Issue 127

April 2015

The UFC’s close relationship with the IMMAF (International Mixed Martial Arts Federation) is invaluable. Their bond will be essential to ensure suspensions and penalties handed out in association with the promotion are adhered to, especially outside North America.

NICK PEET

The Fighters Only editor on the international fight against banned substances

Let’s face it, if Anderson Silva had been popped for steroids six months down the line – inside the UFC’s new zero-tolerance PED (performance enhancing drugs) legislation and was facing up to a two or even a four-year ban from the Octagon – there would be a wealth of smaller MMA organizations only too happy to open their doors to the man dubbed the GOAT (Greatest of all Time).

There’s not a promotion in the world that wouldn’t see the value of having even a disgraced Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva on their fight cards. Making sure any penalty handed out by the UFC, or US state athletic commission, is upheld overseas is going to be difficult to enforce.

Now, with 39 international federations from all six continents signed up to the IMMAF, the role of MMA’s governing body will be instrumental in a successful global rollout of the UFC’s pioneering PED stance.

IMMAF CEO Densign White told Fighters Only: “This is a really positive step and the UFC is certainly moving in the right direction. The athletes and public can be assured the UFC is taking the issue of PED use seriously and is working to ensure a level playing field. 

“Longer bans from the sport than are currently the case for offenders is the right approach and more in line with Olympic policy, which also sees athletes having to report their whereabouts every day. 

“It’s clear that in-competition testing by itself is not the solution and out-of-competition testing needs to be random and more frequently used.

“We support wholeheartedly the proposed plan of action by UFC to drive the cheats out of our sport.”

The IMMAF is actively working to sign its amateur league up to the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code. That’s an important condition for SportAccord membership (the umbrella organization for all international sports federations), which could be a huge step towards seeing mixed martial arts feature in future Olympic Games.

Yet while most MMA hot spots across North and South America and Europe are signed up already, there are still a couple of potential MMA powerhouse nations that aren’t affiliated to the IMMAF. They could offer a possible loophole in terms of banned fighters continuing their careers.

Australia, Russia, China and Japan currently lack MMA governing bodies with any IMMAF affiliation, but they all support MMA promotions of varying success. While the two Asian nations may have the potential to offer competitive options for a banned fighter, neither has anything close to a financially successful organization based on home soil right now.

However, Australia and Russia are of some concern. Both have thriving MMA communities. Though Aussie dollars and Russian rubles don’t quite match-up against US dollars, British pounds and even Brazilian reals; the opportunity to swell interest in a show by signing even a scandalized former UFC superstar would likely prove too good an opportunity 

to miss.

That’s not to say promotions in these regions would even allow PED users to compete. Hopefully, they wouldn’t. But without affiliations or recognized governing bodies in place there are obvious regions that need addressing.

Japanese MMA in particular has its own storied history with PEDs. Fighters competing in Pride FC were actively encouraged to take steroids. But the sport in that corner of Asia, whilst once bigger than anything MMA has witnessed before or since, has been completely decimated.

Japanese mainstream media refuses to report on MMA today, scared off by the organized-crime element that brought down Pride. Japanese TV too wants little to do with mixed martial arts. Vale Tudo Japan – one of the biggest MMA promotions still limping along in the country – stages its events inside high-school gymnasiums. 

Should the UFC’s zero-tolerance approach ring true, and if fighters are indeed slapped with two or even four-year suspensions for testing positive for PEDs, athletes in their 30s will grow increasingly desperate. Their professional careers will be as good as over. Loopholes, however remote they may seem now, will be exploited. After all, they’ve got to put bread on the table somehow.

Ensuring all avenues to make a living elsewhere are closed to punished PED cheats is the overriding factor in the UFC’s approach. Every athletic commission, national federation and even competing promotion on planet MMA must join the campaign for a safer sport.