UFC Veteran: “Even with USADA, all the guys with money are still taking steroids.”
UFC Veteran Matt Brown’s recent discussion with Demetrious Johnson on The MightyCast delved into a troubling reality regarding performance-enhancing drug use in mixed martial arts. The retired UFC welterweight raised pointed critiques about how anti-doping measures fail to address a fundamental inequality: while athletes with financial resources continue to use banned substances, those climbing the professional ladder face genuine deterrence.
Matt Brown: Wealthy UFC Fighters Still Using Steroids Despite USADA Testing
“Even with USADA, all the guys with money are still taking steroids,” Brown explained during the podcast. His assessment reflects a growing consensus among observers of combat sports. The United States Anti-Doping Agency, which has overseen UFC testing since 2015, employs extensive random screening protocols both during and outside competition. Yet these efforts, according to Brown, have functioned primarily as a financial filter rather than a genuine equalizer.
The mechanics Brown described paint a clear picture. Wealthy fighters can afford specialized medical teams who understand how to navigate detection windows. These practitioners employ multiple strategies including micro-dosing testosterone with short detection windows, using designer steroids difficult to identify, applying masking agents, and timing administration around testing patterns.
Standard testing can be circumvented through preparation techniques that flush substances from the body, advance knowledge of testing windows, and having support staff conduct private tests mirroring USADA protocols.
“If you can afford to beat the test, it’s just a cat-and-mouse game. In the NFL, MLB, all the big sports, if you have enough money there are doctors who know how to beat this. I don’t think it actually turned away the people who can afford it – it only turned away those coming up who couldn’t.”
Gordon Ryan, a prominent jiu-jitsu competitor, articulated this disparity explicitly. He noted that while fighters lacking resources face genuine deterrence, “the guys at the top…will always have the resources and money available to them to hire the doctors to help them beat the test.”
The data supports these concerns. Since USADA’s implementation in 2015, the UFC has issued sanctions to fighters across divisions, yet the pattern reflects opportunity aligned with financial capability. Ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator, remains the most commonly detected substance, followed by various anabolic steroids including stanozolol and drostanolone. Despite over 120 sanctions across the UFC‘s testing era, the organization has observed positive test rates of approximately 10 percent.
Brown acknowledged losing fights where the physical advantages appeared evident. In the most candid admission, Brown reflected on his career trajectory: “Looking back, in some ways I kind of wish I did it, because I fought guys that did. There are guys I lost to where a huge part of it was they were stronger than me, they could train more than me.”
“My morals might have cost me a million dollars,” he stated plainly. His reasoning incorporated fear of biological disruption and ethical conviction, yet he recognized both sentiment as potentially self-defeating.
The system favors those with capital in another manner. First-time offenses currently result in suspensions ranging from six months to two years depending on the substance and jurisdiction. For elite fighters generating significant purses, these timelines permit eventual return to high-earning opportunities. For emerging fighters building careers, even moderate suspensions can prove catastrophic, closing sponsorship doors and eroding momentum permanently.
Brown advocated for steeper penalties, calling for lifetime bans for first-time offenders with legitimate exceptions only for proven accidental use through tainted supplements. His reasoning suggested that criminal-level consequences would deter even well-funded cheaters, removing economic advantage as a defense. “If it were a lifetime ban, I bet none of the people that have been caught would have taken anything,” he argued.
The cat-and-mouse dynamic Brown described will persist without fundamental reform. USADA employs increasingly sophisticated testing methodologies, yet pharmaceutical advancement and medical specialization keep pace.
​What remains clear from his assessment is that USADA testing, whatever its good intentions, has created a two-tier system where wealth determines not whether substances enhance performance but simply whether detection follows.​
