Ronda Rousey Finally Gets Tested By USADA
We haven’t seen former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey in the Octagon in 2016, and it appears the star’s pattern of random testing from USADA reflects that, for one reason or another.
According to a report from Champions.co’s Amy Kaplan, Rousey was just tested by USADA twice last week, something that could signify that she’s finally ready to return to action sometime in the somewhat near future. However, it also calls into qustion the pattern in which they’ve been testing her, as those two tests were the first she had been administered in at least six months.
Anti-doping advocate Dave/Dim had the numbers on Twitter:
While Im here.. this weeks #UFC #USADA Numbers.
Athletes Tested: 36
Samples Provided: 62
Totals, all time etc.. pic.twitter.com/IgnhXoQZvO— Dave/Dim (@dimspace) September 8, 2016
USADA lists Rousey as having been tested a total of only four times throughout 2016, a number that should arguably be larger considering that although she may have been on hiatus, she was technically still an active member of the UFC roster, and therefore under the full scrutiny of the UFC’s new and more stringent random testing program in conjunction with USADA.
Rousey recently teased a return in a Reebok commercial, and her boyfriend, UFC heavyweight Travis Browne, has gone on record as saying he “feels bad for whoever’s next.” But “Rowdy’s” awaited return is still very much an unknown, as it’s been confirmed she won’t return at November 12’s UFC 205 from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
USADA testing her twice last week may mean she will be back sometime soon, but nearly 10 months after her shocking knockout loss to Holly Holm at UFC 193, that’s just not something fight fans can view as a foregone conclusion.
