Abdelaziz Starts War Between Fighters And USADA

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

It’s been said that the best managers in sports are the ones you’ve never heard of, because they’re too busy behind the scenes doing their jobs. Then you have longtime MMA manager, Ali Abdelaziz, responsible for some of the top names in UFC.

Like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Frankie Edgar, just to name a few.

Abdelaziz is no stranger to headlines, but unfortunately they have nothing to do with his managerial prowess. Instead, it’s steady stream of fight videos that includes fellow managers, other UFC fighters, and the occasional MMA fan.

Now he’s taking aim at United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

“If you are a UFC fighter out there and USADA tried to call you and tried to talk to you directly, never do that because their job is to get suspensions,” Abdelaziz warned on Twitter. “It’s them or us.”

USADA has been known to contact fighters or flip the ones already in trouble in hopes of gaining insight into the ongoing drug use in UFC. Light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, is probably the most well-known example.

I don’t know if Abdelaziz got spanked by someone in power or just tried to clarify his earlier remarks, but he later sent out a second tweet praising USADA for all the fine work it’s done since getting hired by UFC back in summer 2015.

“USADA is a very important part of this sport to keep all these cheating people out of this sport,” Abdelaziz later clarified. “Sometimes I disagree on some things but we need them to keep this sport clean.”

With UFC 245 just around the corner, let’s just hope the comments from Abdelaziz have nothing to do with this accusation.