USADA

Report: Brock Lesnar’s Test Results Could’ve Been Back Before UFC 200

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UFC 200 was the promotion’s chance at making a huge statement to the sports world. The milestone pay-per-view card had some highs and lows with Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor being moved from the event, but another rematch in Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2 was inserted. Unfortunately or everyone involved, the dramas would start smack in the middle of the three-card fight week. Jeff Novitsky of USADA would announce that ‘Bones’ had failed a drug test, and the scandalous story of UFC 200 began.

The MMA community lamented the loss of the UFC main event. Although Anderson Silva would step in to lead the charge at the top of the card, we all knew it would never be up to the mammoth task on three days notice. The historic card was somewhat restored, but only temporarily. USADA would strike again, but only after the lacklustre UFC 200 card had transpired.

100% clean, bro, 100%...ish — 100% clean, bro, 100%…ish

Lesnar’s Impact

World Wrestling Entertainment superstar and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar defeated Mark Hunt in the co-main event at UFC 200. The damage of the 137 strikes landed on ‘The Super Samoan’ showed as a swollen Hunt paid respect to the returning Lesnar. That respect would be short-lived, and soon turned to resentment and anger. Lesnar too was revealed to have failed not one, but two drug tests.

Hunt would lose his cool, many would argue understandably, taking an aggressive stance against the UFC and USADA. During a number of explicit rants the disgruntled ‘Super Samoan’ scorned his employers and their dope testing partners for giving Lesnar the opportunity to ‘try and kill him.’ To make matters worse, the UFC would not fine Lesnar, and thus squashed Hunt’s request for remuneration from the WWE star’s record $2.5 million purse.

Brock Lesnar looked light on his feet and explosive at UFC 200... — Brock Lesnar looked light on his feet and explosive at UFC 200…

What will likely make this whole saga even more infuriating for Hunt an his fans is a report published by Marc Raimondi on MMAFighting.com this morning. The article explains in length how USADA could has expedited Lesnar’s two positive test results to have them back in time before UFC 200. This procedure incurs extra cost, but could well have saved Mark Hunt a night of punishment from a man he later described as a ‘juiced up gorilla.’

USADA did not get the test result back until July 14, according to the UFC. That time frame between the sample collection and the result returning is standard in the industry.

However, USADA could have gotten the results back quicker had the agency requested it be expedited.

Lesnar’s sample was sent to the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. Anthony Butch, the lab’s director, told MMA Fighting through a spokesperson that expedited results can return in anywhere from two days to a week. The cost for an expedited result starts at $35 per sample with the cost rising for weekend and holiday testing. The maximum is $450.

hunt — Mark Hunt’s expression says it all…

The report indicates that there’s no guarantee that results will come back quicker with expedition, but they certainly won’ without at least a request. Given USADA’s waiver of Lesnar’s four-month standard testing window for new or returning athletes, would an expedition on his test results on fight week have been prudent? Pretty sure we know what Mark Hunt would say.

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Michael Bisping On Mark Hunt’s Side After USADA Rant

The post Michael Bisping On Mark Hunt’s Side After USADA Rant appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC heavyweight contender Mark Hunt is in a state of disarray at present. After losing a decision to Brock Lesnar at UFC 200, we learned ‘The Super Samoan’ had once again faced a fighter who could not get by the USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) drug tests. News emerged that Lesnar had not only failed a pre-fight drug test, but also a dope screen conducted on the night of the July 9 event had come back positive for banned substance Clomiphene.

The reason for the anti-estrogen being found in Lesnar’s sample is yet to be addressed by the promotion or the WWE superstar in public. To this day Hunt says he’s not heard anything from UFC president Dana White, and that’s ed to a number of scathing statements from the disgruntled 42-year old Pride FC veteran. Hunt first demanded Lesnar hand over his record-breaking $2.5 million purse from UFC 200, only to be shut down when the promotion revealed they would not fine Lesnar.

brock-lesnar-mark-hunt-ufc-2001[1] — Brock Lesnar has his hand raised against Mark Hunt at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016…

‘The Super Samoan’ would go on the offensive against his employers and also USADA, blasting both parties for not presenting enough of a deterrent for drug cheats in MMA. He made some rather shocking accusations towards the UFC, none of which have been responded to, and publicly called for fighter to join his union.

