Philippine AC issues statement on rumors surrounding UFN97 cancellation

The UFC has canceled UFC Fight Night 97, which had been scheduled for October 15, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Philippines. The move came after UFC Hall of Famer BJ Penn suffered a rib injury and withdrew from a fight with Ricardo Lamas.

Unconfirmed rumors quickly surfaced that the withdrawal was not due to Penn’s injury, but due to hyper-stringent recreational drug testing requirements. Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is in the midst of an extraordinarily controversial extra-legal crackdown on recreational drug use and drug selling. President Duterte is something like Donald Trump, if The Donald had personally been involved in killing 87 suspects, as is alleged to be the case with the former Mayor.

Apparently the Philippine government is getting hard-core on drug testing UFC athletes. Looking to bust for recreational drugs specifically

— #Dizz (@TalkMMA) October 5, 2016

Every athlete that's on the Philippine card is going to be giving blood work when they get there. Test hot, passport confiscated in country

— #Dizz (@TalkMMA) October 5, 2016

https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/784081326966136832https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/784081504943026181https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/784081618373779456https://twitter.com/jeremybotter/status/784105658295603200

Mixed martial arts and other events are overseen in the Philippines by The Games and Amusement Board, which issued a statement. The GAB has been run since July by Abraham Khalil Mitra, who was appointed by President Duterte.

We at the Games and Amusement board (GAB) are deeply saddened by the cancellation of the UFC event on October 15 at the MOA arena.

We have received official communication from Mr. David Lewis of the UFC informing us that the event will have to be re-scheduled due to an injury sustained by BJ Penn. We respect this decision of the organizers and will only require them to ensure the reimbursement of patrons who may have already purchased their tickets.

We are equally saddened by the rumors that the cause of the cancellation is the drug testing procedure that GAB requires of all professional athletes. This procedure has been in place through the years for no other purpose than to ensure the safety of unarmed combatants and to preserve the integrity of professional sports in the country.

The insinuations dragging the country’s anti-drugs campaign into this issue are unfair, irresponsible and counter-productive. Third parties should not take this unfortunate cancellation to take a stab at our President’s efforts to cleanse our country of illegal drugs.

We look forward to our continuing relations with the UFC and the MMA world. We are confident that the organizers will clarify this for the benefit of everyone.

The Philippines has long hosted international sports and entertainment events including the UFC, WWE, other MMA shows, and any number of rock acts. Testing every roadie and confiscating his or her passport with a failure for pot seems unlikely. However, Duterte does some unlikely things, so the allegations by Botter that all UFC staff was subject to drug testing and passport confiscation is unconfirmed, but not ridiculous.