The UFC’s partnership with USADA isn’t perfect…but they sure are catching a lot of people. The latest person to flunk a drug test? Three-time UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes. The former rival to both Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo (and the longtime training partner to Urijah Faber) was flagged for a possible anti-doping violation due to a random drug test.
The UFC’s full statement is as follows:
“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Chad Mendes of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection. USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full and fair review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.”
Unfortunately, that sheds very little light onto what he did. Did he take a tainted supplement? HGH? EPO? Designer steroids? Or did he get flagged for any of the many, many non-performance enhancing drugs that USADA wrongly bans fighters from taking? Nobody knows!
It’s a bit unfair, obviously. Public opinion is going to naturally assume and declare the worst and fighters have absolutely no protection from that. Lyoto Machida, for example, failed a drug test for DHEA, a drug that isn’t a performance enhancer, and was pulled from a fight and hasn’t been seen since.
We’ll find out more about Mendes in the coming weeks. Let’s try and give him the benefit of the doubt for now, ok?
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