Coker: PED use in MMA is ‘concerning’
“I think it’s really a much cleaner sport than it is a dirty sport. But I will say this: There have been some pretty high-profile guys that have popped and that’s concerning.”
Bellator president Scott Coker took a nuanced view on Performance Enhancing Drugs in mixed martial arts, during an interview with Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. The Strikeforce founder felt that more needs to be done to address the issue, but did not want every fighter tarred by a discrete number of test failures.
The discussion came after Coker met with California State Athletic Commissioner Andy Foster, who sees problems and crafts solutions. The CSAC is now stepping up their drug testing, and, admirably, paying for it out of their own budget. Other ACs rely on funding from the UFC for testing. And others simply say they do not have the budget for it.
“There’s hundreds of athletes that have been licensed and sanctioned in this state,” said Coker. “So you can’t just put them all together and say this is an issue. I think it should be monitored. When an athlete does pop, it’s a lose, lose, lose for everybody. Nobody wins. The athlete doesn’t win, for sure. He can’t make a living, he can’t make any money, he can’t provide for his family. The network loses, the promoter, the fans. Everybody. It’s not a win and really it needs to be stopped.”
“I think if you look at the amount of people that are clean compared to on performance-enhancing drugs, I think it’s really a much cleaner sport than it is a dirty sport. But I will say this: There have been some pretty high-profile guys that have popped and that’s concerning.”
“It’s something that needs to be dealt with. It can’t just sit the way it is. The average fan on the outside looking in doesn’t know the details. And they’re just saying, ‘You guys are all on steroids, you’re all doing drugs.’ It can turn off a lot of people. Something needs to be done.”
The UFC has a press conference to address the issue on Wednesday. Hopefully whatever it is is something the UFC and Bellator can join forces in supporting.