Lesnar subject to UFC’s anti-doping policy

MMA Fighting reports that Brock Lesnar has been entered into the UFC’s anti-doping policy testing pool.  Since Lesnar’s return to the Octagon comes sooner than the official policy giving USADA four months’ notice to be entered back into the pool.

According to section 5.7.1 of the UFC anti-doping policy, it states:

An Athlete who gives notice of retirement to UFC, or has otherwise ceased to have a contractual relationship with UFC, may not resume competing in UFC Bouts until he/she has given UFC written notice of his/her intent to resume competing and has made him/herself available for Testing for a period of four months before returning to competition. UFC may grant an exemption to the four-month written notice rule in exceptional circumstances or where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an Athlete.

According the MMA Fighting article, the negotiation with the WWE caused Lesnar to sign his bout agreement on Friday.  The UFC did inform Lesnar that if he signed to fight in the UFC, he’d be subject to the anti-doping policy.  The article quotes the UFC’s Dave Sholler in stating that since Lesnar last fought in the UFC prior to the anti-doping policy, he is being treated like a new fighter to the UFC.

Even if one was to argue that Lesnar should not be considered a new athlete, the four-month window is apparently being waived under one of the two provisions: 1) “exceptional circumstances” and/or 2) “where the strict application of that rule would be manifestly unfair to an Athlete.”

Payout Perspective:

Lesnar will be subject to in and out of competition testing per the UFC anti-doping policy from here until his fight at UFC 200.  Of course, the WWE has a “Wellness Policy” in which its contracted performers are tested so it’s not like Lesnar has gone without being tested.  The WWE has flagged several performers but Lesnar has never been one of them.  While this may seem a minor issue for the UFC, it also reflects the fluidity of the anti-doping policy. The waiver in the UFC/USADA policy allows for ease of having someone like Lesnar come back after retiring without the need to give a 4-month notice.  It would seem that to consider Lesnar a new athlete is a little convenient since the anti-doping policy is less than one year in existence.  Of course, this is likely the first time that someone who has “retired” from the UFC is returning under the policy.