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The bizarre standard UFC is setting for (dis)approval of certain drug usage
By Zach Arnold | February 27, 2013
The schizophrenic nature of UFC’s standards regarding usage of drugs by their fighters took yet another twist last night with the news that Matt Riddle has been cut due to testing positive for marijuana metabolites for a second time.
The cut comes weeks before Nick Diaz faces Georges St. Pierre in Montreal. Diaz is coming off a Nevada for testing positive for… marijuana metabolites.
The debate over marijuana usage amongst MMA fighters should come down to one important issue: is it a performance-enhancing drug? If it is not performance-enhancing, then there shouldn’t be an issue — especially if the drug tests being used are not to detect marijuana usage during a fight itself but rather just the presence of marijuana metabolites for usage days, even weeks before a fight takes place.
MMA is not professional wrestling. If you are high as a kite during a wrestling match, you could seriously injure or kill someone. In MMA, you’re not going to enhance your prospects in a real fight by being under the influence of cannabis.
However, using testosterone while you’re fighting is a different story. It can give you extra KO power. It creates a scenario where older fighters who are suffering the effects of previous steroid usage, weight cutting, pain killer abuse, and/or effects from prior concussions extend their fighting careers to inflict or suffer more brain damage.
Chael Sonnen is being promoted for a fight against Jon Jones on The Ultimate Fighter platform while being the poster child for testosterone usage. Jones himself has his own baggage (being arrested for a DUI). Dan Henderson fought in the semi-main event of the UFC show in Anaheim last weekend while using testosterone. Frank Mir still has a fight contract, as far as I know. Nate Marquardt is still fighting. Vitor Belfort is borderline taunting anyone who criticizes him for using his Nevada hall pass for testosterone (thanks Keith Kizer & Tim Trainor).
In the world of UFC, using the base chemical for anabolic steroids can get a seal of approval. Having marijuana metabolites in your system surface during a drug test can get you fired. However, the double standard doesn’t just stop there. Athletic commissions are now giving out hall passes for testosterone usage while suspending fighters with elevated levels of testosterone… if they don’t have a hall pass to use it. Ask Mickey Bey Jr. how that’s working out for him. By the example UFC has publicly set with fighters using testosterone, athletic commissions are influenced or pressured into following this incredibly bizarre logic where the testosterone users aren’t performance-enhancing but the marijuana users are. Keith Kizer says using testosterone shouldn’t be a scarlet letter for fighters. You don’t say.
Putting the debate about testosterone aside, look at UFC’s behavior regarding fighters using marijuana and juxtapose this to the demographic that UFC touts to everyone regarding who watches their product — 18 to 34 year old males. Ask yourself this question: out of 100 males 18-to-34 years old who watches UFC, how many of them would say that fighters should get cut over marijuana usage but not get cut if they use testosterone? Virtually everyone surveyed would laugh at the notion that a fighter should be cut for having marijuana metabolites in their system.
There’s no other way to say it — UFC management has completely lost perspective about drug usage amongst their fighters and is tangled in the web they have created with the class of testosterone users they promote for marquee fights.
It’s like watching a bald 40-something father who is undergoing a mid-life crisis and decides to buy a Harley Davidson while hitting the tanning salon and getting jacked up on Androgel 1.62% and Ageless Male. Dad finds out that his teenage son in high school got caught smoking a joint. He then proceeds to lecture his son about what a bad gateway drug marijuana is while wagging his finger and screaming, in a fit of rage, just how disappointed he is with his son’s decision making in life while sounding like a prisoner from a taping of Beyond Scared Straight.
I honestly don’t think UFC is truly aware of just how bad they look here, both on the substance and the image being conveyed to the public.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 60 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
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No need to read this article again, it’s been posted on here about 25 times
Forget about PEDs and marijuana for a minute. Say what you will about the stupidity of TRT being allowed and marijuana being banned, the rules are the rules.
Riddle has tested positive for banned substances twice in the past seven months. The UFC clearly felt he wasn’t taking their drug screening seriously so they canned him. It also didn’t help his case that the UFC is in the middle of a historic roster purge and he gave them a reason to add him to the ranks of the unemployed. Just a stupid, stupid move on Riddle’s part.
yeah. so stupid of riddle to use a drug he’s been prescribed. what an idiot.
