Dana White Explodes on Former BALCO Head Victor Conte – “He’s a Scumbag”

If there is an expert that deals in performance enhancing drugs that could provide valuable advice and insight to the sport of mixed martial arts, UFC President Dana White said emphatically on Thursday that’s it’s not former BALCO head Victor Conte.

Conte has been at the center of recent conversations revolving around performance enhancing drug use in sports like boxing and MMA, as well as criticizing state athletic commission drug testing practices.

White is open to a conversation about the subject of illegal drug use in his sport, but it won’t be with Conte.

“F–k Victor Conte. The guy’s a lying, two-faced piece of (expletive). I can’t stand that guy. You’re the biggest cheater in the history of the (expletive) sports world, and now that you can’t make a living cheating anymore you want to flip the other side and start calling people out and point fingers?” White said on Thursday.

“I can’t believe anybody even listens to this guy, even quotes this guy, Victor Conte is a two-faced piece of (expletive).”

Conte served four months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids, as well as pleading guilty to money laundering. Conte ran the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), which provided illegal performance enhancing drugs to athletes from baseball, football, and many other sports including athletes competing in the Olympics.

Since his release, Conte has done a 180-degree turn and has now become an advocate for more stringent drug testing, while working with boxers and was even approached by Ultimate Fighter coach Roy Nelson about appearing on the 16th season of the reality show, although his appearance was ultimately nixed.

White says there’s a lot of people that could be viewed as experts on drug testing and performance enhancing drug use, but Conte is not the foremost expert anyone should be looking towards for profound and honest information.

“I don’t care about his position, I don’t care about him. He’s a (expletive) cheater and a liar, now he’s trying to flip the script so he can make a living on the other side. He’s a scumbag,” said White.

Conte made several accusations launched towards athletes he previously worked with while he was under investigation by Federal investigators probing into the BALCO scandal. He famously “outed” former Olympian Marion Jones on “20/20? for steroid use.

Conte was also accused of naming the names of athletes he supplied with illegal supplements to receive a lighter sentence in lieu of the huge list of charges he potentially faced for his role in the conspiracy. Conte denies those allegations to this day.

At the time, Internal Revenue Service agent Jeff Novitsky stated, “Conte openly acknowledged giving testosterone-base cream — itself a steroid — to numerous professional athletes and specifically identified the names of the specific athletes to whom he had given drugs.”

Ultimately instead of a lengthy court battle, Conte pled guilty and received a reduced sentence as part of his plea agreement with prosecutors. He has since signed on to work with several high profile boxers, and also worked with some MMA athletes as well including former Ultimate Fighter contestant and UFC light heavyweight Kyle Kingsbury.

No matter what his new role in the sports world is, White says there’s no reason to trust Conte for what he does or says, and he’s not a person anyone should be listening to about performance enhancing drug use.

“Bring somebody credible, get somebody credible in there that you would listen to,” said White. “I don’t know, anybody else that didn’t get caught for (expletive) cheating and giving all these guys steroids.”