Fighters Only

Issue 131

August 2015

All the head-turning information every MMA fan needs to know.

USADA joins UFC’s war on PED cheats

Hot on the heels of the appointment of Jeff Novitzky – the man credited with cleaning up Major League Baseball – as its resident drugs tsar, the UFC has brought in the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to manage its global, year-round testing as its efforts to make the promotion the cleanest in sports took a giant leap forward.

At a press conference in Las Vegas in June, UFC president Dana White, chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, COO Lawrence Epstein and Novitzky sat with Travis Tygart, the CEO of USADA, to reveal details of the new testing regime.

From July 1st, USADA will have the authority to randomly test any UFC athlete at any time for any reason. The Las Vegas-based promotion will have no advance knowledge of who is being tested, nor will it have a say in when or what methodologies are used. There will be 2,750 tests in a calendar year, which equates to roughly five and a half tests per fighter, per year.

Tygart later confirmed how this would ensure the UFC has zero involvement in both the testing and subsequent publishing of results, completely ruling out any risk of favoritism in terms of an athlete’s star power.

He told MMA Junkie: “Legally, they can’t (interfere). It’s all our decision, and they have no choice under the rules of the contract. If they attempt to, we’re just not going to be involved in the program anymore. But you don’t take the steps they’ve taken if you’re not fully prepared for it.”

FO score: When the UFC started making noises about shelving its drug-testing program at the end of last year, the sport, for the first time in the Zuffa era, looked destined to take a backward step. But Anderson Silva’s inglorious PED failure in January forced their hand – and for the better. The demise of the GOAT could yet be remembered as the moment MMA grew up.

‘Mauler’ surprised to get ‘DC’ chance

Alexander Gustafsson admits he was ‘shocked’ to get the call to face Daniel Cormier for the UFC light heavyweight belt. The ‘Mauler’ was due to fight Glover Teixeira in June before he was ruled out with a back injury. He was in a rehab session when Dana White called him to offer the ‘DC’ matchup.

He says fate played a hand in his new chance at the belt: “Everything happens for a reason, I believe. I was supposed to be rematching Jon Jones for the belt and then I got injured and DC jumped in front of me. But now I’m getting my chance.”

Gustafsson, who was KO’d by Anthony Johnson in Stockholm in January, expected to need a win before his title chance returned, but believes he deserves it more than Ryan Bader, who had hoped to jump to the front of the queue.

“He doesn’t deserve to fight for the belt before me, so it makes sense. I’m super excited,” said the Swede.

FO score: With Jon Jones missing in action, the shake-up at 205lb is going to be fun to watch.

1984

Former UFC commissioner Jeff Blatnick, who won wrestling gold at the ’84 Olympics, will be the first recipient of a contributor place in the revamped UFC Hall of Fame.

36

Former UFC lightweight Corey Hill, who featured on TUF season 5, tragically passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest as a result of a collapsed lung from a short illness. He was 36 years old.