If your employer bans usage of that drug, then yeah, it is pretty stupid.
You mean if the commissions or some sort of CBA banned usage of that particular drug, right? Because I think it would be stupid to allow employers the right to determine what medication we can or can not use.
Yes, that is what I mean.
If you, as an independent contractor, violate the third party rules that the company who holds your contract abides by twice in the span in seven months, don’t be surprised when they opt to terminate your contract. Especially not when they have made it abundantly clear that they are looking to terminate around 25% of the independent contractors currently in the fold.
There are many substances that are perfectly legal to take without a doctor’s permission…. And they are still banned in competitive sports.
Riddle having a doctor’s note has nothing to do with it.
The rules state not to take it. He did it once and got suspended. Then he did it again less then a year later, showing he did not learn his lesson.
The UFC firing him was the only option.
I certainly don’t want absolve Riddle from personal responsibility here, but being let go for a non-performance enhancing drug is pretty weak.
The only guy in the promotion that could probably get away with that is Nick Diaz. And that’s because he is viewed as a star.
It’s not about the drug, it’s about the pattern of behavior.
Riddle chose to buck the system twice in a seven-month span during a time when his employer is downsizing 1/4 of their workforce. He effectively handed them an excuse to fire him at a time when they are looking for excuses to fire people. Not smart.
The pattern of behavior is him taking a drug he is prescribed.
Not smart on his part, but not smart on the UFC’s part to test him for a drug he is prescribed.
Not smart on the UFC’s part to have people in charge of their drug testing procedures so incredible incompetent in the drugs they are testing for.
I don’t see a problem with releasing Matt Riddle…. Personally I enjoyed watching him fight…. But TWO failed tests within 7 months for the SAME substance…. He deserved to get fired.
I don’t care if they made Jelly Beans illegal before a fight. If a fighter got busted for them 2 times within such a short time period…. It is time for him to go.
… or its time for them to stop testing him for it. Especially when it is legal for him to use, and they are the ones testing.
As for the UFC’s overall drug policy….
It certainly is not perfect. It has some major holes.
But there is certainly progress….
1) At one time the UFC did not test for international events. Now they do.
2) At one time the UFC did not test fighters coming into the UFC. Now they do.
3) The UFC is also talking about now testing guys on TRT throughout their training camps.
Like I said…. There are still some major holes…. But the trend is slow but improving. In 5 years I expect even more progress.
The end goal should be 2 to 3 BLOOD tests per fighter leading up to a fight to make sure they are not taking anything illegal. When they get to that point…. Things will be much better.
The UFC policy is to cut fighters for certain drug use. Marijuana (regardless of a doctor’s notice), but not testosterone (with a doctor’s notice).
They should change the policy, but should they not cut fighters, who violate the policy, for as long as policy is in effect?
More than the drug of choice, what made the decision was probably that it’s Matt Riddle. Let’s see them cut Nick Diaz.
Can UFC fire fighters for drugs that the doctors deem medically necessary to their health? That would seem like a lawsuit, waiting to happen.
“Can UFC fire fighters for drugs that the doctors deem medically necessary to their health? That would seem like a lawsuit, waiting to happen.”
Sure.
As 45 pointed out, there are all kinds of perfectly legal drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter, that are banned in various sports. If an athlete repeatedly ignores restrictions on banned substances, it is perfectly within the UFC’s rights to send him packing.
Also, let’s clear up something about medical marijuana. NOBODY has a prescription for marijuana. They don’t exist. What they have is a doctor’s recommendation to allow them to use, not a prescription. I seriously doubt any court is going to buy into the ‘medical necessity’ of pot.
“As 45 pointed out, there are all kinds of perfectly legal drugs,”
Absolutely. But we are not talking a legal booster that UFC in fact can choose to ban. I am talking about a drug for which a medical need can be shown.
Your employer probably has a right to bizarrely ban use of Red Bull on its premises. But they can’t claim a right to fire anybody for insulin use, have they a thousand policies to the contrary.
If a fighter can claim that I need this medication or I will lose my legs, does the promotion really have a legal right to say, well, I am sorry, but you can either end up in a wheelchair or go fight elsewhere?
