New marijuana testing rules
implemented by the UFC will mean that as long as a fighter isn’t high on the
day of the fight, it’s all good.
According to MMAJunkie.com,
UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner said the MMA promotion
will raise the testing threshold for marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150
ng/mL, which is in line with the recent change implemented by the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The changes are designed to
make sure fighters aren’t under the influence of the drug during competition
but could be safe if they use it weeks or even days before.
However, the changes will only
be applied in places where the UFC self-regulates its events and not in its
home state of Nevada where the 50 ng/mL rule will remain.
“When we self-regulate around
the world, we are going to go the WADA standard of 150,” Ratner told MMA
Junkie. “So we’re starting that immediately.”
The UFC acts as its own
regulator when it stages events in places where there is no official
sanctioning body, such as March’s UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan, where Alex Caceres
tested positive for marijuana metabolites. The failed drug test caused his
decision win over Kyung Ho Kang to be turned into a no-contest.
Ratner told MMA Junkie that
Brazil’s athletic commission has also agreed to raise the threshold, which will
come into effect during next week’s UFC on Fuel TV 10 event. That’s six months
too late for light heavyweight Thiago Silva, who’ll be competing at the event
after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites in his fight against
Stanislav Nedkov in Macau, China.
It’s also too late for Pat
Healey, who recently lost $130,000 in bonuses for testing positive for
marijuana after his win over Jim Miller. (Source)
