The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the drug testing results for one of the biggest pay per views of the summer. There were seven fighters urine and blood-tested for illegal substances in the weeks surrounding UFC 189 in July. Five of them – Conor McGregor, Rory MacDonald, Robbie Lawler, Jeremy Stephens, and Dennis Bermudez – were tested well in advance of the card all the way until fight night. A sixth, Chad Mendes, was tested starting six days before the bout. All off them were clean of steroids, HGH, diuretics, and other PEDs.
The most interesting part of the 138-page report (seriously) was in regards to the seventh fighter – UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, who didn’t actually fight on the card due to an injury.
Back in June, NAC hired a third party firm, Drug Free Sport (DFS) to collect a sample from Aldo in Brazil. According to a statement from DFS COO Chris Guinty, the tester (Ben Mosier) ran into some issues at Aldo’s gym when trying to collect the sample. Guinty’s statement indicates that Mosier had the correct visa to do the testing, and worked with a “high ranking anti-doping official in Brazil” to get it done. After not being able to track Aldo down the night before, he met up with the “very cooperative” fighter the next morning.
In the middle of things, a coach at the gym interrupted the collection of the test so they could wait for Andre Pederneiras to show up. When he did, he called CABMMA, the Brazilian commission (who was unaware of the test).
Then things got a little weird. Here’s some quotes from the report:
“Just after 11:30 am, an off‐ duty Brazilian federal police officer who was on‐site training as a MMA fighter confiscated Ben Mosier’s passport and claimed he had an incorrect work visa. The officer said he was authorized to conduct business, but not collect urine samples (Mosier’s work visa details were included earlier in the report). The federal police officer threatened to arrest and deport Ben Mosier for unauthorized performance of work.
“While detaining Mosier, the federal police officer relayed a story of being detained in the United States when returning to Brazil following a previous fight. The officer claimed to Mosier that he was detained by law enforcement officials for 24 hours and was treated poorly, noting that he was treating Ben Mosier in a more pleasant manner.
“The officer made it a point to advise that this detainment was not revenge for his past detainment, and he had the right to transport Ben to a local detention facility for processing.
Then commission officer Cristiano Sampaio had issues with the local DCO (doping control officer):
“The local Brazilian DCO indicated to Ben Mosier that he had done nothing wrong and was authorized to conduct the test. Sampaio refused to let the local DCO (or Mosier) proceed with any testing despite their employment as a local doping control officer. It was reported only a Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission DCO would be allowed to collect the sample.”
Ultimately the sample was discarded because Mosier had become separated from it.
After more bantering and threats from the federal officer, immigration officers intervened and Mosier was allowed to come back on June 12th to participate in a rescheduled test.
It doesn’t even end there though, as Aldo showed up late for his test, dropped the first sample, and Sampaio inexplicably changed the timeline for shipping the sample. Finally it was collected, and Aldo ultimately passed the test.
Perhaps the craziest part was Guinty’s final point in the statement:
“Upon completion of the testing event, the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission DCO requested an autograph from Jose Aldo in a magazine he had brought to the collection event and to take a picture with Jose Aldo; both requests were granted.”
You can read the whole thing from pages 32 to 35 in the report.
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