Tag: United States Anti Doping Agency

USADA Honors Holly Holm For 50 Clean Tests (Video)

Holly HolmFormer UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm has made history within the mixed martial arts (MMA) community yet again. Holm became the first-ever fighter to be honored by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for 50 “flawless” drug tests. USADA held a ceremony at Holm’s longtime gym, Jackson-Wink MMA, and was awarded with a custom […]

Holly Holm

Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm has made history within the mixed martial arts (MMA) community yet again.

Holm became the first-ever fighter to be honored by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for 50 “flawless” drug tests. USADA held a ceremony at Holm’s longtime gym, Jackson-Wink MMA, and was awarded with a custom letterman’s jacket by UFC VPs of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky and Donna Marcolini. Holm actually provided USADA with her 51st test prior to the ceremony. Former UFC champions Daniel Cormier and Jose Aldo also reached the milestone around the same time as Holm.

According to MMA Junkie, they will also be honored at future events. Holm reacted by saying she was honored to receive the milestone achievement, and appreciates what USADA is doing for the sport of MMA.

“It’s an honor to get this and I’m thankful that there is the test because I know that I’m facing someone who’s also clean,” Holm said. “I’ve never wanted to use any kind of performance-enhancing (drugs) because it’s something I wanted to know that I know my own hard work and my will and my passion and everything is something I’ve always relied on for a victory. I feel like it always gave me more of a confidence boost going in know that I went in and did it myself and didn’t have any help. I think that’s my mentality for it.”

Novitzky praised Holm as being a leader and model for the USADA program, and someone the MMA community can look up to.

“Her performance inside the octagon is clear, she’s a legend, but I think what this shows and what all of us know internally, is that Holly Holm is as much as a legend, a role model and a leader outside of the octagon as she is in the octagon,” Novitzky said.

“I’m so proud to be able to be up front and observe her career and have her be that leader and that role model for the UFC and our program. Not just to other UFC athletes, but to other MMA athletes from other promotions, other professional athletes and to young boy and girl athletes throughout the world. Holly Holm is the epitome of a leader and a role model.”

Holm went on to say she’ll continue to try and be a good example for her fellow fighters, as well as continue to build her legacy inside the Octagon.

“I still get really curious about all the different supplements because, people out there are taking stuff that they don’t even know that they’re taking, or not intentionally wanting to take,” Holm said. “I’m just really glad we have programs like this that help us out, that let us know and have confidence in what we’re taking. I’m going to try to keep doing well going forward, and having victories, and doing the best I can for my legacy.”

What do you think about USADA honoring Holm for 50 clean drug tests?

USADA & UFC Announce Major Changes To Anti-Doping Policy

Today (Mon. November 25, 2019) the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the UFC announced some major changes to its anti-doping policy. The changes were announced during a press release this morning. You can read the changes below. The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the UFC® today announced changes to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. The […]

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Today (Mon. November 25, 2019) the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the UFC announced some major changes to its anti-doping policy. The changes were announced during a press release this morning. You can read the changes below.

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the UFC® today announced changes to the UFC Anti-Doping Policy. The policy changes are designed to ensure intentional cheaters are deterred and held accountable in the event they choose to dope while also being fair and just on those athletes who innocently test positive for a prohibited substance and gain no performance advantage.

“We are really excited about the evolution of the UFC program and hope it becomes the model for all sports that truly want to protect the rights of clean athletes,” said USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart. “For several years, we have pushed for change to ensure that athletes can trust the food, medications, and supplements they use without fear of being treated like intentional, hard core cheaters. We expect these changes to go a long way in allowing this to happen and to show athletes who compete clean that their decisions will be supported and validated.”

As we have seen, anti-doping analytical abilities have evolved to allow laboratories to see lower and lower levels of substances in an athletes’ urine or blood sample. On the one hand, these are great advancements to detect low levels of prohibited substances from intentional use. On the other hand, this ability has also detected trace levels of substances in an athlete’s system that are there not from intentional doping but from completely innocent sources of contamination and which have not provided any performance advantage.

In both our UFC and Olympic programs, we have shown scientifically that many trace-level positive cases have resulted from athletes consuming contaminated meat, medications, and nutritional products like multivitamins.

