Dolce: USADA IV ban brings up scary issues
Mike Dolce: “I don’t believe the conversation has been had in depth and I don’t know if it’s truly protecting the health and safety of the athletes.”
Nutritionist Mike Dolce recently stopped by the MMA Hour and voiced his concerns over the ban of IVs by USADA for athletes competing in the UFC:
Dolce has heard some, including UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky, say that rehydrating orally is actually better than using an IV. He’s not too sure if that is the case.
“Not one single study has been ever done to prove that, because no study has ever been done on an athlete who is cutting weight, rehydrates and then gets kicked in the skull 24 hours later,” Dolce said. “There’s never been [any] research done on that. We don’t know the impact of TBI, traumatic brain injury. We have no idea what will actually happen in this modern era of MMA with the IV ban.”
The diet coach, who has worked with such fighters as Ronda Rousey, Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort and Thiago Alves, said he has spoken to Novitzky and UFC vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner about the potential problems with the IV ban. However, Dolce said he was told that the Oct. 1 date it was implemented was a hard deadline.
“These are scary issues and I think it’s a much bigger conversation,” Dolce said. “I don’t believe the conversation has been had in depth and I don’t know if it’s truly protecting the health and safety of the athletes.”