Marijuana is a bad example, like you point out, it very rarely constitutes a medical necessity. So let’s say we are talking about a phantom drug.
1) The entire intent of the law for card carrying weed smokers is people who have serious chronic pain or have cancer. Not guys like Riddle who just enjoy getting high.
2) It is still illegal federally.
3) A fighter can have a prescription for any medication. That has nothing to do with what drugs are legal or illegal during sporting competitions. If the drug an athlete needs is illegal…. but they need it to live…. They won’t be competing. It is as simple as that. No lawsuit will change that.
And you ignore the biggest part of the Matt Riddle issue…. He was suspended for 6 months… And then 1 month later got busted for the same thing. It is the TIMING of the two offenses that got him in hot water.
Out of your comments, only 3) responds to what I am talking about. The rest seems to come from perception that any comment or question must be an attack on the UFC and has to be defended against.
So 3—if the drug is illegal, then of course, no medical necessity can override that. But we are talking about whether a company has a right to arbitrarily ban a medically necessary substance? And the answer, I would think, is no. Such a policy would amount to the right to fire a person for having a severe medical condition, a policy no court would enforce, and one that would be in violation of all kinds of discrimination laws.
If they say it puts the athlete at risk… it is not discrimination. Which is why you are wrong and nobody would ever be successful trying to win that case.
Yes. You would have to show that it puts somebody at risk.
Which means they can not ARBITRARILY ban the drug, but have to show the reason for it.
You are arguing FOR my case, without even realizing it.
No I’m not. You specifically said above…
“I am talking about a drug for which a medical need can be shown.”
And even if they need that drug to live…. If the commission thinks it shouldn’t be in your system during an athletic contest…. You are out of luck.
So if a fighter needs insulin to live… They probably can’t be a fighter.
And there is nothing legally that person can do about it. It is not discrimination. It is not illegal. They are keeping you safe from yourself….
“If the commission thinks it shouldn’t be in your system during an athletic contest…. You are out of luck.”
No, you are again not making the same distinction.
The commission (actually, we were talking private employer, like UFC) can ban the drug if there is a reason it shouldn’t be in your system. It can not simply arbitrarily choose to ban a medically necessary drug, without justification. If you don’t want to let diabetics fight… you better have an explanation.
All the UFC does is port over the NSAC rules.
And no explanation is needed. Which is why nobody has ever sued over this and nobody will ever win if they try.
No, the reason is that companies don’t normally fire people for taking medications that don’t affect their job performance. It’s hard to fire an employee for medical condition, otherwise, and wrongful termination lawsuits are very common.
These are always fun, I wonder when 45 is going to bring up how its a PED again.
The marijuana/testosterone dichotomy is a joke. I don’t know how anyone can take Henderson, Vitor, Chael, Rampage, Carwin, Marquardt, or any of the other Low T’ers seriously. They are the Bonds, McGwire, etc of our era.
I agree that allowing TRT is a joke and hope to see it banned. But it’s really more of a commission issue than a UFC issue. If the commissions banned it tomorrow, I have no doubt the UFC would abide by their decision. IMO, Zach’s vitriol is targeted at the wrong party.
I think this is correct.
The UFC’s rules for international events are basically just ported over from the NSAC. I think they have fear that if they stray too much from it that it will create a slippery slope.
Agreed, the are gonna use the same standard NSAC uses, if they stray from that where do you draw the line?
” But it’s really more of a commission issue than a UFC issue. “
What commission?
“if the commissions banned it tomorrow, I have no doubt the UFC would abide by their decision.”
Surely
Since no “commission” has stopped then so far
So if the Riddle/Mills fight gets turned to a no contest does Mills get resigned by the UFC? Because he won’t be coming off a loss (technically), didn’t get caught with a PED, hasn’t gotten arrested, etc. Because of the structure of the UFC contract they would have to take him back, right?
I doubt many people who aren’t directly related to Che Mills are really clamoring for this to happen
No doubt, but still. They would have to take him back if it does get turned to a no contest, right?
I understand the UFC’s roster bloat is very real, and they are cutting people much more readily than before.
