Rousey leads list of fighters drug tested by USADA

USADA has provided the names of the UFC fighters it has tested in the first round of its drug testing protocol.  Ronda Rousey tops the list with the third party drug testing agency testing the women’s bantamweight champ 5 times.

Aside from Rousey, there was a tie for second-most tests with Bethe Correia, Thiago Alves and Antonio Silva being tested 4 times since the start of the UFC-USADA anti-doping program that commenced July 1.

Alves last fought in Brazil in May, losing to Carlos Condit.  He slated to fight Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night 79 in Korea this November.  Silva fought at UFC 190, defeating Soa Palelei.  He is scheduled to fight Mark Hunt at UFC 193 in November.

Rousey faced Correia at UFC 190 on August 1^st.  Rousey is slated to headline the UFC 193 card in Australia.

Notably, Josh Barnett was tested which we presume was related to his fight this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 75 in Japan.  Prior to the fight, Roy Nelson, Barnett’s opponent, noted he had not been tested at all.  A USADA rep indicated that officials were in Japan to test fighters.  The USADA database notes Nelson was tested once.  We might presume he was tested post-fight this past Saturday.

Payout Perspective:

In total, 50 fighters were tested and 81 tests were administered.  The database provides transparency to who is (and who is not) being tested.  There have yet to be any reports of a fighter failing a drug tests since USADA took over in July.  Do you think that more fighters should have been tested during this period?  Was testing Rousey excessive, or right as she is one of the top faces for the organization?  This will be interesting to track.