UFC requests Texas reverse Casey decision
Dana White: “Texas fans are great to us! The Texas Commission needs to get their $#!@ together for the protection of our athletes.”
On May 13, women’s strawweight Cortney Casey defeated Jessica Aguilar at UFC 211 in Dallas, Texas. It was a huge win, with a lot of implications for her career. Unfortunately, it was marred when the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) administered an anti-doping test without an adequate understanding of the complex issue.
Casey had a test flagged for an elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio. Anything over 4:1 is flagged in Texas, and Casey’s was 5.4:1. WADA also uses the 4:1 ratio as well, but as a trigger for a more specialized isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) test, rather than a cause of sanction in and of itself.
Unfortunately, Texas then went Ready, Fire, Aim. The commission changed Casey’s the win to a No Contest, and suspended her for 90 days, and administered a fine. Casey requested that her ‘B’ sample be tested, and Texas did so, but charged her. And the more sophisticated test came back clean. The unusual T:E ratio was not caused by exogenous testosterone; its a ration and rather than high testosterone, it can be caused by low epitestosterone, which can happen from the use of birth control pills. And female fighters are not allowed to fight pregnant, so birth control is a professional necessity.
However, Texas has yet to reverse their misguided decision, and now the UFC has made a formal request.
“UFC has made it very clear that it takes anti-doping very seriously, instituting the most comprehensive anti-doping program in sports. One of the keys to this program, and any effective, world-class program, is ensuring that all athletes are treated to proper due process.
UFC strawweight Cortney Casey’s recent case, stemming from her fight in Dallas on May 13, 2017, is a perfect example of the type of negative and damaging backlash for an athlete resulting from a false-positive. There is no better example than this for the need to have proper due process and testing in combat sports and professional sports anti-doping.
Following the results of the additional tests at the WADA accredited laboratory, proving that Cortney did not cheat nor break any rules, UFC is requesting that the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) immediately reverse its ruling and exonerate Cortney of any wrongdoing.
UFC has offered, and continues to offer Texas and any other Commission and regulatory body around the world, the world-class expertise and experience of USADA, to assist them in properly carrying out anti-doping efforts in their state or country.
UFC president Dana White phrased it more bluntly.
Texas fans are great to us! The Texas Commission needs to get their shit together for the protection of our athletes https://t.co/4ukPBalcih
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 29, 2017
This was my breakthrough performance in the eyes of most people, said Casey during a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, as transcribed by Shaun Al-Shatti for MMA Fighting. [Aguilar] was a highly ranked fighter and this is a huge positive in my career and it’s just been tarnished by someone’s stupidity on the situation. And just a lack of professionalism at the end of the day with how things were handled.
I’ve been exonerated by the UFC, which is great. I’ve been exonerated by USADA, which is awesome. But at the end of the day, the people that need to be making an apology haven’t, the ones that made the statement.
