Dana White Slams USADA’s Response After Cutting Ties With The UFC

November 15, 2023
1 year

In today’s MMA news, Dana White has hit out at USADA over the way that they communicated their decision to part ways with the UFC.

The organization confirmed that they would not be renewing their contract in 2024, leaving the UFC without a drug-testing organisation.

The CEO of USADA, Travis Tygart, made the news public on October 11th, 2023, as he had a few choice words to say about Conor McGregor’s recent enrolment into USADA.

The rules require that athletes must submit two negative samples over a six-month period before they can be allowed to fight. Although an exemption is possible, USADA ruled that out.  And it appears that the organization had some resistance to that.

USADA Parts Ways

“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. Despite a positive and productive meeting about a contract renewal in May 2023, the UFC did an about-face and informed USADA on Monday, October 9, that it was going in a different direction.
“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.

 

“The relationship between USADA and UFC became untenable given the statements made by UFC leaders and others questioning USADA’s principled stance that McGregor not be allowed to fight without being in the testing pool for at least six months,” USADA said

Those comments did not sit very well with White, who questioned whether USADA should have discussed things so openly. This may have been on the basis that the UFC’s standing had fallen if drug testing became an issue.

And now that USADA are no longer on board, there are questions marks over which authority will take over. After all, any such authority must have the ability to remain independent and have complete authority. And yet, White made his views on the whole matter very clear.

White On USADA

“Well, let me just start with this, it wasn’t an announcement, it was a dirty move by them. There was no announcement yesterday. That was straight scumbag-ism what happened yesterday. So that will all be addressed today, not by me. I’ll let Novitzky and our lawyer Hunter Campbell handle that. The you-know-what is about to hit the fan on that one,” White revealed

Ultimately, White’s focus should be to get another organization to work with the UFC. And with VADA also potentially available, the UFC could follow the same lines as boxing.

Regardless of which authority is chosen, it is clear that there needs to be guidance on when exemptions are allowed. And that appears to be in the works.

“We would still pay an independent company. It’s the best way to do it. We have a standard that we set here, but a lot of people are not happy with USADA. Our deal is up at the end of the year and we’re working on going in a different direction, especially after the dirty scumbag move that they pulled yesterday. That will be addressed later,” White stated

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