UFC Alters Anti-Doping Policy; Will Now Announce Violations Only After Case Resolution

For Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes, the promotion’s anti-doping partnership with USADA has had a distinct “guilty until proven innocent” feel since it was enacted in 2015.

For the better part of three years, fighters’ potential violations have been made public immediately after a failed drug test. According to a report from ESPN.com, the UFC changed its anti-doping policy in mid July, and will now only announced a violation once a case has been resolved.

"If an athlete has a positive drug test, we aren't putting them in a fight until their case is resolved -- but what we can do is give the athlete an opportunity to adjudicate their issue without the public rushing to judgment,” UFC Chief Legal Officer Hunter Campbell told ESPN. “Announcing the test result creates this narrative around the athlete before people understand the facts.”

There have been multiple instances in which an individual’s anti-doping violation was announced publicly before it was revealed that the athlete either used a banned substance unintentionally, wasn’t at fault for using a banned substance or was granted an exemption. UFC Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky told ESPN that 21 of the 62 adjudicated cases under the anti-doping program were ruled by USADA to be non-intentional use.

One recent example involved ex-heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos, who was cleared to compete immediately after it was discovered that a Brazilian compounding pharmacy sold him a tainted supplement. Brazilians Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Marcos Rogerio de Lima were also cleared in the case. However, all there were pulled from proposed bouts upon the initial announcement of a possible anti-doping violation.

"Part of the feedback Jeff and I have received from the athletes is, 'I would have appreciated the opportunity to adjudicate this, so the story could be I tested positive, a full investigation was conducted and it was found the use was unintentional,'" Campbell said. "That story is very different than giving somebody a six-month window, where they are trying to defend themselves against accusations they are a cheater.”

Another change that the UFC is considering involves second-time offenders. As it stands right now, someone who has a second anti-doping policy violation faces as much as a four-year suspension. However, that penalty could be reduced if the athlete in question was found to have taken a banned substance unintentionally on one or both occasions. A prime example is Jon Jones, who received a reduced suspension for his second failed drug test at UFC 214. He also failed a drug test in 2016, but was found to have ingested a banned substance unintentionally.

That part of the policy has not been officially changed.

"One of the reasons a guy like Jon Jones was facing four years is that he was a multiple offender of the program," Campbell said. "My issue with that is that Jon Jones was found to have not done anything intentional in his first offense. He was found to have a exercised a degree of irresponsibility.

"I do not think anyone who has two unintentional violations should have to face a four-year suspension. The punishment doesn't fit the crime. You have to have, and we will continue to have, increasing penalties in the event a violation is found to be intentional.”