The thing is, and this is putting the Riddle thing aside for a minute, the roster bloat has been hella obvious for like an entire year now.
They should have seen it coming, should have been pruning back their larger divisions for quite some time, while the still-developing Flyweight division should have been given more of a pass since it’s too small to truly be self-sustaining right now.
No such luck. It’s like Dana White as the general manager had his Meniere’s relapse (which is no doubt horrible), and he just started taking it out on entire cards. The UK card was probably agonizing for him and he was like “
fuckit, they’re ALL fired!!” without consideration to the individuals, because there really was no common denominator, not salary (although even the most expensive, Jon Fitch, makes a fraction of say, Eddie Alvarez was offered), not talent, not how exciting they are, not nationality or weight class or age. The only common denominator was they all fought recently and all were coming off a loss. It didn’t matter if they were on a 4-fight losing streak (Josh Grispi) or a 1-fight streak (multiple). It didn’t matter if it was a split-decision loss. It didn’t matter if it was a guy who brings it every time, a guy in one of the super-saturated divisions, or in a division so thin it’s barely sustainable. The only divisions not represented were Middleweight and the embryonic Women’s Bantamweight (although not too long ago Julia Budd was cut for no good reason).Just silly. And Matt Riddle may not have played politics well, but getting cut for a failed pot test is stupid. He has a legal prescription in the U.S., he wasn’t high the day of the fight, he stopped 3 weeks out. Silly double standard.
You’d think a silver lining would be Che Mills would get his job back, but no, still fired. The UFC basically has admitted that marijuana gave no performance advantage to Riddle.
On the plus side, Marc Fischer has stated that the UFC is looking to seriously do a TUF Japan. I have to say, I’d watch that.
I think they had other reasons for a bloated roster. Mainly Bellator. Now they are getting rid of 100 fighters with the “UFC Reject” stamp on them…. And Bellator won’t touch them.
And as said many times above…. It just isn’t the pot. It is the fact that he got busted for the same substance two times in 7 months. That it he REAL issue here. No the substance. If he had done them 5 years apart it wouldn’t have been as big of an issue.
“UFC’s standards regarding usage of drugs by their fighters”
Remember that time that Riddle got fired for a pot bust,
but Diaz got a title shot 3-4 times after 3-4 pot busts?
Or that time that Fitch was NEVER caught on steroids,
but chael sonnen got a tv show and title shot for being an outspoken trt cheat
ufc=jersey shore
mma=?
Yeah I was going to mention that too. Riddle is lower on the card and doesn’t have a ton of fanboys like Diaz does so Diaz can be a multiple time offender and get away with it whereas they make an example of Riddle. It’s subjective and makes UFC look terrible. Either you enforce across the board or you don’t. At some point that subjectivity is going to make them wide open for a lawsuit since it is discrimination to pick and choose who to can when the same offenses are in play.
How does it make the UFC look terrible?
Every sport has different rules for star players. Do you honestly think the 90s Bulls treated Bill Wennington the same way they treated Michael Jordan? Or that the 70s Reds treated Bill Plummer the same as Johnny Bench? Or that the current Packers treat Aaron Rodgers no differently than they treat Graham Harrell?
Of course not.
Stars get pampered, scrubs get used up and discarded. That is the way every sport has always worked.
How does it make the UFC look terrible?
Every sport has different rules for star players. Do you honestly think the 90s Bulls treated Bill Wennington the same way they treated Michael Jordan? Or that the 70s Reds treated Bill Plummer the same as Johnny Bench? Or that the current Packers treat Aaron Rodgers no differently than they treat Graham Harrell?
Of course not.
When it comes to enforcing it’s rules relating to banned substances? Yes, actually. Your ambiguous “way they treat” is weak and deflecting. It’s not how a team or league “treats” someone in terms of seats on the plane or getting a foul call here or there, it’s about their enforcement of codified rules on banned substances.
Look at MLB – same rules apply to everyone if they’re caught using banned substances. Imagine if Melky Cabrera got his 60 game suspension for roiding, but they decided to give 15 games to Albert Pujols when he got busted (hypothetical).
You are right. The league has the same rules for everybody. But the people who choose if that player stays employed each have a different set of rules.