The most significant change made to the policy to more justly address certain trace-level laboratory findings is the establishment of the UFC Prohibited List and the inclusion of evidence-based decision concentration levels for substances that have shown to be consistent with contamination throughout the global anti-doping system. In this regard, the UFC Prohibited List has been amended to incorporate the WADA Prohibited List except for these specifically identified substances which will have decision concentration levels.

The list of identified substances that will now have low-level decision concentration levels means that USADA will treat athletes’ samples that contain those substances below the decision concentration levels as atypical findings. An atypical finding will result in additional testing and/or investigation. These atypical findings are not treated as violations absent more evidence showing that the athlete intentionally or recklessly consumed a product causing the atypical finding.

Under the UFC Prohibited List, IV infusions/injections over 100 mL are now only permitted if they are determined to be medically justified and within the standard of care by a licensed physician and administered by a licensed medical professional. The change to the rule is designed to provide athletes access to the medically-required care they need, while ensuring they are unable to manipulate the rule to gain an unfair advantage.

Additionally, the UFC Anti-Doping Policy now includes a definition of Certified Supplements to recognize the value of third-party supplement certification. In April, USADA announced that the NSF Certified for Sport® program meets the essential criteria for a third-party certifier set forth in a consensus paper and is available to athletes to reduce their risk if they choose to use supplements. While USADA continues to recognize and recommend only NSF Certified for Sport for its domestic, U.S.-based programs, the UFC rules recognize additional third-party certifiers recommended in other parts of the world given the organization’s global athlete population.

If a situation arises where an athlete tests positive and is able to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the cause of the positive test was due to a supplement certified by one of the certifiers in the UFC rules, he or she will not be subject to an anti-doping policy violation under the rules and will be permitted to compete after follow-up testing and when there is no performance enhancing benefit in question.

The updated UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Summary of Changes, and UFC Prohibited List are available online.

The UFC Anti-Doping Program first went into effect July 1, 2015, granting USADA full authority to execute a comprehensive, independent anti-doping program encompassing testing, adjudication, education, and research; and to develop programs, policies, and procedures in each of those areas. 

What do you make of the changes made to the USADA UFC anti-doping policy?

 

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UFC Middleweight Alen Amedovski Accepts Six-Month USADA Sanction For Cannabis Metabolite

Earlier today (Thurs. July 18, 2019) the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that UFC middleweight Alen Amedovski has accepted a six-month sanction after testing positive for a cannabis metabolite. Amedovski failed an April drug test while in-competition for Carboxy-THC. The test was administered the day Amedovski fought and suffered his first career loss to […]

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Earlier today (Thurs. July 18, 2019) the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that UFC middleweight Alen Amedovski has accepted a six-month sanction after testing positive for a cannabis metabolite.

Amedovski failed an April drug test while in-competition for Carboxy-THC. The test was administered the day Amedovski fought and suffered his first career loss to Krzysztof Jotko at UFC Saint Petersburg. USADA’s statement added that Amedovski successfully completed their approved drug awareness and management program, which resulted in his suspension being reduced by three months.

His period of ineligibility began on April 20, thus, he will be eligible to compete in his scheduled fight against John Phillips at UFC Copenhagen on Sept. 28. Check out USADA’s statement on Amedovski below:

“USADA announced today that Alen Amedovski, of Trento, Italy, has accepted a six-month sanction for a violation of the UFC® Anti-Doping Policy after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

“Amedovski, 31, tested positive for Carboxy-THC, the pharmacologically-active cannabinoid metabolite of cannabis, marijuana and/or hashish, at a urinary concentration exceeding the Decision Limit for this Threshold Substance, stemming from an in-competition sample collected on April 20, 2019, at Fight Night 149 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Cannabis, marijuana and hashish are in the class of Cannabinoids and are Specified Substances prohibited in-competition under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

“Amedovski accepted a six-month period of ineligibility, which began on April 20, 2019, the day his positive sample was collected. Based on Amedovski’s successful completion of a USADA approved drug awareness and management program, his period of ineligibility was reduced by three months.”

What do you think about Amedovski being suspended six months for the cannabis metabolite?

