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View Full Version : UFC confirms partnership with USADA, details of out-of-competition testing program



9mm
06-03-2015, 09:11 PM
The UFC today announced details of its new out-of-competition testing program (http://mmajunkie.com/2015/02/ufc-announces-sweeping-changes-to-drug-testing-policy-advocates-for-longer-suspensions), set to take effect July 1, which include a minimum of 2,750 drug tests per year – or about 5 potential tests for each fighter – and substantial punishments for anti-doping violations.


As MMAjunkie first reported (http://mmajunkie.com/2015/06/in-addition-to-usada-drug-testing-ufc-to-unveil-multimillion-dollar-health-program), the industry-leader today made official a partnership with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which will oversee the program and conduct results management independent of the UFC.


Although officials declined to put a price tag on the new venture, UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said its cost is in the “multiple millions of dollars.”


The payoff, UFC and USADA officials expect, is an effective deterrent to performance-enhancing drug use, which has become a hot-button issue over the past year with several high-profile drug failures.


“This is the most comprehensive, effective, best program in all of professional sport,” said Jeff Novitzy, the UFC’s vice president of athlete health and performance, during today’s press conference at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa in Las Vegas.


The testing program is one of three prongs in the UFC’s new Athlete Marketing and Development program, which includes a partnership with sports performance companies Fusionetics and Exos and the funding of a Cleveland Clinic study on brain trauma. The promotion is building a massive new facility in Las Vegas to help athletes train correctly and prevent injuries, which have forced the cancellation of dozens of fights over the past three years.


Earlier this year, the UFC brought on former BALCO investigator and FDA agent Novitzky to develop its new anti-doping policy and act as an athlete advocate. Novitzky said the promotion’s new program largely mirrors the practices of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which sets international standards on drug testing. He clarified, however, that the UFC isn’t a signatory to the agency.


“In the creation of my position, the UFC has made a commitment to providing our athletes with the very best resources and tools to help them excel in their training and rehabilitation, while being an advocate for their long-term health and safety,” said Novitzky, who spoke alongside UFC executives Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White and Lawrence Epstein. “The development of this new anti-doping policy is an important early step in our commitment and process.”


As the promotion announced in February, the out-of-competition program, which Novitzky said will be available to the public on July 1, subjects approximately 550 UFC fighters under contract to random testing on a year-round basis. In the event of a positive test, USADA will manage the disciplinary proceedings and hand out punishments if necessary.


Unlike USADA’s oversight of out-of-competition testing for the U.S. Olympics, though, athletes found with banned substances who contest findings won’t have their cases arbitrated by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Novitzky said. A separate appellate court will handle disputes, he said.


The important thing, according to USADA, is that the program will remain independent from the promoter.


“The UFC literally has removed themselves from the material operations of the policy,” said USADA CEO Travis Tygart, who spoke today alongside executives. “So questions about who’s tested, when they’re tested, and what they’re tested for, is a year-round testing program, in- and out-of-competition. Blood, urine, biological passport, what’s tested for, (carbon isotope ratio), (erythropoietin) analysis, human growth-hormone analysis – those are all decisions that are made with us, the national independent anti-doping organization, with no involvement or decision-making authority from the UFC.


“So when you’ve heard in the past, the fox guarding the hen-house – they’ve recognized that, and they’ve put steps and action behind the reality that the only way to truly effectively do this is by outsourcing it and truly making independent all those key functions.”


Undetermined at the moment is how the UFC’s program will dovetail with athletic commissions. While several commissions, including the Nevada State Athletic Commission, have approved steeper punishments for drug offenders, the promotion’s program won’t supplant states’ authority. If, for example, a fighter needs a therapeutic-use exemption to use a banned substance while competing, he or she will still have to obtain it from the overseeing state athletic commission.


The UFC, though, will default to the program’s findings when booking fighters. If a state commission recommends a nine-month suspension and USADA rules for two years, USADA will prevail.


“Our hope is that athletic commissions will begin to use the data regarding the athletes that are participating in their jurisdictions to make decisions about licensing,” said UFC Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein.


“So when an athlete comes here (to Nevada), the Nevada athletic commission will have … a history of drug testing, a medical passport, for lack of a better term, that they will be able to utilize. There is going to be some crossover between drug tests that are done as part of our program and decisions that are made by athletic commissions, but we think we’ll work that stuff out.”


Although UFC fighters are independent contractors and aren’t part of a union, Epstein said consent to testing is “part of the condition of being a UFC athlete.”


While the promotion plans a variety of measures to educate UFC fighters on banned substances, a key to the program’s intent of deterrence is a schedule of punishments for drug offenses. The punishments are separated by “specified substances” such as steroids, human growth-hormone, and blood doping; and “non-specified substances” such as marijuana, cocaine and other drugs of abuse.


Punishments for specified substances include:


* 1st offense: Two years with the possibility of four years for “aggravating circumstances,” which include previous drug failures, egregious intent, conspiracy with others, multiple substances, and other factors.

* 2nd offense: double the sanction of first offense

* 3rd offense: double sanction of second offense


Punishments for non-specified substances include:


* 1st offense: One year with the possibility of two additional years for “aggravating circumstances,” which include previous drug failures, egregious intent, conspiracy with others, multiple substances, and other factors.

* 2nd offense: double the sanction of first offense

* 3rd offense: double sanction of second offense


USADA CEO Travis Tygart said his agency will rely upon an international network of anti-doping organizations to ensure fighters can be reached around the world. He said only WADA-accredited labs will be utilized for the UFC’s out-of-competition testing program.


Additionally, fighters will be required to disclose their whereabouts at all times so they are subject to testing year-round. In the event they fail to give their whereabouts or don’t show up to a testing facility, USADA allows three infractions over two years before it rules a failed test.


A whistleblower line will also be made available to fighters, Tygart said, which will encourage those with information on doping to come forward. He said coaches and trainers will be held to the same standards as fighters for rule violations.


With a strict anti-doping policy set to take effect, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta said the promotion is prepared to deal with the repercussions. But he and other executives stressed the new program is a necessary step in the promotion’s evolution.


“There could be major fights that fall out,” Fertitta said. “That’s just a consequence that, hopefully it won’t happen, but if it does, we understand that. But I think at the end of the day, the way this program was structured, and the education process and the way it’s going to be rolled out, we’re hopeful there’s a strong deterrent aspect to what we’re doing here, that … every athlete on the UFC roster, and even an athlete that believes they will be on the roster in the future, knows they can not use any prohibited substance, and that’s just the bottom line.


“It’s over. You can’t use anything. If you use it, you will get caught.”

Presser
06-04-2015, 08:24 AM
foooooey

9mm
06-04-2015, 08:40 PM
it'll be interesting to see how this plays out

Presser
06-05-2015, 07:23 AM
yes indeed