UFC drug Czar defends ban on IV rehydration
UFC VP of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky defends the ban on IV bag rehydration as part of “the strongest anti-doping program in professional sports.”
The UFC is aggressively and admirably addressing the issue of PED use in mixed martial arts. There is a new sheriff in town, now that famed drug cop Jeff Novitzky has been named Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance.
However, some forward thinking leaders in the field like Executive Director of the California State Athletic Commission Andy Foster have identified extreme weight cutting as the biggest danger in MMA. A coming anti-drug measure designed to make it more difficult to gain an illegal performance advantage through blood doping has been widely panned by fighters.
Elite fighters have long been using IV bags to rehydrate after weigh ins, but doing so leaves chemical traces identical to those used by blood doping; under Novitzky’s direction, that practice will be coming to an end. It is not yet known whether the ban on IVs will lead to dehydration problems the next day, but if it does, the results could be catastrophic – the brain sits surrounded by fluid, and if there is less fluid because of dehydration, the brain is less cushioned, and more subject to damage.
Novitzky defended the IV ban during a Q&A session at the UFC’s International Fight Week, and said it was a necessary part of the strongest anti-doping program in professional sports.
Definitely a hot-button issue, and as we’re getting out and educating our fighters, it’s a question we’re asked every time, said Novitzky, as transcribed by John Morgan for MMAjunkie. This policy follows the World Anti-Doping Agency rules and their list of prohibited substances and prohibited methods, and the World Anti-Doping Code prohibits the use of IV transfusions in excess of 50 m/L.
And the reason they do that is because there is historical evidence that athletes have used IVs in those amounts to try to defeat drug tests. In fact, in my former career, I saw evidence of that happening, that very thing. I can tell you it’s accurate.
I think what we’ve come up is the strongest anti-doping program in professional sports in the world.
Novitzky said he hopes going forward to offer fighters alternative to IV-based rehydration.