Ex-Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson believes the UFC is moving into dangerous territory by splitting with USADA for a testing program that is anything, but independent.
Last week, USADA CEO Travis Tygart revealed that USADA’s contract with the UFC would expire at the end of 2023 and would not be renewed by the Las Vegas-based promotion. Tygart claimed that the relationship with the UFC became “untenable” after USADA refused to allow Conor McGregor to return to action before completing six months of pre-fight screening in the testing pool.
The UFC has since denied Tygart’s accusations while simultaneously announcing their plans for athlete testing going forward.
The UFC’s EVP, Hunter Campbell, announced that they would be partnering with Drug Free Sport International, the anti-doping agency that handles testing for the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NCAA. In addition to that announcement, the UFC also hired George Piro, the former FBI agent in charge of Saddam Hussein’s interrogation, to head up their new drug testing program.
According to the UFC’s Senior Vice-President of Athlete Health and Performance, Jeff Notitzky, Drug Free Sport will send athletes’ samples to SMRTL (Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory), which is run by Dr. Dan Eichner. The results will then be passed on to Piro who will address those results with athletes in the event that a positive test is yielded.
The problem many people, including Josh Thomson, have with this process, is that it is not truly independent. The testing is done through a third-party lab, but the results are ultimately forwarded to Piro, who has been hired by the UFC, to determine what to do with the lab-provided information.
“We’ve already seen that they’ll bend the rules. The UFC will bend the rules,” Thomson said during an episode of the WEIGHING IN podcast with John McCarthy. “They will bend the rules for guys like Brock Lesnar to get him passed and to the fight. They tried to bend the rules for Nate Diaz. They said, ‘Look, we’re gonna bend them a little bit until after the fight and then we’ll deal with it after,’ and Nate called them out on it. Said, ‘F*ck no. We’re dealing with this sh*t right now. You’re not gonna slander my name. You’re not gonna f*cking hang me out to dry after I made you your money. F*ck you.’ And that’s where you’re going to run into these problems.
“If you’re gonna do this. If you’re going to come out and say that you’re going to be testing all of your fighters, it has to be done independently. This is why promotions don’t want to have to deal with this. This is why they let the athletic commissions do it. That being said, say this laboratory tests this person positive and they’re on the last fight of their contract, and then the fighter gets suspended by the UFC… That’s the UFC laboratory. That’s not the California commission or the Las Vegas commission laboratory.
“So am I really suspended or can I just tell you to f*ck off and go fight somewhere else? Because it’s not independent anymore. Before, the commissions would take the USADA sample, the blood testing, and urine, and they would use their samples and would suspend them if USADA said it came up with that test. Now, will the commissions [still] do this because it really is a blurred line right now?”
Novitzky says that the independent administrator running the UFC's next anti-doping program is George Piro.
George Piro was a special agent in charge at the FBI's Miami Field Office, was the Team Leader of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in 2004 (per Wikipedia)
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) October 12, 2023
Josh Thomson Believes Parting Ways With USADA Could Perpetuate Accusations of ‘Dana White Privilege’
Adding his thoughts on the announcement, former UFC referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy stopped short of accusing the UFC of attempting to cheat the system but believes it puts them in a position to be questioned when an issue inevitably pops up.
“The problem is, [SMRTL] is the laboratory, but they can only test what’s being sent to them, and what’s going to be sent to them is going to be run through the UFC laboratory and their people working for them,” McCarthy added. “There’s too much now as far as a crossover that the independence of it is in question. If you’re not gonna question it, you’re just saying, ‘Well, the UFC’s not gonna cheat’ and you’re gonna believe in that.
“And I’m not saying the UFC is trying to cheat, but they’re putting themselves in a position where someone can say they’re not being fair and not doing it the right way.”
Thomson believes that this system could also perpetuate the idea that certain athletes curry favoritism with UFC CEO Dana White, allowing them to potentially skirt the rules or sweep positive tests under.
“This just leans more into that whole Dana [White] privilege,” Thomson continued. “‘They don’t like me. Dana doesn’t like me.’ It just gets really foggy here. Not that I’m saying that they want to do these things, but it can give the perception that the UFC is controlling who makes it to the top. Which fighters they like to get there.
“Especially when someone’s having contract issues. When someone’s having contract problems and all of a sudden, they tested positive… ‘I know I didn’t take anything. I’ve been taking the same sh*t for the last 6-7 years.’ It ends up getting complicated.”
Watch the full episode below:
