UFC Announces that USADA will be Handling its New Drug Policy.

The UFC announced a few months ago that it would be implementing new drug policy that would crack down on performance enhancing drug (PED) usage within the sport.  The new program completely overhauls the previous policy by implementing harsher penalties on anyone who tested positive for any of the banned substances as designated by the various commissions.  For example, an athlete who has tested with abnormal hormone levels outside the ratio allowed, that athlete could potentially face up to three years suspension competition.

The UFC's capability of testing athletes has been highly criticized by fans, the media, and the athletes themselves.  The former policy was to test random athletes after their bouts as well as all the main event's participants.  The result was a system where some athletes would take advantage of their downtime to administer PEDs with enough time to cycle off the drugs by the time they had to compete and subsequently be tested.  In consequence, several athletes would receive all the benefits of PEDs in competition, outweighing the risk of discovery.  This worked for a while, but soon enough, several fighters began to "piss hot."

The other quagmire that plagued the sport was that of Testosterone Replacement Therapy where certain commissions, after receiving a prescription from a doctor, allowed aging athletes to supplement themselves with testosterone.  The justification of this policy was that it could prolong the life of a fighter's career by supplementing their waning testosterone whether that was because of head trauma or other reasons for low testosterone in order to return to levels comparable to another man of the same age.  This program became the subject of an ESPN expose revealing the fact that doctor's traded diagnoses and prescriptions for money and/or other favors.  Furthermore, another controversy as to why some of these fighters' levels had dipped over the years.  The main speculation was a prior history of testosterone/PED usage on the part of the athlete.  Due to the heavy controversy the program was scrapped completely.

Also, over the past year, the UFC and Nevada State Athletic Commission began to implement random drug testing to some of its major athletes prior to their bouts.  The first to fall in the trap was Alistair Overeem who according to Joe Rogan had "inhuman levels" of testosterone in his body.  But the greatest shock to the sport came when it was revealed in February of this year that UFC legend and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva failed a drug test in early January.

At the time Silva was synonymous with the UFC brand, he was charismatic and friendly to sponsors.  He embodied the image of a traditional martial artist, although he showboated at times, like Ali he was very respectful of his opponents and their skills (except for an incident with Damian Maia in Abu Dhabi).  George St. Pierre another former champion who chose to leave the organization justified his departure by saying that there was a systemic problem within the UFC as he believed fighters were using and masking PEDs to give them unfair advantages.  Chris Weidman the current middleweight champion has also spoken out about these allegations as to his most recent opponent Vitor Belfort who had been a beneficiary of TRT.

Which makes today's announcement all the more better as a step in the right direction to cleaning up the reputation of a developing sport.  The UFC announced today that it would be working in conjunction with the United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA).  This agency is considered the most prestigious drug testing facility and policing agency to ensure fairness in sports when it comes to the usage and abuse of PEDs in national sports following the regulations of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA.)  The cooperation with USADA will also ensure the chain of custody of urine and blood samples, unburdening the commissions who had been tasked with performing these exams on athletes with very limited budgets from their states.  As much as the UFC and Zuffa have been criticized over this past year, it appears in this instance that the company is moving towards the right direction in ensuring both the safety and fairness of the sport.

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