Ben Askren is giving his thoughts on the USADA testing pool and why former champion Jiří Procházka might be tested so often.
In 2015 the UFC brought in The U.S Anti-Doping Agency to help administer drug tests to their athletes. The idea was to clean up the sport and allow an outside agency to administer random drug testing on athletes. Since that time the USADA has found some fighters who were using banned substances. They have issued suspensions throughout the years but more often than not have found clean tests for many athletes.
Many athletes have a problem with the way the USADA runs things. They have the right to show up unannounced in the early morning and pretty much anywhere the fighter is to collect blood or urine samples. Recently it was announced that leading the number of tests performed in the past year was former lightweight champion Jiří Procházka.
Ben Askren gives his take on why Jiří Procházka is the most tested fighter
Procházka was tested a whopping 64 times in 2022. Now he is claiming that since he relinquished his title he is being tested less. UFC commentator Daniel Cormier and former fighter Ben Askren dove into this topic on YouTube, Askren believes he knows a few reasons why Procházka has been the subject of USADA testing way more often than any other athlete.
Ben Askren compiled some data on the average number of tests per athlete per year in the USADA. He then compared them with the number of tests Procházka has been subject to in the past year, his claim is wild.
“In 2017 the average amount of tests per athlete was four and a half, 2018, four tests per athlete. 2019, six. 2021, six. 2022, 5.5 average test per athlete. Over the course of all of those years, the most tested athlete in a single year was Misha Cirkanuv up at 27,” he said. “We’re talking 1000s of athletes. And Jiris’s like up here. I created some explanations on why they might be testing him. If I was Jiri, I might have my lawyer send USADA a message and say I need some explanations on why you’re testing me this month.”
Askren also took it upon himself to come up with a few ideas as to why he believes Procházka is subject to so many tests. His reasonings are a bit off the deep end.
“He’s dirty and they know he’s dirty and they just can’t figure out how to catch him, that’s obvious number one. Number two, there is like a Polish USADA branch and they need to get a certain amount of tests and there’s only like four athletes so they just test him all the time because it’s close and he’s patient,” he joked. “I think this is a likely scenario because you know, they contract people out, Daniel. I always had this old dude come to do my test, you got a person or a couple of people. The person that’s testing him likes looking at his junk. They’re like, hey, I like your c-ck. Let me stare at it. That’s, that’s definitely possible.”
Whatever the reason may be, Procházka has not failed any of these dozens of drug tests he has undergone in the past 12 months. He is now out of competition while healing up from shoulder surgery but hopes to compete again next year.
