The bad blood between USADA and UFC is set to unveil many previously unknown stories between the two. UFC CBO Hunter Campbell and Executive Vice-President Jeff Novitzky sat down for more than an hour in a press conference to give the media a taste of those stories. One of the shocking revelations included UFC’s huge payments for an athlete tracking system.
Campbell, although calm in his way of speaking, was extremely annoyed with what had transpired in the past few days. USADA released a statement claiming they would not continue to partner with UFC in drug testing next year. Their reason for breaking this partnership included the treatment given to Conor McGregor. According to the USADA, McGregor was receiving preferential treatment from the UFC.
Campbell rued USADA’s claims and confirmed that McGregor would not fight before spending six months in the drug testing pool. However, the UFC CBO also discussed an issue they faced with USADA. UFC was to receive a tech solution for athlete tracking from the USADA. Campbell said, “I’ve been told that we would have a technology solution for whereabouts for athletes going back almost two years now.”
Campbell claimed that they have spent close to $2 million on the tech. “Jeff has the numbers, but I think in 2021, USADA spent over a million dollars, maybe close to two million, in “technology research.” I don’t have an app that the athletes can use to update their whereabouts or give them a way to do so.”
An irate Campbell further talked about how people can track their kids and spouses today. However, USADA could not come up with the tech in two years.
UFC fighters accuse USADA of not testing foreign fighters equally
Many fighters have accused USADA of not being able to test each fighter equally because they are not aware of everyone’s whereabouts. Jorge Masvidal and Joe Rogan discussed the issue in detail.
The American fighter appeared on the JRE MMA #137 episode, and regarding USADA testing, he stated “.. just like make it an even playing field for everybody.”
Rogan agreed and stated that it is impossible for USADA to travel to Russia and test the fighters. He said, “Oh yeah. They’re not traveling to the mountains of Dagestan to give people pi** test.”
Masvidal further stated, “If I am getting tested 20 times a year, right? So and so and so and so should also be tested 20 times a year.”
He was also frustrated with the schedule of the tests. Masvidal claimed that the USADA officials would come at the wrong hours to get the tests done.
Bobby Green doubles down on believing that Russian fighters are cheating via JAXXON podcast pic.twitter.com/xQPLHe2xq2
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) October 5, 2023
Former UFC fighter Georges St. Pierre has also reverberated the same feelings. On the other hand, Bobby Green recently made an outrageous claim that Russian fighters such as Islam Makhachev hide in mosques so that USADA can’t show up. He recevied criticism for his comments but he belives that that is how the Russian fighters consume PEDs and perform extraordinarily.