Hunt’s points included questions regarding fighters safety against those using steroids, Lesnar’s two-year ban essentially being irrelevant now he’s pocketed the literal boat load of money, and also the possibility of criminal charges for fighters who are juicing.

Michael Bisping Supports Mark Hunt

One man who knows a lot about being the clean athlete taking on a division rampant with steroids is current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. His new-found success since the USADA era started is perhaps a sign of things to come for combat sports as a whole. Not surprisingly ‘The Count’ is sympathetic to Hunt’s plight.

We clean athletes can get fed up with the bullshit from time to time. https://t.co/NOWndYseTn

— michael (@bisping) 5 August 2016

Bisping’s long history of fighting against competitors who would later go on to fail drug tests is eerily similar to Hunt’s recent run of opponents. Still to say the promotion is truly any closer to eradicating steroid cheats would be exaggerating greatly. Sure, they are catching a whole lot more, but these guys and girls are still trying their luck.

Mark Hunt will need as much support as he can get in unionizing the athletes of the UFC, and the middleweight champion Michael Bisping is a good start. The real question is how many fighters are actually likely to sack up and stand behind Hunt when push becomes shove?

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Jeff Novitzky: I Don’t Take Any Pleasure In USADA’s Success

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), the UFC’s third-party testing organization, has undoubtedly made an impact on the sport, as we’ve seen some of promotion’s biggest stars get popped for banned substances over the last year or so. Despite the ‘success’, if you consider it a success, of the testing so far, USADA will only […]

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Recently speaking with MMAFighting.com, UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky said that USADA will test nearly 700 fighters in the third quarter of 2016 when the program will be fully implemented:

“We’re very happy with where the program is, considering we started from scratch,” said Novitzky, who gave a presentation on anti-doping and weight management at the ABC Conference. “I’m amazed the progress that we’ve had getting this off the ground. This will be the first quarter — the third quarter of 2016 — where we have a fully implemented program.”

While cleaning up the sport and creating a stricter drug testing program was the ultimate goal when the UFC partnered with USADA, Novitzky admits that he doesn’t necessarily get pleasure out of a fighter getting caught, although he does admit that fighters getting busted should open up the eyes of the rest of the roster:

“Let me be clear: Just because this is my program, those days and those occurrences are challenging,” he said. “I never want to see that happen. I don’t take any pleasure that the program is working, seeing that happen. Sometimes one or two of those needs to happen for everybody to open their eyes. If anybody had any reservations about the seriousness, about the independence of the program, that it doesn’t matter if you’re the first on the depth chart of the roster or the last you’re going to be treated the same under this program.”

What do you make of the USADA era thus far?

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Video: USADA Catches Up With Conor McGregor

UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is deep in to his training camp for the big rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202. After suffering a second round submission loss to Diaz at UFC 196, a lot is on the line for ‘The Notorious.’ Although the fight took place at 170 pounds, meaning McGregor’s belt stayed intact, […]

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While the Irish star stays at welterweight, the 145-pound division is kept warm by Jose Aldo. The former undisputed champ topped Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 for the interim strap. On August 20 we’ll not only see if McGregor can take back the somewhat humiliating March 5 loss to Diaz, but we could well see a further delay in featherweight proceedings. Used to breaking records on a regular basis during his three-year UFC stint, ‘The Notorious’ is also topping the table for random drug tests.

Ever since USADA (United States Anti Doping Agency) joined forces with the UFC in mid-2015, we’ve seen mixed martial arts from a whole new perspective. We all knew the stricter drug testing program would usher in massive change, but few expected the frequency and high calibre of the scalps claimed thus far. We recently reported that Holly Holm topped the USADA list as most tested athlete in the past year, as the former champion hit 14 in total. Never one to be outdone, McGregor joins ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ in the top spot. Random testers caught up to the featherweight boss before his morning training session this week.
Credit: The Mac Life on Youtube

McGregor avidly supports USADA in his latest social media posts, thanking the agency for helping bring about a cleaner sport. On the subject of USADA, here’s the top ranked fighters in terms of drug tests administered over the past year.

Conor McGregor/Holly Holm tested 14 times.

Rafael dos Anjos tested 13 times.