Ratner (the league) did not treat Riddle any differently. Dana (the team) did. And that happens every single day in sports.
One team may choose to cut a player who tests positive…. And then their star might not be cut. It is on an individual player basis.
Now, if they start giving out preferential penalties from a commission standpoint…. Then you would have a point…
I think there in lies the dilemma The UFC is not only a team, it is also the league. Hell, its basically the sport, since the Octagon is patented. The influence they weld is much greater than that of any individual team.
Ratner works for the UFC, and the UFC also acted as the commission – so Ratner works for (both) the team (and the league) in your example. Not to mention, the UFC cuts him he goes to…MFC, whereas LAA cut Pujols he goes to one of 29 other teams (or however many there are in baseball now).
This isn’t a team sport – it’s an individual sport, so again these team sport analogies are missing the point almost completely b/c they don’t work. This would be akin to the ATP cutting David Nalbandian and keeping Jo-Wilfred Tsonga after the same violations of their banned substance policies and then putting Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in a match with Djokovic at some Dubai $1-million challenge.
There’s a pretty big difference there.
Oh yes… Because Jon Fitch and Jacob Volkmann didn’t land contracts within a week of getting cut by the UFC.
There has always been other fish in the sea…. It isn’t Zuffa’s fault that nobody else can make money at MMA. Throughout the WORLD, companies can’t make it. Has nothing to do with the UFC. It is just a tough business to be in.
Sure, what you wrote is right. But it also doesn’t conradict, rebut, or even really relates to what I wrote.
The Gaijin,
Manny Ramirez got cut for taking steroids and now is playing in Taiwan. So this idea that because one team cuts him that some other team is automatically going to pick them up is crazy talk. He can still play very well, but nobody wants to touch him. Happens more often then you realize.
And my analogy still works. Dana White has said he has no say in what Ratner does. There is obviously a separation within Zuffa in order to make it fair.
If the NSAC was the one who caught Riddle and then they fired him, it still wouldn’t be any different. He got fired for getting caught with the same substance twice within such a short time period. What Dana White decides and what Ratner decides are two totally different things.
nottheface,
The point being made that you so easily could not figure out was that the UFC does not hold as much power as people think they do within MMA. When they let go of fighters, many of them have contracts waiting for them.
You do realize right, that just because someone is instantly resigned that they might not be getting paid as much? Especially by a promotion that makes a fraction what the UFC does and has no one competing with them for those fighters? You also are surely smart enough to realize that those fighters might be losing out in both sponsorship money and the opportunity to progress on a bigger/higher pay stage, since those the very things you argue fighters lose out on when they don’t go to the UFC?
It is not consistent to argue that Bellator or any other promotion can not match the benefits the UFC and then argue that a fighter is not losing anything by having to sign with the WSOF. Unless they were lured away, which they weren’t, I am guessing it is a huge net negative for fighters like Fitch.
“It is not consistent to argue that Bellator or any other promotion can not match the benefits the UFC and then argue that a fighter is not losing anything by having to sign with the WSOF.”
Wonder how this one is going to get challenged.
“Manny Ramirez got cut for taking steroids and now is playing in Taiwan. So this idea that because one team cuts him that some other team is automatically going to pick them up is crazy talk. He can still play very well, but nobody wants to touch him. Happens more often then you realize.”
What planet are you living on? He got dinged for a 100-game suspension for getting caught for doping again and he still got signed by another squad and couldn’t make the team.
The problem with Manny was that he can’t still play very well. He was terrible with LAD at the end of his run there and in Tampa he looked dismal. Not to mention he couldn’t play his way on to the Oakland A’s team.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ramirma02.shtml – Not someone who can “Still play very well”.
Also “And my analogy still works. Dana White has said he has no say in what Ratner does.”
LOL.
When it comes to LEAGUE drug policies, there are no favorites. And that’s the difference here. UFC is a league, not an individual team. MLB has suspended some rather big names and isn’t protecting anybody now, no matter how big a star they are. They are the league. It doesn’t matter what an individual team thinks of this. UFC is a league. Their drug policies should be concrete regardless of star status. It sets a horrible precedent if the league is picking and choosing who to suspend based on company favortism (can we say WWE?). It severely damages the credibility of said company.
