that as long as a fighter isn’t high on the day of the fight, it’s all good.
According to MMAJunkie.com, UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner said the MMA promotion will raise the testing threshold for marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL, which is in line with the recent change implemented by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The changes are designed to make sure fighters aren’t under the influence of the drug during competition but could be safe if they use it weeks or even days before.
However, the changes will only be applied in places where the UFC self-regulates its events and not in its home state of Nevada where the 50 ng/mL rule will remain.
“When we self-regulate around the world, we are going to go the WADA standard of 150,” Ratner told MMA Junkie. “So we’re starting that immediately.”
The UFC acts as its own regulator when it stages events in places where there is no official sanctioning body, such as March’s UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan, where Alex Caceres tested positive for marijuana metabolites. The failed drug test caused his decision win over Kyung Ho Kang to be turned into a no-contest.
Ratner told MMA Junkie that Brazil’s athletic commission has also agreed to raise the threshold, which will come into effect during next week’s UFC on Fuel TV 10 event. That’s six months too late for light heavyweight Thiago Silva, who’ll be competing at the event after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites in his fight against Stanislav Nedkov in Macau, China.
It’s also too late for Pat Healey, who recently lost $130,000 in bonuses for testing positive for marijuana after his win over Jim Miller.
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