GSP: Possible to cheat under USADA, via Antarctica whereabouts

Welterweight G.O.A.T. Georges St-Pierre quit the sport following a split decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 on November 16, 2013. GSP cited the psychological pressure of staying on top, and later added that PED testing was inadequate.

Anti-doping tests in the sport were then mostly wildly inadequate with most commissions, although not all, effectively announcing when testing would take place, which essentially reduces the process to an IQ test. Further, Therapeutic Use Exemptions for Testosterone Replacement Therapy issued to fighters with low testosterone levels. And what is guaranteed to lower testosterone levels? PED use.

Then in 2015, despite formerly describing it as impossible, the UFC instituted one of the strongest anti-doping programs in sports worldwide. However, during a recent appearance on The JRE MMA Show, GSP said he believes it’s still possible to cheat, even with adherence to the UFC Whereabouts Policy, which mandates that athletes notify USADA at all times where they are.

Even now, it’s still easy to, said St-Pierre, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. Even now. Let’s say I want to have an injection of a product that will last in my body for two days or one day. So I know that particular day I cannot be tested, because if I am, I’m screwed. So I put on my whereabouts that I’m traveling to freakin’ Antarctica or anywhere, somewhere that is believable, and then I come back two days after. That substance will stay in my body for a certain period of time, but the effect of it will last maybe a month. And now we’re talking about performance enhancing drugs — people, they misunderstand this.

They go, ‘Well yeah, but it still doesn’t make a difference.’ Yes, it does make the different in an athlete. And the reason, in the eighties and before, [PEDs gave] you more power, more stamina, more endurance. Now, man, with the technology, they have stuff that will change your reaction time, your confidence, your reset time. And this is a huge, huge application, man. If you play baseball or you’re fighting, you see the things coming, you have your reaction time, you’re sharper in the brain. What makes a guy athletic, it’s not his muscle. The reason why Usain Bolt ran faster — there’s many reasons why, but one of the main reasons is because his brain, his nervous system is faster.

And if you make your nervous system better and more competent, you’re a better athlete. You’re a better fighter, you’re a better baseball player. You’re a better person, in a way. Of course, that effect is limited, but there’s still the muscle memory thing that will last and it could last forever.

There has long been a section of the hardcore MMA fanbase that believes without actual proof that GSP was a PED user earlier in his career. During the interview with Rogan, GSP said based on a similar level of evidence, that he has his suspicions.

You asked me if I think he was taking. I don’t know. I have suspicions, but it’s not right if you don’t have the evidence to accuse someone,” said St-Pierre. And even today, do I think there’s a lot of guys who take steroids and performance-enhancing drugs? Yes. And I have an idea of who, and I’m pretty — like, just for my gut feeling — 99.9 percent sure. But I don’t have the evidence.

It’s not what you think, it’s not what you know. It’s what you can prove. And I don’t know. I’m in the game, I’m talking to a lot of people. Between fighters, we know who does. There’s only a few handful of people who do the whole thing [in regards to supplying PEDs]. One guy could do this team, this team, this team, and one other guy can do two teams. The word goes around, man. Especially when you’re a complete fighter, the word goes around.

It’s very hard to catch people. So like I said, it’s easy to take something. There is a always a chance that you get caught, but if I would do it, that’s how I would do it. I would pretend I’m going to Antarctica, get an injection, then I come back and I’m good.