Tuesday's decision by the Ultimate Fighting Championship to rescind a suspension handed down to Cung Le was a curious one.
For those unaware, Le was sent to the sidelines for 12 months after a blood sample taken after his August 23 loss to Michael Bisping showed an elevated level of human growth hormone.
There was rampant speculation prior to the fight that Le was taking a performance-enhancing drug of some sort. Nearly all of this speculation stemmed from a photo Le posted on Instagram that showed significant improvements in his physique. They were remarkable improvements, really, when you consider Le's age.
Le proclaimed his innocence then, saying the new muscles he displayed were mostly the result of perfect lighting in the moment the photo was snapped. We were skeptical. And when Le's test results were announced, the reaction from the general public was: See? We told you so.
But then we started to hear about how the Hong Kong Functional Medical Testing Center—the company that handled the UFC's testing for the Macau event—was not actually accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
And this is an important bit, because in the UFC's drive to expand its global footprint, it often acts as its own sanctioning body. In countries that have no commission, the UFC will do its own testing. This is a tricky thing, but the promotion has always been adamant that it follows Nevada Athletic Commission guidelines when acting as its own commission.
Except this time, it didn't. Nevada and other major athletic commissions use WADA-accredited labs to handle all of their testing, and there is a reason they do so: Testing for human growth hormone is not an easy process, as detailed by Steven Marrocco from MMAjunkie.com:
In order to attain such accreditation, the labs must demonstrate their ability to perform the complex procedure involved in finding HGH and must follow strict procedures set by the regulatory body in the collection and testing of blood samples needed to find the drug. There are also defined steps for adverse findings and what happens when results are challenged.
WADA also requires that tested blood samples be frozen for a lengthy period of time so that more testing may be done if required. Le, claiming innocence after his suspension was handed down, wanted his sample tested again by a WADA-accredited lab. But that was impossible, because the Hong Kong Functional Medical Testing Center had already destroyed the sample.
The UFC said in a press release that Le's suspension was rescinded because it'd been provided with additional medical advice:
Following the announcement of Le’s suspension, UFC officials have been provided with medical advice regarding the elevated total HGH present in Le’s system. In accordance with such medical advice, UFC has determined that Le’s elevated total HGH by itself does not prove that he took performance-enhancing drugs before the August 23rd bout.
That begs the question: What kind of medical advice was it receiving when it decided to suspend Le in the first place? And wouldn't it be better to obtain all of this medical advice before (perhaps incorrectly) announcing to the world that one of your fighters was using performance-enhancing drugs?
Perhaps Le was using PEDs. Perhaps he wasn't. We'll never know, because the handling of his test was so poorly done that it amounts to a total whitewash. The decision to rescind Le's suspension was the right one. But it opens the door to a larger conversation about how these things are handled when the UFC is sanctioning itself.
In announcing the decision to rescind Le's suspension, the UFC also said this:
The UFC organization has always been a leader when it comes to testing for performance-enhancing drugs in combat sports. All UFC athletes know they are subject to drug testing by an applicable state athletic commission, an international governing federation, or by an independent laboratory contracted by the UFC when no regulatory body is overseeing the event. In those cases where regulatory oversight is unavailable, UFC voluntarily chooses to adhere to the highest level of athlete health and safety protocols similar to if the event were being held in the state of Nevada.
There, at the end of that paragraph, it repeats the same sentiment it's been using for several years: We know that having no regulatory oversight is not ideal, but we counter by sticking to the gold standard laid down by Nevada.
Except this time, it didn't. It used a lab that was not accredited by WADA and that most certainly is not in accordance with Nevada's standards.
It must be said that the UFC is taking major steps to counter MMA's drug problem. CEO Lorenzo Fertitta recently revealed the promotion's efforts to create a new program that will randomly test all UFC athletes multiple times per year.
This is no small thing, and it must be applauded. It's getting a big thing done, and it's spending a lot of money to do it.
But at the same time, it must be extra careful to adhere to the standards it's set for itself when it's acting as its own sanctioning body, because those are the situations that make people uncomfortable. Whether it's warranted or not, they feel ripe with potential for abuse and controversy. I don't believe Fertitta, Dana White or Marc Ratner would ever intentionally bend their sanctioning rules to protect one of their stars, but whether they'd actually do it isn't important.
The perception is what is important.
So this is a learning experience for the UFC, or at least I hope it is. I don't believe we'll ever see it use a non-accredited lab for testing again. If that's the major takeaway from this whole story, it's a good thing. Mixed martial arts will never be considered anything more than a niche sport if the public thinks it is filled with juiced-up cheaters.
As the market leader, the UFC will have the biggest hand in helping change and guard against that perception. True random testing is a very big deal, but getting things right when it is self-regulating may be the most important thing it does.
