The WWE is a promotion that runs on steroids (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), and the UFC knows it. With Brock Lesnar set to return to the cage at UFC 200 and USADA cleaning up the sport, one of the big questions about Brock Lesnar was if he could deal with all of USADA’s rules.
Well, apparently he won’t have to. The UFC is giving Brock Lesnar a “special waiver” that protects him from the usual drug testing procedures and, well, it’s as bad as it sounds.
This is what a clean athlete looks like! Photo by WWE.com.
Here’s what the UFC had to say:
“On June 6, 2016, UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar was registered by USADA into the UFC Anti-Doping Policy testing pool. As part of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, UFC may grant a former athlete an exemption to the four-month written notice rules in exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an athlete.”
HOW CONVENIENT!
Theoretically, the waiver is there so the UFC could put together short-notice fights. They’re instead using it to stop fighters from asking for more money. Photo by Sherdog.com.
The USADA rules, as stated, have a four month waiting requirement for fighters coming out of retirement. The reason is to make sure fighters can’t retire, juice up, then return without ever getting tested…which is what Lesnar did, probably.
While this wouldn’t necessarily be all that bad on it’s own, it’s really bad because of what the UFC did with Conor McGregor. Here’s what Dana White said about Conor earlier this year:
“If Conor McGregor is truly retired, he would have to take four months off before, it would take you four months to come back, because of USADA. You can’t just say, now that you have random drug testing, after however long you’re out, just say ‘okay, now I’m back.'”
Conor McGregor had the USADA deal’s four month rule used against him. Photo by Sherdog.com.
So what does that mean? Basically it means that the UFC is using the USADA policy against fighters it is in a contract dispute with and giving free passes to ones that it likes. This is as shady as it gets and basically confirms any fear people had about whether or not the UFC could fairly implement a drug testing program.
They can’t.
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