Midnight Mania! New USADA Test Helps Avoid Marijuana Fails

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The world of drug testing is a murky one. In general, most athletes and fans seem to be in favor of cleaning the sport of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), but there have been definite side effects. For example, tainted supplements, false positives, and pulsing have all entered the MMA vernacular — after having done major damage to the careers of the affected fighter.

One such issue has been marijuana. At this point, it’s no longer a secret that many of the sport’s top athletes partake in the devil’s lettuce. Given the properties of inflammation reduction and pain relief, it’s not hard to understand why a combat sports athlete would smoke marijuana, which is often a healthier alternative than most pain medicines.

Unfortunately, marijuana is a banned substance on the USADA list, as well as under the drug testing rules of most athletic commissions. Fighters like Nick Diaz have faced heavier suspensions for marijuana usage than others who have failed for anabolic steroids, which doesn’t make the least bit of sense.

Previously, the test for marijuana could detect trace amounts from an unknown amount of time earlier. Now, USADA is implement new oral testing, which should close that window down to a few hours.

Basically, if a fighter is not literally high or drunk while competing, they should be able to pass this next method of testing. If nothing else, it seems like a step in the right direction!

Insomnia

Now this is some high-level wrestling defense:

Maybe Ryan Bader will not get a chance to dance with Jiri Prochazka after all …

Al Iaquinta in the comments, “ I won tooo Conor.”

I’ll be honest, I think Khabib Nurmagomedov is more worried about getting coffee spilled on him than facing McGregor again.

Mike Perry is back sparring after his recent loss, this time with Mike Davis, who scored one of the year’s most brutal knockouts opposite Thomas Gifford earlier in the year.

In the comments, Eryk Anders pointed out the unfortunate fact that each of Khalil Rountree’s knockdowns came against him. Ouch!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

When in doubt, go for a spin!

Is hands-wrapped-with-ropes a more brutal method of fighting than simple bare knuckle?

A brutally clean connection on this elbow:

Random Land

Australia is burning.

Midnight Music: Dear readers, I hope your weekend is excellent!

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.