And to 45 Huddle’s comment about Manny below. He got busted in the 2003 testing but there were no repercussions for those tests. Then he got busted with the Dodgers who let him come back and play post-suspension. And even after all of that Tampa Bay still signed him and he had to “retire” after a third PED bust. If you get busted by UFC and they cut you because you’re not a star, your options are much, much worse because being cut from UFC is like MLB banning you for life and now you’re forced to find work in a foreign or Independent league. Manny’s there now but only after a bunch of failed tests and frankly terrible all around other behavior that preceded the blackballing. It took a lot to completely dump Manny from the league.
Matt Riddle had two chances and outside of smoking weed, he wasn’t known as a problem child. Nick Diaz has flunked a number of tests and been a total jerk to deal with between missing press conferences and his overall attitude issues. Will he be cut? Of course not. Double standards.
Huddle 45s comments on Manny shows he has no clue what he is talking about. Manny got cut by the A’s because he requested it when he couldnt make the big leagues. He was sitting in Sacramento or whatever AAA team for 70 games up. This happens to alot of older guys like Jamie Moyer as well.
So its no the same and poor analogy. Of course you wont admit you are wrong. So might as well move on right?
Zach is right on.
I can’t believe the “rules are rules” crowd. It’s pretty much the worst argument a person can make. Some of us are actually trying to use our brains and critically evaluate a policy. Saying “rules are rules” adds nothing to the conversation.
I agree that it is a dumb rule, but dumb or not, the rules really are the rules.
You don’t get to pick and choose which rules you follow without consequences. Riddle chose not to follow the rules and now he has to face the consequences. I’m all for the legalization of weed (and the banning of TUE’s for TRT), but until that happens fighters have to abide by the crappy rules that are in place.
The “rules are rules” concept still holds water.
If you are suspended from your job for doing something you think is perfectly fine…. And then within a month of that suspension being lifted…. you do it again…
Wow… You deserve to be fired for not following the rules…. whether you agree with them or not.
At that point it does not become a debate about the fairness of the rule itself. It becomes about that specific person who literally is too stupid to learn how to change his behavior.
Why people like you can’t see that is beyond me.
Nevada soaked Julio Cesar Chavez for over $900,000 over a positive marijuana test today.
30% of his purse based on the fact that he failed 2 drug tests in Nevada in 4 years.
I have a hard time feeling sorry for guys who can’t keep drugs out of their system when they KNOW they are going to be tested.
Sounds like he has a drug problem…
Looks like 45 Huddle is wrong again….
Bellator 91 Hits Second Highest TV Ratings Mark of the Season
Posted on March 1, 2013 by MMAWeekly.com Staff
Thursday’s Bellator 91 showed a marked improvement in TV ratings over the past few weeks returns, hitting the second highest point of the season.
Bellator 91 drew an average audience of 901,000 for the initial broadcast – second only to the Bellator 85 Season 8 premier – and recorded a cumulative total of 1.242 million viewers with the immediate replay included.
The numbers were strong enough to pull the season’s average back above 800,000 viewers per episode.
Bellator 91 featured Attila Vegh dominating Christian M’Pumbu, taking his light heavyweight championship, as well as the two semifinal lightweight tournament bouts.
Bellator Season 8 TV Ratings
Bellator 85: 938,000
Bellator 86: 812,000
Bellator 87: 705,000
Bellator 88: 807,000
Bellator 89: 719,000
Bellator 90: 737,000
Bellator 91: 901,000
^^^^^^
Second highest number from a weak card with 0 “stars”
Pretty sure he (huddle) wont admit that it just bucked a trend.
No, the real reason is that Matt Riddle had two wins overturned in the last 7 months BECAUSE he failed his drug test for weed. THAT’S why. It makes no sense to keep a guy around if he’s going to keep turning out no contests.
I wonder if Riddle had told them he took marijuana prior to the drug testing, would they have been more lenient on them. Supposedly this works in the military, but during my time in I never seen anyone just get a slap on the wrist for testing for marijuana or cocaine for that matter. Usually severe punishment.
So I wonder if he told Dana ahead of time that he was smoking for medical reasons would this have slid?