PED use is still a very real thing.
Earlier this week, Iain Kidd of BloodyElbow reported a disturbing loophole in UFC testing procedure that leaves potential for special exemptions.
Testing of UFC athletes is administered both by the commissions in the states of competition and by the US Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA. USADA is considered to administer the more serious testing because they test out of competition and they use superior testing technology and methods. USADA also does not have an obvious financial incentive not to ban an athlete, which cannot be said of the state commissions. Still USADA testing is far from transparent and airtight.
USADA commands that athletes returning from retirement (I.E. re-entering the testing pool) must undergo 6-months of testing before they are eligible to compete. However, the UFC can waive this requirement. They did so for Brock Lesnar at UFC 200. Brock later tested positive, and fans were rightfully outraged, but everyone knew what was happening.
But it turns out that there is no way to tell which athletes are in the testing pool at any given time. This means that the UFC can allow a fighter to “retire” (exit the testing pool) then “return” (re-enter the testing pool and compete) without anyone knowing.
This is an extraordinarily clever loophole, so clever it seems almost by design…
Currently USADA lists around 10 fighters who are under UFC contract but have not been tested at all in 2017. One that stands out among these is Ronda Rousey who was knocked out by Amanda Nunes last year at UFC 207.
This is curious, especially since Dana White recently explicitly said that:
“USADA is still popping up at her house testing her.”
USADA or the UFC could completely solve this issue by simply listing which fighters are in the testing pool, but they refuse to do so.
Sadly, the discovery of this loophole is simply just another chapter in the long story of the UFC mishandling substance abuse violations.
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