After taking down Lance Armstrong, here is how the ‘Golden Snitch’ cleaned up the UFC
Jeff Novitzky, Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance for the UFC, has been a somewhat polarizing figure in the MMA community. He is most commonly cited as being the one in charge of the UFC's anti-doping program.
When it comes to anti-doping, Novitzky has a prolific track record and history. Before he joined the UFC, he led the criminal investigation against Lance Armstrong, a professional cyclist, for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
While Armstrong was never indicted on criminal charges, his use of performance-enhancing drugs became public knowledge, in part due to Novitzky and his team's efforts. In fact, Armstrong gave a public confession on the Oprah Winfrey show, after which he was stripped of his titles.
Watch as Lance Armstrong admits to using performance enhancing drugs:
The criminal investigation was abandoned and, in a way, "shut down" for reasons that aren't clear. Novitzky, however, still views it as a success.
"He was stripped of all his titles, he still today is considered one of the biggest falls from grace in professional sports, and he will forever have to live with that legacy."
Novitzky has contributed heavily to cleaning up the UFC, has established clear guidelines and protocol
On Novitzky's urging, the UFC contracted the United States Anti-Doping Agency, (USADA), and established stringent protocol for fighters.
First and foremost, any fighter contracted to the UFC will be eligible for testing by USADA. If a fighter wishes to compete under the UFC banner, they must enter the USADA testing pool and submit at least two negative samples before they are allowed to compete.
In the "Pre-USADA" era, fighters were only subject to testing from the athletic commission in the state in which they were competing. This meant a lot of variance from state-to-state regulations, and specific testing times (which were usually during fight week). This gave fighters a lot of room to work-around the testing process, making the use of performance-enhancing drugs commonplace.
Since then, however, Novitzky and USADA have firmly established a clear structure that works for all UFC fighters and events. In 2022, USADA tested UFC fighters 4,352 times, which has doubled the number of tests they conducted in 2016.
RT @marc_raimondi: Jeff Novitzky: USADA has begun ramping up UFC drug testing even more mmafighting.com/2016/8/3/12371… https://t.co/zbQaIB4us6