Shortly after the announcement of their title fight at UFC 167, Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre proposed additionally drug testing leading up the fight to challenger Johny Hendricks. St. Pierre named the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association to oversee the testing process. Hendricks initially agreed to the testing, but a perceived “red flags” in favor of the champ forced him to withdrawal. Hendricks and his team proposed WADA standard testing to be done under the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but St. Pierre’s camp wouldn’t agree to that. So, the whole thing fell apart with GSP continuing under the VADA testing.
Following the UFC 167 open workouts, Hendricks participated in a media scrum. During the scrum a reporter pushed Hendricks on the testing issue. Hendricks defended his position (via MMA Fighting):
“I’m not going to lay my life into [St-Pierre’s] hands,” Hendricks said. “I said WADA. WADA is so much tougher than VADA. They don’t do drug tests where he just ‘randomly’ gets tested the first time a camera is around. WADA, you’re scheduled for 3-4 months, and they have to know exactly where you’re at. And if you don’t show up within an hour of when they call you, you fail.”
“I don’t care if he passes,” Hendricks continued. “I don’t care if he took the drug test. I want him to be the best GSP he can be. If that’s on something, that’s on something. If that’s not, that’s not. I’m not sweating.”
“The last six years, he’s been accused,” Hendricks said. “It’s an accusation. Word of mouth is very powerful. He knows that, I know that. If I sit there and I know, if I win this belt, I will definitely go to WADA, because I can afford it. If we’re going to drug test, let’s do the hardest, toughest drug testing out there. that’s WADA. They do everything. They hold your sample for 12 years. If any new testing comes out, in that testing, they retest it. If you fail, you’re dirty. … If you want to be on it, be on it. If you’re not, who cares? Don’t drag my name through the mud because the last six years you were scared to do it.”
First, let’s clarify Johny’s statements a bit. WADA doesn’t do any testing. They’re an organization that sets the world standard for testing and procedures. Rather, the Nevada State Athletic Commission would have ordered the nature of the testing to be done by WADA standards.
Concerning VADA being prejudiced, this isn’t the first time it’s come up, but it doesn’t really make sense. About this same time last year, Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin were supposed to undergo VADA testing (also done by WADA standards), but another perceived bias by Carwin’s camp led to that being stopped. First, Nelson had announced that the testing was a go before Carwin had officially agreed. Then, an article posted on the site villianizing Carwin as a steroid user was published by the site. Following the two incidents, Carwin and his camp decided VADA wasn’t an organization they trusted despite an explanation being released by the company.
While the situation definitely didn’t look good for VADA in that instance, falsifying the testing does not make sense for a business who’s sole purpose is to do the best possible testing. Additionally, the testing isn’t done by VADA employees. It’s done by technicians of the WADA accredited labs. So, for VADA to actually act on these perceived biases, they’d have to act against the long term goals of their business and get employees of an independent organization to act in kind.
Regardless of how the testing debacle played out, Hendricks and St. Pierre will face each other at UFC 167 on Saturday night. The event will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
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