Vitor Belfort/Jose Aldo/Anderson Silva tested 12 times.

Daniel Cormier/Luke Rockhold/Robbie Lawler/Yoel Romero/Ronda Rousey/Junior dos Santos/Miesha Tate/Thiago Alves tested 10 times.

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BJ Penn Fires Back At Dana White’s ‘Sad’ Claims

Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White made headlines after labeling former UFC lightweight and former UFC welterweight champion BJ Penn as an ‘underachieving’ fighter, saying that “The Prodigy” could’ve been the best of all-time had he perhaps focused more. The 37-year-old former champion has since gotten wind of those comments, and it appears as

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Speaking with KOHN2, Penn described White’s claims as ‘flattering’ but ‘sad’, adding that he hopes to one day show the UFC boss that he had reached his full potential:

“It’s flattering and it makes you sad at the same time. It’s strange for me to talk, because it’s like one side we’re talking about this Hall-of-Fame career guy, and on the other side, I’m just trying to prove myself. You got to talk about two different people, two different BJs at times. It’s his opinion and he’s entitled to that, and all I can do for my side is get in there and show them. Maybe Dana White will look back and be like, ‘You know what? Look at him now. That guy really did reach his full potential.”

Penn should get the opportunity to win over White, as he’s made it clear that he’d like to make a return to action. In fact, he was scheduled to compete last June at UFC 199, but he was pulled from the bout after violating USADA’s (United States Anti-Doping Agency) guidelines pertaining to IV rehydration. “The Prodigy” is currently looking to return in November at 145-pounds:

“The fight now should be around November,” Penn said. “That’s when we’re looking to come back, so we’re going to talk to the UFC and 100-percent, we want to get back out there, 145 (pounds), and we’re gonna do this. See where this takes us.”

Penn has lost his last three bouts to date and was most recently seen on the wrong side of a brutal beating from Frankie Edgar in 2014, but the Hawaiian has since moved to New Mexico to train under the tutelage of legendary head coach Greg Jackson. Does Penn have one more run left in him?

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Chad Mendes Blames Failed Drug Test On Skin Cream

After testing positive for GHRP-6 (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hexapeptide), two-time featherweight title challenger Chad Mendes has been slapped with a two-year ban from the sport after violating the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) anti-doping policy. USADA issued the following statement on Mendes’ suspension: USADA announced today that UFC athlete Chad Mendes, of Sacramento, Calif., has received

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USADA issued the following statement on Mendes’ suspension:

USADA announced today that UFC athlete Chad Mendes, of Sacramento, Calif., has received a two-year sanction for an anti-doping policy violation after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

“Mendes, 31, tested positive for GHRP-6 (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hexapeptide) following an out-of-competition urine test conducted on May 17, 2016. GHRP-6 is a prohibited substance in the class of Peptide Hormones, Growth Factors, Related Substances and Mimetics under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, which has adopted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List.

Growth Hormone-Releasing Peptides are listed as Non-Specified Substances on the WADA Prohibited List. Under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, the standard sanction for an anti-doping policy violation involving a Non-Specified Substance is a two-year period of ineligibility.

Mendes’ two-year period of ineligibility began on June 10, 2016, the date on which he received a provisional suspension. In addition, Mendes has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to May 17, 2016, the date of sample collection, including forfeiture of any title, ranking, purse or other compensation.

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. The anti-doping program run by USADA for UFC athletes includes education, science and research, testing, and results management. Official UFC Anti-Doping Program information and athlete resources are available at UFC.USADA.org.”

Mendes would take to Twitter to accept fault for the violation, claiming he didn’t do his ‘homework’:

I didn't do my homework and that was a big mistake. I own it and I'm going to pay for it.

— chad mendes (@chadmendes) June 18, 2016

Bloody Elbow’s Nick Baldwin, however, caught up with Mendes recently, who claims the violation stemmed from a skin cream for plaque psoriasis:

Chad Mendes confirms what @NickUFC reported last week. His positive test came from a skin cream for plaque psoriasis pic.twitter.com/IdUKy66ymB

— Michael Hutchinson (@TheMikeyHutch) July 28, 2016

Mendes will be eligible to return to Octagon competition on May 17, 2018 once his suspension is officially lifted.

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