UFC PED SCANDAL: Dana White Takes Action

By Barnaby Kellaway

The use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) has been an issue in the UFC for some time. But the problem has been magnified in recent weeks by the news of Anderson Silva’s failed test following his UFC 183 victory over Nick Diaz.

This led the organization to stage a news conference this afternoon, featuring President Dana White, Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein, to discuss the matter.

Dana White set the tone from the start by stating: ‘No fight or fighter is worth the integrity of this sport’.

The three went on to talk about their current methods of testing. The most notable piece of information is that last year they only conducted nineteen out of competition (OOC) tests resulting in five failures. This statistic highlights the need for a change.

They then went on to make the main point of the ‘call to action’ that will come in to play from July 1st of this year: the UFC will institute comprehensive OOC random PED testing for all its fighters. This means that main event and championship fighters will be subject to ‘enhanced OOC random testing’ whilst all fighters will face ‘comprehensive OOC random testing’.

The company will in addition advocate every commission test every fighter of every card on fight night. They are also prepared to support the commissions financially in order to ensure this becomes the norm.

Not only is the testing going to be greatly ramped up but also the penalties will be too. Lorenzo Feritta was bold in his views regarding this: ‘There have to be harsher penalties’… ‘If you are using PEDs you will be caught’. The chairman went so far as to say there was potential for a four year ban for first time offenders.

Dana White supported Fetitta’s statements by saying ‘If you can’t compete with your natural abilities then you don’t belong here’. Resounding.

The press conference left fans with huge encouragement about the future of MMA, a future which recently has been cast in to doubt. The credibility of the sport gets damaged each time a star is popped for PEDs and there are only so many times it can happen before MMA becomes a joke.

It’s important to note that it would have been much easier for the hierarchy at the UFC to brush off the problem as minor. By doing what they’ve done today the sport will suffer in the short term: more fights will be cancelled and more fighters will be dropped as more people get caught. This was a point acknowledged by Fertitta and White: ‘It’s probably gonna get worse before it gets better’.

However what is apparent is that the hierarchy at the UFC have the sport’s long term future in mind and they know that by investing millions today then years down the line it will be a cleaner more legitimate sport and ultimately more profitable.

So immense credit must go to the UFC for addressing the issue, being up front with the fans and not pretending there’s nothing to worry about. The men on stage today seemed genuinely intent on making MMA and the UFC better. They set a precedent for all combat sports.