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Fabricio Werdum Failed To Terminate UFC Deal, Will Fulfill Contract

Fabricio Werdum has made numerous attempts to get his release from the UFC following his two-year United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension. At 41-years-old, the hourglass is running out on the former UFC heavyweight champion’s career in mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Prior to his scheduled fight against Aleksei Oleinik in September 2018, “Vai Cavalo” […]

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Fabricio Werdum has made numerous attempts to get his release from the UFC following his two-year United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension.

At 41-years-old, the hourglass is running out on the former UFC heavyweight champion’s career in mixed martial arts (MMA) competition. Prior to his scheduled fight against Aleksei Oleinik in September 2018, “Vai Cavalo” was flagged by USADA after testing positive for the banned substance trenbolone.

Now, Werdum is to be sidelined until May of 2020. Speaking to Combate recently, Werdum revealed that his attempts to get his release from the UFC have come up short. As a result, he’ll wait out his suspension and fight out his current contract upon his return:

“I have two more UFC fights,” Werdum said. “I tried to terminate the contract, but they didn’t let me, because I’m a former champion and they still wanted me around, so cutting ties right now is out of the table.

“But if I had the possibility before, I would, because of my age, it would be better for my career. Since it wasn’t possible, I’ll stay fight two more times. Let’s see how it goes in the future.”

Werdum went on to maintain he did not knowingly take a banned substance. Instead, he believes his sample was contaminated, as his second test came back negative:

“I thought it was unfair, because I’m aware I didn’t take anything,” Werdum said. “I know it, I know it was a contamination. It’s tough because I have 28 USADA tests and never had a problem, but my background meant nothing to them. I think they made an example out of me because I have a big name and am used to be an UFC champion. They knew there was very little of the substance.

“The most surprising thing was that I tested positive, they didn’t say anything, they just came a week later to test me again and that one came out negative. Once again, this shows the contamination. I think they are experienced enough when someone is taking something on purpose and when it’s a contamination.”

What do you think about Werdum planning on finishing out his UFC deal once his suspension is up?

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USADA Shockingly Ends Strawweight’s Two-Year Ban

In a shocking move, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has decided to end the two-year ban of UFC strawweight Amanda Ribas. USADA claims that some new tests show traces of ostarine in Ribas’ system, leading them to believe a positive drug test was the result of a tainted supplement (via MMA Junkie): “USADA believes […]

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In a shocking move, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has decided to end the two-year ban of UFC strawweight Amanda Ribas.

USADA claims that some new tests show traces of ostarine in Ribas’ system, leading them to believe a positive drug test was the result of a tainted supplement (via MMA Junkie):

“USADA believes it is fair to allow Ribas to return to competition after serving the majority of her two-year sanction.”

A Frequent Culprit

Ostarine has been described as a “selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) that’s banned year-round.” USADA has been taking a hard stance against companies producing the substance, as several positive tests have been linked to tainted supplements.

Ribas failed an out-of-competition test back in June of 2017. She denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), and paid out of her own pocket to have supplements tested that she was using at the time. A banned substance of clenbuterol was found, but not the substance that caused her to be suspended in the first place.

She accepted a two-year suspension in January of 2018. The 25-year-old hasn’t fought since May of 2016. She picked up a stoppage victory over Jennifer Gonzalez Araneda. Ribas’ manager, Alexis Davis, released the following statement on the news:

“We’d like to thank USADA for finally realizing that Amanda’s positive was not due to PED use, but due to tainted supplements,” Davis said.

“Unfortunately, by the time they did realize it, Amanda had already served 95 percent of her suspension, and that means roughly one year and three-quarters of her young career. But it’s not a perfect world. We’re happy to get through this, and we think Amanda will be a star in the UFC.”

USADA’s Statement

USADA also released a lengthy statement:

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today that an athlete in the UFC® Anti-Doping Program, Amanda Ribas, of Minas Gerais, Brazil, is entitled to a reduction in her original two-year suspension. Ribas’ period of ineligibility has been terminated, effective immediately.

Ribas, 24, tested positive for ostarine following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on June 7, 2017. Ostarine is a non-Specified Substance in the class of Anabolic Agents and prohibited at all times under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.

