Doping in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
Background: Doping is a practice that is present in many sports and organizations, including mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The aim of this study is to explore the epidemiological patterns of doping among UFC athletes.
Methods: We screened the official United-States-Anti-Doping-Agency® (USADA) website, the annual USADA reports and the official UFC website for information on fighters and anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). Our dataset included gender, age, weight class, testing numbers, date of ADRV, type of ADRV and duration of suspension. Appropriate statistical tests were conducted to assess for statistical significance.
Results: USADA tested 1070 UFC athletes 2,624 times as of late 2015 up till the end of 2019 (N=1070). A total of 209 adverse findings were recorded; out of which, 102 ADRVs were committed by 93 athletes (8.7%) from all weight divisions. This constituted an adverse finding rate of 16.55 per 1000 test and an ADRV rate of 8.08 per1000 test. Mean age of sanctioned athletes was 32 years.
Use of anabolic steroids was signficantly the most common ADRV recorded (p=0.018). The men's heavyweight division had an ADRV rate of 19.3 per 1000 tests, significantly higher than that of women's bantamweight (p=0.03), women's featherweight (p=0.009), and men's flyweight divisions (p=0.035). ADRV rate showed a significantly increasing trend among men's weight divisions (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Doping is present in the UFC. Increasing testing numbers, raising awarenes and education on the risks of doping, and conducting further research on the topic is key to help resolve this problem.
Fares MY, Baydoun H, Salhab HA, Khachfe HH, Fares J, Fares Y, Abboud JA. Doping in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC): A 4-year Epidemiological Analysis. Drug Test Anal. 2020 Dec 3. doi: 10.1002/dta.2987. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33270353. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2987
Background: Doping is a practice that is present in many sports and organizations, including mixed martial arts and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The aim of this study is to explore the epidemiological patterns of doping among UFC athletes.
Methods: We screened the official United-States-Anti-Doping-Agency® (USADA) website, the annual USADA reports and the official UFC website for information on fighters and anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs). Our dataset included gender, age, weight class, testing numbers, date of ADRV, type of ADRV and duration of suspension. Appropriate statistical tests were conducted to assess for statistical significance.
Results: USADA tested 1070 UFC athletes 2,624 times as of late 2015 up till the end of 2019 (N=1070). A total of 209 adverse findings were recorded; out of which, 102 ADRVs were committed by 93 athletes (8.7%) from all weight divisions. This constituted an adverse finding rate of 16.55 per 1000 test and an ADRV rate of 8.08 per1000 test. Mean age of sanctioned athletes was 32 years.
Use of anabolic steroids was signficantly the most common ADRV recorded (p=0.018). The men's heavyweight division had an ADRV rate of 19.3 per 1000 tests, significantly higher than that of women's bantamweight (p=0.03), women's featherweight (p=0.009), and men's flyweight divisions (p=0.035). ADRV rate showed a significantly increasing trend among men's weight divisions (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Doping is present in the UFC. Increasing testing numbers, raising awarenes and education on the risks of doping, and conducting further research on the topic is key to help resolve this problem.
Fares MY, Baydoun H, Salhab HA, Khachfe HH, Fares J, Fares Y, Abboud JA. Doping in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC): A 4-year Epidemiological Analysis. Drug Test Anal. 2020 Dec 3. doi: 10.1002/dta.2987. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33270353. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.2987
