UFC announces plan to implement comprehensive out-of-competition random PED testing

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

During a special press conference on Wednesday afternoon, UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and President Dana White announced a new plan to implement comprehensive out-of-competition random performance enhancing drug (PED) testing.

The new drug testing protocol will take effect in July 2015, and will include approximately the entire 585 fighters on the roster. According to Fertitta, the UFC is currently in talks with several renowned international drug testing association to create the drug testing protocol.

The new protocol will be in addition to any drug testing policies already implemented by commissions across North America.

The promotion revealed that they would also advocate for longer suspensions and harsher punishments for fighters who test positive for any banned substance. While standard suspensions are currently nine months, Fertitta mentioned that they would look into potentially extending such bans to either two or four years. They added that “several million dollars” are being committed to the out-of-competition drug testing cause.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.