UFC Drug Testing Policy

Joseph Peer Research paper rough draft SPM-373 UFC Drug Testing Policies and History Introduction The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has a very long history of an ever evolving drug testing policy for its over five hundred athletes. It started in a very crude form, much like the UFC itself, when it began with no gloves, no weight classes, and almost no actual rules. Years ago, the UFC began working with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, to help regulate drug testing and keep the athletes in check. Subsequently, its drug testing, and anti-doping policies went from basically non-existent, to being so strong and controlling that it has become controversial how much power has been given to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) over the UFC’s athletes. There have been many controversial cases involving everything from tainted urine samples to completely over the top ridiculous punishments for smaller violations. Where did the UFC start from with its drug testing policies, where is it today, and where is it heading in the future? It is very obvious the USADA and the UFC’s fighters are far from agreement on many of the policies, and punishments. Drug Testing Policy The drug testing policy for the UFC has evolved quite a bit since it came into existence, with the main concern being anti-doping. First, doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the Anti-Doping Policy Violations set forth in Article 2.1 through Article 2.10 of the Anti-Doping Policy (“UFC Anti-Doping Policy,” 2015 p.#3) These articles cover every possible way an athlete may use, abuse, possess or illegally be in contact with any performance enhancing drug (PED). The USADA is the body that governs all UFC drug testing and administers all penalties. Violations range from use of PED’s, possession or illegal association. Fighters may also be suspended for evading drug tests or tampering with any part of the anti- doping policy. Fighters are obviously monitored more heavily and tested more frequently when they are in competition. Punishments range from a wide variety of suspensions and fines and depend upon what the violation was and the circumstances within which it occurred. Athletes may be disqualified for an anti-doping policy in connection with a fight, and fighters may be deemed ineligible if a violation occurs out of competition. (“UFC Anti-Doping Policy,” 2015) A fighter’s period of ineligibility may be shortened based on degree of fault or other reasons. A typical suspension will range from six to twelve months but may be up to two years. Multiple violations may result in even longer suspensions or even banishment if enough occur with the same individual. Other drugs such as cocaine and marijuana are illegal and are included in the UFC anti-doping policy, but typically carry a much softer penalty. One would think this to be true but some of the cases handled by the UFC have yielded very strange results, sometimes seeming quite out of line with the concurrent circumstances and violations The USADA has become more and more involved with the UFC. The UFC is the only major professional sports organization that allows the USADA complete jurisdiction over its testing programs. Obviously it is a good thing that they are trying to crack down on cheating and those who take the fairness out of the octagon, but the problem seems to be worse than many thought, and it seem as though it is getting worse in order to get better in the long run. The policy becoming much stricter has caused some conflict between the athletes and the USADA. The testing has become much more frequent and the punishments have gotten harsher, especially for PED’s. The UFC has vowed to make a major increase on its drug testing policies and anti- doping programs. In 2013-2014 the company spent about $500,000 but says it is now willing to spend "several million dollars" to fund expanded in- and out-of-competition testing. (Davidson, 2015) All of this coming in wake of several huge names, even legends of the sport, failing drug tests for steroids and other PED’s Failed Drug Test Cases There have obviously been many fighters that have failed drug tests in violation of the UFC’s anti-doping policy, but some cases have been much more public than others, and have led to major scrutiny for the fighters, the UFC, and USADA. The first case I would like to talk about involved Vitor Belfort back in 2012. He was prepared to fight Jon Jones for the Light Heavyweight title, but failed his pre-fight drug screening for elevated testosterone levels (Alexander, 2015). Despite this he was still allowed to compete, for reasons I do not know. It would seem the UFC would immediately pull anyone trying to get a clear competitive advantage from a fight, but has been known to let fighters compete even with suspicious or failed drug tests. He was dominated by Jones regardless, just for the record. Also in 2012, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was suspended for PED’s, while she was not yet with the UFC as she was under contract with Strikeforce, it was still a notable case in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world. Along with Ronda Rousey, Cyborg is widely regarded as the top female fighter in the world, and her suspension for steroids was bad for the all of woman’s MMA. She received a one year suspension and was fined a measly $2,500 (Smith, 2012). One of the most controversial cases in recent memory was when Nick Diaz failed a drug test in competition for UFC 183. Diaz had already been in a mini war of sorts with the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC), so when he failed a drug test they unloaded on him as hard as they possibly could. He failed a drug test for being over the threshold for marijuana metabolites, and was fined 33% of his fight purse ($165,000) and suspended for a ridiculous five years (Al-Shatti, 2015). 5 years seems harsh for steroids let alone just marijuana. Yes it was and is still illegal in Nevada and most states, but it is not like he was trying to gain any sort of competitive advantage. This is a blatant example of the NAC using the USADA policy as a major abuse of power, any sane person knows how unrealistic a five year suspension is for marijuana, no matter what the pervious circumstances were. Lastly, I would like to mention the two huge failed drugs tests, at UFC 200, which was supposed to be the biggest fight card in the promotions history. Not only did 200 suffer the loss of McGregor vs Diaz 2, due to contract negations stalemating between McGregor and the UFC, it also lost its replacement for the main event in Jones vs Cormier 2. Jon Jones, who had previously fought Daniel Cormier in January of 2015, failed a drug test weeks before their first meeting for cocaine. He was not suspended, received a small fine and was still allowed to fight. At UFC 200 however, he again failed a test but this time for doping. He denied willing cheating or taking any banned substances, and was immediately pulled from the card days before the event was to take place, and subsequently suspended from competition for 1 year. It would seem the UFC learned some sort of lesson about letting people fight after failing a drug test, one would think. Feeling desperate, the UFC brought in their former superstar, Brock Lesnar to fight MMA for the first time in several years. They paid him an absurd amount of money to get him to agree to fight and take time away from the World Wresting Entertainment (WWE). He fought and defeated Mark Hunt, and was the biggest attraction of the whole event. Shockingly, a couple days later it was revealed that he too had failed a drug test for the same supplement as Jones, but was allowed to fight anyways. His case is still pending with the USADA, but why he was allowed to compete after failing for PED’s is an obvious act of desperation on the part of the UFC, as they knew they could not lose another major attraction off of what they had promoted as the biggest even in their history. There are several other big name cases of failed drug tests (i.e; Anderson Silva) but I think I have made my point. Most Tested Fighters As flawed as I believe the entire drug testing and punishment system is for the UFC and USADA, there seems to be another aspect that seems a little suspicious as well. The UFC has a list of all the fighters that have been drug tested, and how often they were tested in the first year of the UFC and USADA partnering to implement a new drug testing system. The fighters that have been tested the most are all the biggest names in the sport and or current champions of their weight class. These names include Ronda Rousey, Conor McGregor, Daniel Cormier, Dominick Cruz, Rafael Dos Anjos, etc. (Bradley, 2016) There is some correlation between frequency of fights and number of tests administered, however almost every single one of these fighters has submitted more out of competition fights. When Conor McGregor made a jump from 145lbs to 170lbs many accused of being on something to put that mass on. He took and passed numerous drug tests during this time.

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