Dopningsfrågan är något som diskuteras kraftigt, och det är många som vill se UFC börja testa sina atleter trots att de inte har matcher inplanerade. Nu meddelar UFC:s Marc Ratner att detta kommer bli verklighet under 2015.
Detta hade Marc att säga om organisationens planer, via ”MMAFighting”:
I think that this year-round testing and out of competition is very important. Unlike baseball if you’re taking a performance enhancing drug and you hit the ball further, that’s a big advantage, but in fighting, whether it’s boxing or in MMA — and you’re chemically stronger and you win a fight that you may not of and hurt somebody and test positive — that could be a criminal offense as well as losing the fight or it becoming a no contest. So I’m all for out-of-competition testing. I want an even playing field and I believe in it with all my heart.
I’ve had some proposals from different [companies]. I’ve had some telephonic talks and one in-person meeting. Yeah, we’re still in the process. One of the hold-ups will be…if the fighter tests positive, the arbitration process, how it will be dealt with in every state. We have to make sure that if somebody is suspended that all states honor it, which they should, and foreign countries also. So there are some logistics, but we are going to do something. I’m very confident. It may not be by the first of the year but it’ll be right after that. We are in the process, and everybody here has bought into it, so we are going to do something it’s just a question of when.
And just so everybody knows, out-of-competition is for performance enhancing drugs. So we’re not talking about illegal street drugs, we’re only talking about performance enhancing, and if somebody had smoked dope in February and fighting in April it’s not relevant to what we’re talking about.
När exakt detta kommer att bli standard inom UFC återstår att se, men en som kan tänka sig göra en comeback när detta träder i kraft är föredetta welterviktsmästaren Georges St-Pierre.
