Georges St-Perre Calls For Stricter Drug Testing In MMA, Says The Sport Has A Problem
The words ‘Drug cheat’ are used far too often in assosciation with MMA, especially in recent times. Whether it is TRT or down right steroid abuse, everyone has an opinion on the subject. This includes current Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, who spoke recently with Sportsnet.ca, to discuss stricter drug testing for MMA fighters:
“I believe the sport has a problem now, When I first started fighting in mixed martial arts, it didn’t have any money,” St-Pierre explained. “So, now more money got involved, more ways are there to be cheating to take a shortcut”
“I believe VADA (voluntary anti doping agency) testing I’m up for it and I invite my opponent to do the VADA testing for the championship fight.”
The VADA basically acts as a platform to monitor fighters outside of the athletic comissions testing periods. This means that it would be damn near impossible to take steroids and fight in the UFC and pass not only the NSAC’s tests, but also the more frequent VADA tests. GSP certainly has a point.
“I invite if possible all the high-profile athletes in the UFC to do the same. I believe it’s a good thing. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt sometimes but I believe to make the sport (better) … I’m ready to do it to set a good example.”
There is nothing good about illegal drug use in MMA, and the sooner we rid the sport of it, the better. St-Pierre’s trainer, Farias Zahabi, had this to say on the matter:
“If Georges is champion and he’s clean, nobody has any excuses,”
GSP has frequently been accused of steroid use by his past opponents. The most recent being Nick Diaz, although I’m sure not many people actually believed him. St-Pierre is right about the magnitude of this problem, but with so many fighters recieving low pay cheques, will paying for more drug testing really appeal at the mid to lower level fighters?
Possibly the worst kind of cheat is someone who does it at the highest level. Winning a championship by cheating, in any form, is a disgrace to the athlete and the sport. In a sport like MMA where honor and respect are due to hard working champions, cheating just isn’t welcome.