UFC's Jeff Novitzky: Champ Jose Aldo apologized for IV-ban comments

Jose Aldo

Reaction to the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) upcoming IV ban in the UFC has ranged from concern to, in the case of featherweight champ Jose Aldo, outright defiance.

Aldo claimed during a recent Q&A session that he would ignore the ban, set to take effect Oct. 1, and thumbed his nose at the agency the UFC hired to enforce its new drug testing program.

“I don’t f-cking care about them,” he said. “They won’t take me out of the fight anyway.”

But according to the UFC’s chief anti-doping advocate, Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) wasn’t quite himself when he made those comments, and the champ isn’t nearly as antagonistic as he sounds.

Jeff Novitzky, the vice president of the promotion’s athlete health and performance program, recently told “The Joe Rogan Experience,” that the 145-pound kingpin, who’s set to face Conor McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) at UFC 194 on Dec. 12, downplayed his previous comments when they met earlier this month.

“When we were in Brazil a couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with him about that, and he said it was just one of those days where he was in a certain mood, maybe a little bit joking, maybe a little bit pissed off about something else, and said those things,” Novitzky said. “He said he shouldn’t have and doesn’t believe (that).

“He apologized for doing that, so I felt pretty good after that meeting that he felt that way.”

Jeff Novitzky

Aldo, who couldn’t be reached for comment on Novitzy’s statement, is currently subject to the USADA-run program, which took effect July 1. Whether or not the champ was being serious when he badmouthed the anti-doping agency, he could be tested up to 12 times a year using methods designed to detect not only banned substances, but also IV rehydration via “direct and indirect detection techniques.”

“The Athlete Biological Passport, alone or in combination with non-analytical intelligence, is a proven powerful tool to deter athletes from doping and assert anti-doping rule violations on those who cheat,” USADA officials wrote in a previous email to MMAjunkie.

While Aldo has never been suspended or fined for any rule violation, an out-of-competition test ordered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission in June was botched after commission-hired drug testers clashed with the UFC-backed Brazilian Athletic Commission (CABMMA). CABMMA has since pledged to work with USADA.

Aldo’s highly anticipated title-unifier with interim champ McGregor, which comes five months after he withdrew from a previously scheduled showdown at UFC 189 due to rib injury, takes place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena and airs on pay-per-view. The NSAC will regulate the event, but USADA will also have the right to monitor the fighters.

For more on UFC 194, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.