The MMA community came across the sad news of the USADA partnership termination with UFC.United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has announced its partnership ending with UFC’s anti-doping program.
On October 4, 2023, Travis Tygart, CEO of USADA, broke the news of its ending collaboration with UFC. USADA confirmed its partnership ended with the anti-doping program after Conor McGregor officially rejoined the drug testing program after a long break. Now the question is: Is Anti- Doping over?
The CEO of USADA mentioned:
“We can confirm that Conor McGregor has re-entered the USADA testing pool as of Sunday, October 8, 2023.
We have been clear and firm with the UFC that there should be no exception given by the UFC for McGregor to fight until he has returned two negative tests and been in the pool for at least six months.
The rules also allow USADA to keep someone in the testing pool longer before competing based on their declarations upon entry in the pool and testing results.
Unfortunately, we do not currently know whether the UFC will ultimately honor the six-month or longer requirement because, as of January 1, 2024, USADA will no longer be involved with the UFC Anti-Doping Program.”
USADA CEO shared his disappointment on social media:
“We are disappointed for UFC athletes, who are independent contractors who rely on our independent, gold-standard global program to protect their rights to a clean, safe, and fair Octagon.
The UFC’s move imperils the immense progress made within the sport under USADA’s leadership.”
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