News broke yesterday surrounding USADA’s presence within the UFC. Starting in 2024, the anti-doping agency will no longer share a partnership with the MMA promotion following a breakdown in talks.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency has been partnered with the UFC since 2015 and has conducted tens of thousands of tests in order to keep the sport clean. While their intentions were pure, there was a division among the mixed martial arts fanbase regarding whether the anti-doping body was beneficial to the fighters and the sport as a whole.
USADA’s CEO Travis Tygart spoke out on why he believes the relationship with the UFC soured and it seems to be caused by Conor McGregor‘s potential return to the octagon.
“We can confirm that Conor McGregor has re-entered the USADA testing pool as of Sunday, October 8, 2023,” Stated Tygart. “We have been clear and firm with the UFC that there should be no exception given by the UFC for McGregor to fight until he has returned two negative tests and been in the pool for at least six months.”
“The rules also allow USADA to keep someone in the testing pool longer before competing based on their declarations upon entry in the pool and testing results. Unfortunately, we do not currently know whether the UFC will ultimately honor the six-month or longer requirement because, as of January 1, 2024, USADA will no longer be involved with the UFC Anti-Doping Program.”
Read the full statement from USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart here: https://t.co/3vfuhx5haD pic.twitter.com/MNGgnDN6U6
— USADA (@usantidoping) October 11, 2023
Although things seem to be resolved for Conor McGregor, the Irishman was upset with USADA and claimed they were keeping him from his “livelihood” ahead of his possible return.
‘The Notorious’ has been out of the testing pool since his horrific leg break in the Dustin Poirier trilogy back in 2021. While there is no concrete proof, many do believe the former two-division UFC champion put on an unnatural amount of muscle during his time on the sidelines; leading fans to believe he was taking illegal substances.
Related: Joe Rogan and Conor McGregor go back and forth over USADA comments
Tygart later continued, sharing his apologies to the many athletes who rely on their work to keep the octagon clean from cheaters.
“Despite a positive and productive meeting about a contract renewal in May 2023, the UFC did an about-face and informed USADA on Monday, October 9, that it was going in a different direction… We are disappointed for the UFC athletes, who are independent contractors, who rely on our independent, gold-standard global program to protect their rights to a clean, safe, and fair octagon. The UFC’s move imperils the immense progress made within the sport under USADA’s leadership.”
“The relationship between USADA and UFC became untenable given the statements made by UFC leaders and others questioning USADA’s principled stance that McGregor not be allowed to fight without being in the testing pool for at least six months.”
“One UFC commentator echoes this, recently declaring that USADA should not oversee the UFC program since we held firm to the six-month rule involving McGregor, and since we do not allow fighters without an approved medical basis to use performance-enhancing drugs like experimental, unapproved peptides or testosterone for healing or injuries simply to get back to the octagon.”
Tygart was likely referring to Joe Rogan’s recent comments in which the huge MMA figure insisted the anti-doping agency shouldn’t keep fighters from beneficial drugs as stated above.
It now looks like Conor McGregor will make his long-awaited UFC return sometime next year and the eight-year partnership between the MMA company and USADA will be no more come January 1, 2024.
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/conor-mcgregor-the-cause-of-ufc-and-usadas-collapsed-relationship