Ostarine, also known as MK-2866 and Enobosarm, is a non-FDA approved selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) that is illegally sold in supplements in the United States and worldwide as a performance-enhancing substance. SARMs are synthetic drugs that replicate the effects of testosterone and they have been linked to serious health risks, including liver damage and increased risk of heart attack or stroke. It is illegal to include SARMs in dietary supplements, but the ingredients are sometimes found in contaminated products, particularly bodybuilding products, that are falsely labeled as dietary supplements. In recent years, the World Anti-Doping Agency has reported an increasing number of positive tests involving SARMs.

The FDA has also increased its efforts to prevent the spread of SARMs in supplements and USADA has supported legislative efforts, including the SARMs Control Act, to improve the Drug Enforcement Agency’s ability to act against SARMs. USADA has provided more information about the risks of ostarine in an athlete advisory.

The termination of Ribas’ sanction reflects USADA’s recognition of the demonstrated prevalence of ostarine in a wide range of supplement products used by athletes (see USADA High Risk List for more than 70 products) and that ostarine has frequently been found as a product contaminant. The trace amounts of ostarine found in Ribas’ sample was made possible by sensitive laboratory detection capabilities and has been followed by four negative tests. As Ribas was unable to identify the source of her positive test, and taking into consideration the likelihood that her positive test was the result of an ostarine contaminated dietary supplement product, USADA believes it is fair to allow Ribas to return to competition after serving the majority of her two-year sanction.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission also sanctioned Ribas for two years, and USADA has informed the Commission of its decision to reduce Ribas’ sanction under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy.

USADA conducts the year-round, independent anti-doping program for all UFC athletes. USADA is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental agency whose sole mission is to preserve the integrity of competition, inspire true sport, and protect the rights of clean athletes. In an effort to aid UFC athletes, as well as their support team members, in understanding the rules applicable to them, USADA provides comprehensive instruction on the UFC Anti-Doping Program website (https://UFC.USADA.org) regarding the testing process and prohibited substances, how to obtain permission to use a necessary medication, and the risks and dangers of taking supplements as well as performance-enhancing and recreational drugs. In addition, the agency manages a drug reference hotline, Drug Reference Online (https://UFC.GlobalDRO.com), conducts educational sessions, and proactively distributes a multitude of educational materials, such as the Prohibited List, easy-reference wallet cards, and periodic athlete alerts. Many of the resources available to athletes are provided in multiple languages, including Russian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese.

Along with education and testing, robust anti-doping programs enable investigations stemming from tips and whistleblowers. USADA makes available a number of ways to report the abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in sport in an effort to protect clean athletes and promote clean competition. Any tip can be reported using the USADA Play Clean Tip Center, by email at [email protected], by phone at 1 877-Play Clean (1-877-752-9253), or by mail.

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Walt Harris Planning Lawsuit Against Supplement Company After USADA Suspension

UFC heavyweight Walt Harris is planning to take legal action against the supplement company that sold him a supplement was tainted with the anabolic agent LGD-4033. Harris was suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for four months as a result of the substance being found in his system, causing his victory over former […]

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UFC heavyweight Walt Harris is planning to take legal action against the supplement company that sold him a supplement was tainted with the anabolic agent LGD-4033.

Harris was suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for four months as a result of the substance being found in his system, causing his victory over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski to be overturned to a no contest (via MMA Junkie):

“The thing that I’m more upset about is my reputation,” Harris said. “I pride myself on being a clean fighter, fighting fair, and a martial artist. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth that I had to deal with that situation.”

Jason House, Harris’ manager, revealed that nothing has been filed as of yet, as the questions of jurisdiction remain. Harris will take on Sergey Spivak at UFC on ESPN+ 9 from the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night (May 4, 2019).

Putting all the negatives behind him, Harris is now focused on the positives that the division has to look forward to. One of those being that Brock Lesnar is now seemingly out of the picture, and Stipe Miocic will be receiving his rematch against Daniel Cormier:

“It’s a good thing that that fight is happening, because now, the logjam is released, and guys can move to where they need to be going and the company feels they need to be going,” Harris said.

“We can start shaking things down and start seeing a real heavyweight division. Good fights can be coming down the pike soon.”

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