The UFC’s chief anti-doping advocate wants state athletic commissions to come correct when drug testing athletes and managing potential violations.
“It’s so important in anti-doping that you get it right,” Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s VP of athlete health and performance, today told commissioners during a presentation at the 2017 Association of Boxing Commissions annual meeting.
Novitzky was there to discuss the UFC’s efforts toward cleaning up the sport, as well as measures taken to curb excessive weight cutting. On the former, he cited five anti-doping violations found this year by UFC anti-doping partner USADA – down from 36 in the first year of the promotion’s anti-doping program – as one sign the war on banned drugs is being won.
Although Novitzky didn’t call out any commissions by name, he referred to a botched case involving Texas’ Combative Sports program, which earlier this year reversed the suspension of women’s strawweight Cortney Casey (6-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) at UFC 211 after a follow-up drug test cleared her of wrongdoing.
Speaking about the interaction between USADA and state athletic commissions, Novitzky urged commissions to bring accurate information to the public. He said the UFC and USADA have no objections to state athletic commissions performing their own testing, but must ensure that testing catches the right people.
“If you’re going to do your own testing, please, please, please run it by experts or rely on experts in your results management process,” he said.
Casey’s three-month suspension was lifted and her win over Jessica Aguilar was restored one month after the Texas commission informed her of an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio. In an interview with MMAjunkie prior to the reversal, she said the commission “put me in the position where I have to do damage control.” Novitzky said the UFC may steer away from the state for future events and said the commission’s handling of the situation was “unfair to begin with” because it didn’t take into account the legitimate causes of a high T/E ratio, which include taking birth control.
The reversal marked the first time a state athletic commission has completely reversed an anti-doping policy of its own accord. Prior to partnering with USADA, the UFC rescinded the suspension of the now-retired Cung Le after questions were raised about the validity of a post-fight positive.
Casey, Novitzky said today, was “basically falsely accused of an anti-doping violation based on the commission just really not having that knowledge and expertise, and they didn’t reach out to those experts to confirm what the results said.”
“We are happy to provide you with experts, whether (from) USADA, or WADA lab directors, or scientists who’ve made a career out of anti-doping all throughout the world,” he added. “I’m happy to provide that contact to you to get it right. A false accusation in anti-doping is one of the worst things that can happen. It taints the entire movement.
“Many athletes aren’t sophisticated enough to know the difference between a commission doing this and USADA, and what I always say is the comprehensiveness and strength of anti-doping – just as important is the fairness and due process. If you don’t have fairness and due process for an athlete, and an athlete’s falsely accused, an athlete loses confidence in the process. Once that confidence is lost, they look around and try to get around … to use drugs and cheat.”
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