UFC
Dana White tells ESPN that "PEDs have been cleaned up in the UFC"
Apr 24, 2014 - 10:30:33 AM Dana White tells ESPN that "PEDs have been cleaned up in the UFC"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Dana White is racking up some early candidates for "preposterous statement of the year" for 2014 this week. In his latest, he appeared on ESPN's Sportsnation show, and made the following claim to host Michelle Beadle when asked about the concern of PED usage in the UFC:

"You know, PEDs have been cleaned up in the UFC," White said (transcribed by BloodyElbow.com). "What people don't realize is that the rule used to be that when commissions would test the athletes they'd do the main event, and they'd have a couple of random tests. We've been testing everyone on the cards."

"It has been a long time since someone has tested positive for something in the UFC. The TRT thing was a nightmare for me, I'm glad the athletic commission got rid of it."

White didn't clarify whether they were now actually randomly testing everyone on the cards, or whether "testing everyone on the cards" only encompassed the fight night urine tests. It's almost assuredly the latter.

Penick's Analysis: This is just laughably and demonstrably false from White, unless the UFC has already put a system in place to randomly drug test everyone. That is most certainly not already taken care of; it's something Lorenzo Fertitta has said they plan to do, but until we see evidence that guys are being randomly tested - with both urine and drug testing - then it's simply just talk. And I'm not sure if he's just missed, say, the Dennis Siver issue from December, but "it has been a long time since someone has tested positive for something" is just incorrect. Also, we still haven't gotten a test result from Vitor Belfort's random test earlier this year, which continues to look suspicious even though the NAC doesn't technically have to reveal the result considering he didn't apply for a license. Still, if he failed, that should be available knowledge for any commission that may think about giving him a license moving forward.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]