Francisco Rivera informed of potential USADA anti-doping violation

Testing for performance enhancing drugs in mixed martial arts was traditionally carried out by state, provincial, and tribal government regulating bodies. However, they were typically administered during fight week, which made beating them more of an IQ test than a PED test – if you knew when you are going to be tested, then you could time your drug use to avoid detection.

In response, the UFC appointed an independent body to administer random, comprehensive, out of competition test to all 600 or so fighters under contract, worldwide. Random means you don’t know the date of the test, comprehensive means a wide range of potential PEDs and conditions indicating same will be searched for, and out of competition means the test can happen year round, not just fight day.

With estimates as high as 90% for fighters trying PEDs at least once, there have been gratifyingly few fighters caught to date. However, some are failing tests, most recently UFC bantamweight Francisco Rivera.

The announcement came via UFC.com.

“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has informed Francisco Rivera of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collection on July 23, 2016.

“USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case. It is important to note that, under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, there is a full fair legal review process that is afforded to all athletes before any sanctions are imposed. Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time as the process moves forward.”

Rivera tested positive for a banned substance, ephedra, in 2012. He was suspended for 90 days and his UFC 149 win over Roland Delorme was changed to a No Contest.

First time violations under the UFC anti-doping policy ordinarily result in a suspension of two years. The suspension can be as low as six months if it can be demonstrated that the drug was taken inadvertently.

In an extreme case, Chinese UFC bantamweight Ning Guangyou tested positive for clenbuterol, but received no suspension. It is believed the minute amounts he tested positive for were consistent with contaminated meat in the food supply, meaning he ingested the prohibited substance without fault.

“While the risk of consuming clenbuterol-tainted meat and testing positive for an athlete is extremely small, consistent with past athlete advisories, USADA reminds athletes to use the utmost care if eating meat in known high risk countries, including Mexico and China,” explained USADA in a release. “In line with WADA recommendations, USADA will continue to assess the presence of clenbuterol in an athlete’s sample on a case by case basis, taking into account all the evidence supporting the likelihood of such contamination.”

Rivera told MMA Fighting via his Iridium Sports management group that the test failure was for clenbuterol, and that he had vacationed in Mexico just before the test, and had eaten meat there on multiple occasions.

Rivera, 34, is on a three-fight losing streak, and has lost five of the last six. Rivera’s last loss, to Erik Perez at UFC 201 on July 30, just seven days after the failed test, is part of a puzzling trend.

In a majority of cases, the athletes who failed a PED tests also lost the fight associated with the test failure. There are a number of explanations, including fighters taking PEDs in a desperate attempt fight off an injury, or the advances of age, but use of PEDs is not a certain route to a win, by any means, lending further reason to avoid them.