With the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) no longer working alongside the UFC, fighters are sharing their horror stories of dealing with the organization.
Everyone from Paulo Costa, Nate Diaz, and Paige VanZant have spoken at length about USADA reps showing up at their door in the middle of the night and stalking them in the bathroom for hours at a time while attempting to collect a sample.
Speaking with The Score, UFC bantamweight standout Cody Stamann shared his own awkward incident with a new USADA employee who came knocking on his door at the wrong time.
“So I grabbed my gun — a 1911 .45 handgun — off my nightstand, I ran to the front door, and just absolutely ripped the door open, just standing there completely balls-out naked. I didn’t actually point the gun at him but I had two hands on the gun, standing there in a fighting stance.
“This guy turned around and he looked at me and he was like, ‘Uh, I’m USADA, I’m here to do a drug test for you.’ I saw immediately that he was a testing officer. I recognized the USADA T-shirt. I said, ‘Will you give me just one second, please,’ and he went, ‘Take all the time you need.’
“I went to shut the door and he was like, ‘No, no, no, I gotta go with you.’ I was like, ‘Are you serious? OK.’ So I went to the laundry room and threw some shorts on. Instinctively, I still had the gun in my hand. He asked, ‘Will you please put that down?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, dude, my bad.’
“This guy was shook. He said to me, ‘I just started working here this week.’ I was like, ‘Am I your first person?’ And he said, ‘No, you’re my second.’
“I never saw the guy again. That had to have been a terrifying thing for him: a naked man pulling a gun on you. He was trying to sign his name – they have a tablet where they have to sign their name – and I could physically see his hand was shaking. I shook this guy to his core” (h/t MMA Mania).
After parting ways with USADA due to an “untenable” relationship, the UFC announced its partnership with Drug Free Sport International, a move that came with a fair amount of skepticism among fighters and fans.
As for Stamann, the 28-fight veteran holds a 7-5-1 record under the UFC banner. After earning back-to-back wins against Eddie Wineland and Luan Lacerda, ‘The Spartan’ came up short in his last outing against Douglas Silva de Andrade in May 2023.
Cody Stamann is more than prepared for a hostile reception when he faces off against Luan Lacerda at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Stamann, a veteran of the UFC’s bantamweight division, is set to make the trip over to Brazil in the UFC’s first return to the country since the Covid-19 pandemic. He […]
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so happy for you ! 
What a stunning performance from bantamweight prospect, Said Nurmagomedov — who turns in second consecutive victory in the form of an opening minute guillotine win over former top-15 contender, Cody Stamann on the main card of UFC 270. Nurmagomedov, who entered the UFC 270 main card bout off the back of another first-minute stoppage win […]