USADA wants to offer an incentive for fighters to compete cleanly and without any performance-enhancing drugs, so they’re giving away t-shirts to any fighter who passes 25 consecutive drug tests in a row!
While it may not be much in terms of winnings, it’s more of an honorable distinction that most fighters strive to have, and that’s to be a clean fighter. Former UFC lightweight champion and current welterweight contender Rafael Dos Anjos echoes that sentiment, saying in a recently released statement (Bloody Elbow):
“I’ve been in the UFC for 10 years, over 37 fights, and my whole life I’ve competed clean. It’s just good for my legacy to have a clean record, and the only thing that doesn’t show on the blood test is the hard work.”
“The reason that I compete clean is that I want to be fair to people. I think it’s fair for everybody else to compete clean.”
As of right now, there are 19 UFC fighters who have reached or surpassed 25 clean drug tests, according to MMA Fighting:
Holly Holm (35), Cris Cyborg (33), Eddie Alvarez (32), Vitor Belfort (32), Daniel Cormier (30), Rafael dos Anjos (30), Stipe Miocic (28), Robbie Lawler (27), T.J. Dillashaw (27), Conor McGregor (27), Edson Barboza (27), Dominick Cruz (27), Fabricio Werdum (27), Frankie Edgar (27), Tecia Torres (26), Stephen Thompson (25), Tyron Woodley (25), Dustin Poirier (25) and Johny Hendricks (25).
The t-shirts USADA will be giving to those clean fighters will say “25x” and will also have the hashtag “Follow My Lead” coupled with the slogan “Train Clean. Fight Clean.”
